There’s good news on the way for anyone who has trouble getting around Brooklyn, which is likely everyone who lives in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX), the streetcar championed by Mayor Bill de Blasio that would run along the river neighborhoods from Astoria to Sunset Park, remains on track to one day be built, and they’ve got a tight new video explaining why that’s good for everybody.
“That’s why this project is important. It’s going to serve everyone. It’s going to make jobs, access to opportunity, recreation, everything more accessible,” Paul Steeley White says in the video. White is the executive director of the nonprofit Transportation Alternative.
A voiceover follows shortly after: “Let’s build it now so we can keep expanding opportunities, battling inequality and improving the quality of life for everyone who calls New York City ‘home.'”
Sounds great! Is it true, though? Let’s compare the proposed route of the BQX with a map of income by census tract in Brooklyn.
Here’s the proposed line:
The proposed BQX will run through Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights and Red Hook. (Map via Friends of BQX)
And here’s income by census tract:
Income unevenness in Brooklyn is on full display in this new map from Observatory. (Map via CartoDB)
So the BQX will run through Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook and Gowanus. These are all the wealthiest or most gentrifying neighborhoods in the borough, with the highest rents. It will miss the very wealthy (but inland) Park Slope, and it will hit the struggling Sunset Park, which is home to Industry City.
What it won’t touch? Essentially every poor neighborhood: Brownsville, Flatbush, East New York, Bed-Stuy, Bushwick. These are places where it’s hard to get to and from, and where commutes can take upwards of an hour.
We don’t mean to oppose the BQX in the least. The more transportation the better. It is needed. But we do think one ought to call it what it is: an expensive, publicly-funded project to improve the quality of life of wealthy people.
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