28 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 16, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Friends of BQX unveil light rail prototype
and call on mayor to make project a reality
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Th e organization behind a plan to
create a light rail that would connect
the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront
shows off a prototype of the car at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard on Monday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his
support in February 2016 for a proposal
that would create the 14-mile streetcar
line connecting Red Hook, Brooklyn,
to Astoria. Friends of the Brooklyn
Queens Connector, a nonprofi t made
up of a coalition of community groups
and real estate companies like Tishman
Speyer, invited offi cials to view what the
streetcar would look like.
“It’s clear: now is the moment to move
forward with this transformative project
to connect hundreds of thousands
of New Yorkers, including over 40,000
public housing residents, to jobs, education,
healthcare and recreation along
the route,” said Ya-Ting Liu, executive
director of Friends of the Brooklyn
Queens Connector.
Th e prototype, which consisted of two
cars and a driver cab, stretched 46 feet
long and 8.7 feet wide. Th e group argues
that the streetcar has many advantages
including high-capacity cars, street-level
boarding for people with mobility
challenges, open gang-ways and potentially
higher average speeds than MTA
buses.
“Th e Astoria Houses have long felt
forgotten by the city when it comes to
transportation and only recently, thanks
to new ferry service, is this beginning to
change,” said Claudia Coger, Resident
Association President of the NYCHA
Astoria Houses. “But our residents need
more reliable options. Th is is an issue of
economic justice and it is why we have
been so adamant about the need for the
BQX.”
In January 2016, Friends of the BQX
commissioned a study to gage how feasible
the plan was. Th e city’s Economic
Development Corporation conducted
its own study and found that the project
would cost an estimated $2.5 billion,
up from the $1.7 billion suggested by
the nonprofi t group. Th e EDC also estimates
that yearly operating and maintenance
costs would go up to $31.5 million
instead of the $26 million proposed
by Friends of the BQX.
Th e nonprofi t argues that the light rail
would serve more than 400,000 New
Yorkers who live along the route, as well
as 300,000 who work along the corridor
in employment hubs like the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, Brooklyn Army Terminal,
Industry City and Long Island City.
In May 2016, the Department of
Transportation and the EDC invited
Astoria residents to discuss what specifics
residents would like to see if the plan
were implemented. Th ere was no offi cial
consensus about where in Astoria the
car should be installed – some argued
Vernon Boulevard was the right corridor
while other residents suggested 21st
Street or 11th Street.
Many expressed concerns about how
long the construction phase would take
or how the project would aff ect housing
prices.
Th e city announced that if the project
moves forward, construction will begin
in 2019 and the streetcar will be operational
in 2024.
Photos courtesy of Friends of BQX
The prototype of a 14-mile streetcar was unveiled in Brooklyn.
Public Advocate names Queens' 10 'worst buildings'
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Some buildings in Queens just don’t
measure up to code.
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Public Advocate
Letitia James released the 2017 Worst
Landlords Watchlist, a database of the
worst landlords and worst buildings in
New York City, including 10 of the worst
buildings in Queens.
Buildings that meet the selection criteria
are ranked according to the total number of
open violations issued from the Department
of Housing Preservation and Development
(HPD) to that building over a 12-month
period (October 2016 – October 2017).
Th e worst building in Queens was listed
as a Jamaica located at 87-40 165th St.,
which currently has 383 open HPD violations.
Coming in second on the list is 150-
15 Sanford Ave. in Flushing, which currently
has 244 HPD violations.
Here is the complete list of the top 10
worst buildings in Queens:
• 87-40 165th St., Jamaica, 383 HPD violations
• 150-15 Sanford Ave., Flushing, 244
HPD violations
• 139-29 34th Rd., Flushing, 204 HPD
violations
• 40-26 Benham St., Elmhurst, 201 HPD
violations
• 34-01 28th Ave., Astoria, 157 HPD violations
• 39-06 114th St., Corona, 152 HPD violations
• 63-69 110th St., Forest Hills, 142 HPD
violations
• 59-16 55th St., Maspeth, 139 HPD violations
• 116-01 14th Rd., College Point, 135
HPD violations
• 127-04 135th Ave., South Ozone Park,
128 HPD violations
In addition to listing the worst buildings
throughout the fi ve boroughs, the
Worst Landlords Watchlist released the
100 worst landlords in New York City.
Th is year, New York City’s worst landlord
is Jonathan Cohen/Silvershore Properties
with 1,090 HPD violations. Cohen/
Silvershore Properties owns property in
Ridgewood and in Brooklyn. Ranking
in at number eight on the list was Meir
Fried, who has 18 buildings on the list,
including one in Ridgewood.
“No New Yorker should be subjected to
live in a hazardous home, yet bad landlords
in our city are forcing too many
tenants to live in dangerous and indecent
conditions,” said Public Advocate Letitia
James. “Th e Worst Landlords Watchlist is
a powerful tool to put these unscrupulous
landlords on notice and gives tenants the
tools to hold them accountable. We will
continue to identify the worst abusers of
tenants and take on practices that deny
working families a chance to simply live
in safe, decent housing.”
To see a full list, visit www.landlordwatchlist.
com.
Photo: PropertyShark