I am proud to have been the tipster/source for a couple of articles that appeared last week on THECITY.NYC, a relatively new website described as an outlet got hardscrabble investigative reporting that serves the people of New York City.
I sent an email to THE CITY’s “tips” address. In that email I described how a sign on the RFK (née Triborough) Bridge read “LIFE IS WORTH LIVING”, and promised an “NYC WELL 24 HOUR HOTLINE PHONE AHEAD”.
As I first noticed in 2010, and first discussed on this website in 2012, no such phone existed on the pedestrian walkway of the Triborough. I have written about this matter several times on this website since 2012. Since then I have also written to the MTA a number of times, asking where on the pedestrian walkway I could find the phone promised on the sign. Time after time the MTA’s response was the same: There is a phone there.
The first article at THE CITY posted on July 29, under the headline “RFK Bridge Suicide Prevention Sign Phone Message Rings False“. In that story Staten Island councilmember Steven Matteo described the situation as “asinine”, and passers-by, when asked for comment, echoed my bafflement about no phone being present despite prominent signage promising it.
After seeing that story at THE CITY I made my way over to the RFK Bridge, as a kind of reflex action. I had no expectations that anything would have changed on the bridge just hours after the story posted. I only went up there to demonstrate that, with this story posted and the MTA publicly called out on this matter, I intended to check in every single day on the progress of getting a phone installed.
Approaching the upper part of the pedestrian walkway I saw what looked like a dozen or so MTA workers, and two or three trucks parked on the roadway below. My aversion to striking up conversation with strangers prevented me at first from asking the only question I could possibly have had at this moment.
I let that inhibition go and asked one of the workers “Are you guys putting in a phone?” He responded in the affirmative. I said “That’s incredible!”
All involved seemed to agree that installing this phone was a positive thing. It was good to see, and the positive energy felt amazing. Honestly, it made me want to cry.
I texted Gabriel Sandoval, the author of the story at THE CITY, to inform him that a phone was being installed. Gabriel responded by saying he would head to the bridge ASAP. The next day his follow-up story posted: Suicide Prevention Hotline to the Rescue on RFK Bridge, with breathless comments from me quoted near the end.
I am beyond happy that this long-running situation, asinine to say the least, has finally been resolved. My thanks go to THE CITY for amplifying my concerns and bringing the matter to the attention of relevant agencies and individuals.
On Wednesday, two days after the phone’s installation, I made it up to the bridge again. I picked up the phone. It connected directly to NYC WELL. Call quality was pretty bad, and the noisy rattling of the RFK Bridge itself did little to help. But I managed to have a meaningful conversation with the woman who answered. I wanted to make sure the phone worked, and to let the people at NYC WELL know how happy I was that this phone had finally arrived.
I was also happy as hell to see that the device installed had an actual handset. I was afraid they would use some kind of loudspeakerphone, akin to the LinkNYC towers which by default force both sides of any telephone conversation to broadcast loud and clear for all to hear. Callers from the RFK crisis phone are spared that indignity.
This device is a GAI-TRONICS model 257-001 Rugged Outdoor Industrial Autodial Handset Telephone.
The call with NYC WELL ended with me feeling a little vainglorious. I announced “This is my phone.”
