By Cindy J. Roth
"The MTA just doesn't seem to learn lessons very rapidly, or they just don't seem to care," said Harrison Goodman, a Bellmore commuter whose problems with the Bellmore station and communication with MTA range back more than 30 years. "They've got a real problem with the stairs. Clearly, someone one of these days is going to get hurt."
In his report on the county survey of 75 commuters, Comptroller Fred Parola cited excessive pigeon droppings, dirty, damaged and cracked stairwells, insufficient night lighting and audibility of public announcements as commuters' top concerns.
When asked to rank whether the station's overall condition has improved, declined or remained the same, 23 percent of Bellmore station commuters said they have seen improvements in the past three years, 19 percent said they had seen a decline and 57 percent said it has remained the same.
Now six months since Parola's survey, a Herald survey conducted of 76 Bellmore train station commuters from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 17 found that 67 percent believe the station's overall condition has remained the same. Twenty-eight percent of commuters said they saw improvements in the station, but mostly attributed it to the remolding of the station house.
"It's disappointing," said Nassau County Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick), who has closely followed the issue. "The escalator is still a problem, and there is no guaranteed money for platform repairs. There are the new station houses, but no one wanted them. If they are spending money, they should use it for cleanliness, or the waiting room upstairs, but it looks much better to have a nice station-house ribbon cutting. Very few people wanted them."
Results of the Herald survey showed again that pigeon droppings, general cleanliness and stairwell conditions were commuters' top concerns. The condition of the upstairs waiting room also had many commuters frustrated as winter weather gains its stride.
"The platform waiting room is in terrible condition," said Goodman. "It's used as an outhouse for the homeless. The odors are awful terrible. The disinfectant they use has a stench of its own, so it's a double whammy, and you can't win."
Robert Cividanes, MTA public-affairs manager, said that all of the concerns brought to light from the Nassau County Comptroller's survey and reaffirmed in the Herald survey have been or will be addressed and corrected.
"A private contractor is attending to [the pigeon problem] by installing wire spike devices where the pigeons nest to discourage the pigeons from settling," said Cividanes. "It works pretty well and should be complete in a month or so. Stairwell work has been done. They are constructively sound. Lighting work is well under way and nearing completion."
Ella Stevens, a representative from Parola's office, said they had also received notice from MTA in October that power washing will be done at the Bellmore station twice monthly for pigeon droppings, and spray-wash cleaning teams will visit the station weekly to tend to the stairwells in addition to sanitation and odor-control relief throughout the station.
One Merrick resident, who did not wish to be identified, said pigeon droppings are the biggest problem at local stations. He was last year diagnosed with a cryptococcosis fungal infection, which his doctor deduced came from being around pigeon droppings at the Merrick train station. Similar sanitation problems at the Merrick and Bellmore stations allow dried pigeon droppings to be kicked up as trains pass through the station, which people inhale.
Dr. Marianne Frieri of the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, who specializes in allergy and immunology, said cryptococcosis is a fungal disease that is transmitted by the inhalation of aerosols from accumulations of pigeon feces. While the disease is uncommon and treatable, people with weak immune systems are most susceptible, and extensive exposure over time could lead to the fungal disorder.
Regardless of whatever efforts MTA officials say they have initiated to improve the Bellmore station, commuters and Denenberg say there are still many concerns that need to be addressed.
"The biggest concerns were fixing the platforms and stairs, and they're just not doing it," said Denenberg.
Goodman said, "If they worried less about political credit and more about commuter concerns, they would be better off."
