10 Stalled streetcar project gets brand new life
QUEENS WEEKLY, FEB. 10, 2019
BY BILL PARRY
The city took a step
forward in the stalled
Brooklyn Queens Connector
streetcar project
Wednesday when it selected
a contractor to oversee
the proposed system’s
environmental review.
The executive committee
of the New York City
Economic Development
Corporation awarded a
$7.25 million contract to
civil engineering and design
consulting firm VHB
to lead the process, prepare
the public review application
and related tasks,
including support during
public outreach activities
on the BQX project.
“The BQX wil link longdisconnected
neighborhoods
and shorten commutes
for over half a million
New Yorkers who live and
work along the Brooklyn
and Queens waterfront,”
an NYCEDC spokesperson
said. “It is a 21st Century
solution to our city’s transit
challenges and we’re
excited about moving the
project forward.”
The $2.7 billion project
would travel 11 miles
between Astoria and Red
Hook and Brooklyn, a corridor
which could be home
to an additional 70,000
jobs, including 25,000 at
Amazon’s proposed HQ2
campus in Long Island
City, by 2029. In Queens,
the BQX route would cross
Newtown Creek and run
from 44th Drive along Vernon
Boulevard. Once past
the Queensboro Bridge it
would run along 21st Street
to a terminus at Astoria
Boulevard. All of the rails
would have to be installed.
“Today’s news makes
it clear: the BQX is moving
forward,” Friends of
the BQX Executive Director
Jessica Schumer said.
“These steps show meaningful
progress for the
project — something we’ve
been eager to see. We are
pleased with the city’s commitment
not just to moving
the project forward, but to
community engagement,
which must play a central
role. As the city grapples
with a transit crisis, now
is the moment for it to take
control of its mass transit
destiny and expand access
wherever it can. The BQX
is an essential first step and
will provide a model for future
city-run light rail lines
in transit across the city.”
VHB is a transportation
planning and engineering
firm with experience in
the metropolitan area for
public agencies and private
entities, including the
Port Authority, New Jersey
Transit and CornellTech.
The BQX is supported by
a range of transit advocates,
including the last
five MTA leaders, numerous
small business owners
and groups, civic associations
and NYCHA’s tenant
association leaders.
“For far too long, NYCHA
residents’ limited access
to reliable mass transit
has been a serious barrier
to accessing employment,”
Urban Upbound Founder
and CEO Bishop Mitchell
Taylor said. “I am encouraged
that the city is taking
concrete steps to eliminate
the barriers of the past and
to bridge our community
with the opportunities increasingly
sprouting up
along the waterfront.”
The awarding of the
contract follows a recent
report by the Friends of the
BQX highlighting the rapid
growth of commercial office
space along the corridor,
with job centers in Long
Island City, Williamsburg,
the Brooklyn Navy Yard
and Downtown Brooklyn
which will add 58 million
square feet of commercial
space within a decade. The
BQX would run past the
proposed Amazon HQ2
campus at 44th Road and
Vernon Boulevard, where
the company will initially
create 25,000 jobs over 10
years, with a plan to grow
to 40,000 over 15 years.
“Timing in life is everything
and the arrival
of Amazon makes this
all the more true for the
BQX,” Queens Chamber of
Commerce President and
CEO Tom Grech said. “Our
capacity to move people
around our city and Queens
in particular has never
been more important.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
BY MARK HALLUM
A packed Queens Community
House in Kew Gardens
questioned on Jan. 31
why the de Blasio administration
does not simply rebuild
Rikers Island instead
of borough-based jails —
and voiced harsh criticisms
toward City Councilwoman
Karen Koslowitz for not
opposing the plan which
they believe will hurt their
community in many ways.
Opponents of the
plan, however, said they
are not opposed to other
criminal justice reforms
such as ending cash bail;
they simply believe that
creating a 1,500-inmate
jail at the former Queens
Detention Center complex
in Kew Gardens will
only transplant the problems
that already exist on
Rikers Island.
“Let’s think about putting
2,500 additional workers
— people of Queens
drive — that’s probably
50 percent cars, 24/7, into
the neighborhood,” Andrea
Crawford said. “We
want civil reform, we want
criminal reform, we want
bail reform. We want to
the things that’ll make
the criminal justice system
work better. What we
don’t want is for our neighborhoods
to be crushed.
That’s exactly what
will happen and nobody
is listening.”
Multiple speakers repeatedly
argued that, instead
of building large borough
based jails and taking
inmates out of Rikers, the
facilities on the island
could be rebuilt and modernized
to meet the justice
reform demands of today.
One attendee pointed
out that most the facilities
on Rikers had been built
in the 1970s and were not
“19th century dungeons.”
A representative from
Koslowitz’s office bore the
brunt of scorn from the
crowd as he argued that
his boss was simply taking
a tactical approach to the
situation by not taking a
hard stance against the jail
so she can have a seat at the
negotiating table.
“The reason why she
hasn’t come out against
it — and I won’t say she is
for a jail in Kew Gardens
— but the reason why she
hasn’t come out against it is
because she’s dealing with
the political reality that
it’s likely to pass,” Alex Anderson,
the Koslowitz’ rep,
said. “I know it’s a tough
pill to swallow, but she’s
looking out for the people of
Kew Gardens.”
His remarks were punctuated
by a frustrated wave
of murmurs and laughs
from the audience.
State Assemblyman
Andrew Hevesi stood up
for Koslowitz’s strategy,
arguing that the de Blasio
administration would shut
her out completely if she
made her opposition clear.
“This tactic, while you
may not like it, is smart,”
Hevesi said. “If she becomes
the enemy and the yeller
and screamer, and if they
bulldoze over her, which is
a distinct possibility … she
will have zero say as to how
this goes down.”
The proposed jail would
be 29 stories if it passes
through the City Planning
Commission and
the ULURP process and
would be located where
the parking lot behind
Queens Borough Hall is on
Union Turnpike.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4564.
Courtesy of the Friends of Brooklyn-Queens Connector
Residents doubt Koslowitz’s stance on Kew Gardens jail
State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi defended the tactics of
City Councilwoman Koslowitz in not openly opposing the Kew
Gardens jail proposal. Photo by Mark Hallum
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