Park Slopers Demand Elevator at 7th Avenue Subway Stop

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Lon-time Park Slope residents Bob Levine and his wife, Kathy Sonderman, have few options when they need to get into Manhattan.

They can take a bus to the F train's Church Avenue stop, or they can use Access-A-Ride. What they can't do is get on the F or G line at 7th Avenue and 9th Street, because Kathy is in a wheelchair, and the station doesn't have an elevator.

Levine said the bus option takes a long time, while Access-A-Ride is difficult to plan around, especially when they're headed to a doctor's appointment that could last for an unknown amount of time.

That's why Levin and Sonderman — who held a sign reading "elevate me" — were among several dozen community residents rallying outside the 7th and 9th Street station on Wednesday, where they joined Park Slope Councilman Brad Lander and likely future Assemblyman Robert Carroll in calling on the MTA to build an elevator at the station.

The event, which Lander said was the beginning of a campaign focused on accessibility at the stop, was co-organized by several community activist groups, including Good Neighbors of Park Slope and older adult center Heights and Hills.

Community members, Councilman Brad Lander, and Assembly candidate Robert Carroll gather outside the 7th Avenue and 9th Street station on Wednesday

"I would love to see a day when we don't have to talk about age friendly, when our communities are friendly to people of all ages and abilities," said Heights and Hills director Judy Willig.

While the crowd was filled with seniors, those in attendance stressed that younger residents, such as families with strollers, would also benefit from an elevator. (At one point during the rally, a woman pushing a stroller through the crowd said, "I'm with you!") Lander agreed, adding that the coalition needed to grow in order to be effective.

In 2010, the MTA started a process of making 100 subway stations accessible throughout the city's system by 2020. An agency spokesperson said that work has now been completed on 86 of those stops.

Lander said the new campaign's goal should be to make the 7th Avenue and 9th Street station "high on the MTA's list" of the next 100 stations it will work on.

In response to the rally's demands, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the agency is currently focused on its ongoing accessibility work.

"As we go forward in assessing future accessibility needs, the 7 Av station will be considered as part of that needs-assessment process," Ortiz said.

Lander said building elevators is expensive, but that conversations his office has had with MTA staffers have shown that it's feasible at the location. He also said he'll work to include "seed money" for the project in the next city budget, while additional financial support could potentially come from other levels of government.

The MTA is funded at the state level, and Carroll, the Assembly candidate, said he'd work to get the agency additional budget support in Albany.

If the city's mass transit system is improved, "the economy of the New York metropolitan region" will benefit, Carroll said, adding that funding the agency is therefore a "prudent economic decision."

Pictured at top: the F/G station at 7th Avenue and 9th Street. Photos by John V. Santore