Updated 01/15/2012 05:51 PM
Volunteers Help Work On New Affordable Housing During MLK Weekend
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In honor of Martin Luther King Day, about 50 volunteers joined Habitat for Humanity in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn to lay hardwood flooring and kitchen tiles in a six-unit building on Sunday.
The goal was to create affordable housing while stabilizing the community.
"The initiative that we have underway right now in Brooklyn is called 100 Homes in Brooklyn," said Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Josh Lockwood. "We're actively looking for terrific home buyers who are doing everything right, but are living in over-crowded, dangerous or unaffordable conditions."
"I think it's a beautiful thing. I think Habitat is one of the best organizations for first-time home buyers," said Gail Tison, a future resident of the new houses.
Volunteers also painted the senior center at the Saratoga Square Houses.
Transit Workers Hold Vigil For King
Members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 also planned to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a candlelight vigil on Sunday evening.
The remembrance in honor of the late civil rights leader came before the union's current contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was set to expire at midnight Sunday.
The union agreed to keep negotiating past the midnight deadline with no threat of a strike, and trains and buses were expected to run Monday morning.
The TWU wants salary increases from the cash-strapped MTA.
Newly installed MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota hopes to get the union to agree to work-rule changes in exchange for wage hikes.
TWU Local 100 represents 34,000 workers.
Monday Closings For MLK Day
Meanwhile, due to Monday's national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will be closings and service changes around the city.
All banks, financial markets, schools and courts will be closed.
There will be no garbage or recycling pickup and no street cleaning.
Alternate-side parking rules will be suspended, but drivers will have to feed the meters.
Subways, buses and the Staten Island Railway will run on a regular weekday schedule.
The Long Island Rail Road will run on a holiday schedule and Metro-North will run on a Saturday schedule.
Off-peak fares will be in effect all day.
For more information, visit mta.info.