A street car named expired!
De Blasio says his time’s run out on pricey BQX plan
Avoid Back and
Neck Surgery
Get Relief Now for
Back Pain at the
Spine and Disc Center
Do you suffer with Bulging or Herniated Disc and
Spinal Stenosis with Back Arm and Leg Pain?
Dr. James DiGiuseppi DC had been treating
patients with these conditions for over 37 years
with a 98% success rate.
Call Now for a Free Consultation
with Dr DiGiuseppi
718.833.3327
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 11-17, 2020 15
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The fate of the controversial
Brooklyn-Queens Connector
light rail will be determined
under the next mayoral
administration, according
to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who
cited coronavirus-related delays
for the decision to punt on
the project.
“Obviously we’re going to
continue to do the work to prepare,
but the decisions will
have to be made by and large
in the next administration,
given the time that’s been lost
here,” de Blasio said at his
Sept. 3 press briefi ng. “Everything’s
been slowed down
by the reality of the coronavirus.”
De Blasio’s $2.73 billion pet
project to build a streetcar service
along an 11-mile corridor
through mostly wealthy waterfront
neighborhoods between
Red Hook and Queens was
scheduled to start public hearings
in May, with a draft environmental
impact statement
due for 2021, but COVID-19 disrupted
that timeline.
Hizzoner did not have
an updated schedule for the
pricey transit scheme, but
he urged his yet-to-be-determined
successor to implement
the proposal, saying it would
provide another alternative
mode of transportation to car
travel — and would complement
other initiatives like
busways, ferries, and bikeshare
programs.
“I think light rail is part
of this equation, it has been
all over the country, very successfully,”
Hizzoner said. “So,
again, a lot of the decisions
will have to be deferred to the
future, but the more we can
build out mass transit in this
city the better off we’re going
to be.”
Yet, even as de Blasio hopes
to keep the project alive beyond
his term’s January 2022
expiration date, some transit
advocates speculate that his
deferral will likely spell doom
from the streetcar’s future —
as a new administration will
take offi ce during a massive
budget shortfall, and will be
wary of pushing the embattled
plan through a public review.
“It probably means that it’s
not going to happen, because
it’s really only been kept alive
by the mayor’s insistence of
advancing what was his project
that only a few developers
were pushing,” said Transportation
Alternatives deputy
director Marco Conner DiAquoi.
Opponents of the idea have
argued that the city should
put its limited resources into
other, less expensive ideas,
like more bus lanes — such as
some form of Bus Rapid Transit,
which would cost $800 million
less than the BQX for the
same route, according to the
city’s own estimate.
Backers of the proposed
tram — which includes business
and real estate bigwigs,
but also tenant leaders of several
public housing projects
along the route — have countered
those arguments, saying
the greater upfront cost of the
BQX would provide an economic
return through higher
property prices and more tax
revenues along the tramline.
“The project is estimated
to create $30 billion in economic
value over the coming
decades, which is over 10
times its capital cost,” reads
the pro-BQX website, Friends
of the Brooklyn Queens Connector.
The poposed BQX in Fort Greene. NYC EDC
Dr. James DiGiuseppi DC
8214-13th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11228
Individual & Group Readings Available for
Birthdays • Bachelorette Parties • Showers Business Events