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Since 1978 • (718) 260–2500 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2020 16 pages • Vol. 43, No. 9 Serving Brownstone Brooklyn, Sunset Park, Williamsburg & Greenpoint • February 28–March 5, 2020
BURY THE BQE!
Council’s report: Replace roadway with $11 billion tunnel
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
An engineering firm contracted
by City Council is proposing a
scheme to demolish the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway — and replace
it with a $11 billion tunnel!
The report by engineering and
design firm Arup proposes a threemile,
four-lane bypass tunnel that
would stretch from the Prospect
Expressway to Bedford Avenue,
allowing the city and state to turn
much of the BQE through brownstone
Brooklyn into a ground-level
boulevard complete with bus and
bike lanes, parks, and other public
facilities.
The downside? Construction
would take between seven-10 years
to complete — at least two years beyond
the 2025 crisis point when the
BQE’s triple-cantilever is expected
to become unsafe — and will cost
anywhere from $5-11 billion, according
to Arup’s estimates.
The plans call for
filling in the trench
where the highway
runs through Cobble
Hill, tearing down
the crumbling triplecantilever
between
Atlantic Avenue and
Sands Street, and removing
the Park Avenue
viaduct.
The tunnel would
primarily service
through-traffic, while planners
would encourage Manhattanbound
drivers from the north to
take the Williamsburg Bridge, and
those from the south to go into the
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
New York City Council, spearheaded
by Council Speaker and
mayoral candidate Corey Johnson
(D–Manhattan), tasked Arup
in September with studying the
BQE repairs, a monumental task,
which has challenged experts with
creating a strategy to renovate the
66-year-old freeway
— without creating a
traffic nightmare.
The city’s Department
of Transportation
proposed
to spend between
$3.2 and $4 billion
on their two
controversial ideas
from 2018 to either
fix the roadway or
build a temporary
six-lane highway on top of the beloved
Brooklyn Heights promenade,
which residents quickly
panned.
One of the key alternatives
that Arup highlights are a decked
roadway at Furman Street, along
with replacing the triple-cantilever
with an expansion of Brooklyn
Bridge Park, similarly to the
proposals by international architecture
firm Bjarke Ingels Group
and Mark Baker.
Locals have been calling for
government officials to build a
tunnel for years, but those plans
faltered under the steep costs.
The new recommendations
come almost a month after Mayor
Bill de Blasio’s expert panel released
their report, proposing the
city reduce the six-lane highway
to four lanes and up enforcement
on oversize trucks.
Hizzoner quickly formed a truck
enforcement task force within the
Police Department, but was skeptical
of narrowing the road.
That report also warned that the
triple-cantilever section could become
unsafe within five years if
officials don’t take measures to reduce
current traffic volumes.
Lawmakers are going to analyze
the report and hear testimony
at a Tuesday Council meeting on
the roadway, which is likely to include
proposals by DOT and the
NYPD on how to make the highway
safer and preserve its structural
integrity.
By Kevin Duggan and
Amalia Arms
Brooklyn Paper
Brooklyn businesses and shoppers
are preparing for the city’s upcoming
ban on single-use plastic
bags with mixed feelings.
The new law aims to cut back
on the more than 10 billion singleuse
plastic bags New York City
residents use every year, which
harm the environment and costs
the city government $12 million
annually to dispose of.
One Downtown deli manager
said it’s about time the government
step up to the task of cutting
back on the waste.
“One step is better than no step
— even if it’s a small step, I think
we’re heading in the right direction,”
said Mused Algamoos, who runs
Skyline Gourmet Deli on the corner
of Willoughby and Lawrence
streets. “I think it’s good for the environment,
I’m all for it.”
A limited number of items will
be exempt from the ban, such as
uncooked animal products and
loose foods for hygiene reasons
or prescription drugs at pharmacies
for privacy.
Brooklyn has been at the epicenter
of the effort to curb plastic
bags since Park Slope Councilman
Brad Lander first proposed similar
legislation in 2013 — but the move
was held up by resistance among
state lawmakers, before Governor
Andrew Cuomo eventually signed
Vinegar Hill says ‘whoa’ Palatnik.
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Civic gurus shot down a developer’s
proposal to build a fourstory
mixed-use building in Vinegar
Hill, with locals fearing a
rash of new, oversized building
projects in the low-rise historic
district.
“These new buildings could
be more than twice as high as
the historic brownstones and
be forever totally out of character
with the low-rise houses of
Vinegar Hill Historic District,
which we so much want to protect,”
said Monique Denoncin, a
longtime Vinegar Hill resident.
“The unguided explosion of development
that we experienced
in Dumbo will then come our
way. We do not want to be a reflection
of Dumbo.”
A lawyer representing the
Spinard family, which owns a
roughly 6,500 square-foot lot
at 265 Front St., came before
Community Board 2’s Land Use
Committee seeking the group’s
endorsement of a rezoning application
to allow the construction
of a 50-foot-high L-shaped
building the property.
The development, according
to attorney Eric Palatnik, would
contain nine two-bedroom units,
commercial space on the ground
floor and a 30-foot court yard in
the back.
But board members living
around the proposed development
were not thrilled with the
idea, fearing the development
would commercialize an otherwise
residential block, and invite
the same noise, traffic, and
— worst of all — tourists that
plague Dumbo to their neck of
the woods.
“Trucks will idle, they’ll back
up, traffic will be blocked, there’s
noise, there’s pollution,” said Vivian
Scott Woodburn. “Take a walk
from the now overcrowded F train
at Jay and York street or through
the hordes of selfie-taking tourists
on Washington Street in Dumbo
and you’ll come upon on a tiny
oasis of tree-lined cobbled streets
and historic 19th century archi-
The tunnel (section #1)
would be for throughtraffic,
while the old route
would be converted into
a ground-level local roadway
(sections #2-7).
Photo by Corey Johnson’s office
FIXING
the BQE
Getting the sack
Bklyn businesses prepare for plastic bag ban
(Top) Mused Algamoos and Richy Saidi of the Skyline Gourmet
Deli ordered a load of new paper bags to replace the
old plastic ones. (Bottom) Sal Licata of Bruno’s Home Center
is skeptical of the ban.
Photos by Kevin Duggan
a state bill making Lander’s proposal
redundant.
In response to the pending rule
change, Algamoos and the corner
shop’s owner, Richy Saidi, have
stopped ordering the traditional
black plastic bags and switched to
paper versions with handles, the
merchant said.
But the manager of a Court Street
hardware store was more skeptical
of the ban, saying that officials are
punishing small businesses by making
them shoulder the cost.
“We can charge them five cents,
but the bag is going to cost us 30
cents,” said Sal Licata of Bruno’s
Home Center between Livingston
and Schermerhorn streets.
“What’s going to happen, I’m
going to make the customer pay
for it with a higher price.”
Some business operators weren’t
fully aware that their stores had to
comply with the law change, such
as the manager of the clothing emporium
Jimmy Jazz on the Fulton
Mall, who said that he would continue
using their large plastic bags
in spite of the ban.
“I heard it was going to affect
grocery stores, but I didn’t know it
was going to affect any other stores,”
said Kelsey Ferdinand.
But retailers that violate the law
will only face a warning for their first
violation, followed by a $250 for their
second infraction, and then $500 for
every time they break rules in the
same calendar year thereafter.
City officials are encouraging
New Yorkers to get reusable bags
and the Sanitation Department is
offering free flashy orange bags
that fold into a pouch and are made
from 90% recycled materials for
anyone that takes a so-called “Zero
Waste Pledge” online.
The free Department of Sanitation reusable bag.
How the ban works
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
The state’s ban on single-use
plastic carryout bags takes effect
on March 1 and most stores
will no longer be allowed to
distribute free plastic bags —
with some exceptions.
In the Five Boroughs, businesses
will have to instead offer
paper bags at a five-cent charge
for all customers, except those
receiving government assistance
for food stamp programs.
Businesses can also sell reusable
bags, which the state
defines as having a minimum
lifespan of 125 uses, and can
carry 22 pounds or more for
at least 175 feet.
The city’s Department of
Sanitation is giving away free
flashy bright orange reusable
bags that fold into a pouch and
a handy carabiner clip, which
you can get delivered to your
home by signing their so-called
Zero Waste Pledge.
Affected by the ban:
• Clothing stores
• Convenience stores
• Drug stores
• Green carts
• Grocery stores
• Hardware stores
• Liquor stores
• Office supply stores
• Pharmacies
• Food service establishments
located within the
above stores
Exempt from the ban:
• Food pantries and soup
kitchens
• Bulk items (fruits and vegetables)
• Uncooked animal products
• Foods prepared to order
• Newspapers for delivery
• Trash bags
• Food storage bags
• Garment bags
• Prepackaged for sale to a
customer
• For food deliveries
• Prescription drugs
Photo by Colin Mixson
But why?
As Brooklynites prepare
to forfeit the luxury of cheap,
disposable plastic bags, understanding
the environmental
cost of those little, flimsy
conveniences may help to ease
the anguish of having to remember
to bring a bunch
of tote bags to the grocery
store.
As it stands, New Yorkers
go through a whopping
10 billion single-use carryout
bags each year — more
than 1,100 per person, according
to the Department
of Sanitation.
Each one of these bags
weighs between 4-5 grams,
meaning that we use more
than 44,000 metric tons of
disposable plastic every
year. That’s equal in weight
to roughly 15,800 Chevy Suburbans,
or about 3,040 city
buses — more than half of
New York City’s entire bus
fleet!
Community board rejects new rezoning plan,
fearing nabe could become another Dumbo
“The economics of it don’t work
out so well,” he said.
But the development as proposed
remains too tall for locals,
and several residents argued that
the developers should instead go
for the next-lower zoning designation,
known as R6B, that would
allow about the same height as
their plans but with slightly less
bulk, saying the Spinards could
flip the property to another developer
interested in taking full
advantage of the heights allowed
under R6A.
“We’ve seen rezonings occur
and whole other issues have
popped up,” said Bill Flunoy.
The community board’s recommendation
is purely advisory,
but the Spinard family agreed to
pursue an R6B designation over
the larger R6A, and to eliminate
the building’s commercial components
in response to group’s
criticisms, Palatnic stated in a
Feb. 20 email.
“We are amending to R6B. No
commercial overlay,” the attorney
said.
A photo of the rendering shows the now-scrapped plans for 265 Front St.
tecture.”
The Spinards are looking to
change the zoning around the industrial
property to have an R6A
designation, which would allow
buildings of up to eight stories
in height, almost twice as high
as the adjacent 19th-century row
houses.
However, the family opted to
a shorter, less dense structure to
avoid installing an elevator — a
legal requirement for buildings
six stories or higher.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
And by going with a smaller
development, the Spinards will
not have to set-aside 20 to 30 percent
of the building for so-called
“affordable” housing, which is required
for structures larger than
12,500 square feet, according to
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