MTA Postponing Rehabs of Many Brooklyn Stations
Yesterday the MTA announced it will delay the renovation of 19 subway stations around the city, the bulk of which are in Brooklyn. (Runner-up: The Bronx.) The biggest rehab that’s biting the dust, at least for now, is the overhaul of the Smith-9th station. Renovations of a number of stations on the D/M line are…
Yesterday the MTA announced it will delay the renovation of 19 subway stations around the city, the bulk of which are in Brooklyn. (Runner-up: The Bronx.) The biggest rehab that’s biting the dust, at least for now, is the overhaul of the Smith-9th station. Renovations of a number of stations on the D/M line are also being put on hold. To me, a cut is a cut is a cut, said Gene Russianoff, the staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit advocacy group. Their spin is that they’re deferrals, but they’re deferred into no man’s land. MTA chief executive Elliot G. Sander said the postponements are coming because the authority doesn’t know how it’s going to afford the service improvements it’s already started, and that the MTA is facing a budget shortfall due, in large part, to a falloff in tax revenue from real estate transactions.
M.T.A. Cuts Delay Some Big Projects Until 2010 [NY Times]
Graphic from The New York Times.
Go, Gene, Go!
We should just ditch the fare and pass congestion pricing. It would provide _more_ money for the system than there currently is.
Or, go back down to the $2 fare and pass congestion pricing. We could invest in the system so it can work for another 100 years.
Plus, the system IS underfunded. As a percentage of cost, it is subsidized far less than other systems. (It’s a large, 24-hour system in a huge city, so OF COURSE it’s a larger absolute amount.)
-karen
Biffy, where are you?
– bxgrl
How about telling City government bigwigs they have to use the subway and buses instead of city cars? And look into the above ground train systems instead of expanding the 2nd ave. subway underground, which means cutting into bedrock?
Well I’m going to comment on the ORIGINAL POST, even though it’s a looooooooooooooong way from there to here:
they could start by not giving free metrocards & EZ passes to the MTA board and everyone who’s ever been on the MTA board and all of the cops who’ve ever worked for NYPD. THATS where the money could come from.
Are you having a hard time logging in, Biff/Bhouhaha? 🙂
– bxgrl
I’ve read in a few places that the Smith-9 viaduct tarp is indeed there to keep chunks of concrete that breaks away from falling below.
It’s really not hard to imagine that this is the case, otherwise the MTA would not have put so much effort into the black tarp “band-aid.”
But it seems to me that, sooner rather than later, they should repair it correctly to prevent further decay.
I think that wrapping has been in place for close to 20 years. they kept saying it was temporary but as you see, still there.
they still seem to be working on Jay St. but Boro Hall, which also has beautiful terra cotta and glazed tile has not been touched ever. Years ago it looked like they were about to begin- but nothing. I always assumed they would keep the original tile work- is that station part of the landmark district or just outside the boundaries?
“The wrapping of Smith-9th is to contain bits of spalled concrete that could rain down below if the protection were not in place.”
Seriously? That’s frightening. I’ve been living in the area for 12 years, and it has always looked like that as far as I can remember. I always assumed it meant they were getting ready to do some construction, but now it basically looks permanent. That’s pretty scary, though.
Of course, you look slightly southward, and they’re pouring untold millions (billions?) into the dilapidated Gowanus Expressway/BQE that probably serves a smaller number of people that take the F every day through Smith/9th (of course that hihjway is also terrifying)? One of these days, that elevated track will collapse and then the MTA will really be bankrupt.
The wrapping of Smith-9th is to contain bits of spalled concrete that could rain down below if the protection were not in place.
Smith-9 should be rehabbed ASAP, and 4 ave/9th st. would benefit from a rehab, which could be beautiful with the restored windows opened up again to look the way it once did…But again, the MTA does the bait and switch…
and god only knows where the money flows.