30 The Queens Courier • FEBRUARY 7, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
30 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 7, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
The shame of the subways
Th e tragic death of a young mother
who fell down a stairwell at a Manhattan
subway station stairwell last month has
shined a new light on the MTA’s accessibility
problem.
Just 25 percent of the city’s subway
stations — 119 out of 472 stops — are
considered accessible under federal standards
in the Americans for Disabilities
Act (ADA) enacted back in 1990. While
the ADA mandated that any new stations
be made with provisions for persons
with disabilities, there’s no such requirement
for retrofi tting already-established
stations.
More egregiously, however, is the
absence of an elevator from subway stations
near several major medical centers
serving Queens.
When you arrive at the Elmhurst
Avenue station on the M/R line, you’ll
notice a sign embedded on the tile: “CITY
HOSPITAL AT ELMHURST.” Below the
sign is a red arrow pointing the way to
the exit closest to Elmhurst Hospital, one
of Queens’ biggest and busiest medical
centers.
But if you are taking the subway and are
confi ned to a wheelchair or using crutches,
you’re out of luck. Th ere’s no elevator
at the Elmhurst Avenue station to easily
connect you to Elmhurst Hospital.
Th e same can be said for patients at
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, just
over the Ridgewood/Bushwick border in
Brooklyn. Th ousands of Queens residents
visit the hospital annually, but the closest
subway station — the DeKalb Avenue
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
stop on the L line, with an exit right next
door to the hospital itself — also lacks an
elevator or other ADA provisions.
Th en there’s Northwell Forest Hills
Hospital, another medical center caring
for thousands of Queens patients annually,
located three blocks north of the 67th
Avenue stop on the M/R lines. Th e 67th
Avenue station also doesn’t have an elevator.
Finally, and most shamefully, is the
30th Avenue station on the N/W line
in Astoria, located two blocks east of
Mount Sinai Queens Hospital. Th e station
reopened last year aft er an extensive
and costly overhaul — but left out of
those improvements was the installation
of an elevator.
It’s disgraceful that the MTA, nearly
three decades aft er the ADA was signed
into law, hasn’t done anything to improve
accessibility at these four stations.
We recognize how costly it is to upgrade
every single subway station in New York
City, but for the MTA to overlook providing
ADA accessibility at every station
near a major public health facility is just
maddening.
Th e MTA’s Fast Forward improvement
plan calls for upgrading 50 stations over
the next fi ve years. Th at would bring the
system’s accessibility rate to 35.8 percent.
It’s not nearly enough.
We urge the MTA to double its accessibility
goals in Fast Forward, and ensure
that every subway station near every
major medical center in New York City
meets ADA requirements.
THE QUEENS
sun
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
INSIDE SALES MANAGER
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
JENNA BAGCAL, MARK HALLUM, KATRINA MEDOFF,
CARLOTTA MOHAMED, ALEJANDRA O'CONNELL-DOMENECH,
BILL PARRY
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
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STORY: Petland Discounts to close all of its locations, including
those in Queens, following death of owner
SUMMARY: A pet store chain with multiple locations
throughout Queens will be closing all of its stores later this
year.
REACH: 28,933 people reached (as of 2/4/19)
Publisher & E ditor Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Co-Publisher Joshua A. Schneps
Chief Operating Officer Bob Brennan
E ditor-In-Chief Robert Pozarycki
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S taff Reporters Jenna Bagcal, Mark Hallum, Katrina Medoff
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President & CEO Victoria Schneps-Yunis
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