Park Slope and MTA Clash on 7th Av F-G Station Changes
Coincidentally following a recent report comparing the MTA’s budget crisis to a Grecian tragedy, New York City Transit has proposed a series of improvements to the 7th Avenue F and G station estimated to cost $400,000. Locals, however, say the improvements are not enough. Neighborhood organization Preserve Park Slope sent out an email encouraging the community to attend a meeting…
Coincidentally following a recent report comparing the MTA’s budget crisis to a Grecian tragedy, New York City Transit has proposed a series of improvements to the 7th Avenue F and G station estimated to cost $400,000. Locals, however, say the improvements are not enough.
Neighborhood organization Preserve Park Slope sent out an email encouraging the community to attend a meeting on the matter this Thursday.
At the Community Board 6 Transportation Committee meeting this Thursday evening at 6:30 pm, the New York City Transit Authority will present a proposal to make structural changes at the 7th Avenue F/G subway station. The proposal would involve moving the station agent booth to the 7th Avenue end of the station, adding more turnstiles at both the 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue entrances, and closing off access between the 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue ends of the station at the mezzanine level. The MTA estimates that the project will cost $400,000. Despite this significant expenditure, the proposal does not make the station more accessible to the disabled, or even to lay the foundation for a future renovation that would make the station accessible.
From our standpoint, this is a failure of planning that CB6 should not endorse as-is. The 7th Avenue station serves over 12,000 people on an average weekday, and is the primary public transit route serving NY Methodist Hospital. It is evident that a subway station serving this many people, as well as a major hospital, should be accessible to those who cannot easily climb or descend stairs. The fact that NY Methodist is on the cusp of a major expansion only underscores the need to make the 7th Avenue station accessible.
We encourage the community to attend the meeting on Thursday evening to let CB6 and MTA NYC Transit know that we want a commitment to upgrade the 7th Avenue station to make it fully accessible, and we do not want piecemeal, expensive modifications that are not carefully designed to ensure consistency with a long-term accessibility plan.
The meeting will take place Thursday, September 17 at 6:30 p.m. at:
Visitation Parish Chapel
98 Richards Street
(northwest corner Richards St/Visitation Pl)
Brooklyn NY 11231If you can’t attend the meeting, please feel free to send CB6 an email [info@BrooklynCB6.org] to share your thinking about this proposal.
Photo via Preserve Park Slope
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Reminds me a bit of the 7th avenue station on the B/Q line: all passengers exiting the subway station on the South side of Flatbush avenue have to merge and squish through one tiny little staircase (which usually has a beggar and/or an AMNY vendor at the top, exacerbating the issue). All the while, there’s an entire mezzanine level in the station that hasn’t been used in years.
Reminds me a bit of the 7th avenue station on the B/Q line: all passengers exiting the subway station on the South side of Flatbush avenue have to merge and squish through one tiny little staircase (which usually has a beggar and/or an AMNY vendor at the top, exacerbating the issue). All the while, there’s an entire mezzanine level in the station that hasn’t been used in years.