Creative Cortelyou Road Commuter Tells The MTA, Fellow Passengers What He Really Thinks

Creative Cortelyou Road Commuter Tells The MTA, Fellow Passengers What He Really Thinks
cortelyou road subway note by Milton Land

Ditmas Parkers sure love to leave colorful notes! Neighbor Milton Land sent over these photos of one disgruntled Q rider’s publicly posted feelings about recent platform renovations at the Cortelyou Road subway stop.

cortelyou road subway note by Milton Land 2


In messages printed to emulate the style of the MTA’s own “What we accomplished” sign, he (or she, or they) wrote:

How we failed:
• We did not install nearly enough pigeon spikes on the Manhattan bound side of Cortelyou RD and the pigeons just fly over the ones we did install. So, while that entire right wall is once again covered in pigeon poop and everyday you have to hope you do not get pigeon poop on your clothes while listening to pigeons having morning sex we decided not to do anything that would resolve this issue that has been going on for over a decade.
• We did not see any reason to deal with the open sides of the staircases mainly because no on has sued us yet. We figured the staircases have been getting covered in piles of snow and rain for years. So, you all are used to dealing with the dangerous and potentially life threatening situation.
cortelyou road subway note by Milton Land 3


And under a general overview of the rehab project at the Cortelyou, Beverley, and Parkside Avenue platforms:

We also left all the pigeon homes and piles of pigeon poop along the pipes above the tracks on the Manhattan bound side of Cortelyou Rd. We tired [sic] some spikes along the right side wall but we ran out of money and they just fly over the ones we installed anyway. We could have sealed off the areas better but we really didn’t care. FYI, we are going to raise the fare in a year or so.

It seems this particular rider’s (or these particular riders’?) qualms are largely pigeon-centric. Besides being gross and possibly hazardous to riders’ health, the high acidity of pigeon droppings have been known to corrode building materials–so if the problem truly has not been remedied, perhaps we can’t expect those structural steel repairs to last long anyway.

We’ve heard your reactions to northbound side platform work, but are you any more impressed with the southbound side? Is pigeon poop the main problem for you, or do you take more of an issue with other aspects of the rehab?

As for anyone worried about all that pigeon morning lovin’, tell them we hear there’s a better local spot for that.