By Carol Tannenhauser
I live across the street from the West 81st Street and Central Park West subway station, the one on the southwest corner near the American Museum of Natural History. On June 17, construction will begin on an above-ground elevator at that station, which will travel three levels down through Manhattan’s bedrock to the lowest track. It is expected to take about three years to complete.
I work at home and my office window faces the station. I quickly realized what this project would mean to me. Not just the mess and disruption of construction, but, worst of all, the noise. I thought impatient cab drivers leaning on their horns to cross the 79th Street transverse were bad. Now there would be jackhammers and other teeth-rattling reverberations — from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except sometimes when work would last till 10 at night and take place on weekends.
I was bummed. My home, my work space, my sanctuary are being invaded, realistically, until 2027.
Then, I had another thought — of Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a young man I had interviewed in 2018 at a rally for accessibilty, when the 110th Street subway station on the same line was being renovated without an elevator.
Nine years earlier, in 2009, Blair-Goldensohn, then 33 years old, a Google engineer with a wife and two young children, was hit by a rotted, 100-pound branch that fell on his head during his regular walk to the subway through Central Park. He was in a coma for a month and has been in a wheelchair ever since, his spine partially severed, his lower body paralyzed.
“It was extraordinarily bad luck,” he told me that day at the rally. He said it had turned him from a “private citizen” into a “disability advocate.” He was holding a sign that said “Let Us Ride!” with a picture of a dinosaur on it. He explained that it was made by his then 11-year-old daughter.
“It has the dinosaur to symbolize that these stations are dinosaurs,” he said, “and, also, that the station right by the Natural History Museum doesn’t have an elevator either.”
I emailed Blair-Goldensohn for his reaction to the news that the 81st Street station is, in fact, getting an elevator. How does that make him feel? I asked. I also told him my story, and that remembering his “makes me say, ‘you know what? I’ll deal with it…even the noise.’ When it gets bad — and it will — I’ll just think of you and remind myself that it’s worth it.”
And that’s what I intend to do.
I haven’t heard back from Blair-Goldensohn yet, but I’m not sure the email address I used is current. I know he’s still advocating, because I read about him in a 2023 New York Times article. I also read that he is a longtime Upper West Sider. I hope he and his daughter are savoring the news. I calculate that she’ll be about 20 when the elevator is finished, not nearly too old to visit the museum with her dad.
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Buy a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. They’re not perfect, but they make a difference. They’re also great for airplanes, and I wear mine just walking around the neighborhood. Good luck!
Noise in this city is an issue.
I live on a main drag–Cathedral Parkway. We have Mt. Sinai and their ambulances ear splitting sirens; the Fire Department truck blares, Police sirens howling, car honking, idling, random construction drilling, UPS steady beeping, Fresh Direct engines idling, helicopter blades rotating.
At a recent CUNY retiree conference, a professor outlined the serious, deleterious effects of noise in the city on our mental well-being.
This is something that needs to be addressed by our politicians.
Yeah right! Good luck to that!
No other city in the world is this neglected and SO noisy.
Terrible and totally out of control! The screeching sound of ambulances at 3am in the morning is horrific and totally unnecessary considering there is limited traffic then. The unceasing noise from helicopters all the time over Manhattan is unreal..
Why cant something happen to change this mess?
The sirens are really way louder than they need to be. Assembly candidate Eli Northrup in his recent interview with WSR is the only politician I’ve seen who said these ear-splitting sirens are harmful and need to be addressed.
I like Northrup. He’s addressing serious issues in our city. Lasher is part of the Big Boys Club in the city and state and that is why he is raking in the donations. Glad Danny O’Donnell endorsed him.
sw corner
Thank you.
Debby or anyone else who wears noise canceling headphones while walking around the city, do you feel they still allow you to hear important noises like sirens or car horns warning you of danger (as opposed to just horns of annoyance) or the well meaning stranger yelling that a bike is about to hit you?
Absolutely, they’re not soundproof. And depending on the brand, you can set them for different levels of noise cancellation.
Dear WSR,
Thank you for this story. As I began it, I realized I was starting to become peeved at the writer – thinking of my orthopedic issues and use of subway elevators, thinking of how I cannot take my grandkids on the subway for adventures, as there’s no way I can carry the stroller, etc. Then, your writer told us about the gentleman whose life was suddenly and without warning altered forever. My face lit up into a smile, and I thought about how the writer sharing this perspective can really be a wake up call to a lot of us about our impatience with projects, many of which will not ever benefit us, but whose value might very well make a big difference to so many.
I have profound tinnitus ; the only time I’m not aware of it is when it’s very noisy.
I too suffer from tinnitus and hyperacusis. (Too many concerts) It makes life tough trying to get around this loud city. Between sirens, horns and subways I have to cover my ears quite often. But yet, I also relish the normal city background noises because it drowns out my tinnitus.
I live on 86 between Col and Amst. It seems that in the past year, ambulances use 86th st East and west to the exclusion of alternatives. There are times when the siren blare every 15 minutes all day. It never was as intrusive as this. What has changed?
I was just commenting yesterday how there needs to be more elevators in this city for the disabled as well as us ordingary older folks …Stairs are hard..
” It is expected to take three years to complete”
and this, children, is why we can’t have nice things.
Carol, thank you for that perspective. I respect and honor your empathy; you set a wonderful example for all of us.
Wonderful story .. thank you.
Can’t believe I live in a city I’m so overly sensitive to noise. At least this is for a worthy cause. Noise canceling headphones are great but adding whites noise is even better and the best white noise that I prefer to listen to is the river of Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. It’s also an added bonus to watch the bears going about their daily business. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgYXPHkl824
I use that station a lot. The lowest level, which is for the uptown B and C is pretty far down. So the amount of bedrock that will have to be removed is considerable, but 3 years? An elevator shaft is pretty small in size.
The lowest level is for the downtown B and C; the upper level is for the uptown B and C. The original design was intended to avoid having returning commuters have to climb an additional stairway; in the morning, it would be easier to descend that additional stairway.
Why should it take 3 years?
Accessibility of transit is so important. It’s a key to independence not just for disabled people, but for parents with strollers, the elderly, even people with packages who don’t have the budget for a taxi. (Most of us, if we live long enough, will end up at least passing through one of these groups.) I’m glad you recognized that, Carol, even though the jack-hammering is bound to be tough on you.
Before the pandemic, it was possible for “laypeople” to purchase monthly access to Butler Library at Columbia for a non-ridiculous price. I’m not sure if they’ve brought that back yet (website is currently unclear, does anyone know for sure?)–you might want to call and inquire. It’s a decent place to work.
I know an elderly woman who got stuck in the elevator at the train station at Broadway and 72nd Street. It was one of those high 80s days we had recently and she was ringing the assistance bell in the elevator for a long time but no one responded. Finally she called 911.
It took a while for the firemen who showed up to get the elevator up and the doors open.
In addition to adding new elevators, the existing ones need to be repaired.
About the horn-honking: my guess is that it’s the drivers trying to turn right onto 81 St. We had the same problem at Columbus & 79th until a simple change to the traffic light pattern fixed it 100%.
With folks working on this full-time, I think folks should really be focused on why in heaven this should take three years. High-rises go up faster than that.
This is an incredibly good white noise machine, with a huge range of sounds and a lot of volume levels.
https://a.co/d/4OJzPed
I notice that there are now a lot of very small, portable ones for sale. I bought this one for traveling. I haven’t traveled with it yet, but I’m impressed with its range of sounds (though a few of them would drive me nuts, like a dripping faucet) and volume levels.
https://a.co/d/8AJ0pUJ
I work from my apartment on 110th and CPW overlooking the circle. We endured years of construction noise, about 8 years, for the construction of the circle. I know this because I was pregnant when it started and, being a lifetime NYer, knew what this meant. I told my husband to mark my words that the circle would not be finished until our child was in grammar school. He accused me of being jaded. The opening of the circle coincided with the start of my child’s first grade class. That began years of noise from the circle’s constant use as a skateboard park 24/7 which the city did little about. For those overlooking the circle, each skateboard noise reverberates constantly like gunshots against our apartment buildings. This noise was enhanced by the construction and addition of the apartment building on the NW corner, which construction took at least three years and usually started well before 7am and after 6pm, including weekends. Again, NYC pretty much ignored noise complaints. That’s compounded by 110th Street being a main corridor for emergency vehicles every few minutes 24/7. I hear you, but you really don’t know how good you’ve got it that your noise complaints are only about taxis and their horns, having only three years to a return to normalcy, highlighting the projects noble construction purpose, which it is. It is only during blizzards that we ever have a reprieve from the incessant noise on 110thStreet, leaving me to wonder in the relative silence why most of the emergency vehicles have disappeared, when people are still having heart attacks, fires and car accidents. Maybe they don’t need to use all those sirens during regular weather after all? Perhaps that would make another great story too.
Trust me, the noise will be minimal to nothing, as most of the construction is below grade.
How will the construction travel three levels down? I count two.
Level 1: Streel level
Level 2: B/C North Bound Platform
Level 3: B/C South Bound Platform
It’s traveling down two levels – to the second level down. The first level it hits is the B/C NB platform; the second level it hits is the B/C SB platform. If someone on the street asked you how many levels you have to go down to get to the downtown platform, you would say go down two levels. Same for the construction. If there were only one platform level, it would only travel one level to get there. Travel = move.
I don’t believe the author of the article meant ‘traveling down 3 levels.’ I’m sure we both understood what she meant.
What a beautiful attitude, thank you for sharing
Great article =)
Perspective is everything
Indeed. The National EMS Quality Alliance agrees that in most cases, ambulances do not need to “run hot,” and further, the use of the lights and siren is actually dangerous: “The use of emergency vehicles’ lights and siren does not, however, save clinically significant amounts of time, according to numerous studies, systematic reviews, and position papers. (1)…. As a result, using lights and siren fails to accomplish the desired goal and significantly raises (by more than 50%) the chance of an ambulance crash. ” (https://www.nemsqa.org/assets/LSChangePackage/Improving%20Safety%20in%20EMS%20Reducing%20the%20Use%20of%20Lights%20and%20Siren.pdf)
Civilians’ hearing is threatened, but the EMS techs’ are especially so, and needlessly. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7436064/)
Can we be the enlightened city that pioneers quiet lifesaving?
From the lowest level to the street is exactly 60 stair steps.
Maybe it’s time to revive the Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise. Founded right here in the neighborhood, 89th and Riverside Drive. Those tugboats in the river were a menace.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Barnett_Rice