THE QUEENS COURIER Queens Business MAY 2017 3 As far as funding the project, the city is looking to implement value capture, or tax increment fi nancing — a public fi nancing method that is used to subsidize various community improvement projects. The goal is that the project would be funded by increased tax revenue from businesses along the route. “The idea is sort of leveraging a portion of the property value along the corridor to pay for this infrastructure investment,” Liu said. Liu said the city employed this approach to the recent 7 Line extension at Hudson Yards. “The demand for more transportation funding and investment is only growing,” Liu said. “But the availability of public fund at both the federal, state and local level is decreasing.” ADDRESSING CONCERNS AMID ‘UNCERTAIN TIMES’ Given the “uncertain times” around federal-level transit funding, cities must fi nd creative and localized ways to fi nance imperative transportation upgrades, she continued. “It’s important that cities start to innovate and think of other fi nancing models in order to expand transit capacity,” Liu said. “This allows the city to eventually take control of its own transit destiny without having to rely on all of these other sources of funding, from the federal government or the state government.” In April, an internal draft city memo surfaced that raised concerns about the value capture approach being able to fund the project, primarily due to the water mains, sewer lines and power utilities work that would have to be done beneath the surface. “The draft memo is an encouraging sign that the city is taking a vigorous approach to solving these challenges, What the inside of a BQX streetcar will look like >> Continues on Page 4 The BQX will run along Kent Avenue on the Williamsburg waterfront
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