Community concerned about jagged fence near school

<p>Some community leaders say a rusty, jagged fence near a school is a disaster waiting to happen.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jul 25, 2017, 9:24 PM

Updated 2,654 days ago

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Some community leaders say a rusty, jagged fence near a school is a disaster waiting to happen.
The fence is located on Longfellow Avenue near the Bronx Charter School for the Arts.
State Sen. Jeff Klein joined concerned teachers, parents and students Tuesday to address what they say has been an ongoing problem.
Klein says the fence became dilapidated after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the area. More than half the fence is now toppled over onto the street. The fence is attached to a concrete wall that separates the dead-end block where the school is located from the adjacent Amtrak tracks.
Community leaders are upset because they say they fight every day for children's safety, and the fence is something that should be an easy fix -- if someone would take on the responsibility.
Klein says he set up a meeting with Amtrak and the DOT this past winter to come up with a solution. Klein adds that no one wants to take care of the fence and accuses both the city and Amtrak of pointing fingers while children's lives are in danger. He says Amtrak officials claimed that the fence and wall to which it's attached was turned over to the city, meaning its responsibility falls to the Department of Transportation.
"The New York City Department of Transportation and city claim they have no record of that ownership in 1955, so here we are still all of these years later, our young people are at risk," says the senator.
A DOT spokesperson tells News 12 that the fence does not belong to the department. News 12 also reached out to Amtrak and is waiting for a response.