Wednesday, May 9, 2012

New station design causes privacy concern


From DNA Info:

Some people are willing to pay extra to live near a subway station. But for the residents of buildings on 23rd Street, the redesigned Court Square station has become a little too close.

Tenants residing on the blocks between Jackson Avenue and 44th Drive say that mesh windscreens on the station platform — about 10 to 15 feet from their bedroom windows — allow straphangers waiting for the elevated train to look directly into their apartments.

Currently, most windscreens at stations along the 7 train line are covered with stained glass or thick, opaque glass blocks, which give residents of nearby buildings more privacy.

Joseph Conley, the Community Board 2 transportation committee chairman, said he has spoken to the MTA about the privacy complaints.

"They’re looking at how to rectify this situation and we are waiting for their response," said Conley, who was also told that the MTA is installing the transparent panels at elevated stations around the city. "So it’s not just this location."

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dumb hipsters!

Ever hear of curtains for your windows?

Why should taxpayers pay for your stupidity in making additional station improvements to suit your needs?

Improve your own lots.
Venetian blinds come in all colors.

Honestly...you move into a crib
an arm's length from the #7 line and you expect privacy?

Stupido!

I think the real estate brokers and rental agents should post a video featuring the long defunct 3rd Ave. El and what it was like to live alongside it.

"Recapture the authentic ambiance of NYC's historic past. Luxury apartments at Court Square are now available. Gaze into the picturesque subway cars as they rattle past your windows. First come, first served".

LOL! What dopes these newbies be!

Anonymous said...

Oh, go out and get yourselves a life
you backward mid-west transplants.

Soak up some of that fantastic art
on view at "5 Pointz"
and learn to chill out a little

This is New York Fuckin' City.

So if it's too noisy along the tracks...move!

Anonymous said...

Long, long,ago (until the 1960s)...
ALL of the stations along the line had wooden station walls with WINDOWS in them and open railings at the ends of the platforms.

I guess people were a lot smarter back then.

Those who chose to live along the elevated tracks knew what they were getting.

Anonymous said...

So keep your kinky sex
confined to the closet.

In that way nobody can spot anything nasty going on through your bedroom windows.

Anonymous said...

That's plain stupid - the #7 station was there before the building (s) went up - What's next "it's too noisy"?

Nora from Dutch Kills said...

Hey Conley,

Come on over and see the show from my son's bedroon in Dutch Kills.

Right next to a hotel.

Not interested?

Oh I get it - you and Jimmy are only interested in the new rich white people moving in.

If the rest of us don't like things, we can move and give another developer a space for more trusitfarian punks.

Can't afford it. So you are stuck with us.

And we with you.

And in a p*ssiing match, goes who is going to win!

Anonymous said...

Thank God for our hipsters. Because of them we are learning of a zillion different things that were wrong with our neighborhoods that we were obviously too dumb to see for decades! And to think, all these years, I thought I was happy living in Queens.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like
that disgruntled Ass-torian
is at it again...
dropping another pile of fresh steaming BS.

Can it or freeze it bub...
or pick it up with a pooper scooper.

You're tiresome ka-ka
that litters this site is beginning
to bore us all.

Any doofus who can't stand the
noise and lack of privacy that comes with living adjacent to the #7 line line should move.

Maybe you should too.

Anonymous said...

Hipsters and yuppies are used to having their butts wiped for them.

Not with my tax money.

Put up some window shades and buy yourselves some ear plugs.

Millions were spent on that fancy upgrade at the Court Square station.

Not one penny more spent to accommodate your privileged needs for privacy.

Anonymous said...

I see London
I see France...

Anonymous said...

Hope the people complaining are attractive.

Joe said...

F_ these transplant Yahoo corn huskers !
As said let them put up curtains or move back to to Iowa. This has ALWAYS been the case since the Els were put up.
I remember when all the platforms were open, it was great. You could see from Coney Island to the cross sound bridges on some lines. It was never boring waiting for a train

Kevin Walsh said...

I was struck by the number of open windscreens at Court Square. I think they can replace them with the opaque ones fairly easily since it's all modular.

Anonymous said...

Just wait a week until they are filled with scratchiti. Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

It's called "scratch tagging",
not "scratchiti".

Get with the modern lingo, grandpa.

Anonymous said...

RU going to personally
foot the whole bill for that, Kevin?

King Ning said...

"That's plain stupid - the #7 station was there before the building (s) went up - What's next "it's too noisy"?"

Actually, the buildings pre-date the el. Doesn't matter. Get some blinds, shades, curtains or hang a friggin' bedsheet over the window. Nobody gives a rat's ass about your privacy concerns.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that the 7 line has been there since the
1930's, correct? When did these people just notice they live next to it? Put up blinds. Spend not a dime of my tax money.
Next!

Ipso Asrtso said...

Use the opportunity
to do some "performance art"
in front of your window.

Maybe the strap hangers
will even applaud your gig.

But please keep it decent.
Don't break any obscenity laws.

Anonymous said...

The open iar screening is practical and cheap. There is also a sense of openness that creates a visual for safetey reasons.

Most people from the midwest moving here (they did see the train opposite there window before renting, yes?) are a bit uptight especially their same-sex sensibilities would be on view. This is not the same attitude our domestic types display - they just display it all!

Anonymous said...

Being one of the original "Mad Men"
I'd sell my window as ad space
to help me pay my monthly rent.

And why not if I lived there?

Do you know what the "CPM's... circulation per million people...
along the #7 line are?

WOW!

Thousands and thousands of pairs
of eyes per day would gaze upon
my living room window.

It's one of the best media buys
in the business!

Anonymous said...

Anon no. 17:

It's been there since 1917.

Gavriela Rivka (a.k.a. Jennifer Ray) said...

"Just move." Yeah, in this economy?? Not to mention, have any of you considered that the people living in those apartments may be victims of crime or have restraining orders out on abusive spouses or the like?

How about putting up the same kind of stain-glass artwork that it all over the elevated train stations in the Bronx? Artists get exposure while transit riders get to look at something pleasant while the residents get some privacy back. Win-win.

Anonymous said...

Hey, "Jen"...
why not pay for that "stain-glass"
out of your pocket.

Enough money has already been spent on the Court Square station by us taxpayers for the benefit of hipster "artistes"
who have transplanted themselves into the area.

If they don't have enough sense to cover their windows...then fuck 'em!

Spending more $$$$$ is a lose-lose situation that drains the city coffers in times of real need.

Like...duh...that money should be spent on essential services.

Anonymous said...

You want us to use curtains, shades or blinds?? How absurd! All of those things will block our view of the Manhattan skyline!