Residents Want Safety in the Washington Heights Tunnel

Washington Heights residents want to reclaim the tunnel that connects Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue and leads to the 191 Street subway station. “We are angered and disappointed by the lack of notification and care employed by the Department of Transportation in painting the tunnel without community engagement or planning,” New York City Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa and Niria E. Leyva-Gutiérrez, executive director of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance said in a joint statement posted on Twitter. They spoke for local residents who feel frustrated and angry. 

They and the community want the drug addicts out, and they also want the city to keep its promise to allow artists to replace the graffiti it whitewashed in January 2023. “I see no difference in safety, they (the city) just painted over the artwork,” Martina Posmentier, a high school student who uses the tunnel said.  

Since 2015 neighborhood residents have enjoyed the work of graffiti artists who let loose and shared their creations on the tunnel’s walls and ceiling.  It was a safe space for the artists to share, but drug addicts took over the tunnel during the pandemic, and the atmosphere changed dramatically. People found it scary and became afraid to walk through it. This is also a problem because it is between a middle school and high school.  

Instead of getting the drug addicts out, the city covered the art. If the idea was to make the tunnel safer, it didn’t work. “The city should’ve hired workers to patrol the tunnel,” said Marilyn Ramirez, a high school teacher and Washington Heights resident.  

Posmentier regularly uses the tunnel. She said, “Whenever I walk through the tunnel I try zooming by the scary people because I get scared especially when they cause scenes and start screaming.” She noticed that others are frightened too. “It’s scary for everyone but especially women and children walking through there alone like myself,” she said. Like others, she also misses the graffiti.  

“I’ve worked in this neighborhood for the past two decades and it’s heartbreaking, ” Ramirez said. “Even on my way to work, which is a time for a peaceful walk, I have to walk past drug addicts openly shooting up and it is scary.”

In response to complaints, the Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriquez released a statement and said new artwork will go up.  The press release said, “DOT Art will select up to four (4) artists to develop design treatments to be painted within the Tunnel with community and volunteer support.” However, the DOT made no mention of cleaning up the drug addicts who congregate and sleep in the tunnel.