With Completion Date Delayed, Subway Ventilation Project Foments Chaos on Forsyth Street

Already in play for nigh on four years years, the job to replace outdated subway ventilation apparatus fifteen beneath the roadbed at Forsyth and Delancey Streets is now full throttle.

The criss-crossing network of fencing around construction creates havens for illicit activity – drug deals, shooting up, public sex, and attempted assaults are now par for the course along this block. Homeless also congregate in the shadows of the scaffolding. Recall also that Roni-Sue’s chocolates, one of the only businesses on the block, was previously vandalized, its front window shattered; rats are running rampant around the block, and specifically inside M’Finda Kalunga Garden due to purported poor rat abatement practice by the contractor; and trees were chopped down instead of relocated.

Street closures between Rivington and Stanton are par for the course, and a significant roadblock for the elderly and handicapped population that require transportation services.

Neighbors on the block are at wit’s end.

The MTA earlier last year revised the completion date, pushing it back further to the fourth quarter of 2023. That’s one quarter later than initially projected.

Also, area stakeholders remain at odds with the city about its handling of the disruptive project. Namely, the lack of direct, time-sensitive communication, which is blamed for some of the dangerous conditions on the block.