www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY January 5, 2020 2
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 station on the B and D
The East Tremont Avenue B and D station, which will have an elevator installed in it.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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 fastestgrowing
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.
Eleven subway stations
to have elevators
installed or repaired
CB9 learns that it is receiving 2 more homeless shelters
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
The site of a future shelter in Cb9 district at 951 Olmstead Avenue. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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.
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