Make New York Post a Preferred Source The MTA plans to spend up to $120,000 to preserve access to an Amazon delivery hub during Bronx construction — even as East Harlem mom-and-pop shops say the agency is refusing to help them survive similar disruptions.
The transit agency would reimburse Amazon-related costs tied to a temporary access route at its 367,000-square-foot Morris Park delivery facility, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority documents.
The money would cover Amazon’s review and approval of the planned route, a temporary curb cut on Marconi Street and an updated city Buildings Department site plan, records show.
The MTA needs the new route because it will periodically close Bassett Avenue — the only way in and out of the facility — while building a new Metro-North station entrance and pedestrian overpass as part of its Penn Station Access project.
But the MTA’s six-figure budget to keep Amazon moving has left East Harlem merchants fuming.
“They make my blood boil,” Eagle Tile owner Lu Nicaj said. “A trillion-dollar company they reimburse, but they don’t reimburse guys like me that need this money?”
Nicaj said Second Avenue Subway construction has wiped out nearly 90% of the contractor business his store relies on.
He said the MTA took over his loading zone, blocked access with barriers and equipment and then went silent after promising to help with access for customers picking up bulky orders.
“Here I am a mom-and-pop shop and all of a sudden MTA comes and destroys everything I’ve built for the past 35 years,” Nicaj said. “And yet they find $120,000 to reimburse Amazon?”
Nicaj said that same money could help him relocate.
“$120,000 would help me move and relocate,” he said. “I could do it tomorrow.”
Go Donut owner Solomon Fresh said sales at his Second Avenue shop near East 119th Street have dropped 70% since construction moved outside four months ago.
He said the MTA repeatedly told him it “can’t pay us anything.”
“It’s really disrespectful,” Fresh said. “They just don’t care about us.”
Fresh said he is not asking for $120,000 — only some relief while construction fences and noise keep customers away.
“This is how I feed my son,” he said. “They’re making it difficult for me and my family.”
East Harlem merchants previously told The Post that the nearly $8 billion Second Avenue Subway expansion has squeezed sidewalks, blocked loading areas and slashed business.
The MTA insisted it has been working with the East Harlem shops to help mitigate the effects of the construction.
The MTA said in a statement Friday officials at the transit agency are working with the NYC DOT to “try to identify alternative commercial loading and unloading space nearby.”
