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    72nd Street Subway Station Floods Days After Reopening Following Major Renovation

    October 15, 2018 | 10:46 AM - Updated on October 16, 2018 | 8:40 AM
    in NEWS
    16

    The newly renovated 72nd Street subway station just opened a little over a week ago and, lo and behold, the stairs were flooded just days later. The station underwent a $25 million renovation with new digital tools and structural upgrades but — just like the 110th Street station — the station is already facing flooding problems.

    David Lebowitz sent the following video late last week.

    “After receiving reports, we quickly dispatched a cleaner to unclog the drain in that stairwell,” an MTA spokesperson wrote.

    @NYCTSubway @MTA The 72 St B/C station has been reopened for ONE WEEK. Forget that it looks awful and the results don’t conceivably justify the cost and 5 months of inconvenience-now the stairwell at 70th St is totally flooded with no drainage-unpleasant and dangerous. pic.twitter.com/XvrFqsrPFs

    — David Lebowitz 🌈 (@dalebowitz) October 11, 2018

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    Please limit comments to 150 words and keep them civil and relevant to the article at hand. Comments are closed after six days. Our primary goal is to create a safe and respectful space where a broad spectrum of voices can be heard. We welcome diverse viewpoints and encourage readers to engage critically with one another’s ideas, but never at the expense of civility. Disagreement is expected—even encouraged—but it must be expressed with care and consideration. Comments that take cheap shots, escalate conflict, or veer into ideological warfare detract from the constructive spirit we aim to cultivate. A detailed statement on comments and WSR policy can be read here.

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    16 Comments
    alison tress
    alison tress
    7 years ago

    If this was the private sector, heads would roll.
    There needs to be accountability !!!!

    0
    Reply
    EricaC
    EricaC
    7 years ago
    Reply to  alison tress

    I work in the private sector. Weather heads would roll would depend on who did it, and whether it brought in the right balance of cost and benefit. If the person responsible is one of the golden people, there would be no consequences. And if it turned out to be more cost-effective to simply let people whine and complain them to fix it, that is what would happen. Do not think that thePrivate sector is some glorious place but everything works perfectly. People are people.

    0
    Reply
    JR
    JR
    7 years ago
    Reply to  alison tress

    Yes, someone would get a golden parachute and a year later, a bigger job.

    0
    Reply
    Jan
    Jan
    7 years ago

    Oh sadness!
    Can’t win for trying. It looked so nice I cried
    Hope it is not serious and easily corrected
    Kudos to Yoko for the beautiful murals

    0
    Reply
    geoff
    geoff
    7 years ago
    Reply to  Jan

    to mr lebowitz: your complaints are much hoo-ha about nothing.dangerous? don’t go out in the rain!

    0
    Reply
    jules
    jules
    7 years ago

    Who are these people who make millions of $’s to reconstruct the subways! ???? Sadly the whole thing is in the hands of serious scammers and hooked- up contractors and I doubt if any local, well-meaning politicians are able to turn the situation around.
    I went to a meeting in Harlem last week given by the fabulous new MTA president, Andy Byford who it seems is not being allowed to reform the situation… Still on hold.. little changing. Outrageous.

    0
    Reply
    A.C.
    A.C.
    7 years ago

    Look at the surprise on my face.

    Why do you think the MTA is going to be $42B in debt come 2022? At this point, just leave 86th Street closed, save us all.

    0
    Reply
    Francesca
    Francesca
    7 years ago

    So much of the City is so broken. The Mayor is part of the problem. Like Trump, he does not hold himself accountable.

    0
    Reply
    Scott
    Scott
    7 years ago

    I don’t know why people are surprised by this. The renovation was largely cosmetic. New tiles, LED lighting and a Yoko Ono mosaic do not prevent flooding. If they jackhammered the floor and re-graded it properly, that might help. You can see water is collecting away from the drain.

    0
    Reply
    Dissident
    Dissident
    7 years ago
    Reply to  Scott

    New tiles, LED lighting and a Yoko Ono mosaic do not prevent flooding.

    No matter how many people were to imagine otherwise…

    0
    Reply
    ZoomZ
    ZoomZ
    7 years ago

    $25 million thrown to the garbage.
    Nice walls, nice tiles, but better yet –
    build an ark.

    0
    Reply
    Jen
    Jen
    7 years ago

    But we have beautiful art of clouds by Yoko to cheer us up!

    WSR, a lot of people expressed interest in whether this mosaic was donated? Could you, please, follow up?

    0
    Reply
    HARRIET F.
    HARRIET F.
    7 years ago
    Reply to  Jen

    https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dclapercentforart/index.page By law, since 1982, all public projects must spend 1% of their budget for art. NYC was the forerunner of this law, which has since been copied all over the world. This has given us superb public art all over New York. Given Yoko’s nearby residence, and the proximity to Strawberry Fields, I assume she was a logical choice for this project.

    0
    Reply
    Jen
    Jen
    7 years ago
    Reply to  HARRIET F.

    I can’t believe you are still insisting on this 1% on art nonsense. No matter what a public project is supposed to address? I guess residents of Flint should have spent this 1 percent on art too, no matter what their situation with drinking water is since “lots of cities have followed” this 1 percent on art lead.

    We still have a horrific station but we spent 1% on art. Questionable art as it is, to add insult to the injury. Just because Yoko Ono lives next to it, she is a “logical choice”? Madonna is nearby too, as well as lots of hedge fund managers; I’m sure they have a painting or two they created in their spare time and would like to charge just 1 percent of multimillion project for it.

    So we got the station back after lengthy and costly repairs basically in the same state, but this “ art” that looks like something made for IKEA is supposed to make up for it?

    And can WSR follow up on whether or was donated?

    0
    Reply
    B flat
    B flat
    7 years ago

    Getcher $25 million dollar pork right heah!!

    0
    Reply
    A.C.
    A.C.
    7 years ago

    Privatize the subways and the MTA. Hand it to someone who clearly has a devotion to the system, and is more qualified to handle it.

    So literally, anyone but who’s in office right now.

    0
    Reply

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