Rail pie in the sky 
 MTA eyeing billion-dollar passenger train through southern Brooklyn 
 INSIDE 
 WWW.BROOKLYNPDAPILEYR.C.COOMM   1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201  
 Slow  going:  Roger,  a  two-yearold  
 two-toed sloth, is one of the 21  
 animals featured in the “Survival of  
 the Slowest” exhibit opening at the  
 Brooklyn Children’s Museum on Oct. 26. 
   The Brooklyn Children’s Museum 
 Snooze fest! 
 See sloths and other sleepy animals at new exhibit 
 By  Rose Adams Slow down, you move too  
 Brooklynites  who  
 need  to  make  the  morning  last  
 can  take  a  lesson  from  a  new  
 exhibit coming to the Brooklyn  
 Children’s Museum on Oct. 26.  
 “Survival  of  the  Slowest ”  will  
 feature  about  two  dozen  slowmoving  
 creatures  who  have  
 turned their lack of get-up-andgo  
 into  a  virtue —  including  a  
 creature  named  for  the  laziest  
 of  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins:  the  
 sloth! 
 A  two-year-old,  two-toed  
 sloth named Roger will live at the  
 museum during the three-monthlong  
 exhibit, and professionals  
 will remove him from his case  
 three times a day to demonstrate  
 his extraordinary slow-moving  
 abilities,  which,  according  to  
 a  staffer  at  the  museum,  are  
 remarkable. 
 “He sleeps about 16 hours per  
 day,”  said  Winston  Williams.  
 “They’re  just  unbelievably  slow.  
 They move about 40 meters  in a  
 day. It would take them 45 days to  
 cross the Brooklyn Bridge.” 
 The exhibit will feature plenty  
 of other sleepy animals, including  
 an  iguana  named  Lizarnardo  
 DaVinci,  a  chameleon  named  
 Chamuel  L.  Jackson,  and  two  
 tarantulas named Fuzz Lightyear  
 and Spinderella — along with  
 a  handful  of  other,  equally  
 amusingly  named  chilled-out  
 critters,  including  tortoises,  
 hedgehogs,  and  snakes.  The  
 animals  will  be  displayed  in  19  
 distinct glass habitats, much like  
 they are in zoos, and youngsters  
 will  be  able  to  observe  them  
 up  close  during  multiple  daily  
 demonstrations. 
 The museum will explore how  
 these animals work their extreme  
 slowness to their advantage, said  
 Williams. 
 “The exhibit kind of explores  
 how all these animals who you  
 wouldn’t necessarily choose to  
 evolve as, who are slow, how some  
 of them have taken advantage of  
 that,” Williams said. 
 Sloths, for example, blend  
 into their environment and only  
 have to consume a few hundred  
 calories a day — and sometimes,  
 the  lazy  mammals  move  so  
 gradually  that  food  comes  to  
 them. 
 “Algae  grows  on  the  sloth  
 because they’re so slow, they lick  
 it, and it produces fats,” Williams  
 said. 
 The  exhibit,  produced  in  
 collaboration  with  an  animal  
 education center in Canada called  
 Little  Ray’s  Nature  Centres,  
 is the first of its kind in the  
 United States, although it made  
 its  Canadian  debut  in  2018.  
 The exhibit will offer Brooklyn  
 children a rare opportunity to see  
 exotic  animals  in  the  flesh,  said  
 Williams. 
 “We’re  really  excited  about  
 the exhibit,” he said. “It’s going to  
 be many people’s first experience  
 with these animals up close.” 
 “Survival of the Slowest” at  
 the Brooklyn Children’s Museum  
 145  Brooklyn  Ave.  between  St.  
 Mark’s  Avenue  and  Prospect  
 Place in Crown Heights, (718)  
 735–4400.  www.brooklynkids. 
 org. Oct. 26–Feb. 2. Open Tue,  
 Wed,  Fri,  10  am–5  pm;  Thu,  10  
 am–6 pm; Sat–Sun, 10 am–7 pm.  
 $13. 
 Your entertainment 
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 HOW TO REACH US 
 COURIER L 2     IFE, OCTOBER 25-31, 2019 
 BY ROSE ADAMS 
 Transit honchos are considering  
 a new billion-dollar passenger  
 train that would run  
 through  southern  Brooklyn,  
 Queens, and the Bronx in an  
 effort to better serve the transit 
 starved outer-boroughs, authorities  
 announced on Oct. 15.  
 “Over the last 15 years, over  
 half of job growth has been in  
 the outer-boroughs,” said Maulin  
 Mehta, a senior associate at  
 the Regional Plan Association,  
 which fi rst proposed the commuter  
 rail in 1996. “But right  
 now, a lot of the train service is  
 very Manhattan-centric.”  
 The Metropolitan Transportation  
 Authority will test  
 the feasibility of retrofi tting  a  
 series  of  pre-existing  freight  
 lines for use ferrying commuters, 
  offering crosstown service  
 from  the  Brooklyn Army  Terminal  
 in  Sunset  Park  to  East  
 New York, before veering north  
 parallel to the L line through  
 Brownsville and Bushwick,  
 and on to distant Queens and  
 the Bronx.  
 The train, which the Transit  
 Authority has dubbed the  Triboro  
 Line , would make 11 stops  
 at new and preexisting stations  
 in Brooklyn, providing connections  
 to the R, N, D, F, Q, 2, 3, 5,  
 and L trains. In all, the train  
 would make 22 stops between  
 Brooklyn Army Terminal and  
 Co-Op City in the Bronx.  
 Brooklyn trains would  
 travel on the Bay Ridge Branch  
 — a freight line that is currently  
 owned and operated by  
 Amtrak, Long Island Railroad,  
 and freight operator CSX. 
 The recently-announced  
 study will examine the feasibility  
 of roughly half the route  
 from Brooklyn to Astoria,  
 Queens, and would determine  
 the project’s potential construction  
 costs, impacts on the community, 
  and frequency of service, 
  according to Mehta. 
 Support for the Triboro  
 Line  ramped  up  after  Assemblywoman  
 The proposed train line would make stops in Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Midwood, and East Flatbush.  
   Regional Plan Association 
 Latrice Walker (DBrownsville) 
    proposed  a  bill  
 calling on the Metropolitan  
 Transportation Authority to  
 conduct a study for the project  
 in June. 
 Sadly, the project’s hefty  
 price tag makes the Triboro  
 Line a distant reality at best  
 — Mehta pegged the projected  
 cost between $1 billion and $2  
 billion, which would eat up a  
 sizable chunk of the transit authority’s  
 $5.7 billion budget for  
 all  LIRR-related  work  in  its  
 2020-2024  Capital Plan . 
 Another recent MTA study  
 revealed that a similar proposal  
 to restore passenger service  
 along an existing Rockaway  
 line would cost a jaw-dropping  
 $6.8 billion,  NY1 reported . 
 The Bay Ridge Branch rail  
 line hasn’t carried passenger  
 trains  since 1924 , but  urban  
 planners say that the freight  
 line is well-suited for the project  
 because its tracks are currently  
 underutilized, and the  
 existing infrastructure would  
 help keep costs down relative to  
 building new tunnels. 
 And while no other passenger  
 trains in the city share  
 rails with freight lines, Mehta  
 claimed that the practice is  
 common in other big cities. 
 “London and Chicago have  
 commingled freight and passenger  
 service, and have had  
 success,” he said.  
 The Transit Authority’s  
 study will begin by the end of  
 the year, according to MTA  
 spokesman Aaron Donovan. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 BROOKLYN GRAPHIC (ISSN 0740-2260) Copyright © 2019 by the Brooklyn Courier Life LLC is published weekly by Brooklyn Courier Life LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201. 52 times a year. Business and  
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