MTA Chairman Joe Lhota tweeted out a story about the future closing of the Brooklyn Promenade, so that New York City can repair the deteriorating three-level structure on which it stands. | AP Photo MTA chairman goes 'NIMBY' over Brooklyn Heights promenade

MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, whose subway system continues to founder, has finally encountered a piece of news terrible enough to turn him into an activist.

On Friday morning, Lhota tweeted out a story about the future closing of the Brooklyn Promenade, so that New York City can repair the deteriorating three-level structure on which it stands.


One option for repairing the structure is to build a temporary six-lane highway directly adjacent to the existing promenade.

The news is likely to prompt an uproar among Brooklyn Heights residents, who are both well-heeled and politically active.

Lhota, for one, was less than thrilled.

"I always wondered what would turn me into a Community Organizer," Lhota tweeted. "This is it. NIMBY (and proud of it)"

Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood and a former aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio, retweeted Lhota's message, with a message of her own: "I see that self-awareness still hasn’t found its way onto Twitter. (Tweeting this from an F train that’s barely moving.)"

Lhota subsequently deleted the tweet, though Spitalnick, who was not speaking in her official capacity, had the foresight to screenshot it for posterity.

A spokesperson for New York City's transportation department, which has the unenviable task of grappling with the decline of the Robert Moses-era infrastructure, declined further comment.

Around the same time that Lhota was discovering his inner activist, another transportation-related tweet was making the rounds.

"Hello @MTA and @NYCTSubway ... your ceilings are falling on people again," tweeted @SarahisSorry. She attached a video showing that plaster had fallen from a subway platform ceiling at Barclays Center, just a few stops away from Brooklyn Heights.