CO-OP BOARDS VS. MTA, P.2

 

The activists circulated newsletters, posted notices in lobbies and wrote e-mails to shareholders in a dozen co-ops on the block. Finally, at a packed public hearing in June 2009, their hard work paid off. The MTA bowed to neighborhood pressure. When it submitted an environmental assessment of the possible locations of the entrance to the Federal Transit Administration, the MTA stated that its "preferred alternative" is the southeast corner of 72nd Street

The successful campaign offers a valuable lesson for any neighborhood. "One thing I learned about organizing is you've got to be able to devote time to it," says Hicks. "We spent a lot of time keeping people informed about when the public meetings were going to be and what they were going to cover."

In the end, according to Mason, the most potent weapon in this fight was not the lawyers or the lawsuits or the professional lobbyists. It was the neighbors. "The reason we got the MTA to change its mind was not the professionals we hired," says Mason, who works as a banking lawyer. "It was the sheer number of people on the street who took time out from their lives to attend meetings and write letters. That was the key. [The MTA] knew we were not going away and we had to be dealt with."

A Second (Ave.) Battleground

A similar battle is being fought a few blocks to the north, at E. 86th Street, where neighbors are trying to get the MTA to move a subway entrance from the middle of the block back to the northeast corner of Second Avenue. Civitas, a non-profit advocacy group on the Upper East Side and East Harlem, has helped lead the fight. The MTA and the Federal Transit Administration are now processing the public input from a neighborhood that's a mix of rental and co-op apartments. No final decision has been reached on that entrance's location.

"The neighbors at 72nd Street were very organized and incredibly effective," says Hunter Armstrong, executive director of Civitas. "The neighbors on 86th Street have not banded together to hire attorneys and a lobbying firm, They're a little less in agreement as to what they'd like to see."

To its credit, the MTA says it welcomes citizen input. "Public opinion has been invaluable throughout the Second Avenue subway design process," says MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. He adds that the new line is scheduled to be up and running by 2016. Maybe so — and boards may have other battles to fight till then.

 

PREVIEW adapted from Habitat December 2009. For the complete article when it comes to print, and more, join our Archive >>

Illustration by Dave Bamundo