The city this month tapped an
engineering firm to study the environmental
impacts that Mayor De-
Blasio’s beloved Brooklyn–Queens
trolley may have on the neighborhoods
through which it would run,
according to the leader of an advocacy
group for the so-called Brooklyn
Queens Connector (“Ready to
roll: City taps engineer to begin environmental
review of BQX trolley
project” by Julianne Cuba, online
Feb. 6).
“Today’s news makes it clear:
the BQX is moving forward,” said
Jessica Schumer, the daughter
of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–New
York). “These steps show meaningful
progress for the project — something
we’ve been eager to see.”
The city’s Economic Development
Corporation awarded
Manhattan-based firm VHB a
$7.2-million contract to lead the
environmental-review process and
subsequent Uniform Land Use Review
Procedure the trolley project
must snake through before any
straphangers can hop aboard, according
to a rep for the agency.
News of the contract comes
months after Hizzoner put the fate
of the streetcar in jeopardy last
summer, when he announced it
would derail without $1 billion in
federal funding approved by his
political rival President Trump.
Readers let the comments roll
online:
EDC is controlled by the Mayor.
It’s just a way for him to use his cronies
to support things he likes without
going to Council. Frank
from Furter
There’s no heat in Nycha — there
is lead and mold, and the ceilings are
falling down — but there are millions
of dollars for a train for the super
rich to nowhere. That’s DeBlasio’s,
Schumer’s, and Cuomo’s progressivism
at work. Council continues to cater
to the rich too. Raymond
from Boerum Hill
It’s an ultimate public-transportation
boondoggle waiting to happen.
I won’t be surprised if the Feds will
not give funding to DeCrony’s pet
project. That could make this DOA.
The Hunkster from Bed-Stuy
The Feds won’t give money to fix
the BQE, never mind the BQX. Unless
the city essentially allows people
to ride this for free, it will be next to
useless. Free because it’s not part of
the MTA, so it will make it a double
fare to use the subway system. It’s
probably DOA anyway.
Even the city’s own analysis of increased
development can’t justify the
amount of money to be spent, given
you can add a bus route for this for
less than one one-hundredth of the
cost and allow free rides as well.
Frank from Furter
For anything like this to be effective,
it needs to be raised above traffic
like many people carriers in Japan.
Otherwise it’s just a bus with different
wheels that can’t drive around
obstructions. Imagine Red Hook access
by simply flying over the BQE–
Battery Tunnel mess. Plenty of other
situations, too, like a spur above Atlantic
Avenue that connects to LIRR
and Pacific Street–Barclays.
Jim from Cobble Hill
“Ready to rile” should be the
headline for this story. Engineers
should have been hired before the
BQX debut three years ago. Yet another
DeBlabio waste of our tax dollars
and attention. No room for BQX
on already-crammed streets — add
flood-prone coastal route, a decade
of public taking lawsuits, and this
developer wet dream answers itself.
blogger Bill
from from Boerum Hill
If you raise it above traffic you
will increase cost exponentially, as it
will have to be handicap accessible.
City buses are already handicap accessible.
Frank from Furter
How about just kill this idea already,
especially since grade-level
rails these days are almost no different
from taking a bus? Not to mention
the traffic it would cause.
Tal Barzilai from Pleasantville
Totally ridiculous waste of money!
Try first establishing a bus route on
this same (or essentially same) route
and see if the ridership truly justifies
this huge expense. Take the estimated
$2.7 billion and apply it to fixing
the subway. The subway already
COURIER L 44 IFE, FEB. 22–28, 2019 M BR B G
exists and most definitely needs the
overhaul. Money should not be wasted
on a new rail line through flood-prone
neighborhoods. (And let Jessica
Schumer find some legitimate job.)
Mark from Crown Heights
To the Editor,
“Ready to roll” is just wishful
thinking. In 2015, The Friends of the
Brooklyn Queens Connector originally
claimed it could be built for $1.7
billion. In 2016, the city’s Economic
Development Corporation said $2.5
billion. Today, the estimated cost
is $2.7 billion. How many more billions
might it cost upon completion?
It takes more than a simple planning
feasibility study to turn it into a viable
capital transportation improvement
project. There have been no
environmental documents or design
and engineering efforts necessary to
validate any basic estimates for the
$2.7 billion construction costs.
Awarding a $7.25-million consultant
contract to perform environmental
work supplements the previous
$7-million feasibility study for a
total of $14.25 million. This leaves the
project $2.685 billion short of funding
needed for completion. The original
completion date has already slipped
four years from 2024 to 2029. It is
doubtful that the Federal Transit Administration
would pay for up to 50
percent of the cost, along with Amazon
doing the same since it just cancelled
coming to Long Island City.
Mayor DeBlasio has yet to request,
let alone been granted, approval to
enter the Federal Transit Administration
New Starts process for future
funding. This easily averages five
or more years before there is an approved
Federal Full Funding Grant
Agreement in place.
Increasing local community opposition
to Amazon is growing. State
Sen. Michael Gianaris’s appointment
to the NYS Public Authorities Control
Board (subject to Gov. Cuomo’s
approval) would have given him veto
power to kill the project. It is not
ethical for project director Jessica
Schumer to “lobby” her father Sen.
Charles Schumer for federal funding.
Without a billion or more from
both Washington and Amazon, don’t
count on riding the Brooklyn Queens
Connector in your lifetime. Instead,
try running simple limited-stop bus
service on the same route.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
To the Editor,
My family and I returned from a
very pleasant shopping trip, outside
of the city, to find this week’s Mill
Marine headline: “A lot of trouble”
(by Kevin Duggan, Mill–Marine
Courier, Feb. 15–21). By flaunting the
law again, they created another massive
fire hazard by storing hundreds
of cars illegally. And after a costly
arson fire barely six months ago in
their vehicle storage areas, this disregard
for safety poses a great danger
to customers in this mall.
Then, deciding to raise parking
fees for regular customers to the
stratosphere made me grin. They can
raise the parking price to $100 a day
… who cares? They won’t get my family
and neighbors’ money anymore.
I, like many fellow Marine Parkers
and Mill Basinites, made the
decision to avoid this mall like the
plague. Even after the rebuilding after
the fall of Sears Roebuck, there is
nothing inside for us. Since hip-hop
clothes stores with blaring rap-crap
music fill the stalls, I, along with
most other locals, waved good-bye for
better shopping pastures.
Yes, beyond its parking problems,
Kings Plaza is truly in a “lot of trouble.”
Robert W. Lobenstein
Sheepshead Bay
To the Editor,
Just heard that Sen. Bernie Sanders
confirmed his second bid for the
presidency, after announcing his
consideration of running at Brooklyn
College.
With all the anti-Israel bias surrounding
that campus, Sanders’s own
pro-Palestinian bias is not needed
there to exacerbate an already bad
situation. Better for Sen. Sanders to
remain in Vermont.
The last time he campaigned in
Brooklyn, he bemoaned the fact that
his parents lived in a rent-stabilized
apartment on Kings Highway. As an
avowed socialist, you would think
that Sanders would be all for rent
protections for tenants.
Why go to Brooklyn College, Sen.
Sanders? After all, you only attended
that school for one year before you
transferred out. Your presence is not
needed there to stir up the simmering
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate,
which has been on the increase.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay