Streetsblog New York City

I suggest a trip to my childhood neighborhood in Southwest Yonkers, for a look at the "city stairs" from Beech Street down to Oak, and from Van Cortlandt Park Avenue down to Walnut. I know the shape they were in 40 years ago. I can't imagine what it must be now.

That picture looks pretty good to me, in comparison.

Another childhood memory: looking up step streets from the Major Deegan while riding home from a trip to Manhattan, and seeing the piles of garbage tenants in the adjacent apartment buildings had thrown out the window so they wouldn't have to carry the trash down the stairs.

I know I complain a lot, but there is bad and there is bad.

I have to disagree with your assessment that step streets are common in Upper Manhattan and also found in the Bronx. I can think of 2 step streets in Manhattan, 215th St. and 155th Street. I can think of at least 20 or so in the Bronx. In Upper Manhattan where roads meet grade changes that are too steep, the whole area is typically turned into a park, with no connecting roads (Morningside, St. Nicholas, Jackie Robinson, and Highbridge Park). In the Bronx, however, the roads simply become step streets where the grade change is too severe.

Very minor correction: My recollection is that it's the design phase of the 215th St steps that supposed to be finished in October 2010, not the pre-design phase. I have no clue what this means or whether it makes a difference, though. After the design phase, it's pre-construction followed by construction, and supposedly it's taking so long because it's a complex engineering job involving pipes and wires and other infrastructure underneath the steps. Still, none of this really seems to explain the delay.

Hm. There are a couple of these near me in Bay Ridge and the one I've walked down was in perfect condition. No garbage either. Then again, it's lined with mansions, so--there you go. Maybe they had a deal with the city to maintain it themselves.