Roosevelt Island F Subway Station Rafters Filled With Pigeon Droppings
A reader of this NY Times City Room Blog post on the Failing F train commented (#10) on the disgusting condition of pigeon poop all over the Roosevelt Island subway station:
Ive lived in NYC all my life, but am really disgusted by the F station on RI where I live. Pigeons are allowed to roost inside the station and the floors and turnstiles are covered daily by droppings. The ceiling has been draped with netting in attempt to discourage the pigeons from entering the station, but they somehow fly in anyway. Because of this, birds still flap around above, the netting has become filled with feathers and pigeon droppings, and the escalators and handrails are targeted with pigeon poop. This is a high-volume subway station on a very busy subway line, and it is filthy. Additionally, on the Manhattan-bound platform, water can be heard gushing behind a metal door. Im not a structural engineer but Im thinking thats not good.
Roosevelt Island F Subway Station Turnstle Bird Droppings
RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin addressed this issue with RIOC staff and reports:
I discussed with everyone the bird problem and they stated that they are going to try putting magnets in the subway station. A revolving door would solve the problem too, but it is not ADA compliant. They could board up the area where the birds go, but that could kill off the present birds and would not be aesthetically pleasing.
Staff at RIOC said that pigeons do not like magnets. It interferes with the homing ability. I do not know if this will work and am looking into several other alternatives at the moment.
I don’t know about magnets but I do know it might help if people would stop throwing food at them and feeding them. I see this quite often, particularly at the Starbucks patio where people throw their crumbs at one or two pigeons and then a huge flock of them fly over to battle over the pieces.More Roosevelt Island Subway pigeon poop from earlier posts.