New plans to fix BQE in Brooklyn Heights revealed

Plus: MTA and NYPD defend policing tactics in subways [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] New plans to fix BQE in Brooklyn Heights revealed Plus: MTA to test out automated pee-detection technology in subway elevators. A bill in Albany would make buses free. And there's a guerilla campaign to stop cars from evading ticket cameras. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [the triple-cantilevered BQE in Brooklyn Heights] Department of Transportation After years of deliberations, the Department of Transportation this week finally announced [new proposals]( to fix a crumbling stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights. Officials unveiled three options, all of which would place the roadway in a slightly different position, leaving room to cap the highway with new green space. Each option would still have two lanes of traffic and leave a third lane for either a breakdown lane or for high occupancy vehicles. The section that needs replacement is a 1.5-mile stretch of highway tucked beneath Brooklyn Heights dating back to the 1940s known as the "triple cantilever." Decades of wear and tear have engineers fearing it will crumble, and the DOT warned in 2018 that if nothing was done, it may be unusable by 2026. [a rendering of a new BQE through Brooklyn Heights] NYC Mayor's Office Transportation officials said one of the main constraints of any design is a nearby MTA fan plant, which prevents them from planning any underground roadway. One of the proposals would completely replace the retaining wall that’s crumbling on the side of the highway, but would be a more costly project and take more time. Another proposal would lower the stretch of the BQE near ground level with Furman Street. In the meantime, officials said oversized trucks — a major source of the BQE's current damage — would begin getting warning tickets in the New Year. Roughly 150 people attended this week's presentation about the plans in Downtown Brooklyn. Among the attendees was City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who shook his head in disappointment. "I’m hopeful we can get to a project that actually leads to a more environmentally just community than where we are today," Restler said afterward. Chris Bastian, the transportation chair of the Brooklyn Heights Association, came away from the meeting with mixed feelings. Bastian, who worked as a transportation planner for three decades, liked the idea of new green space, but felt the projects would not address traffic in his neighborhood. The DOT will hold [several more public-input workshops]( on the proposals in the coming months, including one tonight. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Transit and NYPD officials defend subway policing tactics at heated City Council hearing [two women in SantaCon costumes try flagging a cab] Beata Zawrzel/Nur Photo Transit and police leaders [defended their ever-evolving strategy to tamp down crime]( in the subways during an hours-long City Council hearing Monday, which came just days after a man was [fatally stabbed]( inside a Greenwich Village subway station. Officials outlined various steps they’ve taken in recent months to bolster subway safety, including installing more surveillance cameras, deploying more police officers underground, hiring private security guards to monitor turnstiles and pairing law enforcement with clinicians and social workers to offer services to people sleeping in trains and subway stations. The New York Police Department’s new acting chief of transit, Michael Kemper, said he was "shocked" by the "free for all" he had witnessed while patrolling the subways in recent months, where he saw multiple people ride without paying. "There can’t be signs of lawlessness the second someone walks into a subway system, for so many reasons," Kemper said. "It’s not fair to the paying customer. It’s not fair to the MTA, who’s losing untold millions of dollars. And think about the perception that gives someone, the average citizen." But Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, D-Queens, criticized the focus on law enforcement in the city’s subway safety plan, especially for something as small as fare evasion. "Perception is incredibly important, but we have to balance out actual safety," she said. "That sounds like regurgitated 'broken windows' policing, which has been debunked by four decades’ worth of research and data." — [Reporting by Samantha Max]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's what else is happening The MTA said it plans to test out a new device that can detect pee smells in subway station elevators and automatically alert cleaning staff. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, where New York City Transit President Richard Davey once worked, already uses a similar system. ([Gothamist]( Guerilla street safety advocates are attempting to "fix" intentionally obscured license plates amid a spike in cars that can evade automated ticketing cameras. Armed with paint pens to fill in scratched-off letters and a screwdriver to fix bent plates, Streetsblog editor Gersh Kuntzman is a leading figure in the movement. ([Gothamist]( App-based for-hire drivers in New York City won't be getting their expected raise before the holidays. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Tuesday granted Uber’s request for a restraining order on the 7.8% per-minute raise, which was supposed to take effect on December 19. The Taxi & Limousine Commission, which approved the pay raise, said it plans to appeal the decision. ([Gothamist]( J and M train service could be suspended for 25 weekends over the next two years due to Williamsburg Bridge maintenance work. A "suggested schedule" issued by the Department of Transportation points to two weekend-long closures of the J and M trains each month from May through October 2023, and from April through September 2024. ([Gothamist]( Two Queens lawmakers are pitching a plan to publicly finance MTA buses and make them free for riders. Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and State Sen. Michael Gianaris, both Democrats, introduced a bill to phase in free buses over four years — first in the Bronx, then Brooklyn, Queens, and finally in Manhattan and Staten Island — at which point the state would be paying $638 million a year to cover the service. ([Streetsblog]( Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents 41,000 New York City Transit employees, is promoting Secretary-Treasurer Richard Davis to president. The 53-year-old Davis, who began working as an MTA bus operator at 26, will immediately take up negotiations over the union's labor contract, which expires in May of 2023. ([AM New York]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: They earned one fan [a little kid grooving to a subway busker band]( [@SubwayCreatures/Twitter]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. [DONATE]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [WNYC]( [WQXR]( [NJPR]( [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 All rights reserved. [Terms of Use.]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your [preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( from this list