De Blasio greenlights $2.7 billion BQX proposal that removes Sunset Park from route

August 30, 2018 By Jaime DeJesus Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Photo courtesy of Mayor’s office

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The city is moving forward with a proposal to connect waterfront neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens with a streetcar.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday that the administration will proceed with revised plans for the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX), the nearly $2.8 billion streetcar project that would stretch along the waterfront for 11 miles, connecting to nine ferry landings, 13 subway routes and 30-plus bus lines.

However, there is a major change in the plan. The press release no longer includes Sunset Park as a stop along the projected route. The revised route will connect Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown Brooklyn and Red Hook.

“The Brooklyn-Queens waterfront has experienced incredible growth. Now it’s time for our transit system to catch up,” said de Blasio. “The BQX is one of the biggest, most ambitious projects in a generation. It will be a challenge, but New York City is taking it on.”

“The Brooklyn-Queens Connector will serve over half a million New Yorkers who live and work along the East River waterfront and need modern transportation options that meet their everyday needs,” added NYCEDC President James Patchett. “The BQX will link long-disconnected neighborhoods, shorten commutes to school and work, and provide a 21st century solution to our city’s transit challenges.”

The environmental impact study process will begin this winter, followed by the city’s mandated land use review, ULURP, in 2020. Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and end in 2029. The city will seek federal funding, among other sources, to deliver the project.

First-year ridership is expected to be 50,000 per day; the cost of a ride is expected to be the same as subway and buses.

“As the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront continues to grow, adding new residents and jobs each year, the city must pursue multiple transportation solutions,” said New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “The BQX has the potential to be an integral part of our city’s expanding transportation system. It will complement and connect to our subway and bus system, the NYC ferry, and bike share, while transforming city streets.”

But not everyone is so enthusiastic. Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, for one, cautioned, “We must not forget that the BQX proposal was made by private interests who see an opportunity to benefit their investments along the proposed route. Besides EDC taking up the cause, no other relevant entity – such as the city DOT or MTA – has weighed in on the economic or environmental impact of this project.”

“EDC has not established convincingly enough why the streetcar is necessary,” Menchaca added. “We know private property owners and other major waterfront developments in North Brooklyn will benefit from the streetcar. The question is whether the public will, or if it will just displace lots of people and businesses who had no need of the streetcar to begin with.”

Some Sunset Park residents are glad that their neighborhood is being left out.

“I believe it is not because of public response, although that would be nice to believe,” said Tony Giordano, the founder of Sunset Parker Facebook page. “I think it was doomed from the start for two technical reasons – the first the drawbridge over the Gowanus. I think this was the fatal flaw. The second was the narrowing of the commuter vehicle route along Third Avenue [that would have resulted from the streetcar being routed along the strip]. I think they realized that logistically it would have been impossible to deal with the loss of two traffic lanes.”

Activist group UPROSE celebrated the elimination of Sunset Park from the route.

“CONGRATULATIONS to @uprosebk and the volunteers, organizers, believers in justice who have our back!” UpRose wrote in a statement via Facebook. “This is a victory – let’s savor it for a second – now we must stand with the working class along the corridor. Big ups to POWWA coalition members and to our organizers that are out when it’s hot, when it cold, when it’s raining.” POWWA is the Protect Our Working Waterfront Alliance.

The city hopes to generate $30 billion in economic impact from the project, with around $1.4 billion in value capture (which Wikipedia defines as “public financing that recovers some or all of the value that public infrastructure generates for private landowners”) to help finance its construction.

The administration also hopes to connect mixed-income neighborhoods to jobs and transit hubs; provide affordable, reliable, and accessible service; and support transit-oriented development and safer streets.

“BQX taps into state-of-the-art transit tech to respond to and build upon the evolution of the Brooklyn Queens waterfront,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen. “With more than half a million people now living and working along the projected line and further growth to come, BQX will transform how our city moves.”

The BQX will also connect over 400,000 New Yorkers to emerging employment hubs along the corridor.

Nonetheless, the mayor, speaking at a recent press roundtable with Brooklyn reporters said that it needs a federal subsidy to happen — and there’s no sign of that yet.

“It’s a no-brainer,” de Blasio said during the Aug. 23 event. “The Brooklyn-Queens waterfront is so much of our future. Figuring out how to do it is what we’ve been focusing on.”