Praises Long Overdue Work
For 86th Street Subway Stop
By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BAY RIDGE – In at least his third public and most visible outdoor appearance in Bay Ridge since his troubles began in May, Congressman Vito Fossella made an announcement on Friday about a long overdue major rehab project for one of Brooklyn’s busiest subway stations.
Accompanied by local civic and business leaders, he spoke by the turnstiles at the grimy 86th Street R subway station, used daily by thousands of riders from both Brooklyn and Staten Island, who must transfer to over-the-bridge buses.
“About 10,000 people use this station every day on a regular basis. After many years of advocating and waiting for essential rehab work here, we got the ball rolling, and now have the funds for the work at last,” Fossella said, speaking at a podium outside the station’s booth (still called by many a “token booth”). “The station is one of the most heavily used in Brooklyn, and age has taken its toll on its infrastructure.”
He and state Sen. Marty Golden, represented at the press conference by aide John Qualione, hailed the final release of $4,866,858 million in federal transportation funds secured by the congressman under the grant title “Rehabilitation of the 86th Street Station in Brooklyn, N.Y.” under the Transportation Equity Act.
In addition to the federal funding, $2.4 million was secured by Senator Golden, along with nearly $5 million provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, adding up to a total of almost $12.3 million for several station improvements.
“For too long, the many riders who use the 86th Street train station on a daily basis have had to endure dilapidated conditions that require these improvements,” said Golden in the statement read by Quaglione. “For the approximately 9,600 daily straphangers, they will surely benefit form these enhancements.”
Among the improvements will be new ceramic tile wall finish on track walls after scraping, decorative wall mosaics, newly painted ceilings after scarping, scraped and painted mezzanines walls, repair of rusted steel in ventilators, new platform edges, and replacement of sidewalk slabs at former ventilators.
“The work will start in April 2009 for the 24-month-long project. I am proud to have made good on my promise to give the people of Bay Ridge a modern subway station that is clean, welcoming and convenient,” said Fossella.
Praising the rehab funding were leaders of the Bay Ridge 86th Street Business Improvement District and Community Board 10. Both BID President John Logue and Executive Director Patrick Condren hailed the funding as a major help for consumers at the busy commercial strip. Condren, long a mass transit advocate, said. “This station is a major destination for Brooklyn shoppers.”
“Each year, the community board has made the rehab a top funding proposal. But it’s always been put on the back burner,” said Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann. “Now we are so fortunate to have the federal and other funding, at long last.”
Fossella Steals Democrats’ Thunder
Work on the station became a political campaign issue several weeks ago. That is when Staten Island North Shore Councilman Mike McMahon, running in Tuesday’s primary election against Bay Ridge attorney Steve Harrison to be the Democratic candidate to replace Fossella, announced that he would secure the federal rehab funds if elected.
Showing his still-potent political clout, Fossella, a Republican-Conservative who dropped his re-election campaign in May after his DUI arrest and revelation of his extramarital affair, appears to have stolen McMahon’s thunder with his station rehab announcement.
Former Staten Island Assemblyman Bob Straniere, a longtime Fossella friend, hopes to be the five-term congressman’s successor, pending the results of Tuesday’s GOP primary election and the November general election. Fossella refused to answer a question from a reporter about his own political future.
After the press conference, wall graffiti removal workers were busy doing routine work, painting over graffiti on walls facing the platform.
Among the requests by the politicians and lawmakers was to install an elevator – the first one for the Bay Ridge section of the R line route. The nearest R station with an elevator is at Pacific Street in Boerum Hill.
“That is a separate $20 million project request in the purview of the MTA,” said Bob Capano, the congressman’s Brooklyn community aide. “Congressman Fossella will keep pushing for it.”
Congressman Fossella’s appearance on Friday followed at least two other public appearances in Brooklyn since May. One was at his school reading program at a public library and the other was at a Xaverian High School event.
————————
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law.
Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
