26 The Queens Courier • AUGUST 15, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
26 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 15, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
The crumbling state of the MTA
Two reports released by State
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and City
Comptroller Scott Stringer this week
highlight the woeful conditions that
Queens commuters who rely on subways
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renovated Astoria warehouse this fall
SUMMARY: An international food hall is expected to open its
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REACH: 15,176 people (as of 8/12/19)
and commuter rail lines can attest
to daily.
And while it’s easy to see the neglect
and incompetence, it seems much harder
to fi nd a way to fi x the damage.
DiNapoli announced the results of a
study that revealed something that seems
obvious by now: most New York City
subway stations are crumbling. Th at
Queens had the largest number of stations
with “worn or damaged structural
components” — 44 percent of all the borough’s
subway stops, as measured in an
analysis of MTA data from 2017 — was
rather startling.
Th ese components include platform
edges and ventilators, both of which are
quite obviously key to rider safety. Broken
platform edges increase the risk of potentially
tragic slips and falls, and malfunctioning
ventilators are both short- and
long-term health hazards for anyone who
sets foot on an underground subway station
platform.
Th e second half of this one-two transit
punch came from Stringer’s letter to
Long Island Rail Road President Phil Eng
criticizing the commuter rail line for its
own station problems, namely a lack of
accessibility.
Just fi ve LIRR stations in Brooklyn and
Queens meet federal ADA (Americans
with Disabilities Act) compliance, and
yet, the LIRR has either dragged its feet
on — or scrapped altogether — projects
designed to bring the stops up to code.
Th e LIRR and MTA quietly removed
funding in its most recent capital plan
for improvements to the Hollis and
Hunterspoint Avenue stations, and construction
and Sunnyside. Moreover, eff orts to
build elevators at the Murray Hill station
have been delayed over and over again,
and now the project is way over budget,
according to Stringer.
Th at’s not to mention the continued
neglect at the Woodside-61st Street transit
hub, which Th e Queens Courier profi
led back in March. Th e MTA has seemingly
done the bare minimum to improve
conditions there, mainly taking steps to
prevent debris from falling off the elevated
7 line onto cars and people.
Th e falling debris problem apparently
isn’t confi ned to Woodside, either.
Earlier this month, City Councilman
THE QUEENS
sun
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
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JENNA BAGCAL, MARK HALLUM, KATRINA MEDOFF,
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JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
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Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Queens Courier
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Costa Constantinides urged the MTA to
install protective netting under the elevated
N/W line in Astoria aft er a worker’s
fl ashlight, somehow kept on the apparatus
above, came crashing down to the
pavement below.
Add it all up, and the portrait of the
MTA in 2019 is far from fl attering.
Politicians have been quick to condemn
the MTA and promise reform and
“transformation” to make everything better.
We’ve heard this before, and the end
result has always equated to reshuffl ing
deck chairs on the Titanic.
Meanwhile, Queens residents are stuck
with terrible bus service, delayed subway
trains and crumbling, inaccessible
stations.
City and state leaders should streamline
the authority’s overhead and empower
it (fi nancially and politically) with the
means to get things done — and then do
them.
We don’t need another Robert Moses
— an all-powerful master builder who
treated the public with contempt — but
rather leaders who can at least get the
MTA and the riders it serves out of this
mess.
Enough talking about it. Let’s get the
MTA moving toward progress again. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Publisher & E ditor Victoria Schneps-Yunis
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Schneps Media, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
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