12 MARCH 14, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Falling to pieces at Woodside station
If you want to understand what’s
wrong with the city’s public
transit system lately, all you
need to do is go to Woodside.
The neighborhood gained
notoriety in recent weeks after
very large objects suddenly fell
off the 7 line onto Roosevelt
Avenue. On Feb. 21, a wooden
beam — apparently a forgotten
former piece of a temporary work
platform left behind years ago —
smashed into a passing SUV. Then
on March 6, a chunk of unknown
metal debris fell off the platform
and hit a vehicle.
Miraculously, no one was hurt
in either instance. The MTA
scrambled to make reactive repairs
and make sure nothing else falls off
the 7 line in Woodside. Even so, it’s
undoubtedly left some commuters
wondering whether they need
to wear a hard hat while passing
through the area, just in case.
But these incidents are part
of a larger pattern of neglect for
the railroad infrastructure in
Woodside — and the thousands of
residents and commuters who pass
EDITORIAL
through it each day.
Walk into the Woodside-61st
Street station — which serves the 7
line and the Long Island Rail Road
— and you can see, smell and hear
the problems very clearly.
The main staircase leading into
the station is so rickety that it
quakes when a 7 train rumbles
in. Benches and pipes are openly
oxidized. You can smell urine in
certain spots and see vagrants
frequently roaming the mezzanine.
That’s not to mention the usual
gambit of delays due to signal
troubles and other problems that
have plagued the subway and
commuter rails in recent years.
Sure, the MTA has, in recent
years, improved a few staircases
and upgraded elevators, but they
haven’t gone nearly far enough in
giving the Woodside-61st Street
stop the overhaul it needs.
What’s the end result? Woodside-
61st Street ought to be a grand
gateway for one of Queens’ most
diverse neighborhoods — but it’s
instead symbolic of the MTA’s own
incompetence when it comes to
maintaining and supporting its
mass transit system.
In recent years, the MTA has
embarked on “station renewal”
projects on scores of other lines
in Queens. They’re repairing
stops along the N line in Astoria
and on the J line in Woodhaven
and Richmond Hill. They also
renovated, within a couple of years
time, four stations along the M
line in Bushwick, Ridgewood and
Middle Village.
Why is Woodside being ignored
here? Considering the importance
of the station to the subway and
LIRR, and its close proximity to
LaGuardia Airport and connection
to the Q53 Select Bus Service line,
the MTA needs to make repairing
the Woodside-61st Street station —
and shoring up the elevated 7 line
— a top priority immediately.
We urge our local elected
officials to stand up for Woodside
and give the community’s gateway
a makeover.
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ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
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JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ROBERT POZARYCKI
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DEBORAH CUSICK
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MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
EMILY DAVENPORT
MARK HALLUM
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
BILL PARRY
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