Daily News from New York, New York • 95

DOOdDGD Fixup's overbudget a great big mess By LISA REIN -If life Daily News Staff Writer The Transit Authority has botched the renovation of one its busiest subway stations, to scale back the renovation, and the ventilation pilot project will be dropped. At least one stairway that would have relieved crowding for people transferring between the line and the other lines served by the station ffl 'XN wasting more than $6 million and forcing thousands of straphangers to endure daily commuting headaches. And there won't be a quick end to the mess at Manhattan's Union Square station. The rehabilitation of the station, which serves 130,000 riders a day on six lines, has become mired in waste and inefficiency because the TA began with incomplete design plans it rushed a consultant to produce. The screwups are a stunning example of the TA's troubled $727 million station renovation program, which has been plagued by costly delays caused by the transit agency and its contractors.

TA officials admit they're largely to blame for the prob lems at Union Square, the system's third busiest station. The $60 million project, begun in 1994, has left the station strewn with construction debris and exposed wires. Entrances are closed. Key transfer passageways, already too narrow, are partially blocked by temporary construction walls. The work also has involved a massive street excavation of the recently renovated park above.

"They're always fixing things, and the noise is terrible," said Rosa Noboa, who works at The Wiz store in Union Square. "Sometimes at rush hour there's only one person selling tokens." Other commuters say they wait on longer lines for tokens because construction has closed booths. "There's always a long line of people trying to get to the booth," said Carl Rohrer of Manhattan. Riders also will be denied a perk of the renovation. Union Square users were to be the first to benefit from a ventilation system on the platforms.

The station has few open the 4, 5, 6 and the and also has been dropped from the rehab plan. "We discovered a problem early on, and we're taking corrective action to fix it," said Robert Apfel, the TA's deputy capital program chief, who was called in to supervise the renovation in March when top agency officials learned it was in trouble. Apfel said the agency, under pressure to award renovation contracts, "pushed the schedule" of the engineering firm that designed the project Key electrical and other structural details were omitted from plans, Apfel said. The TA could be millions more in the red because the contractor is expected to seek compensation for the extra time and work, officials said. The design firm, which was paid $3 million, had 12 months to come up with plans when it should have had 18.

Apfel said. The tab to redo the plan is $600,000. The four-year renovation, scheduled to be finished in 1998, will widen passageways, and improve token booths, lighting and electrical power. Elevators and stairways will be added. The TA has paid the contractor, NAB Construction, $556,000 in additional charges.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board last month approved $5.5 million more to cover the extra design, contractor and TA labor costs, and $300,000 to install a TA engineering team to supervise. "A lot of people don't know there are things getting screwed up here," said Yaw Boadu, a Beth Israel Medical Center worker who transfers regularly at Union Square. "But there's a lot of waste. Eventually that leads to higher fares." With Julian Garcia MISHA ERWITT DAILY NEWS GETTING THERE at Union Square station is a real challenge, what with closed entrances and narrowed passageways during $60 million rehabilitation. The station is the subway system's third busiest, with six lines.

Botched renovation has cost the Transit Authority more than $6 million in additional charges and has meant headache after headache for already harried commuters. i r'hw -ii grates and is one of the hottest in the system. The TA says now it will have Orr, who will collect $212,500 annually, less required withholding, for 25 years, said he let the lottery computer pick his numbers, as he has done every Wednes-day and Saturday for 10 years. Although he'd never won before, Orr said he always felt it was just a matter of time. "I knew I was going to win," he said.

let them in unless they give me their autograph." Bakri said he was "calm as a cucumber" when he called the lottery information line and learned he'd won. The Canadian declined to say how he'd spend the windfall but said he chose a lumpsum payment But Tiani has definite plans for his $10 million: He wants to buy a house. The Passaic, N.J., resident said he'll splurge a little on his sister, Iris, who lives in Florida, and maybe buy a place near hers for when he retires in two years. He said he also will share some of his good fortune with his seven fellow doormen. But most important, Orr said, he'll keep his job at "the best building in New York." "I love my job," he said.

"I know the people. I won't July 6 lottery drawing. "It seems funny for someone to tip a millionaire." Orr was one of three winners introduced by lottery of-ficials yesterday as New York's latest millionaires. Canadian tourist Mohammad Bakri also hit it big for $8.5 million in the drawing. Joseph Tiani of Brooklyn did even better.

The city museum employe won $10 million in the June 26 drawing. By MICHAEL BREYER Daily News Staff Writer David Orr is still the doorman for Madonna and actress Carol Kane, but from now on the celebrities can keep their tips the new Lotto millionaire doesn't need them anymore. "I stopped taking tips from them as of last night" said Orr, a 63-year New Jersey resident who was one of two $8.5 million winners in the CL.