The MTA is using plywood to cover subway ventilation grates in certain Queens’ lines that may tend to flood. The planks keep rainwater from pooling on the tracks and interfering with service. Easy and cost-effective? Yes. Safe? Maybe not. The problem is that ventilation grates are intended to, you know, ventilate, and plywood, being solid and all, doesn’t really allow for, you know, ventilation. Put simply, the bad air has to get out and the good air must get in. This logic is not lost on the union and the Queens Borough President’s office, both of which have voiced concern over passengers breathing in an excess of smoke and fumes. But the New York City Transit Authority, the MTA subway division, claims that these fears are unjustified…because there are plenty of other grates in the platform. Sometimes, it’s hard to believe we’re the same species that invented the wheel.