Community Board 7 Chair Jean Hill and District Leader Eric Dinowitz are organizing a signature drive following today’s rally to support installation of an elevator at the Mosholu Parkway #4 Train station.
An age-old battle for accessible transit has begun anew in the Northwest Bronx as community leaders and advocates descended on the Mosholu Parkway 4 Train station to launch a month-long effort to lobby the MTA to install an elevator to the subway platform. The train station is in close proximity to a number of community institutions that service populations with mobility disabilities, including two major hospitals, three nursing homes, a senior center, and several high density residential buildings including Tracey Towers and Scott Tower. The Bronx also has the fewest number of ADA compliant stations among the four boroughs connected to the subway system. In April, the MTA Board announced that they added $300 million to the current 2015-2019 capital plan for ADA station improvements at up to five additional subway stations.
Over the next six weeks, District Leader Eric Dinowitz and Community Board 7 Chair Jean Hill will be leading a signature drive to demonstrate to the MTA that there is widespread community support for an elevator at this location in addition to a confluence of important demographic and geographic factors which cause Mosholu Parkway to be an ideal location for an elevator. These signatures will be delivered to the MTA Board at their next public meeting on September 26.
Bronx Community Board 7 Chair and President of Tracey Towers Tenants Organization Jean Hill said:“An ADA elevator at the Mosholu Jerome Avenue Station is long overdue. This area covers a large area of seniors, young parents from Tracey Towers, Scott Towers, North Central Bronx and Montefiore Hospital patients. This neighborhood deserves consideration.”
State Senator Jamaal Bailey said: “Ensuring that all residents have the ability to use the public transportation system should never be up for debate. The Mosholu Parkway 4 Train Station is one of the most populated stations in the city, that is consistently used by a large senior population that lives in the area and by patients from the nearby Montefiore Hospital. I urge the MTA to install an elevator at the Mosholu Parkway station and to comply with ADA regulations at all of its stations.”
District Leader Eric Dinowitz said: “The MTA has a duty to serve all New Yorkers and for far too many years they have failed to do so. Across the city, we need to ensure that all subway stations and buses are in compliance with the ADA and accessible to all New Yorkers. The Mosholu Parkway 4 Train station in particular has an urgent need for an elevator to meet the needs of our community, and I am committed to ensuring that residents of the Northwest Bronx have our voices heard by the MTA in our demand for an elevator in the current capital plan.”
The Mosholu Parkway elevated station on the #4 Jerome Avenue line might need two separate elevators however, since there are two flights of stairs to get to the entrance point to pay ones fare. After paying your fare it is another flight of stairs to the train platform.
It should be noted that this elevated station is in the 80th Assembly District, where Ms. Nathalia Fernandez is the Assemblywoman. Eric Dinowitz is the Democratic District Leader of the 81st Assembly District, where his father Jeffrey Dinowitz is the Assemblyman.
