MTA finishes Bird-B-Gone project

Assemblymember Jose Peralta joined Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Deputy Director of Government and Community Relations, Robert Marino, and community leaders at the Corona Plaza subway station at 103rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue to celebrate the completion of the Bird-B-Gone project to rid the No. 7 Line of pigeons and reverse the damage done by them.
As an early advocate of this program, Peralta recognized the health and economic benefits to the community of eliminating the birds and repairing the damage. He cited a Bronx study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine published in the Journal of Pediatrics in May, 2001 that indicated that Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus present in pigeon droppings, infects a majority of children in the Bronx after the age of two.
Peralta, in cooperation with Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry, secured $1.5 M for station improvements. While Peralta is happy the Bird-B-Gone project is complete he is still aware of unresolved issues and frustrated by what he called bureaucratic delays which have resulted in further damage caused by the birds since the station was refurbished back in 2005.
“The Bird-B-Gone system will better protect the children of Corona from the dangers of bird excrement,” Peralta said. The installation of the Bird-B-Gone system marks the completion of an initiative that will benefit all members of the community. “This is a first step by the MTA in providing better services in the Corona area and I look forward to working with them in the future to further improve the lives of my constituents,” Peralta said on Thursday, February 15.