As DNA Info’s Serena Solomon reports, pup owners say their animals are suffering as well. Some dogs have been coughing with runny noses while others are exhibiting skin conditions and “psychological issues” relating to the ongoing subway blasting. “As soon as the sirens go off, the whole building starts barking,” dog owner Noura Insolera said. Her dog Winnie, she explains, “runs back and forth, scratches at the walls, tries to jump out the window.”

Even if the air quality isn’t impacting these pups’ lives, their owners say the animals have either become skittish or lethargic in the face of more blasting. Color me skeptical, but it seems as though dogs are just the next pawn in the great NIMBY fight against a new subway line.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

So what, then, takes so long? According to Salon’s Will Doig, seven different elements, many of them interrelated, slow down transit expansion plans in the United States. Up front, he pinpoints the obvious. By combining funding from various sources — the feds, states, cities, the bureaucracy slow distribution of money, and oftentimes, there isn’t enough money guaranteed up front to see megaprojects through to completion. He also pays heed to the physical challenges of working around 100-year-old city infrastructure that was never properly mapped, and he fingers a societal addiction to cars that often serves to marginalize transit. He certainly isn’t wrong there.

In my opinion, though, his two key elements concern mismanagement and what he terms basic fairness. With a small group of companies qualified to build subways, mismanagement runs rampant. That is a problem that should be addressed if other SAS phases receive funding. The fairness element though is a tough one. He writes:

Good public transit is a cherished ideal of many progressives. Ironically, progressive values can end up making transit construction take longer. Part of the reason we don’t build as fast as China does is because we have workers’ unions, ADA compliance rules, and environmental concerns that require time-consuming impact studies. “If we didn’t have to put elevators everywhere and we imported non-union Mexican immigrants to do the work, you could build a lot more of everything,” says Duke, who hastens to add that he’s not in favor of that. Good, affordable transit is a human rights issue too, though, and in many ways the common link in our desire for healthier, less wasteful cities that serve everyone equally.

Many transit advocates may whisper that the fairness balance has tipped too far to the other side. The MTA issued its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Second Ave. Subway in March of 2001. The FEIS saw the light of day 38 months later in May of 2004, and the authority had to further revise its assessment in 2009 to find no material impact when it had to redesign station configurations at 72nd and 86th St. That is a time-consuming and costly process that should be streamlined as well.

Doig doesn’t dwell on another issue — NIMBYism — that can often stop subway expansion projects in their metaphoric tracks before they move much beyond an idea on paper. Lawsuits and community outrage can slow down worthwhile projects as well. Still, his list of seven can serve as a primer for readers of this site who want to know just why it’s taking so long for such a short subway extension underneath Second Ave. to become a reality.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Conventional and practical wisdom in the New York real estate market often focuses around accessibility. Brokers and the folks who post to Craigslist tout the nearest subway stop, and we wear our commutes as badges of honor or disgrace. I have friends who will live only so many blocks away from the nearest subway stops, and express stations command a premium.

Lately, the Upper East Side along Second Ave., once a desirable place to live, has seen a market downturn. Sean Creamer for Our Town profiled the state of the market last week. He writes:

Commercial tenants who rent 700 square feet would pay $5,200-5,600 under regular rent conditions, but now that the construction has curbed business, the same renters pay $3,200-3,700 and businesses are “still struggling,” [real estate manager Andre Soto] said.

Even residential properties have been discounted in the construction zones. On average, a one-bedroom apartment in one of Soto’s buildings on the Upper East Side would go for $1,100-$2,200, and a two-bedroom would go for anywhere between $1,800 and $2,800. Soto has lowered rents by 30 percent in the areas that are at the mercy of subway construction because of the volume of complaints filed by residents…

Although the problems with the subway construction have caused some people to move, they have opened the market on the Upper East Side to a younger generation willing to deal with the clamor in exchange for lowered rents. Because of the proximity to the hustle and bustle of Second Avenue and the cheaper rents, many more young professionals have come in, according to Norman Shakner, a realtor from A.C. Lawrence Realty. He noted that real estate in the area is booming because of the prospect of having a train line in the future and the fact that proprietors are driving down prices to fill empty apartments.

Renting near the Second Ave. subway construction might not be the best life decision right now. The trains are not enter projected to enter revenue service until at least the end of 2016, and another 59 months of subway construction can lead to many an explosion and numerous sleepless nights. But for those with the money and the patience, buying on the Upper East Side may be a sound investment.

Over the course of New York City history, real estate booms in newly accessible areas have generally followed the subway as it opened. The Upper West Side grew up out of the El trains and IRT in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Large swaths of Queens came to life as the Flushing Line opened. While the Upper East Side is already a well-developed neighborhood, it will become even more desirable once the subway opens, and travel times to midtown, Union Square and beyond are cut considerably.

For now, though, a promise of that increase in value and a lifeline for a neighborhood under siege is a long way off. Those who have lived through four years of work know what it’s like, but another five years is a rather long time indeed. “The new subway is going to take the Lexington Avenue crowd and bring them over to Second Avenue,” Mahoud Ahmed, who works at Ray’s Pizza, said. “Once the train is done, it will bring more business to the area.”

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

“Based on the results of the study, there are no concerns that Second Avenue Subway construction is causing any danger to the public’s health,” MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to be a good neighbor as we complete this critically important project as quickly as possible.”

I can’t speak to the validity of the findings, but it seems that residents are skeptical. Some have noted that Parsons Brinckerhoff is an MTA contractor while others are complaining about smoke from blasting in addition to dust particles and debris. With station work expected to begin at 86th St. this year, these complaints will not cease. Just 59 more months to go.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

These proposed entrances for the Second Ave. Subway on 86th St. were the subject of a federal lawsuit.

NIMBYs, NIMBYs, wherefore art thou, NIMBYs?

While not quite the question posed by Juliet to Romeo, I often find myself asking why NIMBYs are constantly opposing any new public transit projects in New York City. A Transitway on 34th Street? That’ll cause a wall of buses. A train to LaGuardia that skirts around the edges of Astoria? That’ll disrupt a peaceful residential neighborhood. Subway entrances on 86th Street and Second Avenue? They’ll interfere with our precious driveway.

The final excuse was, as you may recall, one of the drivers behind a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a group of residents from 86th St. near Second Ave. These residents claimed that the MTA had “arbitrarily and capriciously” chosen to place new subway entrances on their blocks. The influx in pedestrians — who would be pointed away from the driveway — would harm Yorkshire Towers and its inhabitants, and the MTA, they claimed, did not properly assess the environmental impact of the entrances as they failed to consider new information as it emerged.

Luckily for the MTA and those eagerly awaiting better subway access, a judge earlier this month granted a motion to dismiss the complaint. Judge Thomas Griesa’s 16-page decision is available here as a PDF. Essentially, he granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss on a legal technicality. The Yorkshire Towers residents had 180 days from the government’s finding of no environmental impact on the MTA’s decision to locate the station entrances along 86th St., but they filed their lawsuit eight months late.

In reply to such an argument, the Yorkshire Towers plaintiffs attempted to claim that the MTA had an obligation to consider new information. As Judge Griesa dryly noted, however, the plaintiffs failed to present this new information in their complaint. Had the complaint not been time-barred, though, it seems as though Griesa would not have been too sympathetic to the claims set forward by Yorkshire Towers. But it matters little; they waited eight months beyond the statute of limitations, and the station entrances will go ahead as planned.

The staircases at Entrance 2 have been designed to minimize passenger flow in front Yorkshire Towers by siphoning riders away from the active driveway.

So the MTA can now move forward with work at 86th St. for these station entrances, and that happens not a moment too soon. A recent report to the MTA has found that the project is inching ever closer to its contingency timeline. Right now, the MTA has only 66 days’ leeway but five years of construction remaining until SAS Phase 1 hits revenue service. With the lawsuit out of the way, the MTA and its contractors can move forward at 86th St. without further delays.

Meanwhile, the NIMBYs lose. It’s a battle in a bigger fight for better transportation, and it’s part of living in a city. People will walk down your block, and the subway — a truly desirable thing — will open its doors down the street. Life will go on.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Art at the new 63rd Street station will evoke the former Second Avenue elevated trains.

I’ve been sitting on this one for a couple of weeks, but it’s still timely. A few weeks ago in The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Maloney profiled my favorite under-the-radar MTA department. She highlighted the upcoming plans for art installations at the MTA’s new stations. Along the 7 line extension and underneath Second Ave., the authority will soon have four blank canvases, and they’re planning new art for each station.

She writes:

As subway riders descend the escalator into a new 7 line station near 10th Avenue and 34th Street in 2013, they will be followed by a mosaic of brightly colored celestial orbs shining from a deep blue sky. At a planned Second Avenue subway stop at 63rd Street, the walls will display photographs evoking the elevated trains that once rumbled above. And a station at 96th Street will feature line drawings fired onto ceramic tiles, playing with perspectives as travelers move through the space.

The designs are part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan to make each of its new subway stations on the extended 7 line and new Second Avenue line a massive work of public art. Building on the MTA’s nearly three-decade history of enlivening subway and commuter rail stations with mosaics and sculpture, the agency has commissioned art that accompanies riders from the sidewalk to the platform and helps shape spaces that haven’t yet been built.

The effort is ongoing: The MTA last week issued a call for artists for the Second Avenue line’s 72nd Street station. “It’s very exciting,” said Sandra Bloodworth, director of the MTA’s Arts for Transit and Urban Design program, who, along with the artists, discussed details of the projects for the first time. “It’s three New Yorkers, three visions. I think that reflects the subway; it reflects our ridership.”

As Maloney notes, the MTA allocates a small portion of the construction costs to artwork. The new installations are expected to cost between $900,000 and a $1 million each and are a part of projects that will cost a few billion dollars each. It’s a great program that livens up the subways, turning them into the city’s most extensive art gallery. Check out Maloney’s piece for more renderings of the upcoming art. Jean Shin’s work at 63rd St., which, according to Maloney, will “depict the 1942 dismantling of the Second Avenue elevated line and the opening of the sky over an area accustomed to rumbling and shadows,” sounds particularly intriguing.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

As DNA Info wrote yesterday, residents are cautiously optimistic that the fixes will solve the problem. The MTA says it has expanded the blasting window by an hour in order to allow for more time in between charges. That way, the dust can settle before any blast triggers more debris.

The authority and its contractors have also tried to improve the muck houses — the giant structures along the avenue at 72nd St. — to better minimize the spread of blasting dust. New “Dust Bosses” will spray water on the dust in order to contain it within the muck house, and a burlap curtain will help seal some overhangs and vents.

Initially, residents offered some guarded praise for the new measures. “It’s a dramatic difference,” one said to The Post. “I see a big improvement, and I hope . . . it continues.”

Postscript: I made an appearance on Fox 5′s “Good Day New York” yesterday to discuss the Second Ave. Subway blasting issues. Check out the corresponding story right here and watch the video below.

Transit Blogger Benajmin Kabak: MyFoxNY.com

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

The New York Times reported on the decision last week. Per Christine Haughney and Michael Grynbaum, the MTA has issued a two-week moratorium on blasting as it works to modify the exhaust systems and giant enclosures that are supposed to trap debris. Blasting will resume on December 5, and residents are thrilled with the decision.

Those Upper East Siders who spoke with reporters were concerned with the long-term impact such blasting would have on their health. “I don’t want it to turn into a 9/11 situation where, five to 10 years down the line we’re sick,” Donna Pressman said to Pete Donohue of The Daily News. Said Jean Schoenberger to The Times. “It’s like gun powder that is going up in the air. It is a smoke cloud that is very pervasive.”

So while it’s all well and good that the MTA is responding to community complaints and hosting a quarterly public workshop on construction progress this Wednesday, there’s another side to this story as well. As Carolyn Maloney, the Congressional representative whose constituents include Upper East Siders, said of the long-awaited subway, “The best thing to do is to finish it.”

Thus, as Christine Haughney wrote last week, a faction of Upper East Siders would prefer to see the MTA just finish the damn thing already. She reported:

Francisco R. Quijada and Gus Sofronia, both longtime business owners along Second Avenue, know how frustrating the construction of the new subway line can be. Both have watched their businesses suffer from the huge enclosures that have been built in front of their buildings. And both have asked customers to ignore the steady drilling and hammering that emanate from beneath their feet. But when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided on Tuesday to stop temporarily the blasts it had been conducting around East 72nd Street each afternoon to try to better contain the dust billowing up, the two men reacted very differently.

Mr. Quijada, 79, an interior designer who has had his studio on Second Avenue near 72nd Street for 45 years, welcomed a break from the thunderous booms. They rattle his studio, riddle his walls with cracks and send dust into his front window display like sand pouring down an hourglass, he said. When he looks outside after a blast, he said, he sees passers-by covered in dust. “It sounds like another bomb is coming,” he said. “Maybe for somebody in their 20s, it would be exciting for it to happen. We have lost a lot of business.”

Mr. Sofronia, owner of Cafe Greco on Second Avenue near 72nd Street for 25 years, also says that the booms have hurt his business. But he is angry that the Second Avenue project has slowed. He wants the authority to wrap up its work so he can start making money from customers riding the new line. “That’s just delaying the project; you can’t have construction without dust,” Mr. Sofronia said. “As a business owner, I don’t really care about dust. If people start nagging about everything, this is going to be done in 2030.”

That is, of course, the ongoing battle. When Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway is completed, the Upper East Side will be a far more accessible area, and property values and business will jump. I’ve often wondered, in fact, if investing in the area around Second Ave. now while prices are depressed would constitute a sound investment. As long as the MTA finishes Phase 1 somewhat on time, I’d think it is.

But on the other hand, people have to live within this construction zone for another five years. The MTA is building a subway through a densely populated urban area with decades or centuries of uncharted and ill-maintained infrastructure, and it’s no easy task to do so without disrupting every day life. Without adequately stable buildings, without thorough maps of the underground scene, the MTA is flying blind.

Ultimately, just finishing it would be the best thing for the Upper East Side. Unfortunately, though, even the best case scenario means five more years of construction, some more invasive than others. For now, the MTA must strike a balance between moving forward and placating neighbors who want a subway line but don’t want the headaches, dust and debris that comes with it. As the fun starts up again on December 5, that gives the agency just one more week to address the problems.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Despite these grants, the MTA had been counting on more. The President had asked for $197 million for SAS and $215 million for ESA. Some House drafts of the appropriations bill would have cut those mounts by 21 and 47 percent respectively. These cuts, in the 5-9 percent range instead, are much more palatable. It is, as yet, unclear how the lesser grants will increase the MTA’s two megaprojects.

“These funding levels are not ideal, but the MTA should be able to keep the Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access on track with the amounts provided. These desperately-needed transit projects are creating tens of thousands of jobs literally beneath our feet,” Maloney said in a statement. “At a time when pretty much everyone agrees that job creation should be our number-one priority, I’m relieved that adequate federal funding for two of the best job-creation engines in the New York area has been included in the 2012 budget. Transit projects are among the best economic stimulus programs around – indeed, every dollar spent on public infrastructure boosts our economy by an estimated $1.59.”

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.

Over the past few years, as the MTA has showed off progress underneath Second Ave., authority officials have made it a point to downplay anything more than Phase 1 of the subway. Although the environmental study for a full-length Second Ave. Subway came out in 2004, funding for only a northern extension of the BMT line from 57th St. and Broadway to 96th St. and Second Ave. is in place, and the future of the remaining phases is hazy at best.

On the record, MTA officials have never spoken about the possibilities for future phases. When I interviewed Jay Walder last year, he talked about firming up Phase 1 funding commitments and looking for ways to reduce construction costs. On future phases, he hedged.

“If you look at the Second Ave. Subway piece, to their credit, the planners…are achieving a very usable segment of a railway so that when it opens in 2016, you will have something that will connect into the rest of the system.” Walder said to me. “If we don’t stop there, where do we go from here? The intent is that it goes south from there, and funding-available, that is exactly what everyone’s objective will be. We also have pieces of preexisting tunnel north so you may well have the opportunity to pick up both ends of that.”

Yesterday, though, a very faint glimmer of a Phase 2 future emerged when Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) toured the Second Ave. construction site. The federal government has been a very active funding partner for Phase 1. Their investment and pledge of $1.4 billion pushed the MTA to realize a subway line eight decades in the works, and without the federal dollars, the Second Ave. Subway would still just be a dream on paper.

Lately, though, with the feds on an austerity kick despite the need to create jobs, funding for the Second Ave. Subway had come under fire. The House had voted to take away $40 million funding, but after their tour on Tuesday, Mica and Maloney promised to restore those dollars. “The Second Avenue Subway is a great example of what can be done when we invest in our infrastructure, and I thank Chairman Mica for committing to help ensure that the federal government meets its responsibility to fund the subway’s first phase,” Maloney said in a statement.

Mica meanwhile was more expansive in his views. Noting how the Second Ave. Subway is a major infrastructure project with the ability to create a substantial number of jobs, Mica spoke of the future. “For the benefit of other major transportation and infrastructure projects like the Second Avenue Subway, and the stability needed to undertake these kinds of projects around the country, it is essential that Congress complete a six-year transportation bill as soon as possible,” he said.

Speaking with reporters after their tour, Mica stressed how he would lobby for continuous federal funding to maintain the pace of this project, and in those words, I can find that glimmer of hope for the future. If the feds can continue supporting this project, they will put pressure on New York to find the money to go forward. Phase 2 — the northern extension up Second Ave. to the IRT stop at 125th St. and Lexington — would ensure that those working on Phase 1 aren’t unemployed when the construction project ramps down, and the transportation benefits would be tremendous.

I’ve long held out hope for Phase 2 to start as Phase 1 winds down. As Chapter 3 of the FEIS explains, due to preexisting tunnels, the MTA would use cut-and-cover construction methods to build Phase 2. It would likely cost far less than Phase 1 and shouldn’t take nearly as long to finish. In a sense, it is likely to be the easiest segment of the Second Ave. Subway.

Still, I’m getting ahead of myself. The MTA has to make sure Phase 1 is set to finish on time and on budget before it can launch into Phase 2 planning. But I want to believe the project will keep going. I want to believe the MTA won’t cease construction entirely and then ramp it back up to build Phase 2. It’s going to take the perfect alignment of political stars and funding fates, but maybe, just maybe, this little subway 82 years in the making has legs that extend a bit further north than 96th St.

©2012 Second Ave. Sagas. All Rights Reserved.