Scares on stairs at Kappock Street

The set of stairs between Kappock Street to Knolls Crescent —connecting residents to Ben’s Market on one side and a bus stop on the other — has become increasingly difficult to navigate.

Currently, several orange traffic barrels line the steps, with a level sectioned off by caution tape and a wooden plank nailed to the foot of one step.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said the agency is aware of the conditions and repairs are currently underway as weather permits.

The steps show visible signs of wear, with cracks running throughout the concrete and chunks missing, surrounded by debris and salt scattered to prevent slipping.

The stairway attracts a heavy foot traffic, especially from residents heading to the Knolls Crescent retail strip from nearby apartment buildings such as Riverpoint Towers. A few told The Press they worry someone could be injured.

Longtime resident Vik Levitsky was recently walking down the steps in the rain with her husband and noted how deteriorated they had become.

“You could see the amount of just loosened grit and little bits of rock and stuff,” she explained. “It’s an area that has a lot of young kids, people with carriages, a lot of elderly people that use walkers… It’s just safer if the steps are intact and have their edges.”

Levitsky’s nephew, Anthony Buckenberger, lives nearby, and said the stairs worsened from salt and shoveling after last month’s heavy snowfall.

A few years ago, while on the job as a firefighter, he suffered a knee injury, and has to be especially cautious on the Kappock steps. Buckenberger worries for his young son as well, who at seven is “pretty reckless” and has to be reminded to hold onto the railing while making his way down.

“Since it’s used so greatly, [the department] should just come in and redo the whole staircase, because there’s damage at every level,” he added.

On social media, dozens of residents responded to a post Buckenberger made, encouraging others to file 311 complaints and contact their local elected officials.

Council Member Eric Dinowitz pointed to the Department of Transportation as bearing the responsibility for the stairway remaining in such a rough condition.

“These are the staircases that we use to get around our neighborhood, it’s the same with the path,” Dinowitz said, referring to a walkway between 601 and 609 Kappock St. ridden with cracks and potholes. “We deserve for people to walk around our neighborhood safely without worrying about a fall hazard from our city government.”

He added the department seems “uninterested in responding to community needs.”

The department did not respond to this comment directly, but city agencies typically prioritize projects based on severity and risk to public safety. In responses to several 311 complaints filed about the staircase, the department explained that it needs 365 days to respond to requests involving sidewalk staircases.

An official construction end date has not been confirmed, but repairs are in progress, and status updates will be provided as the department proceeds, a spokesperson said.