City Hires Former Toronto Transit Head to Lead Brooklyn-Queens Connector Project

CITY HALL, NY — The Bill de Blasio administration has hired a new point person to head the Economic Development Corporation’s work on the proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX), as previously reported by New York Magazine.

Adam Giambrone is a former Toronto city councilman and the former head of the Toronto Transit Commission, that city’s version of the MTA. He has also spent years as a transportation consultant advocating for light rail projects.

As proposed, the $2.5 billion BQX would run from Sunset Park in Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront.

The project was unveiled earlier this year by de Blasio, and is currently being evaluated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

Giambrone started his job Monday as the EDC’s Director of the BQX, according to city hall spokesman Austin Finan. He will be paid $160,000 annually.

Finan said Giambrone will “oversee the project in general while focusing on aspects like system planning, technical analysis and community outreach.”

In what is perhaps his most-covered non-transit-related activity to date, Giambrone also ran for mayor of Toronto in 2010, before dropping out after admitting to a relationship with a university student.

In a statement Monday, Finan said that Giambrone “will deliver on the city’s next great transportation project.” He added that the administration is “confident New Yorkers are more concerned with qualifications than years old text messages” related to Giambrone’s relationship with the young woman. (The somewhat-graphic texts were published by Canadian media.)

In recent months, the EDC and the DOT have hosted a series of community meetings in Brooklyn and Queens to solicit public feedback on the BQX, including sessions in Astoria, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook, and Sunset Park.

The agencies have said they’re evaluating the feasibility of the project before issuing judgement on it this fall.

Even so, in early June, Polly Trottenberg, who heads the DOT, all but endorsed the idea. And in an interview with New York Magazine, Giambrone showed his strong support for light rail, describing such systems as “a 21st-century technology, which is why all the fastest-growing cities in Asia and the Middle East are all looking at them.”

Many community members who attended the city’s public meetings appeared to like the BQX. However, some raised concerns with the train’s funding mechanism, which they feared could speed the displacement of locals.

Under the plan, known as value capture, the city would recoup the cost of the rail system by claiming a portion of increased property tax revenues along the BQX’s corridor — revenues expected to increase as the train spurs further development and drives up area property values.

At the public meetings, DOT and EDC officials did not offer detailed thoughts on the property value issue, though they said they were examining it closely.

“At these early meetings,” Giambrone told New York Magazine, “you're out there asking people what they want, and it can be frustrating because they have questions, too, and you don't have all the answers. But that’s how you begin to build trust.”

The magazine also asked if the BQX would allow a free transfer to the MTA system, which many residents at the community meetings have called for.

“We have eight years to get this built, and that's a long time to have these discussions,” Giambrone said, refering the BQX’s proposed 2024 completion date. “I don't know how that will play out.”

Top rendering courtesy of the DOT/EDC