With Caveats And Contention, CB6 Committee Approves MTA’s 7th Avenue Subway Plan

There was little peace and tranquility during an MTA presentation at Red Hook’s Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, host to the Community Board 6 Transportation/Public Safety Committee Meeting on Thursday, September 17.

After the Participatory Budgeting NYC (PBNYC) led by Council Member Brad Lander submitted their proposal to the MTA, the CB6 Transportation/Public Safety Committee heard the proposal, presented by Andrew Inglesby, assistant director for the MTA’s Government & Community Relations, and David Haase, its director.

The committee expressed concerns about the plans, including:

• The closing off of the current freezone passageway (mezzanine) between 7th and 8th Avenues would force passengers who enter on 8th Avenue to walk above ground to 7th Avenue if they needed to speak to a station agent, as well as during inclement weather.

• The proposal does not have any plans to include elevators under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which members of the committee feel necessary for aged passengers, as well as those traveling to and from Methodist Hospital (506 6th Street at 7th Avenue).

• Since a station agent would not be able to monitor the 8th Avenue entrance, low turnstiles without supervision could lead to fare evasion.

• Due to the potential increased traffic on 7th Avenue associated with Methodist Hospital’s expansion of outpatient services, the 7th Avenue entrance could continue to remain an overcrowded entrance.

Inglesby explained that the movement of the station agent to the 7th Avenue entrance was based on research that “almost two-thirds of passenger traffic use the 7th Avenue entrance and would provide them more accessibility to the station agent.”

An attendee at the meeting supported this evidence because he had personally done calculations by counting the individuals who entered and exited the station during a weekday between 7-9am.

The issue of ADA elevator access was the largest point of contention. Inglesby explained that the MTA’s goal is make 100 of the 469 stations in the system ADA accessible by 2020. He stated that there no plans at this point to add elevators to the 7th Avenue station.

The committee’s deliberation consisted of a motion to conditionally disapprove the plan. Another motion was made to postpone voting until the public hearing (which is planned for a date yet to be announced in November) takes place to make their recommendation. However, both motions were withdrawn.

The committee passed a motion that conditionally approved the plan, with strong recommendations to leave the the mezzanine section open, and to request that the following stations become ADA accessible: F/G 7th Avenue, F/G Smith-9th Street, F/G 4th Avenue-9th Street, and the 2/3 Grand Army Plaza station.

The committee also expressed concern that the plan submitted by PBNYC did not include finishing the closed off mezzanine with solid walls to prevent the gathering of dust, dirt, and vagrancy.

Both sides seemed to leave the meeting frustrated. “We have bark but no bite,” mentioned one committee member.