Q&A
Bridge access to Parkchester Van Ness Station and public safety concerns
1:22:33
·
3 min
Council Member Marmorato inquires about plans for a bridge access to Parkchester Van Ness Station and raises concerns about public safety and security. The discussion covers potential station access and security measures.
- Ongoing discussions about creating bridge access from the 1601 Bronxdale site to the station
- Concerns raised about public safety and security with increased development
- Discussion on the need to increase capacity of NYPD and FDNY
- MTA outlines security measures for new stations, including video surveillance, electronic access control, and emergency help points
Kristy Marmorato
1:22:33
Your team, the MTA, and the 16 101 Bronstale development team, has discussed the possibility of creating a Parkchester Van Ness Station access bridge directly from the site to create greater access for the commuters coming along the north side of the new station.
1:22:49
Where do those discussions stand?
1:22:51
And how can we confirm that this important connection will be created?
Michael Kavalar
1:22:58
Thank you for the question council member.
1:23:00
So I I think better than us to respond to the current status would probably be the the development team there.
1:23:07
I'll just note that our goal has been on the city side to make sure that there was a public street that got to that that corner.
1:23:14
For that potential eventuality, which is the subject of both our mapping action and our special district test.
Kristy Marmorato
1:23:20
Okay.
1:23:21
Okay.
1:23:21
MTA?
UNKNOWN
1:23:23
Yeah.
1:23:23
I oh, sorry.
1:23:25
I don't have anything additional to add to that.
1:23:26
I know those conversations are ongoing, but the status of them is
Kristy Marmorato
1:23:30
So whose responsibility is it to create this the station there on the Van Ness side?
UNKNOWN
1:23:36
Well, it would be ours to create the station in conjunction with the 3rd party developer, but the conversations are not finalized.
1:23:42
They're ongoing.
Kristy Marmorato
1:23:44
Okay.
1:23:45
Alright.
1:23:46
A major concern my constituents have consistently raised is public safety and security.
1:23:51
What does the administration have to increase the capacity of our NYPD and the FDNY partners.
Paul Philps
1:24:00
Thank you for the question council member.
1:24:02
We are aware of that request, and we're currently having conversations, and we'll take that back to both the the the agencies to have further discussion that we'll get back to you on on what that might look like.
1:24:13
Okay.
Kristy Marmorato
1:24:13
So just to for the record, 49th precinct has gone up 35% in crime in the last 2 years, and they are only down to 72 officers currently.
1:24:23
And that is nowhere near where they should be.
1:24:25
So if we're gonna get this whole redesign and development, we need to have the appropriate amount of officers they're struggling already.
1:24:33
Also as far as a new police station.
1:24:36
I know I've had a conversation with Commissioner Perez about East Chester Road where the police station is, the officers park along the street on the sidewalk because there's no room for their vehicles to get in and out of the proper I think that there needs to be a complete redesign of the station so that it is safe for the people walking along Eastchester Road and in the community when they have to run out, jump out, get in their cars, and and take off.
1:25:04
So I need I need that to be really considered.
1:25:10
Now as far as the MTA, the new stations, what kind of security measures are you gonna put in at these stations?
UNKNOWN
1:25:17
So all of the new stations all 4 of them will have dedicated access points, help points.
1:25:25
There are several elements that'll be underneath the purview of the MTA as well as those that are underneath the purview of NYPD.
1:25:33
So managed by Metro North, there will be a video surveillance system, electronic access control system, the elevator management system, all of these stations will be ADA accessible.
1:25:42
So there will be vertical circulation elements.
1:25:44
All of those elements will be electronically linked to a central station, which will be monitored remote maintenance and monitoring and a public address system further additionally managed by MTAPD and FDNY.
1:25:57
Will be a fire alarm system and the emergency help point intercom system that I mentioned.