Comments on: Renovation of Crumbling, Dangerous 215th Step-Street Delayed [Updated]

By: Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:07:24 +0000

Wow, vnm, I thought W. 214 at Seaman/PTW was was just a staircase through Isham Park. But if you check Google Maps, sure enough, it's marked as a street.

So there's at least one more step-street in Upper Manhattan than I thought.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:12:18 +0000

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.

By: vnm

vnm — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:18:35 +0000

J-Uptown, you are right they are much more common in the Bronx than in Manhattan. However, there are a significant number of these blessedly people-only, car-free streets in Manhattan as well. Besides 215th & 155th Streets as you noted, here are some more:

W. 214th Street bet. Seaman Avenue & Park Terrace W.
W. 187th Street bet. Overlook Terrace & Ft. Washington Avenue
Pinehurst Avenue @ W. 181st Street
Sylvan Terrace @ St. Nicholas Avenue
W. 157th Street @ Edgecombe Avenue
W. 160th Street @ Riverside Drive
W. 128th Street @ Convent Avenue
W. 128th Street bet. St. Nicholas Avenue & St. Nicholas Terrace (no actual steps on this one)
E. 43rd Street @ the United Nations

By: Vroomfondel

Vroomfondel — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:36:30 +0000

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.

By: Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:32:21 +0000

There's also 187th Street in Washington Heights (which I walk sometimes to get to my favorite bar), and I did say "fairly common," which is subjective. But yeah, "fairly common in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx" would probably have been better.

By: J-Uptown

J-Uptown — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:14:29 +0000

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.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:56:25 +0000

As a car-free street, it clearly doesn't matter, because car-free people don't matter. Not like my stretch of West End Ave, which gets a new coat of asphalt every other year whether it needs it or not.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:26:39 +0000

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.

By: Mike Lydon

Mike Lydon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:18:21 +0000

It seems ludicrous that these steps can't be fixed in short order. I suggest neighborhood residents find some civic-minded--or at least rebellious-- construction workers to go fix it for themselves. Nothing like a a little DIY project to bring the neighborhood together.