Orion VII 4 Life Posted January 21, 2014 Share #1 Posted January 21, 2014 Posted by Gold 12th on Subchat The MTA will likely shut down its East Harlem bus depot because it sits atop a 17th-century African burial ground, two transit sources told The Post.The 126th Street facility — home to the M15 fleet that traverses Second Avenue, the city’s busiest bus route — could close permanently as early as June, one of the sources revealed.The Post first reported three years ago that the agency had confirmed the existence of the burial ground, used by Harlem’s first house of worship, the Elmendorf Reformed Church, from 1665 until 1869 to bury slaves and freed slaves.Community activists began lobbying to relocate the 67-year-old depot, a former trolley yard, to memorialize the cherished ground and even establish a cultural center around it. At the time, the MTA maintained it would continue to study the issue but planned to go ahead with the refurbishment of the depot in 2015.Now the agency appears ready to wash its hands of the 104,000-square-foot building, sources said.“It’s impractical to close down this depot. It’s going to disrupt service,” said J.P. Patafio, an official with Transport Workers Union Local 100. “They should put up a monument.”A report commissioned by the Harlem African Burial Ground Task Force from Hunter College recommended “bus depot relocation” in the fall of 2011 “to provide space for the proper memorialization of the burial ground.”MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz would only say the authority hasn’t made any decision on the depot’s fate. A report completed by the MTA in February 2013 shows it has considered “renovation, rehabilitation or replacement” and noted the site could be subject to “redevelopment.”The burial ground’s history dates to 1658, when New Amsterdam’s Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, ordered African slaves to build a nine-mile road from lower Manhattan to what was then known as Nieuw Haarlem. Two years later, the First Reformed Church of Harlem — which would later become Elmendorf — was founded, and in 1665 it set aside land for a “Negro burying ground,” according to the Hunter College report.http://nypost.com/2014/01/19/mta-to-move-depot-built-on-slave-graveyard/ _______________________________________________________________________ Now what the hell are they gonna do with the buses?They can't close it until AT LEAST when MCH opens back up and that's apparently not until next year. And even then, it will have to be temporary, either they move ahead with the renovations or they will need to build a replacement somewhere (or maybe reopen Amsterdam). The new MCH was not meant to be a permanent replacement for 126th, it was meant to supplement it like it used to and serve as a replacement (along with whatever other depots they decide on) while it gets renovated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHV9218 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #2 Posted January 21, 2014 There's also an OA / TA issue between MCH and OS. MCH, from what I've been hearing, could be rushed to open by the summer pick but more realistically the fall pick. I never believe the Post though, so I'd take the immediacy of this with a grain of salt. 126 is closing either temporarily for construction or permanently one way or another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion VII 4 Life Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted January 21, 2014 There's also an OA / TA issue between MCH and OS. MCH, from what I've been hearing, could be rushed to open by the summer pick but more realistically the fall pick. I never believe the Post though, so I'd take the immediacy of this with a grain of salt. 126 is closing either temporarily for construction or permanently one way or another. There's gonna be an OA/TA issue at least temporarily during the renovations anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FamousNYLover Posted January 21, 2014 Share #4 Posted January 21, 2014 I don't want 126th St depot to closed down either because it's also my favorite depots. If 126th St depot closed, where would M100 B/O use restroom beside Kingsbridge Depot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo19 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #5 Posted January 21, 2014 If the opening of MCH is delayed surely the closing of OH will be delayed. #mtalogic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quill Depot Posted January 21, 2014 Share #6 Posted January 21, 2014 Soo, its being moved because there's some graveyard underneath it? What, there afraid of it being haunted. smh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 21, 2014 Share #7 Posted January 21, 2014 Well the new SF station kept getting delayed because they discovered some graves or something there. As for this, I hope they don't shut down the depot over it unless they 'overbuild' the other depots to handle the extra buses. The only reason they should abandon 126th is if they sell the land for development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyer 230 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #8 Posted January 21, 2014 What about Amsterdam Depot opening up to routes again? What about Amsterdam Depot opening up to routes again? If 126 closes Amsterdam could be opened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culver Posted January 21, 2014 Share #9 Posted January 21, 2014 Well the new SF station kept getting delayed because they discovered some graves or something there. As for this, I hope they don't shut down the depot over it unless they 'overbuild' the other depots to handle the extra buses. The only reason they should abandon 126th is if they sell the land for development. Not happening, precisely for the burial ground reason. We don't pave over cemeteries to make parking lots, and they're simply trying to correct a wrong here. I'd guess MCH will have to pick up the slack. Speaking of which, wasn't that damn thing supposed to be open already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 21, 2014 Share #10 Posted January 21, 2014 Well, I don't see the city giving the mta free space just because the depot was built over it. I guess they could set aside some land, but I don't think the mta is going to just give it all up unless compensated for it. It wouldn't be fair to dump everything onto the remaining depots for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Pond Posted January 21, 2014 Share #11 Posted January 21, 2014 What about that big ass lot across the street they use...they could build a multi-story depot there (ie Quill, Grand Av, 100 St, etc) so that way they have a new building with plenty of space for the buses to park. IIRC, they also have a small lot on the other side of the dealership over there so that helps for parking too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missabassie Posted January 21, 2014 Share #12 Posted January 21, 2014 If this is true, I'll miss one-2-6ix. At the same time, I wouldn't take too seriously anything spread by the Post... that paper's a f**king rag... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 21, 2014 Share #13 Posted January 21, 2014 What about that big ass lot across the street they use...they could build a multi-story depot there (ie Quill, Grand Av, 100 St, etc) so that way they have a new building with plenty of space for the buses to park. IIRC, they also have a small lot on the other side of the dealership over there so that helps for parking too That's precisely what I was thinking about... The area where they park those buses could use a sprucing up anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Concourse Posted January 22, 2014 Share #14 Posted January 22, 2014 What about that big ass lot across the street they use...they could build a multi-story depot there (ie Quill, Grand Av, 100 St, etc) so that way they have a new building with plenty of space for the buses to park. IIRC, they also have a small lot on the other side of the dealership over there so that helps for parking too Good point. I figure they would probably rebuild the current building as a multilevel depot anyway, but perhaps moving it over across the street works as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted January 22, 2014 Share #15 Posted January 22, 2014 What about that big ass lot across the street they use...they could build a multi-story depot there (ie Quill, Grand Av, 100 St, etc) so that way they have a new building with plenty of space for the buses to park. IIRC, they also have a small lot on the other side of the dealership over there so that helps for parking too This was the original plan...to build a multifloor depot in the lot across the street, except to build a portion of it under ground. It was suppose to be similar to MHV. And if anyone knows the real story behind MHV, they know that it was built specifically so that a skyscraper could be built on top of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pelhamlocal Posted January 22, 2014 Share #16 Posted January 22, 2014 In my opinion History always comes before real estate and land development! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennM7Lover Posted January 22, 2014 Share #17 Posted January 22, 2014 If they do shut down the 126th Street Depot, what depot will the M15 go to? I smell Quill POSSIBLY. the M31, M66, M116, I don't know. Sent from my 2330C using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q43LTD Posted January 22, 2014 Share #18 Posted January 22, 2014 If they do shut down the 126th Street Depot, what depot will the M15 go to? I smell Quill POSSIBLY. the M31, M66, M116, I don't know.Sent from my 2330C using TapatalkThe M66 isn't with 126 anymore. It's with Quill. The 116 is split with Manny Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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