Tale of Two Boroughs

Blissful commuting

An outbreak of BQE (Brooklyn Queens Envy)? Nope, this one is all about Queens. Two neighborhoods, one train, two subway stations, nine stairwells. Before I get started, I just want to say, I like Sunnyside, I have family in Sunnyside, my local is in Sunnyside (you thought maybe "The Ready Penny" on 73rd St.? Club Romantico's on Roosevelt Ave.?). In fact, this story says infinitely more about the MTA than it does the plain people of Sunnyside.

But let's get started. That photo (left) is an entryway to the 46th St. station in Sunnyside. Nothing to write home about, right? Except this is at 47th St., one of the two extra stairways at the east end of the platform. Good idea.

Now jump on the 7 for a few stops and get off at 82nd St. In vain will you look around for an exit at 83rd or 81st. streets. No problem: What's a minute or two queuing on a busy elevated platform in mid-January? A bit more crowded at the station level. Hmmm. Could it really be that there are only three stairways to the street? Evidently the MTA hasn't felt the need to have a stairway to the southeast corner of 82nd St. and Roosevelt Ave.

"Beam me up, Scotty"

You can see where it would go in the photo at right. Sunnyside gets 6 and we get 3--you do the math. But, hey, who's going to complain in "Pequeña Colombia," the epicenter of the South American community?

Not me. After all, if it wasn't for 46th St. and its straphangers, I couldn't do the subway magic trick Fisher Stevens does for Joe Morton's character in John Sayles' great The Brother from Another Planet (1984). Hint: It's not the card trick; you've got to watch the full (3 min.) clip to the end.