Eleven subway stations
to have elevators
installed or repaired
BY JASON COHEN
Nearly a dozen subway stations in
the Bronx will soon be ADA (Americans
with Disabilities Act) compliant.
On Thursday, December 19, the
MTA announced that 11 subway stations
in the Bronx would be part of a
$5.2 billion investment, the largest in
city history, which will install or renovate
elevators in 70 subway stations
throughout the fi ve boroughs.
NYC Transit’s Fast Forward plan
to modernize the subway system established
the goal of making at least
50 more subway stations accessible in
fi ve years so that customers would not
have to travel farther than two stops to
reach an accessible station.
“The announcement of these additional
20 ADA stations is a major step
forward for MTA system wide accessibility,”
said MTA chairman and CEO
Patrick Foye. “New Yorkers deserve a
subway system that works for everyone.”
The stations that will have elevators
renovated or installed are: Wakefi
eld-241st Street #2; Kingsbridge Road
#4; East 167th Street B and D; Burnside
Avenue # 4; 3rd Avenue-East 138th
Street, #6; Van Cortlandt Park-West
242nd Street, #1; East Tremont Avenue,
B and D; Parkchester, #6; East
149th Street, # 6; Brook Avenue, # 6;
and Mosholu Parkway.
Councilman Fernando Cabrera
praised the MTA for making the stations
ADA complaint. In a largely
transit dependent community, people
that are disabled, elderly, injured or
with young kids often need elevators.
Ultimately, this will make everyone’s
commutes and lives much easier, he
said.
“For far too long, I’ve watched elderly
people, disabled people, and
parents with children, packages and
babies in strollers and carriages struggling
to navigate the subway steps, at
risk for falls and injuries,” Cabrera
said in statement.
“I am delighted to announce that
the MTA will install elevators in the
Kingsbridge Road and Burnside Avenue
stations on the #4 Lexington
Avenue line and the Tremont Avenue
CB9 learns that it is receiving 2 more homeless shelters
The site of a future shelter in Cb9 district at 951 Olmstead Avenue. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
BRONX TIMES R 2 EPORTER, JANUARY 3-9, 2020 BTR
The East Tremont Avenue B and D station, which will have an elevator installed in it.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
station on the B and D lines. We have
achieved a major victory for transportation
equity today.”
In September, the MTA released
the proposed 2020-2024 Capital Plan, a
historic plan that invests $51.5 billion
across the region’s subways, buses,
commuter rail systems and bridges
and tunnels over the next fi ve years.
The plan is the largest in MTA history
and includes $40 billion devoted
to NYC Transit’s subway system and
bus network, with top priority given to
accelerating accessibility.
The 20 additional stations announced
serve various subway lines
and diverse communities, with a focus
on increasing accessibility in some of
the city’s fastest-growing neighborhoods
and major corridors.
The entire station selection process
was driven by extensive community
input, including public engagement
events, outreach to advocates
and community groups, as well as
feedback from thousands of elected offi
cials, advocates and customers with
disabilities.
BY JASON COHEN
Community Board 9 will soon be
home to two new shelters.
On Tuesday, December 3, NYC Department
of Homeless Services announced
the city will be opening facilities
at 951 Olmstead Avenue and 1144
Evergreen Avenue.
Both of these will provide temporary
shelter for families with children,
with priority offered to those
who have roots in CB 9. Olmstead Avenue
will open in 2021 and Evergreen
in mid-2020.
According to DHS, there are more
DHS clients from CB9 in its shelter system
citywide than capacity available
to shelter them.
There are 878 households comprised
of 1,992 individuals from CB9 in shelters
across the city, however, there are
only 790 people housed in Community
Board 9, including 468 across fi ve cluster
sites, all of which will be phased
out by the end of the plan in 2023.
Once these remaining cluster sites
close, this district would then have
approximately 1,600 fewer beds than
what would be required.
The shelter at Olmstead will provide
for 161 families and Evergreen
will house 51.
Non-profi ts URI (Urban Resource
Institute) and CAMBA will provide
services at Olmstead and Evergreen
respectively. They will offer case management,
individual and group counseling,
permanency planning and
housing placement assistance, income
building services, referrals to medical
and mental health services, support
groups, independent living and
life skills workshops, recreational programming
for children and residential
services and support in fi nding and securing
employment.
CB 9 district manager William Rivera
is all for providing housing for
the homeless, but feels CB9 is being
oversaturated with shelters. With
these two shelters, there will now be a
total of 12 in the neighborhood.
The question is - are other shelters
going into other areas of the borough
and if not, why so, he asked.
He noted that CB11 has zero shelters
and CB10 only has three.
“We shouldn’t be getting any more
shelters unless the other districts have
their fair share,” Rivera said. “There’s
a homeless epidemic we understand
that. We have a moral responsibility to
help people.”
Rivera told the Bronx Times as
soon as he was notifi ed by DHS about
the shelters he put the news on social
media.
While residents and board members
recognize the need for housing, they
share his sentiment of confusion as to
why more shelters keep coming to CB9.
Rivera plans to meet with the two
providers, DHS and elected offi cials in
the near future.