NYC Transportation Head Says Brooklyn-to-Queens Streetcar Is Sure Thing

• Pictured: North Brooklyn residents discuss the proposed Brooklyn-to-Queens streetcar with city officials. Photos by John V. Santore

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — The head of the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), Polly Trottenberg, endorsed the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar proposal at a community meeting Wednesday.

The proposed $2.5 billion light rail line would run along the Queens and Brooklyn waterfronts, from Astoria to Sunset Park.

It would run through or past Astoria, Ravenswood, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Fort Greene, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Gowanus and Sunset Park. (Scroll down for map.)

Mayor Bill de Blasio backed the project during his State of the City address in February.

But the DOT hadn't officially weighed in — until Wednesday.

Instead, city transportation officials have been hosting a series of public meetings on the idea in recent months, gathering input to add to a report on the project's viability. They've promised to release the report by fall.

Trottenberg delivered the opening remarks at the most recent of these meetings — a Wednesday evening session in Williamsburg.

She describing the BQX as "an exciting way" to invest in new infrastructure that would assist a public transit system "bursting at the seems" with riders.

When asked if she thought there was any likelihood that DOT officials would end up nixing the proposal, Trottenberg said: "I don't think so."

Trottenberg argued that the city is "overdue" for new transportation options.

"There's no question [the BQX] has an appeal to real-estate developers," Trottenberg said.

However, she pointed out that it could also serve the numerous public-housing residents who would live along the route.

Trottenberg spoke in admiration of other cities around the world who've moved forward aggressively with light-rail systems.

Like in those cities, she said — speaking as if the plan had already been approved here, as well — NYC's Brooklyn Queens Connector is "going to be something really successful."

Another city agency heavily involved in BQX planning is the Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

Lydon Sleeper, the EDC official who has led the project's community "visioning sessions," has consistently spoken positively about the potential streetcar line as well.

However, he still stressed Wednesday that the city wants "honest feedback" from New Yorkers on the BQX. He described the public meetings as "an exercise of discovery" designed to assess community needs and opinions.

BQX supporters — chief among them the collection of developers, community groups and transportation experts who make up the independent advocacy group Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector — have touted the streetcar as the ideal solution to a lack of transit between Brooklyn and Queens.

The BQX has also been pitched as a way to serve rapidly growing waterfront communities, such as Williamsburg's, and provide residents with better access to jobs up and down the train's proposed route.

The approximately 20 people who attended Wednesday's event seemed pro-rail in general.

Among their suggestions: keep the BQX away from parks to protect children; extend it into the Bronx; and allow free transfers to the city's buses and subways.

Ayesha Santiago and Edda Figueroa said it takes them more than 30 minutes to commute on the bus from East Williamsburg to their job site, which is located across the street from 157 S. 3rd St., where the meeting was held.

"I think it's a really good idea if it's executed properly," Santiago said of the BQX. (Her regular B62 bus, on the other hand, "runs whenever it feels like it," she said.)

Iris Minaya said she's lived in Williamsburg for 20 years. It currently takes her an hour and a half to get to the Queens Center Mall, she said — but she hopes a waterfront streetcar could slash her commute time.

Alan Yu, a Midtown Manhattan resident, said the daily commute to his job in Williamsburg takes about 45 minutes.

"More transportation is always better," he said.

Superstorm Sandy was proof, Yu said, that New Yorkers need more than one transit option. "It's all part of resiliency planning," he said.

Pedro Rivera Jr., a Bed-Stuy resident and public transportation advocate who grew up in Williamsburg, said he initially had fears the BQX would be endangered by future storms.

"New York City needs to invest millions of dollars to protect the route," Rivera said. If that kind of investment is made, though, Rivera said the BQX would be "a great option" in a "transit desert" like the western part of Williamsburg.

Councilman Antonio Reynoso, whose district includes part of Williamsburg, also attended the meeting.

He said he was currently "very supportive of the project" — although he encouraged community members to "flood the BQX team with ideas" to improve the plan.

The train's backers have called for it to be funded by collecting a portion of property tax payments along its route, which they hope will go up with the train running nearby.

That proposal has lead some activists in Sunset Park to express concerns that the BQX will only serve to further gentrify the area and displace longtime residents.

In Williamsburg, though, Councilman Reynoso said extensive gentrification has already left the neighborhood divided between wealthy residents and those living in subsidized housing.

He said it would be up to the New York City Council to prevent the BQX from making areas along its route even less affordable — a task which he pledged to take on.

Additional public meetings on the BQX will be held in Brooklyn Heights on June 20 and Sunset Park on June 21. More will be announced soon.