Grand Street (L) Station Now Fully Accessible With Completion of Elevators

Governor Kathy Hochul and the MTA celebrated the completion of two elevators on the corner of Grand Street and Bushwick Avenue today, allowing easier access to the Grand Street (L) Station. The Grand Street (L) Station is now fully accessible, becoming the fourth station to be upgraded to fully accessibility in 2023.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when ridership significantly decreased, the MTA prioritized expanding accessibility improvements in the subway by completing 15 accessibility projects. Following today's announcement, there are 142 accessible stations and 30 stations in construction for accessibility upgrades, eight of which are expected to be complete by the end of 2023.

“The Grand Street station is the most recent example of our hard work to ensure that no New Yorker has to worry about whether they can safely access public transportation,” Governor Hochul said. “The MTA shares our commitment to delivering accessibility improvements across New York City and will continue to strive to make transit accessible to all.”

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “When it comes to accessibility, the MTA is delivering on an unprecedented commitment – both in terms of dollars or number of stations – and we are going to keep going at the same pace and level of investment until we achieve full accessibility.”

NYC Transit President Richard Davey said, “We're excited to welcome Brooklyn L customers to their new, accessible station, which also has also been enhanced with freshly installed eye-catching mosaic artwork by a local Brooklyn-based artist. This has been a summer full of accessibility milestones in the system, from enhanced wayfinding for customers with disabilities to a number of newly accessible subway stations. We will keep up this momentum, and I look forward to celebrating several more accessible stations opening later in 2023.”

MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said, “Newly-accessible stations like Grand St are the fruits of our efforts to execute projects better, faster, and cheaper through innovative delivery methods such as contract bundling. We are on track to complete this particular eight-station package of ADA upgrades, which will greatly improve accessibility not just in Williamsburg but throughout our transit system.”

State Senator Julia Salazar said, “The installation of ADA-compliant elevators at the Grand St station is a needed and welcomed improvement that will provide thousands of our neighbors with the accommodations they need to navigate the City. I thank the MTA for listening to our community about the need for accessible public transit.”

Assembly Member Emily Gallagher said, “People of all physical abilities have the same right to access our mass transit system but that hasn't been the reality for far too long. With the opening of the new elevators at the Grand Street station, the MTA is one step closer to achieving its obligation. I thank everyone for working so diligently to get this done.”

Assembly Member Maritza Davila said, “As thousands of New Yorkers commute every day on the subway, it’s paramount that we work to make the transit systems more accessible. It’s great to see that the train elevators are ADA compliant and the project is completed. This will benefit a lot of commuters who live in the vicinity, especially in a high foot traffic location. Though there is still more work to be done, the ultimate goal is to make our subways systems safe, clean, efficient and accessible for all.”

Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez said, “I am thrilled that the Grand Street L station ADA project has been substantially completed, and marks an important step in expanding the inclusivity and accessibility of our neighborhood. I'm deeply grateful to the local community for their patience and understanding, as well as their advocacy, throughout this essential project.”

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, “Today’s announcement is cause for celebration. Accessibility is freedom, and ADA projects like this are essential for enabling Brooklynites to move about our borough easily and comfortably. I’m excited that these elevators are finally up and running, and I look forward to continuing to work with the MTA to build a transit network that prioritizes equity and inclusivity.”

Click here for the MTA’s full press release. Photos and quotes courtesy of the MTA.

Grand Street (L) station Gets New Mosaic

The MTA has commissioned a new mosaic project at the Grand Street (L) Station! Artist Glendalys Medina designed this mosaic by touring the neighborhood, incorporating elements and colors they would see into the art. Walking from the station to their studio, Medina would reflect on their COVID-19 pandemic ritual of walking outside and feeling gratitude for the neighborhood. These feelings and memories were poured into the mosaic, alongside their practice inspired by Taíno culture, Hip-hop, music, Latinx culture, and the way people sort patterns in their minds. All photos are courtesy of Osheen Harruthoonyan.

“The two mosaic panels at the Grand Street station appear on each platform mezzanine. On the Brooklyn-bound side, Medina reflects on the various communities who have comprised East Williamsburg and Bushwick over time. The large color fields represent the original Lenape inhabitants and Pan-African, Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and Dominican immigrants. On the Manhattan-bound side, more intimate color studies were derived from the artist’s experience of the neighborhood across seasons. A nearby church, birds in the springtime, the Moore Street Market, and the collar of a passing dog provided inspiration for these compositions of interlocking forms that call to mind schematic design drawings. Fabricated by Miotto Mosaic Art Studios, the two panels feature overlapping shapes that allow the eye to complete forms that are disrupted, inviting viewers to look a little longer and contemplate gratitude.”

-MTA Arts Design

About the artist

Glendalys Medina is a conceptual interdisciplinary visual artist and received an MFA from Hunter College. Medina has presented artwork at such notable venues as PAMM, Participant Inc., Performa 19, Artists Space, The Bronx Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Vigo, Spain, and The Studio Museum in Harlem among others. Medina was a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2020), a Jerome Hill Foundation Fellowship (2019), an Ace Hotel New York City Artist Residency (2017), a SIP fellowship at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (2016), a BACK IN FIVE MINUTES artist residency at El Museo Del Barrio (2015), a residency at Yaddo (2014, 2018), the Rome Prize in Visual Arts (2013), a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Art (2012), and the Bronx Museum Artist in the Marketplace residency (2010). Medina is currently a professor at SVA’s MFA Art Practice program and lives and works in New York.

My practice is inspired by how humans learn, create order out of chaos and make sense of the world; how previous knowledge is essential for learning and perceiving; how the ambiguity of the world increases our reliance on that previous knowledge; how we project that knowledge when we don’t understand; and how we see with our brains recognizing patterns of information. I create work that amplifies marginalized voices, deconstructs and reconstructs image, language and systems to incite a change in cognitive structures that occur as a result of an experience. I am interested in creating moments when previous knowledge gets an upgrade and new perspectives are formed to establish cultural inclusivity. My work exhibits Taíno (indigenous Caribbeans) culture, Hip- hop and Latinx culture and music, and explores personal development as an empowering tool to re-identify societal and personal value structures to gain cultural equity in a transcultural global society.

-Glendalys Medina (About)