Good morning. Today is Tuesday. We’ll take a look at the path everyone loves to hate – BQE We’ll also catch up on what the Republican candidates for governor said during their debate last night.
The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, famous for its tire-ripping potholes and constant traffic, is in disrepair. Many large trucks have worn down the road surface. Salt, snow and rain on the road have corroded the concrete and steel below.
You may have read about this before. Over the past six years or so, at least half a dozen plans have been put in place to fix the BQE, as the highway is known.
Now Mayor Eric Adams wants to start repairing or rebuilding the BQE He is setting an effective deadline to start construction within five years. He wants to work according to an undeveloped plan.
“Our moment is now,” he said in a statement. “I won’t wait decades and don’t need to spend hundreds of millions more in taxes when we can and must start rebuilding this vital transportation lifeline today.”
His mention of money seems to refer to a plan announced last year by his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. The idea is to do a relatively temporary fix, as such things will happen – strengthen BQE for 20 years while the city found a permanent solution at a cost of more than $500 million.
Elements of the de Blasio plan have now been paused, and city officials say that Adams is in “active discussions” with state officials to overhaul the entire 18-mile highway, not just the section. 1.5 miles that the city controls and that de Blasio is looking to restore. Adams said that fast-tracking a full-scale plan to “re-imagine and rebuild BQE” would allow the city to rake in billions of dollars in federal infrastructure dollars. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” he said, adding that “we are seizing it.”
That might be easier than when de Blasio was mayor and Andrew Cuomo was governor. In contrast to the animosity that has defined their relationship, Adams seems to get along well with Governor Kathy Hochul, who replaced Cuomo when he stepped down last summer.
However, my colleague Winnie Hu wrote that some elected officials and community leaders doubt that five years is enough time for the city to implement a plan. And five years will be the year after the next mayoral election.
“There is no easy solution – if there was one, we would have done it years ago,” said Lincoln Restler, a City Council member from Brooklyn who has criticized the Adams administration for not making repairs in a timely manner. drastically. “This one was kicked down the street because it was too hard.”
City officials warned in 2016 that if the BQE went unnoticed, trucks would have to be restricted by 2026. To deal with faster-than-expected deterioration caused by the trucks apparently As if exceeding the regulatory weight limit of 80,000 tons, de Blasio board recommends closing two of the six lanes on a half-mile stretch of the BQE. That was done last summer.
It was three years after the city officials presented two options to rebuild BQE – options that were rejected by critics, including Adams, then Brooklyn borough president. One option is to close the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for a period of six years and build a temporary roadway above it to traffic while permanent work continues below.
The City Council then weighed in with an $11 billion plan to tear down the highway and replace it with three mile long tunnel.
Samuel Schwartz, a transportation engineer who served as an official with the city’s Department of Transportation for nearly 20 years, predicts that there will be no consensus on how to proceed. He suggested that Adams and Hochul simply set a deadline to come up with a new plan – and then carry on despite almost certain opposition.
“If they’re willing to commit to the decision a year from now,” he said, “that’s a good plan.”
Weather
Enjoyed a mild sunny day near the low 80s. The evenings are mostly clear with high temperatures around the 60s.
PARKING OUTSIDE
Valid until June 20 (June 12).
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In the Republican Debate, Attacks and Counterattacks
Attacks started early on Monday’s debate between the Republican candidates for the governor of New York. Representative Lee Zeldin attacked Harry Wilson, a corporate turnaround expert who worked in the Obama administration, as a “never Trumper”. He referred to Rob Astorino, the former chief executive of Westchester County, as “Rolex Rob.”
Wilson countered that Zeldin was “a corrupt candidate” and “a copy of Cuomo,” referring to former Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. Zeldin, who served as a state senator for four years before being elected to Congress in 2014, replied that “the Cuomo attack was ridiculous.”
The fourth candidate in the race, Andrew Giuliani, entered from afar – he was not on set with others at the CBS Broadcasting Center, where only those who have been vaccinated are allowed in.
For an hour, they discussed topics ranging from gun control to abortion to their respect for President Donald J. Trump. My colleague Jesse McKinley writes that they have sought to polish their conservative credentials as the main approach approaches June 28. They have also gone to great lengths to set themselves apart from their peers. within the Democratic Party, especially Governor Kathy Hochul, who is considered the most popular figure in her party.
With a Supreme Court ruling expected to soon overturn Roe v. Wade, 49, none of the four have directly called for Roe to be overturned, although some say there should be restrictions on who can perform abortions and when women can seek them. Wilson, the only candidate in the race Abortion rights advocate, said he was “not running on a social platform”, while Astorino said abortion was still a “really difficult choice” for women.
The debate also took place amid hearings of the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Giuliani, son of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, said he was “very honored” to work in Trump’s White House and called Trump “a great president” and “a good friend.” He said he hoped Trump would run for re-election.
Zeldin is a Trump supporter and Vote to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “If President Trump wants to run,” Zeldin said, “he should run, and I think he will win.”
Astorino, who was GOP Candidate for Governor 2014 and lost to Cuomo, January 6 has been called “a horrible day in our national history” and said Trump “takes some responsibility” for the attack. “But I think most people would say we have to move on now,” he added, calling the congressional hearings “complete political theater.”
Dear Diary:
I was on the 1st block in November 2013 when an elderly woman walked in on 34th Street. I offered her my seat, and she happily accepted.
At 66th Street, she got up from her car and started walking past me.
“Let me guess,” I said. “You’ll go to the opera at the Met.”
She laughed.
“I’m in the orchestra,” she replied.
I was on my way to a show that night, and together we walked toward Lincoln Center.
“I play the glass harmonica, an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin,” she said.
When we parted, I said I would try to go down to the orchestra pit and see her instrument. Then I went to see my niece Amanda.
We had plenty of time before the show, so we headed down the front, looked into the pit, and spotted my subway companion.
