Closed for repairs that aren't being made: Is this why we hate the gummint?

The artwork comes and goes, but the "I.R.T. SUBWAY 191st ST. ENTRANCE" remains -- leading down a flight of stairs (or a steep concrete ramp) to the three-block-long tunnel that links those of us on Broadway to the subway -- though not so well when the stairway on the left is closed for "repairs" that aren't happening. (Pay no attention to the "NO BICYCLE RIDING IN SUBWAY TUNNEL" sign, which was dismantled by the kids who use the tunnel as a bike speedway. But that's another story.)

by Ken

Maybe I'm getting carried away with this "why we hate gummint" business, when what this really is is a really annoying personal peeve. Still, there doesn't seem anyone else to bitch to, so count this as therapy, if nothing else.

What you see in the photo above is a view from Broadway of the entrance to a tunnel that cuts through the Fort George hill to the east of Broadway, providing us here in the valley that is Broadway with access to the IRT No. 1 train.

It's a tunnel of immense geopolitical importance. When the subway line that we now know as the No. 1 was first extended above 145th Street not long after the original subway line opened in 1907, it led to a development boom up top of the hill (which was -- and is -- connected to the subway below by elevators), along St. Nicholas Avenue and the blocks adjoining it. At that time, however, development remained fitful down here in the valley, because there really was no practical way to get from here to there. Until the tunnel was built, at which point the residential development of this stretch of Broadway opened up.

(In the early 1930s, when New York City built the IND subway line, including one that runs under the Fort Washington hill to the west. Tunnels through the side of the hill were built to provide access to both the 181st and 190th Street stations of what is now the A train.)

The tunnel really is a lifeline, but it has always been trouble, not least in the matter of maintenance, and in this regard not least because of a jurisdictional jumble. The tunnel is officially mapped as a street, and so whatever authority runs the subways -- at the moment it's the NYC Transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- always responds to complainst by pointing out that it's the responsibility of the Dept. of Transportation, and DoT can be counted on to point a finger at the Dept. of Sanitation, and in the end, after each periodic bout of shouting and crying, somebody eventually does a little something.

Nevertheless, complaints about sanitation, lighting, drainage, and general safety are pretty much ongoing. Just a week or two ago DNAinfo New York's Lindsay Armstrong filed a report called "Upkeep of 191st St. 1 Train Passageway Blocked by Bureaucracy, Locals Say," which began:

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Locals are fed up with filthy, dark and dangerous conditions in an underground tunnel that connects the 191st Street 1 train subway station at St. Nicholas Avenue to Broadway — but say their complaints to city agencies only lead to bureaucratic finger-pointing.

BUT THAT'S NOT MY CURRENT PEEVE

Hey, I've seen the tunnel in much worse shape. I can see where parents might be uneasy about letting children walk through it unattended, but that seems to me built into the fact of there being such a tunnel. A tunnel user is quoted in the article saying, "There should really be a security person there. At the very least, it should be better lit and there should be a phone in case someone needs help."

However, such things have never been figured in any way in the tunnel's conception or functioning, and I can't begin to imagine what it would cost to provide this degree of safety. So no, that's not my peeve, which concerns access to the below-grade tunnel from street level at Broadway. As shown in the photo, there's a a flight of stairs on the left and a steep concrete ramp on the right. The ramp long predates the era of "accessibility," and is much too steep for most such uses.

For a month now, the stairway has been closed, with signs saying that it would be closed from something like 7/12 to 8/12 for necessary repairs. Okay, I can believe that repairs are needed. My problem is that they aren't happening." According to the signs -- which, by the way, don't carry any indication of a responsible agency -- the stairway should be just about ready for reopening. I don't think that's going to happen, though, because as far as I can see, not the least little lick of work has been done. All that has happened in the month that the stairs have been cordoned off to users is that trash has piled up on them.

Meanwhile that steep concrete ramp, which I'm sure isn't 45 degrees but sure looks like it when you're faced with going up or down it, makes access for a lot of people quite difficult, or even impossible.

In many situations in the city, when construction work is being done, permits are required to be in place, along with descriptions of the work done and a phone number for questions or complaints. As I mentioned, these signs don't even indicate who the responsible authority is.

Longtime New Yorkers are familiar with cases of public outdoor stairways around the city which have closed for repairs and remained closed not just for weeks but for months and even years. I imagine our little stairway is on somebody's list somewhere, behind a list of other stairways that haven't been repaired either -- and ours is probably judged as "low priority" since there is, after all, that concrete ramp to provide "access."

It will be interesting to see what happens once we pass the posted "completion" date on the signs by two or three months. My guess is that they'll just cover over that imaginary date.

So I ask, are we really sure that this isn't why people hate the gummint?

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