Brooklyn Heights Resident Hank Gutman Named City Transportation Commissioner

By on February 7, 2021 10:07 pm in 11201, Bicycles, BQE rehab, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Government, Transportation

The Eagle reports that Henry “Hank” Gutman, a long time Brooklyn Heights resident, has been named by Mayor de Blasio as the City’s new Transportation Commissioner. According to the Eagle story, Mr. Gutman has promised to create 10,000 new bike racks by the end of 2022. The Eagle quotes him:

We have an opportunity to chart a new path for this city – one that leaves Robert Moses’ vision behind, beats back COVID-19, protects our environment, and builds a fair, safe, and equitable recovery for all of us.

As many readers will recall, Mr. Gutman served on the Expert Panel appointed by Mayor de Blasio to study repair of the cantilevered portion of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway below Brooklyn Heights. The panel recommended against the Department of Transportation’s recommendation that a temporary six lane highway be built in place of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade while repairs are made to the cantilevered portion below.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Mr. Gutman’s appointment

has raised hopes of progress on a stalled project to replace a deteriorating interstate highway bridge that cuts through Brooklyn Heights, an affluent neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The Journal quotes former Transportation Commissioner Ross Sandler: “If he walks out his door, it’s what he sees, … I know Hank on a personal level would love to resolve the BQE issue.”

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  • Andrew Porter
  • NeighboorHood

    You know what this “reader recalls”? Facing Hank Gutman while he “served” (himself) on the Brooklyn Bridge Park board as residents battled the big real estate money and Bloomberg cronies to try to stop the Pier House condo monstrosity from taking up park space a ruining the historic views. How Hank Gutman sat there “considering” neighborhood opposition and concerns while plotting to be one of the very first purchasers of, wait for it…a sweet waterfront condo at the Pier House! He will no doubt apply that same high standard of conduct and conflict of interests to his overseeing of the BQE project. Our only hopes rest on the fact that he has ,once again, a glaring self-interest in how that project effects his investment, quality of life, and, wait for it…his view!

  • gc

    Well, at least now we know where to go to make our voices heard if they try to roll over us again with some half assed solution like putting the BQE up on the Promenade. I’ll be right there, outside his apartment, if that’s what it takes.