Real Journalism. Written by Real People.

Local Pol Comments on EDC’S Latest Decision Regarding the BQX Project

Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who chairs the BQX Task Force in the City Council, issued the following statement on Feb. 7 in response to NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) executive committee’s unanimous decision (announced the day before) to hire an independent contractor to oversee the BQX project’s environmental review:

“The City continues to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on a project with hardly any public input, and blithely insists that we should fork it over despite there being no clear plan for how to finance it and outstanding doubts about its transportation benefits.”

The BQX Task Force – which is comprised of members whose districts sit along the proposed BQX route – sent a letter in December that outlined more than 20 outstanding questions they have about the project, including explicit requests for the transportation, economic, and environmental assumptions that were not evident in the Aug. 2018 BQX Conceptual Design Report.

Menchaca also added the EDC hasn’t answered those questions, despite being given a deadline and multiple follow-ups.

“If this is how the EDC will treat questions from City Council Members whose districts sit along the route, imagine how they will respond to public inquiries during a ULURP,” he said in his statement. “If [EDC] wants the City to pay for its economic development projects, it must be absolutely transparent about its assumptions, models, and vision. It still has a chance with the BQX project.”

The Aug. 2018 BQX Completion of Conceptual Design Report shows – via a map – that the Red Hook and Columbia Street Waterfront District stops would be along Columbia Street, Bay Street, and certain portions of Smith and Court Streets. Construction could begin in 2024 and finish in 2029, according to the report.

 

Top photo of the Red Hook Rendering. From the Aug. ’18 BQX Completion of Conceptual Design Report.

Author

  • George Fiala

    George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.

    View all posts

Discover more from Red Hook Star-Revue

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

One Comment

  1. Peter Haley
    March 18, 2019 at 3:27 pm

    councilman Menchaca hits the nail on the head– who wants this project done and where is the demand for a trolley line?? I mean , outside of the real estate developers and their Friend, Mayor DiBlasio

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

Our Sister Publication

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

Target Margin Theater to kick of ‘The Nonsense Lab’ in September

The 2026-2027 season at the Target Margin Theater begins on Sept. 17 with The Nonsense Lab, a three-week performance festival of new work that explores the theme of Nonsense, this according to an Aug. 18 press release. The Nonsense Lab includes three performances: Let Me Be an Animal, a dance by choreographer Caroline Fermin, “celebrating the slow, awkward, sweaty, and questioning parts

At ‘A Few of Each,’ Gowanus artists capture a neighborhood in flux

In some cultures, there’s a belief that death comes not when your heart stops beating, but when you’re forgotten. To remember something is to keep it alive, even if only in your heart. That idea is the key to A Few of Each, the collection of cityscape art currently on display at Gowanus Wine Studio on 3rd Avenue. The exhibition

Vincent Coppola on ‘Gowanus Crossing’

I first met Vincent Coppola in 1961 when we were high school freshmen at St. Augustine High School on Park Place in the Slope. After a career in journalism and some notable books, he’s now ensconced in Savannah, a city which, like Vinny, acknowledges the presence of ghosts. The interview has been edited to leave out the boring bits. Full

People of Red Hook: August 2026

This is New York City, but today nobody’s rushing. People are lollygagging down the streets while the 95-degree heat penetrates their bones. So it’s not too hard to get them to stop and talk to me about their relationships with their phones—the very phones that most of them are staring into before our conversations begin.   Christopher Loyd: I’m trying to

✕
Red Hook- Star Revue

FREE
VIEW