Apr
29
Video of the Day: Subway stations falling down
ByNew York’s subway stations are falling down. A few days ago, Patch’s Prospect Heights site reported on a crumbling ceiling at the Eastern Parkway subway stop that sent two children to the hospital with scrapes and cuts. For the MTA and its riders, this is but another sign of the fact that 100-year-old systems require significant infrastructure investments, and it’s hardly a unique happening.
In response to this incident and viewer comments, WPIX 11′s local agitator Greg Mocker hit the streets to find the system’s worst looking subway stations. He didn’t have to look too far, and in the segment below — which unfortunately contains some ill-informed MTA bashing from local politicians who refuse to fund these badly-needed infrastructure upgrades — he goes underground. The State of Good Repair remains elusive indeed.
Tweet
14 Responses to “Video of the Day: Subway stations falling down”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] Greg Mocker, everyone’s favorite hyperactive muckracking TV news reporter, decided to explore the MTA’s crumbling stations, and he’s started a regular segment of his portion of the Channel 11 news. In it, he fields [...]
Chambers Street on the J. Not just falling down, but falling down 75 yards from the mayor’s office at City Hall — If you’re looking for great TV visuals, you can’t beat having Mocker walking downstairs from the street level on east side of Mayor Mike’s building and finding the Chambers of Horrors lurking right underneath the Municipal Building.
That guy’s nervous energy reminds me of The Onion’s autistic reporter.
i need to know where this guys scores his cocaine
It’s all an act. I saw him prepping himself at the Bryant Park subway station a few months ago just before the cams start rolling. He was as calm and collected he could be. When the camera began rolling, he did his manic schtick, getting all Howard Beale. News is indeed entertainment nowadays.
But the BMT Chambers St station is indeed the worst piece of shit in the whole system.
I dunno, much of the BMT just looks pretty bad.
[Somewhat off-topic, but I wanted this message to be SEEN, so I'm putting it here.]
I just received an E-mail with the following statement:
“All times until 12:01 AM Sat, May 21, 2011
Manhattan-bound F trains skip Fort Hamilton Pkwy, 15 St-Prospect Park and Smith-9 Sts.”
Perhaps that means that the F through that part of Brooklyn will finally go back to normal STARTING on Saturday, May 21.
According to the Windsor Terrace Alliance, normal service resumes May 23rd. They have a countdown clock here: http://windsorterracealliance.org/
Unless it’s possible that the MTA now intends to normalize the service two days earlier than they previously expected to do so.
Nope, it’ll be happening in the other direction soon after, part of the 3 year plan in action.
On a side note, the MTA never fixed the ceiling collapse at 181st street on the 1 that happened 3 years ago. I’d cry foul if they manage to fix the problem at Eastern Parkway before they fix a national landmark.
Lets sing… SUBWAY STATIONS FALLING DOWN, FALLING DOWN FALLING DOWN, SUBWAY STATIONS FALLING DOWN MY. FARE FARE BLOOMBERG. LOL
Too bad it didn’t fall on HIS head!
At least then the city would have initiated a crash program to fix up the ceilings of old subway stations.
Oh yes, and if it REALLY was only plaster, as the MTA insists,
it must have been a hell of a big chunk of it. It must have crumbled upon hitting the platform floor, thereby making it difficult to estimate how big a chunk it had been.
What about all the chunks from the el? Don’t you think one day someone will get killed and the MTA will have to pay out really big and then there will even be less money for repairs.
How did this “reporter” get to Manhattan TV? Jeesh. Stand still, get the facts right. No MTA staff interviews? Only two nearby stations’ photos? I’ve worked in far smaller TV markets and this video would have been enough to cause a reporter to be reprimanded and taken off the air for a few days.
Too bad the NYT isn’t running this contest. Someone needs to make major changes in the MTA.
I’ve travelled to many cities around the world. NYC’s subway is by-far the most neglected. Some of these things wouldn’t be that difficult to fix/clean either. Cleaning would be a good start! I remember seeing a 6″ dust pile atop a platform conduit. Same goes for the grunge on the walls. Even a cursory mop/sponge of the walls weekly would be sufficient.