A petitioning campaign is underway in Norwood aimed at putting pressure on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to prioritize the installation of a much-needed elevator at the Mosholu Parkway 4 No. train station.

The effort is noticeably led by Eric Dinowitz, District Leader for the area’s 81st Assembly District who’s expressed interest in running for the City Council seat currently held by Norwood Councilman Andrew Cohen. Cohen, whose district overlaps with the train station, was not there.

“We know that more than 10 percent of the population here has a disability, so you could figure it’s over a thousand people who would be able to use this train station but are unable to,” said Dinowitz, flanked by elected officials including Senator Jamaal Bailey, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez and Dinowitz’s father, Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz. The younger Dinowitz works as a special education teacher for mentally and physically disabled students and considers himself a disability advocate.

Much of the urgency lies in a scheduled meeting by the MTA, where its 23-member board will convene Sept. 26 to discuss elevator installations at five more subway stations across the system. The move was made possible after the board approved the allocation of another $200 million for elevators to its 2015-19 capital budget. The MTA hasn’t decided which stations will receive an upgrade.

Dinowitz has teamed up with Community Board 7 chair Jean Hill to lobby for a Mosholu Parkway elevator. “That flight of stairs has become daunting for someone like me,” said Hill, who’s also president of the nearby Tracey Towers Tenants Association. “It has become imperative to have an elevator here.”

Hill later mentioned that a request for an elevator has long been made.

In a statement, Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the MTA, said Byford “has made accessibility in the subway system one of his top four priorities since he took office this January.”

The MTA’s move to fast track more elevators across the system is part of the Fast Forward Plan launched by MTA President Andy Byford. The MTA, under a federal mandate stretching back to 1993, has been ordered to make all stations wheelchair-accessible. Three stations in the Bronx—the Bedford Park Boulevard station at the B/D line, the Gun Hill Road station on the 2 line and the East 149th Street/Grand Concourse 2, 4, and 5 lines—are among the Bronx stations already included in the 2015-2019 capital budget plan.

With the majority of the system built well before the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted, the MTA’s system is virtually unusable by thousands of New Yorkers who get around using a wheelchair, other assistive device, or Access-a-Ride. So far, 23 percent of the system’s 472 stations are wheelchair accessible.

Relief for an elevator can’t come soon enough for Michael Elliott, a 42-year Norwood resident. Elliott gets around using a cane, avoiding the station’s four-flight staircase whenever he can.

“It’s like climbing Mt. Everest,” said Elliott, who climbed the steps six months ago with great pain, all to attend a New York Yankees game. “But I had to take one step at a time. I told my friend, ‘You gotta wait. This is the first and last time I go.’”

The game was part of a series. Elliott avoided the other two games.

With only a quarter of the system wheelchair accessible, navigating around the city becomes a journey complete with transfers, extra minutes and aggravation mainly for the disabled.

“Many of my stations I wanted to go to had no elevator access or was completely out of my way,” said Dustin Jones, a former Bronx resident and board member for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, who gets around with his wheelchair. “I shouldn’t have to take a bus to a train, to then get off at a different station, to get off at a different station to take a bus or another bus just to get to my destination.”

“What if you’re temporarily disabled? Let’s say you’re a student at DeWitt Clinton and you sprain your ankle? It makes it more difficult to get to school,” said Bailey.

The MTA factors station usage and proximity to so-called activity centers to determine whether a station would receive an elevator. Mosholu Parkway serves as a nexus for travelers visiting North Central Bronx Hospital and Montefiore Health System, DeWitt Clinton High School and Mosholu Montefiore Community Association. Tracey Towers is the largest Mitchell-Lama complex in the Bronx while Scott Towers runs between the Mosholu Parkway and Bedford Park Boulevard stations. The station also abuts the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District, Norwood’s main shopping corridor. The BID’s executive director, Jennifer Tausig, said elevator access for the disabled is critical to the “survival of the commercial corridor.”

Petitions are expected to be distributed throughout the community meetings leading up to the MTA Board meeting. Organizers said there is no set number of petitions they intend to gather.

Petitioning had previously helped sway the MTA to prioritize certain stations over others. It worked for the East 149th Street/Grand Concourse 2, 4, 5 line, according to Julio Munoz, president of the South Bronx Community Congress, in a report by the Bronx Times Reporter.

Noble efforts aside, the campaign cast a spotlight on the younger Dinowitz, whose ambitions to run for office became closer to reality after forming a campaign committee to consider a run.

“Whatever my future is I’m gonna get there because I’m doing the right thing and fighting for the people who need the most help,” said Dinowitz.

Not too far was Daniel Padernacht, already a candidate for the 11th Council District. Padernacht stood behind advocates, observing.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the campaign, residents can email mosholu4trainelevator@gmail.com.