32 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
32 The Queens Courier • MARCH 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS www.qns.com
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STORY: Five Queens restaurants and chefs named as
prestigious James Beard Award semifi nalists
SUMMARY: Thirty-seven restaurants and chefs across New
York City have been chosen as semifi nalists to win the coveted
James Beard Award, and this year, fi ve of them are from
Queens.
REACH: 23,247 people reached (as of 3/11/19)
Falling to pieces
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.
Th e neighborhood gained notoriety in recent weeks aft er 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. Th en 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. Th e 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 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.
Th e 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. Th at’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. Th ey’re repairing stops along the N line in Astoria and on the J
line in Woodhaven and Richmond Hill. Th ey 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 offi cials to stand up for Woodside and give the community’s
sun
THE QUEENS
gateway a makeover.
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