Leah Flax is handling an unusual assignment. She’s the project manager in charge of renaming two subway stations in central Brooklyn. And as she’s learned, it’s no simple matter. “Renaming a station is not flipping a light switch,” Ms. Flax says.
There are new signs to install, apps to update, an escalator and elevator directory to revise—and that’s just the beginning.
Fortunately, Ms. Flax has at her disposal several months of lead time, a $250,000 legislative grant and what she calls the “Holy Grail”—a big Excel file inherited from a predecessor to track the 26 sub-projects involved in changing the name of the Franklin Avenue and President Street stations in Crown Heights to incorporate the name of Medgar Evers College, a nearby school.
Last week, Ms. Flax, who typically serves as a government-relations specialist for New York City Transit, showed me the file. She has all the steps ranked in order from “Essential”—updating recorded train announcements—to “non-critical” commemorative items.
Some steps are self-explanatory like “Printed System Maps,” and some rather mysterious, such as the “ATIS” that must be updated, along with the “IVR grammars,” by someone in “S&CE.”
“Everyone is talking in acronyms. You have to ask them to explain and to slow down,” says Ms. Flax of her assignment, which involves coordinating 33 contacts in 14 divisions and offices.
Among these people is Chuck Gordanier, known by some as the “maps guru.” His actual MTA title is chief of marketing and advertising, but he wears many hats. “We’re not that big at the headquarters,” he says.
There are six versions of the official subway map including digital maps and three kinds of paper map: Foldable pocket maps available in token booths, train-car maps and the giant maps found on station platforms. They are based on a single Adobe Illustrator file that Mr. Gordanier revises himself.
The online-digital maps are updated several times a month to reflect small changes. The paper maps are updated less frequently and printed in huge numbers—typically one million pocket maps, 22,000 train-car maps and 3,300 platform maps.
The new station names will appear on updated paper maps scheduled to be printed late this summer. Mr. Gordanier has been considering how to squeeze the new names onto the map.
At 32 and 33 characters respectively, “Franklin Av-Medgar Evers College” and “President St-Medgar Evers College” will be among the longest names on the map, surpassing even “Westchester-Sq-East-Tremont-Av.”
We studied the map together. “President Street is pretty easy if you move the ‘Winthrop St’ label,” Mr. Gordanier says. “It will be awkward and lengthy, but it’s not tragic.”
He also may move the “East Flatbush” neighborhood label, but with great caution. “As you know, New Yorkers are very picky about that kind of thing,” he notes.
The new train-car maps will be installed by the same team that handles in-car advertising, Mr. Gordanier says. Because they can only be swapped when the cars are parked in the yards, it will take several weeks to change the entire system.
In case you were wondering—as was I—Medgar Evers College is a small, four-year CUNY school mainly serving Brooklyn residents. It’s named after the Black civil-rights activist who organized business boycotts, marches and prayer vigils in Jackson, Miss. He was shot dead in 1963 by a white supremacist sniper.
The station renaming, which was adopted by the New York State Legislature late last year and announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month, honors both the school and the man.
And for John Kern, it’s a major undertaking. The assistant director of station signage oversees the installation, updating and maintenance of all 84,753 signs in the 472-station subway system.
Aiming to maintain name consistency, NYCT’s “station renaming committee” rejects most requests. “But Medgar Evers College came through the State Legislature,” Mr. Kern says. “We didn’t have much choice in the matter.”
NYCT must replace 244 signs to complete the renaming for both stations. The cost for the porcelain enamel placards, which typically last for decades, was higher than Mr. Kern expected when he put the project out to bid: $52,000.
Porcelain sign prices have climbed in recent years, he notes. Boosting the cost: These signs are priced by the square foot, and the new station names are lengthy. The 18 overhead platform signs, for example, span nearly 9 feet and cost nearly $1,000 each.
The new appellations are too long to fit on the column signs, so the street and school names will alternate on every other pillar.
The largest expense, however, is sign installation. The project will take about four weeks of overnight work by the six-person crew known as—I love this!—the “Porcelain Gang,” Mr. Kern says.
If all goes well, everything will be in place for the renaming to coincide with the school’s 50th anniversary celebration this fall.
The big question: Will anyone actually call the stations by their new names? Ms. Flax says yes, but it will take time. “Everyone,” she says, “is averse to change.”
Write to Anne Kadet at Anne.Kadet@wsj.com
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