City Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) this week held the very first Task Force on the BQX (The Brooklyn-Queens Connector) oversight hearing in the City Council – that after recent news that his own district has been nixed from the multi-billion dollar trolley car system.
The hearing was held just as the project is set to enter the City’s environmental review phase, in which the city will identify any potential adverse environmental effects of the proposed light rail system to surrounding neighborhoods.
Currently, the revised plan for the streetcar project, headed by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), will run 11 miles along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront from Red Hook to Astoria and $2.7 billion.
Menchaca opened up the hearing with some direct words, noting that the City’s burden was to prove the need for the alternative form of transportation while also to listen to the needs of all community leaders and residents along the corridor.
“The agencies today are here to provide–one a rationale for the proposed streetcar system in this portion of the waterfront; two, the most up-to-date status of the planning process for the BQX; and three, how has the process changed during the community engagement process,” said Menchaca.
Among the opposition to the project are community members who claim the project will spur gentrification and close businesses along the corridor.
The project, first proposed in 2016, has not always been supported by Menchaca, who has been very vocal in the past about the need for the project to be a community led proposal and doubled-down yesterday on the City’s need to make sure resident’s daily lives aren’t upended.
“A project of this scale, a permanent allocation along streets in Brooklyn and Queens waterfront, requires both the expert knowledge of engineers and planners and the intimate knowledge of local stakeholders about their community,” said Menchaca.
But the hearing also drew a good number of supporters, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, who voiced his support for the BQX alongside Friends of the BQX at a rally ahead of the City Council hearing, highlighting the project’s potential for improving transit for transit-starved residents.
“The BQX has the potential to be a game-changer for Brooklyn, connecting residents throughout the borough with economic opportunities and attracting new industries to our vibrant commercial districts,” said Adams.
“Our city deserves a 21st-century transportation network, and we have to seize every opportunity to improve mobility and close transit gaps. It is important as we move through this process to listen to the voices of community stakeholders and use their input to craft a plan that works for residents and businesses,” he added.
The BQX is expected to add tens of thousands of additional jobs to the corridor while expanding opportunity and combating inequality in neighborhoods left disconnected for decades.
“The BQX has the potential to connect this fast-growing corridor and create a new spine of our city through affordable, accessible and efficient mass transit. At the same time, the BQX will serve as a model for other potential light rail lines in outer borough transit deserts across the city. We’ve worked hard to talk to New Yorkers along the route as they learn about the project and appreciate that the City Council is continuing that conversation today,” said Jessica Schumer, Executive Director of the Friends of the BQX.
Back in February, NYC EDC announced it approved a contract with a consultant to oversee the environmental review process for the Brooklyn-Queens Connector, or BQX.
Now, consulting firm VHB will lead the charge to cut through the red tape that comes with a project of this size.
The company will work with the city to complete an environmental impact study and file an application for Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which requires the sign off from every City Council member along the route including Council members Antonio Reynoso (D-Williamsburg,Bushwick) and Stephen Levin (D-Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, DUMBO, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Greenpoint, Downtown Brooklyn, Gowanus, Park Slope).
“I expect many people from the public to voice their support or their opposition to the project today. But above all else I hope that today presents an opportunity for everyone to leave with the facts of the proposal themselves,” said Menchaca.