Sunset Park Residents Fight Waterfront Streetcar: 'We Don't Want This'

Rendering via Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A community meeting held Monday in Sunset Park on two fancy new transit proposals — the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, a waterfront bike path, and the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX), a coastal streetcar line — turned into a heated debate on the social and economic future of the neighborhood.

When it's finished, the Greenway Initiative will connect Williamsburg to Sunset Park via one continuous, coastal bike lane. Six miles of the pathway are already under construction in North Brooklyn; however, officials have yet to break ground on the remaining eight miles, which will run from Downtown Brooklyn to Sunset Park by way of Red Hook.

Although community workshops on the bike lane's design have been held in Sunset Park for years — with local nonprofit UPROSE as a key liaison — some residents at Monday's meeting were still skeptical.

At least one raised concerns that the lane would limit trucks from accessing the heavily industrial area. (Not true, claimed Shawn Maccias, a project manager with the Department of Transportation who attended the meeting.)

And Community Board 7 chair Daniel Murphy warned against allowing big corporations eyeing waterfront property to help fund the Greenway.

"This community fought for access to that waterfront," Murphy said. "We understand the insidious nature of big developers laying down money, and we intend to do this the right way."

But local opinion on the bike lane Monday was all hearts and flowers compared to the sense of united disgust over the mayor's new plan for a 16-mile, $2.5 billion streetcar line running from Astoria, Queens, to Sunset Park.

Lyndon Sleeper, a staffer with the city's Economic Development Corp., tried to convince the crowd that the streetcar would enhance waterfront development in Sunset Park, address growing demand for public transportation and allow Sunset Park residents to commute to job centers along the train's proposed path.

The pitch made little impression.

Some residents said dedicated bus lanes would be a cheaper and quicker alternative. Others argued Sunset Park already has a perfectly solid transportation infrastructure.

And almost all agreed the BQX was nothing more than a real-estate scam — a way for developers to drive up prices in the neighborhood, bring outside workers into Sunset Park and displace locals in the process.

Sunset Park resident Melissa Delvalle Ortiz argued the BQX will provide no benefit to people who "have been here for 20 years, who can't find a job across the street."

Sleeper, the EDC staffer fielding public comments, countered: "We do think the opportunity to move up and down the corridor [would compliment] efforts to train people for jobs in Sunset Park."

"You're not listening to us," Ortiz replied. "We don't want this."

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

The proposal for 29th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues

Before the anti-BQX showdown got underway Monday, Community Board 7's Transportation Committee brought in city consultant Layth Sandouka to discuss the latest version of the bike-lane proposal — specifically, a stretch running on 29th Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue, and on 2nd Avenue between 29th Street and 39th Street.

Sandouka's renderings depict new, expanded sidewalks and a protected, two-direction bike lane running along both stretches of roadway. Trees and bushes would be planted to soften the edges.

A total of 21 parking spots would be lost between 2nd and 3rd Avenue, the consultant said, while 12 parking spots would be lost between 29th Street and 39th Street.

The proposal for 2nd Avenue between 29th and 39th streets

The design received support from Milton Puryear, a project leader who said it offers a chance for residents to step "out of the grid a little bit so you can breathe."

Maccias promised the city would hold one additional public meeting on the Greenway's design in Sunset Park before going ahead with construction.

However, UPROSE staffer Ana Orozco said the hesitation in the room Monday showed more community engagement was necessary before any plans were finalized.