Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D) announced yesterday that she had created a task force to deal with issues of handicap accessibility in the City.
The task force held their first meeting that afternoon, at the Borough President’s Office at 1 Centre Street. The meeting had the members of the task force – among them Institute for Career Development CEO Barbara Glassman and New Alternatives for Children Executive Director Arlene Goldsmith – share their areas of expertise and discuss which issues they should tackle first.
The formation of the task force came on the heels of Brewer’s sobering report on accessibility in the subways (or lack thereof). According to the report, only 24 percent of the MTA’s subway stations were deemed “accessible” by the New York City Transit (NYCT) agency.
“This paltry statistic is a stain on the city’s reputation as a progressive and inclusive place that affords equal opportunity to all,” read the report.
The report shared a number of other troubling statistics; for instance, 54.3 percent of the subway’s elevators are in need of cleaning, and 5.2 percent of them are completely inoperable.
And subways are just the tip of the iceberg. Brewer’s task force intends to tackle several other issues that the handicapped face while trying to navigate the City, including the crowded nature of New York’s sidewalks and the City’s deficit of safe, affordable housing.
“If you’re in a wheelchair, or use a cane or walker, or even just have a more temporary injury, it can truly be a challenge to get from point A to point B,” said Brewer. “My Accessibility Task Force’s job will be to develop a complete ‘punch list’ and shine a light on it.”
As the report pointed out, the City’s issue with accessibility doesn’t just keep the disabled from accessing other neighborhoods; it also keeps them from accessing steady employment.
“According to 2014 census data, disabled New Yorkers make up only 4 percent of the City’s workforce, and the inaccessibility of the City’s transit system is a major contributor to this problem,” read the report. “Achieving maximum accessibility within our subway system and ensuring that those accessible stations are kept in working order is what the MTA needs to do to make sure disabled New Yorkers are treated as equals across our city.”
