Hi Lyana,

Thanks for posting this article from Mark's blog. The 215th Street stairs are
indeed a disaster.

Since Mark heads the Traffic and Transportation Committee for CB12, I've
written him to see if he would be willing to meet with our group to discuss
some of our livable streets projects and which ones we may be able to move
forward.

I hope your surgery goes well.

Best wishes,
Urbanis

On 2008-07-14 20:41, Lyana wrote:
> I've taken the liberty of posting an entry from Mark D. Levine's blog about
> a topic that literally hits too close to home: the deteriorating conditions
> at the 215th Street stairs. The fact that the post is well over a year old -
> and that nothing has changed - is very alarming; I'm getting foot surgery in
> two weeks and I'm not looking forward to traversing the steps in my cast and
> cane after having read this post below. 
> In any event, I figured some concerned residents might be inspired to write
> a letter to the DoT themselves. 
> Lyana
> 
> ---------------
> posted 4/23/07 by Mark D. Levine 
> www.markdlevine.com
> 
> A long-time resident of Park Terrace East was hospitalized this week after
> an incident in Inwood that left her with severe lacerations to the legs and
> face. Was it from a mugging? A car accident? No, she was a victim of the
> extreme state of disrepair of the steps rising west of Broadway at 215th
> Street.  
> The 215th Step-Street, as it is officially known, consists of no fewer that
> 11 flights of stairs, and is a pedestrian thoroughfare for residents of the
> Park Terrace area and others going between Broadway and the parks above. But
> in recent years it has become a treacherous path, as the stairs have
> crumbled and cracked with age. Landings have poor drainage and routinely
> flood, creating hazardous conditions which only worsen in winter when the
> pools of water turn to ice. Many of the pre-WWII era lamps are broken,
> leaving stretches of the steps in darkness at night. Hand railings are only
> partially usable. 
> And so it is that last Friday an Inwood resident had to be taken away in an
> ambulance after tripping on a hole in one of the steps and tumbling down.  
> Local activists have been calling for the City’s Dept. of Transportation
> (DoT) to completely reconstruct the 215th Step-Street since at least 1999.
> In 2005 Assemblymember Adriano Espaillat allocated $300,000 toward the
> project, and the Manhattan Borough Commissioner of DoT, Margaret Forgione,
> came to the steps for a photo-op with the Assemblyman in October of that
> year.  
> But there’s been little movement on the project by DoT in the year and a
> half since that picture was taken. This past September Community Board 12
> passed a resolution imploring DoT to expedite the reconstruction (I chair
> the CB12 Traffic and Transportation Committee, which produced the reso).
> Today it’s still not even clear what the total cost of the project will be,
> let alone where all the funds will come from or when the work will begin. We
> need to let DoT know that our community will not tolerate further delay. I
> urge you to write to Commission Forgione directly (c/o NYC Dept. of Transp.,
> 59 Maiden Lane, 35th Fl., NY, NY 10038) to demand that the reconstruction of
> the steps be put on a fast track once and for all.  
> Every day that the reconstruction is delayed means further deterioration of
> the already hazardous conditions. Last Friday’s incident wasn’t the first
> time blood was spilled on the 215th St. stairs. And if the community board,
> local officials and DoT don’t come together to take action quickly, it won’t
> be the last.