Columbia Should Build An Elevator To This Harlem Subway Stop, Pol Says

HARLEM, NY — As Columbia University reshapes West Harlem in its own image, residents want the wealthy institution to give something back to the neighborhood — namely, a new elevator at an infamously inaccessible subway station.

The 1 train station on 125th Street and Broadway towers more than 50 feet above the ground, but is served only by staircases and a pair of frequently broken-down escalators — making it inaccessible to wheelchair users, parents with strollers and others with mobility issues.

Columbia, with its $13 billion endowment and shiny new campus abutting the station, has the power to change that, according to Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell. The lawmaker delivered a petition this week to university president Lee Bollinger, calling on Columbia to fund an elevator that would finally make the station accessible.

"Every day I see parents precariously carrying strollers at the 125th Street 1 train station, or seniors struggling to scale the steps or fit a walker on the escalator," said O'Donnell, whose district runs up against the station.

O'Donnell's petition, signed by more than 400 people, builds off the work of a community group calling itself the Elevator Lobby. Comprised of groups like We Act for Environmental Justice and Community Board 9, the group's goal is to organize neighbors to demand an elevator at 125th.

It also follows similar demands made in February by O'Donnell and other elected officials — though that request was targeted at the state and the MTA, rather than Columbia.

Neighbors might be heartened to hear that some improvements are coming soon to the station: an upcoming project will build new, wider escalators on the station's west side to replace the two existing ones that run from the street to the station mezzanine.

Columbia pointed to that university-funded project as evidence for its commitment to the station. The escalator replacement will enter its planning and design phase in the coming months, a university spokesperson said.

"Additional enhancements are needed to ensure the longer-term safety and accessibility of the 125th Street Station and that is why we are working alongside local elected officials, community groups and others to continue advocating for public investments to support these critical upgrades," the Columbia spokesperson said.

"We remain deeply committed to this process and look forward to continuing to discuss how we and other local stakeholders can support the MTA in delivering these essential upgrades and in maintaining a public asset in our community that is welcoming, safe, and accessible to all.

But O'Donnell's office called the escalator project "wildly insufficient." The new escalators would still not reach the platform, and they would remain inaccessible for the same commuters who struggle to use the existing ones, they noted.

"The community deserves a truly accessible station - and it remains in Columbia's interest to help make that happen," an O'Donnell spokesperson said.

Others who joined O'Donnell's call include Ruth Tuft, who lives nearby and called Columbia one of New York's "great institutions.

"Their participation in improving the entrance to the subway station at their doorstep should be a non-thinker, a moral imperative," she said.

As it stands, only a single station north of 96th Street on the 1 line is accessible to people with disabilities: 231st Street in the Bronx. Of the city's 472 total subway stations, only about one-fourth are accessible.

Related coverage: This Harlem Subway Station Needs An Elevator, Officials Tell MTA