MTA Second Avenue Subway Construction May Prompt Nightly Visits

The MTA has been occupied with quelling the fears of residents living near the Second Avenue subway site over complaints regarding the site's perpetual dust tornados and skunk-like odors since the project's inception.

Now the agency is concerned with complaints from sleep deprived neighbors who are condemning the site's raucous construction and is considering the implementation of nightly visits to see what they can do about East 72nd residents getting the sleep they need.

MTA spokesman Eric Ortiz discussed the possibility, "Engineers offered to visit a sample of apartments to assess the noise in order to evaluate the residents' experience with respect to a potential mitigation strategy.

The well-intentioned, but rather bizarre plan will bring MTA officials into homes after 10PM when the incessant drilling and blasting takes place.

While the potential tactic gets mulled over, some Upper East Siders are wondering what all the fuss is about. The New York Times talked to some neighbors who are willing to ignore the obvious downfalls of noise and dust in exchange for cheap neighborhood rents.

One resident boasted her $1,450 per month studio (normally priced at $1,850) and even said "I would stay here forever if I could."

Real estate appraiser John Miller explained, "This is an opportunity, especially for people who maybe don’t have a family yet and aren’t in the apartment that much. If you work a little late, then go out to the bar and bend an elbow. When you come home, you might not hear anything.”

Either way, it'll be at least five years till construction workers leave Second Avenue and trains actually start running.

Check out photos from the completed first phase of the line below:

Comments

[ConnieCitizen]

04:37 PM on 02/22/2012

All of this said, I live on the 72nd & 2nd right in the middle of the construction. Everyday the MTA lies about what they will do to alleviate "quality of life" issues caused by the subway. Up to now, they have done nothing, zero, zilch - anything they say is only for PR purposes without any teeth in it. Case in point was the air-quality issues that are causing the community severe respiratory problems - they contracted the study to be done by one of their contractors, the head of the MTA Capital Construction project worked at this contractor for 16 years, they distorted the findings, and if you delve into the study itself, it states that the monitoring equipment was unreliable for 10 of the 12 months during testing. Sure, they will come to our comes to check the noise level, but I will bet you actually anything you desire, they will make that construction that evening is light and shuts down early. There is absolutely no oversight by the MTA or any concern for the health and safety of the community. All for 3 subways stops (yep that's right) that took 10 years to build (double the projected time) and almost double over budget. Hope everyone is happy with all of their wasted tax dollars, particularly when quality service is being cut for those who desperately need it in the outer boroughs!

[rikster]

07:09 PM on 02/21/2012

the 2nd ave. subway..pork at its best...

[FancyAmerican]

09:05 PM on 02/21/2012

How?

[mail4warding]

12:40 AM on 02/22/2012

MTA union workers, mob controlled construction unions, et al ... don't know how NYC's Javits Convention Center was built and run do you? !-(

[jl4141]

05:33 PM on 02/21/2012

Good pix of the Sandhogs there. Keep up the good work and stay safe, boys.