BQX STREET CAR STUDY RESEARCH PROJECT
BQX STREET CAR STUDY
THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS WATERFRONT IS HOME TO SOME OF THE LAST WORKING INDUSTRIAL WATERFRONTS IN NEW YORK CITY. THE HISTORIES OF THE DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS THAT LINE THE WATERFRONT ARE RICH AND VARIED, ALL INVOLVING THE HARD WORK OF IMMIGRANTS AND COMMUNITIES OF COLOR. ONE DEVELOPMENT THAT IS QUICKLY GAINING STEAM AND TAKING SHAPE IS THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS CONNECTOR (BQX), A PRIVATELY FUNDED AND PUBLICIZED DEVELOPMENT TO TAKE PLACE FROM SUNSET PARK TO ASTORIA. FOR MY SPRING 2017 STUDIO PROJECT I CONDUCTED A RESEARCH ON TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT AND HOW THE CONSTRUCTION OF BQX STREETCAR WILL CAUSE GENTRIFICATION IN WORKING CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS. OUR RESEARCH WAS PRESENTED IN THE FORM OF A PAMPHLET INTENDED ACTIVISTS GROUPS TO CREATE AWARENESS. OUR RESEARCH WAS ALSO USED BY STUDENTS OF HUNTER COLLEGE TO MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ON THE BQX. WE WERE ALSO APPROACHED BY UPROSE AND THE INDYPENDANT NEWSPAPER TO SHARE OUR WORK WITH THEM.
RESEARCH PROJECT
ASTORIA
LONG ISLAND
GREEN POINT
QUEENS
WILLIAMSBURG
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS RED HOOK
SUNSET PARK
BROOKLYN
LINK TO COMPLETE PAMPHLET: HTTPS://ISSUU.COM/MAHAASLAM/DOCS/FINAL_FINAL
BQX STREET CAR STUDY RESEARCH PROJECT
the BQX at a glance Quick facts and background
LOCAL COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS
NYC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
RESIDENTS COMMUNITY BOARDS
NYC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
The Friends of the BQX have been promoting the project The promotional videos highlights the benefits of this project including reducing work commutes and connecting people with greater economic oppurtunity. The Friends of the BQX have also circulated these fantasized images of the high tech steet car on the streets of the various neighborhoods along its route. The branding and promotion places an emphasis on the creation of beneficial economic oppurutnities for the residents of these neighborhoods - a topic discussed later in this handout. This project is currently being promoted by a coalition called the Friends of the BQX. The board of directors and executive committee is made up of people from companies and developers such as Two Trees Management, Transportation Alternatives, Regional Plan Association, Durst Organization, Tishman Speyer, Steiner Studios, Jamestown Properties (owner of Industry City) and many others. Many of these funders also have active investment in NYC, especially along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront, making this project a potentially high-paying investment for them. The community visioning sessions put on by NYC Economic Development Corporation have been in progress since Feburary 2016. The Mayor announced his support for this project in his State of the City speech in 2016 as well. Since then the project has gained momentum and has received alot of public attention due to its ambitious claims and proposed financing model. If the project moves forward as planned, the street car will be operating by 2024 for the public and will be serving an estimated 50,000 riders on weekdays. The seemingly small ridership and the tax increment based financing have placed big questions marks on the feasibility of the project.
PROJECT TIMELINE Spring 2016
February 2016 MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCED BQX
HELD COMMUNITY VISIONING SESSIONS FIRST ROUND
Fall 2016
2017
Early 2017
HELD COMMUNITY VISIONING SESSIONS SECOND ROUND
RELEASE PRELIMINARY REPORT
INITIATE PUBLIC APPROVALS PROCESS & BEGIN ENVI’L REVIEW
2019
2018
SELECT CONTRACTOR/ OPERATOR & BREAK GROUND
BEGIN DESIGN OF INITIAL SEGMENT
2024
STREETCAR STARTS OPERATION
ASTO RI
A
LONG ISLAND
5TH AVENUE COMMITTEE
TWO TREES MANAGEMENT CO. LLC
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
BROOKLYN QUEENS FRIENDS OF THE IS A REGISTERED CONNECTOR, INC. THAT SUPPORTS 501(C)3 NON-PROFIT TO CREATE THE MAYOR’S INITIATIVE GENERATE ECOCONNECTIVITY AND T ALONG THE NOMIC DEVELOPMEN EAST RIVER WATERFRONT
GREEN POINT
QUEENS WILLIAMSBURG
REPRESNTATIVES FROM
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
ETC REGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION
BROOKLYN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
RED HOOK
TISHMAN SPEYER
BQX
$2.5 BILLION
(CONSTRUCTION COST)
FRIENDS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
$30 MILLION
(MAINTENANCE COST /YEAR)
24 HOURS 5 MIN INTERVAL (PEAK HOURS)
SUNSET PARK
BROOKLYN
REPRESNTATIVES FROM
ETC
DUMBO BID
INDUSTRY CITY
bqx | the $2.5 billion business genius FINANCING STRUCTURES through development THE BURDEN OF DEVELOPMENT ON waterfront NEIGHBORHOODS The BQX financing model is based on the premise of growth and development around the project. This development oriented scheme seeks to create an influx of infrastructure which can then raise the property values of residential and commercials spaces along the waterfront. This model of value capture is at the heart of the BQX and its ability to succeed. This means that the BQX can only sustain itself financially if the property values rise significantly and cover the costs put up by the Friends of the BQX.
The brooklyn queens connector:
A streetcar named Development
The speculation and assumption of property value rise exposes a large conflict in this scheme. The richer areas will not have as much potential for real estate development to be exploited as the lower density, lower income areas will. This shows that the burden of the BQX construction and maintenance will be mostly put on the areas in most need of resources and will result in represent this idea that the development bridge burdens the foundations of Sunset Park and Astoria far more than in Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg and thus will face more breaks in the community cultures. The data used to create these graphics and represent the neighborhoods is average median rents from 2016. However it is important to understand that no one piece of data can be precise enough to represent the current development index. Median rents can only be used as a rough measuring the the BQX development if it were to be passed by City Council.
the development route The diagram to the right shows the uneven development that would happen along the waterfront as a result of the BQX project. This map spatializes the burden each neighborhood would bare. As an example, Sunset Park will support the cost of the BQX much more than Brooklyn Heights because the property values and rents are not as saturated in Sunset Park. This means that more displacement, gentrification and general change in character will occur in this neighborhood. This diagram could be used as a road map for developers because the financiang structure of this project becomes sustainable only when lower income neighborhoods are included on the route. The reason for this is in order to fully exploit the highly commodified land to pay for the project, they need land that has not been tapped of all its resources to make as high cost residential, commercial and insdutrial area as possible. Not only is this necessary for the survival of the project, but it also means that the project is less risky as a development becausein our capitalist system, it is much easier for them to exploit properties and businesses that are lower income than those that are higher. To flip this information around, the index to the right is also a means for communites to gather around certain areas to fight against gentrification and further land commodification that the BQX encourages. The graphic to the right has two pieces of information to compare. The blue circles show the current median rents in the neighborhood. The yellow rings show what can be extracted out of the neighborhoods. The larger the gap is between the blue and yellow circles, the more room for exploitation, gentrification and displacement that can occur to fund the development of the BQX.
tax increment financing model: A Value Capture System A Tax Increment Financing district is created by using the proposed project’s potential growth in multiplication with the sites
Firstly, the total value of tax property of the demarcated district is calculated .Then the projections are estimated keeping in mind the market trends and the potential growth of the proposed TIF project. This line determines all the taxation that can
The Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront is home to some of the last working industrial waterfronts in New involving the hard work of immigrants and communities of color. One development that is quickly gaining steam and taking shape is the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX), a privately funded and publicized development to take place from Sunset Park to Astoria. This kind of development will be detrimental to the working and middle class living in close proximity to the proposed line. Take a look inside to see exactly why the BQX is a bad idea for the development of NYC.
is expected to follow a similar financing model, more specifically the revenue bond system. The city is not directly liable to pay back the investors if the project fails to pay back the debt at any point in the time frame of the project. However because of political influences and also because of city’s credibility for the future projects the city sometime holds a few back up budget cuts to allow for the investors to be paid back. The finance model of TIF therefore heavily relies on its growth potentials and also on its development jumps. The whole system gets very complicated as shown below when the rating companies, bond insurances, property holders, incentives, bond default shares all tie into one huge real estate monopoly.