Results tagged “dekalb”

An everyday occurrence turned into a 28 hour ordeal for a Queens man last month when he was arrested for using the emergency subway exit at DeKalb Avenue on the L line in Brooklyn. 32-year-old Todd Zielinski says he used the exit to bypass a crowd of commuters pushing through the turnstiles, but plainclothes cops stopped him, checked his ID, and sent him through what's commonly called "the system." In most cases, the NYPD issues summonses for minor offenses like this, but suspects without IDs or with outstanding warrants are sent on a long trip down to The Tombs before seeing a judge. But Zielinski, a Verizon technician, insists his record is clean and tells the Daily News, "They took 28 hours of my life away from me. People can't believe it. This is what our city's come to? I've taken the subway and buses all my life... If I counted how much money I've given to the MTA to be treated like this." (In 2006, the MTA reported that unnecessary use of the emergency gates was causing the automatic alarms to malfunction.) An NYPD spokesman confirmed the arrest, but it's unclear why Zielinski was detained for so long. Perhaps the inevitable lawsuit will shed more light on the incident.

Sure, we're all familiar with subway tiles, but would you ever go so far as to recreate the Dekalb subway stop in your bathroom? One Glasgow resident did just that, making good on a 21-year-old promise.

21 years ago I arrived in New York City from Scotland to visit...and was immediatedly fascinated by The Subway. I was an undergrad painting student at the time, and returned to Scotland to begin making full-size replicas of mosaic-ed station names, complete with grafitti and running-water staining. At the time, i remember saying that if I ever bought a flat, I would tile my bathroom with a New York subway station name. I decided on my local station on that first NY trip - DeKalb Avenue.

There's some intricate detail in there, down to the "black grout for that 100 year-old subway grime effect." Read more about the endeavour here, and see more photos here. [via Curbed]