By Tywanna Webb
New York State Supreme Court Judge Schlomo Hagler warned MTA of its obligation to make the subway system accessible for all, during a hearing this Thursday.
“I give you one last opportunity to resolve your differences and put the money where it is necessary,” Judge Hagler stated to the MTA attorneys.
The lawsuit was filed against the MTA in 2017 by a group of disability organizers and disabled residents who say that the New York City subway is one of the least accessible public transit systems in the nation.
Hagler said that he has given the two parties more than enough opportunities to reach a settlement on the matter.
“It’s just plain the right thing to do, to get everyone on board literally, on our trains, our busses, our transportation system,” Hagler said. The judge made it clear that he plans to end the ongoing case at the next court date.
In May 2018, New York City Transit President Andy Byford launched Fast Forward, a plan improve the subway system and make each station fully accessible. This would include installing elevators at most of the 472 station around the city.
“It hasn’t been funded so at this point, it’s just an empty promise,” said Maia Goodell, attorney with the Disability Rights Advocates, who is representing the disability organizers pursuing the suit.
“The importance of the subway can’t be overstated. Ten of thousands of people are excluded from that system because fewer than 25 percent of those stations are accessible.”
Goodell added that the parties have been trying to settle the suit for over a year and she is looking forward to a decision from Judge Hagler.
Ahead of the hearing, a coalition of several disability rights activism groups gathered for a rally in front of the Supreme Court building to call attention to this pressing issue.
“We are here today to share a pretty simple message; elevators are for everyone,” said Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a disability rights activist with the Elevator Action Group and with the direct action group, Rise and Resist.
“The MTA lawyers, under the direction of Governor Cuomo have been evading their responsibility to build an accessible system for everybody,” Blair- Goldensohn added.
Among those rallying were NY State Assembly candidate Chiedu “Shea” Uzoigwe, of Queens, who said that change can come.
“We want to make sure that we are providing MTA with the funding they need to complete this ten-year plan. Right now the way to do that is by implementing congestion pricing to provide a dedicated stream of funding,” Uzoigwe said in an interview.
Uzoigwe is striving to be elected to represent the district 31 in Queens.
The president of Disabled in Action of Metropolitan NY, Jean Ryan, said that she hasn’t been able to ride the subway in over 25 years due to the lack of accessibility. Ryan, like many other disabled New Yorkers, relies on Access-A-Ride to move about the city.
“It’s so difficult to use Access-A-Ride. The last one that I took arrived over an hour late,” Ryan said. Ryan said that in addition the lateness, Access-A-Ride usually takes routes that tend to make the ride much longer than necessary.
Activist Jennifer Van Dyck urged the MTA to enforce a strict timeline for the Fast Forward plan. “We are all first-class citizens and we deserve a first-class public transportation system. What we have now is subway system that is inaccessible and intolerable,” Van Dyck declared during the rally.
The need for more accessible NYC subways made national news after the January death of Malaysia Goodson. The young mother took a fatal fall while carrying her daughter in a stroller down the steps of a Manhattan station with no elevator.
“Her death was avoidable,” says Christine Coleman, who is due to deliver her first child next month. “It really concerns me and it really highlighted that the subway is not safe.” Coleman is a resident of Long Island City and said that she will have great difficulty taking the subway with a small baby.
The next court date is set for May 7.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.