BHA: de Blasio “Blindsided” Brooklyn Heights on BQE

By on October 14, 2018 7:43 pm in BQE rehab, Brooklyn Heights, Environment, Government, Health

Brooklyn Heights Association President Martha Bakos Dietz (in photo, helping at Save the Promenade’s stand during the Montague Street Sunday Social today) issued this statement in response to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement that he favors the city DOT’s “innovative” option for BQE reconstruction:

As the President of the Board of Governors of the Brooklyn Heights Association, I was stunned to read the Crain’s report that Mayor de Blasio supports the New York City Department of Transportation’s so-called ‘Innovative’ approach to the reconstruction of the BQE.

At a time when the BHA has been trying to meet again with the DOT to urge serious consideration of alternatives to its two proposals, the Mayor makes it clear that the City does not care to hear our community’s opinion.

We certainly agree that the rehabilitation of the BQE is necessary and urgent and we are willing, as a neighborhood, to share the pain.

But the Mayor’s reference to the DOT’s alternative plan as a Band-Aid approach is condescending and dismissive of the very real consequences to Brooklyn Heights of an approach that would place six lanes of highway traffic in close proximity to an historic district and its almost two-centuries-old buildings.

We truly think there are other options to be considered and the City needs to meet with us as soon as possible to discuss these.

The BHA urges local residents and anyone concerned with the preservation of the Promenade to support Save the Promenade and to email the Mayor’s representative to Brooklyn Heights, Mr. Daniel Abramson, at dabramson@cityhall.nyc.gov

Share this Story:

, , , ,

← 
Newer Comments  →
  • Roberto Gautier

    As a resident of Brooklyn Heights, I urge community organizations, churches, shop owners, artists, chefs, coop boards and parents of school age children to join with the Brooklyn Heights Association in its efforts to have the city of New York come up with a sane solution to the undeniable problems of the BQE cantilever, which includes the Promenade. A truly insane solution offered by the Mayor with a straight face is to insert a six-lane highway on the edge of a vibrant residential neighborhood. We can all remember when the Mayor was Public Advocate and he felt our pain, got “arrested” and then backed the demolition of Long Island College Hospital and the Cadman Plaza Public Library.

    The FDR drive uses a path along the East River and doesn’t destroy the Upper East Side. Perhaps the BQE could re-route along the water’s edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park?

  • GoHomeNY

    we started http://www.gohomeny.com for residents in NYC to review their properties. Renters, owners, investors, brokers and anyone else interested in sharing reviews about their apartments now have a venue to do so. let others hear about what you love and hate about your building today

  • Scott Petricig

    Please stop spamming all the blog comments with your ads…

  • skunky

    Classic NIMBY stuff. Rail against the only feasible solution without offering any alternatives.

  • ldny

    How can you call it the only feasible solution if there have been no alternatives to compare it to?

  • skunky

    I can’t help it if you’re underinformed on the issue.
    “The other scenario would be to make repairs lane-by-lane, without having to create the elevated roadway on the Promenade. According to the DOT this option would take up to eight years, increase traffic and the cost could be anywhere from $3.4 to more than $4 billion.”

  • mac

    Now you’re the one who is under-informed. Simply lifting quotes from the DOT does not show the whole picture. it is simply disingenuous for the DOT to say there are only the 2 options, especially considering they did not even explore the route along the park utilizing unused park space. It is not too much to ask to press for a fresh round of ideas, including thinking outside the proverbial box, before having a draconian “creative” solution that will pretty much destroy a good part of the neighborhood for the next decade.

  • skunky

    You’ve done your own engineering studies? Amazing! Where can I read them?

  • gc

    Polly Trottenberg made it quite clear that there are many more than two scenarios under consideration. DOT and the Mayor need to revisit their analysis and come up with a better alternative than the two that they have been showcasing. Tunneling or using a small part of Brooklyn Bridge Park are two that come to my mind as more reasonable alternatives.

  • skunky

    so what small part of BBP are you talking about? or are you just making it up?

  • skunky

    also – the original poster claimed “no other alternatives were considered” which is false

  • gc

    from a layman’s perspective it would seem that a swath of land, contiguous with Furman St and running an additional 50 or so feet west into the park, and then running north from 360 Furman St to Pier 2 might well be sufficient.

  • Brooklyn Pop

    Wake up Brooklyn Brownstone Liberals. The Mayor you elected never liked you and is proving it. He abhors success and has a chip on his shoulder about money. Confronting him from your $5M stoops will only exacerbate this, as he will relish destroying a “bastion of privilege” (walk around Manhattan and see what he has wrought) . Your only win is to wait it out and elect someone who will protect our interests.

  • skunky

    so just close the BQE for a year while they demolish the present structure to make the needed room? I mean, this is why we have civil engineers working at the DOT evaluating these things.

  • gc

    nobody said anything about closing the BQE

  • skunky

    Furman st is a two lane road. Expanding it to 6 lanes would necessarily involve demolishing the existing structure that bounds it on one side. That’s either 1 BBP or the BQE.

  • skunky

    You’re hilarious. Thinking this is some nefarious plot to screw rich people is really special. Won’t someone think of the poor suffering rich people?

  • gc

    1 BBP is 360 FurmanSt. My suggestion was to start there running north.

  • skunky

    Where are you gonna fit 6 lanes?

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    “Polly Trottenberg made it quite clear that there are many more than two scenarios under consideration” That’s completely false. She basically said, they looked at many other scenarios and narrowed it down to the only two that were realistically feasible, so thats what they presented.

  • gc

    I’m fairly certain that during the meeting, after she’d gotten some pretty strong reaction, she agreed to reopen consideration of more proposals.

  • gc

    one lane of Furman St and 50 to 60 feet into the park. All north of 1 BBP and south of Pier2.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    She said they would be willing to consider other alternatives, that’s not ” there are many more than two scenarios under consideration” Besides, it was only a move to placate the villagers.

  • gc

    I am changing “are” to “were” in the sentence you sighted. There were lots of scenarios considered before the meeting and according to Polly Trottenberg there would be more than just two considered after the meeting.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Fine, and that completely changes the statement.
    She only said they would look at other possibilities which might be considered if feasible.

  • skunky

    Ah so you want to pave the park that thousands of people use instead of inconvencing a few wealthy homeowners. Got it.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    @ gc Throughly ridiculous.
    1. How would they then rebuild the section passing 1BBP and the BBP Office building?
    2. How would the traffic, especially the Queens bound, get down to the Furman street level?
    3. What happens at the north end of your fantasy highway, how & where would it connect back to the highway proper?
    4. Remember, the whole Columbia Heights Bridge needs to be rebuilt too, how would that happen?
    5. Keep in mind, there are minimum-maximum grade ratios and curve radiuses to consider.
    6. What about Furman Street traffic, it is the only access to that area how would it be routed?
    Finally, even if it could be built that way (which it can’t) what would it really gain? They still need to tear down the whole structure, so there would be: no promenade for years, most of the noise and pollution, longer and costlier construction.

  • Cranberry Beret

    It’s not “a few wealthy homeowners.” It’s all the 25K-50K residents of the Heights and Dumbo. All will be affected, not just those on streets immediately adjacent to the Promenade/BQE. The park’s daily visitor count (many who are out-of-town tourists visiting for a couple of hours) is lower than the resident count (who will endure construction & traffic day & night for 6+ years). And by the way, not everyone in the Heights is a wealthy homeowner (even those lucky enough to live on Columbia Heights).

  • skunky

    I just find it hilarious that every BH resident thinks they can figure out a feasible alternative by sketching something on the back of an envelope.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    “The Mayor has a chip on his shoulder about money”
    I disagree, I believe he is all about money, why else would he roll over like a bitch on the hospital? Mario’s money machine, that’s why…

←  
Newer Comments  →