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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 14, 2019
have to go beyond their remit
and partner with the state
and Brooklyn Bridge Park,
but Siegel believes that a
plan as convincing as theirs
could gather enough public
support and momentum to
spur the departments into
action and overcome bureaucratic
hurdles.
“They have a critical life
safety on their hands, they
want to make sure the whole
thing doesn’t get snagged in
approvals and coordinations
and so they’ve been trying to
stay as much in DOT rightof
way and DOT jurisdiction
as possible,” he said. “If people
can really come around to
that idea then that coordination
will not be such a headache,
it will be something that
is demanded and something
that has to happen to make
the right decision here.”
The project group designed
the proposal to accommodate
the same amount of traffi c
that the department planned
for, but planners may be able
to reduce the road to four
lanes if traffi c fl ow decreases
as a result of new statewide
policies, according to a new
report by a Tri-state research
organization.
The Regional Plan Association,
which worked together
with Bjarke Ingels Group on
the BQE plan — and also has
a rep on the mayor’s new expert
panel for the project — released
a report on April 2 that
fi ve policy changes could reduce
traffi c on the roadway.
The association’s report argues
that the state’s recentlyapproved
congestion pricing,
along with its proposed high
occupancy vehicle policies,
splitting bridge tolls equally
for both directions, and reducing
lanes will decrease
traffi c by as much as 25 percent
during the expressway’s
reconstruction.
Siegel said his team took the
report’s numbers into consideration
but said that their plan
would work even if the current
vehicle volumes persist.
“We wanted to prove the
feasibility of a six-lane confi guration
in the case that that
would be what was deemed
necessary. However, if we are
able to reduce to fi ve or four
lanes as RPA has been proposing,
it would make this scheme
just that more feasible and less
expensive,” he said.
“The panel will be taking input
from and engaging substantially
with the community through a
robust, transparent process,”
said Seth Stein. “Throughout
that process, the panel will meet
with local stakeholders and civic
groups to solicit feedback.”
The mayor’s original release
left open the possibility for further
additions for the panel
but Stein said that City Hall
didn’t currently have any more
panelists to share.
“Additional members are a
possibility but we have none to
announce at this time,” he said.
The panel will meet this month
and examine several current and
future proposals for an alternative
to the Department of Transportation’s
two original plans to
either repair the triple-cantilever
bit-by-bit or build a six-lane
highway on top of the beloved
Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
Some time in the summer, they
will put forward a short report
with their recommendations, according
to the mayor’s offi ce.
Civic associations, residents,
politicians, and most recently,
the international architecture
fi rm Bjarke Ingels Group , have
all fl oated their ideas for the beleaguered
roadway.
The Dumbo-based architects,
along with Heights local Mark
Baker and architect Marc Wouters
laid out their ideas to locals
at the town hall who applauded
the proposals.
In addition to de Blasio’s
brain trust, the City Council
will hire an independent outside
firm to look at the alternatives,
Speaker Corey Johnson
announced at the event.
“The Council will be hiring
an independent firm to evaluate
each of the options that
are presented so we can understand
the pros and cons of every
option that’s put on the table,”
Johnson said.
Six elected local offi cials attended
the meeting and roused
the crowd in opposition to the
city agency’s original plans, including
Johnson, New York City
Comptroller Scott Stringer, Borough
President Adams, Councilman
Stephen Levin (D–Brooklyn
Heights), Assemblywoman
Jo Anne Simon (D–Brooklyn
Heights), and state Sen. Brian Kavanagh
(D–Brooklyn Heights).
Levin said he didn’t support
either of the department’s
plans but urged the audience to
form a consensus around a plan
so that it can have a chance of
passing through the city’s Uniform
Land Use Review Procedure
without hitting any roadblocks,
such as litigation or
political obstruction along
the way.
“We have to get this right and
we have to get this right now. I
think we’re on track,” he said.
Johnson, along with two other
potential future candidates for
mayor, Stringer and Adams,
railed against the top-down planning
of the Robert Moses era, that
saw the original construction
of the triple-cantilever and envisioned
how its reconstruction
could change the city’s approach
to transport, development, and
affordable housing.
“We can’t keep building luxury
towers and pushing rezonings
in the name of affordable
housing,” Stringer said. “Because
those houses are not affordable to
all the neighborhoods in Brooklyn
and you know that.”
The fi ght for a better BQE
should be seen as a lesson for
other communities in the borough
to improve their environment,
said Adams, who mentioned
a disused elevated subway track
that extends from the Myrtle Avenue
Broadway subway stop into
Bedford-Stuyvesant as an opportunity
for redevelopment, similar
to Manhattan’s High Line.
BQ-PLAN
Continued from page 3
PANEL
Continued from page 3