Mayor de Blasio chose a “panel of experts” to take on the issue of the BQE after there are already great plans out there for the BQE! Heading the panel is the Mayor’s guy, former Brooklyn Chamber President, Carlo Scissura.
Scissura is known by other projects he helped initiate in Brooklyn such as:
A) Inviting AirBnB into Brooklyn. Scissura and Eric Adams backed AirBnB right away and never discussed the consequences on our borough (see here). Eric Adams later had to backpedal as people complained that this caused a problem in the price of affordable housing in Brooklyn. (See here)
B) Cars2Go – If you live in Bay Ridge, you know Carlo Scissura and Eric Adams supported Cars2Go to come into Brooklyn and use our streets like they are a free parking lot for their cars. I wrote about this in 2016My neighbors in Bay Ridge don’t appreciate not being able to find a spot as a business has their items parked on the streets.
C) Carlo Scissura pushed BQX – the failed light rail. How much money did NYC waste on that project? Remember the city hired a Canadian to head the project – he finally went home this Fall after accruing $160K per year “as the project lead.” We could have used that money to fix the MTA. Why didn’t Scissura back a MTA project?
We watched the Brooklyn Chamber under Carlo Scissura send a representative to speak against a woman whose family owned property in Coney Island for over 100 years. The city wanted to say the area was “blighted.” We went to look at the property. On the grounds was an amusement park ride that was renting the property. There was no garbage and the land was clear. The city did this meeting in the Winter when they knew no one would attend (this is a city tactic when using eminent domain). We asked Mark Treyger to stand with the property owner. He didn’t – the senior citizen, Carol Murray stood alone. (See here) The city already had representatives from the EDC, so there was no need for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to be there. This was a powerplay because de Blasio wanted the land so they could do a developer’s plan.
Mayor de Blasio sees Scissura as an expert in urban highways. Maybe Mayor de Blasio doesn’t know a lot of people or he just wants to push around a project to make it look like he is doing something. I have asked Scissura to recuse himself from this project. As a Brooklynite who is passionate about Brooklyn and not connected should be leading this project.
Tonight on Channel 1, Scissura said that the BQE was unsanitary. We’ve heard of people saying a public bathroom or homeless shelter is unsanitary. We have never heard of a highway referred to as unsanitary. It must be the new way “experts” refer to roads.
Play the videoand you can hear Scissura’s word soup as he try to cover that he isn’t an expert. It reminds me of Marty Markowitz or Marty Golden talking…..I thought he was going to say, “This is the Greatest highway in the Greatest City in the Greatest State blah, blah, blah). Mayor de Blasio saw Scissura talk about BQX and must want to fool NYC with this project. Scissura has openly said that he wants to bury the BQE – that mindset shouldn’t be leading this project.
Strangely, Eric Adams said Scissura was “performing a service.” Does Eric Adams think Scissura isn’t getting paid? I don’t know what salary people receive for being on a panel, but I don’t think it is a community service project. We aren’t sure why Adams would present it like that?! Didn’t Scissura get paid for being part of the BQx project? How much money did the city use for a project that went nowhere…..see this website doesn’t even talk about the project costs!
Brooklyn has one shot here and this project should be led by someone whose interested in keeping Brooklyn for Brooklynites. Scissura should get out of the way and let the invested community oversee this project – they will do right by Brooklyn. Years ago, Scissura would have understood this because he was part of a group like that…..but time changes things….and people.
Update: Comments left on this blog refer to this articleas many of us knew Carlo when he fought against the city and for the people. Times changes people.
As soon as we heard the story last weekend, we knew something was wrong, but hoped for the best.
Jeanine Cammarata was last seen alive on Saturday, March 30th around 9:00 pm. when she dropped her boyfriend off at his apartment in Staten Island. Jeanine went to see her children at her estranged husband’s home in Queens.
If you are in Brooklyn and thought Jeanine looked familiar….she’s from Bensonhurst. Years ago, Jeanine lived on 65th Street in Brooklyn. Jeanine was the daughter of Annmarie Albanese. She attended Murrow High School and St. Francis College. Fifteen years ago, Jeanine did her student teaching at Tiny Tots Express on Avenue N and her old friends there expressed their grief over her death as well.
When we heard that she was teaching at PS 29 in Staten and that she didn’t show for her job on Monday or call in to make sure her class was being taken care of, we knew she was in danger. Source
Jeanine Cammarata was only 37 years old and the mother of three children. She filed divorce papers against her estranged husband, Michael Cammarata and he didn’t want to share custody. Michael Cammarata and his girlfriend,Ayisha Egea, who is sixth months pregnant were charged with Jeanine’s murder. Source
Ayisha Egea knew Jeanine well! She cared for Jeanine’s children while she worked two jobs. If all this is true about Egea, this is extremely sad.
Jeanine was killed, her body was burned and put into a Staten Island storage facility.
Prayers for her friend Jessica Pobega who will fight for Justice for Jeanine…..Michael Cammarata should just admit guilt because Jessica Pobega isn’t going to back away from this. Jeanine and Jessica were friends for almost 25 years and attended Murrow and St. Francis together.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Jeanine’s funeral and children. Jeanine has three children and they will need our help. Two of the children were with the Administration for Children’s Services and are now being provided for (Jeanine oldest son from a previous marriage lives in Long Island).
Adam Balhetchet: A house fire broke out around 11 pm Wednesday, at 426 73rd St, within the confines of the 68th Precinct. Two victims were treated for smoke inhalation. Fire marshalls will determine the cause of the fire.
I saw you shared about a bike lane coming to 86th Street between 3rd Avenue and Shore Road.
And it’s not a protected bike lane.
It needs to be!
Because if a child is hurt or gets killed I will be upset and will point the finger at you (even though I love you CB10, I will be very upset if someone gets hurt)..
Let’s do a protected bike lane. Take away one lane on 86th Street, draw a new stripe up the street and put up dividers before the cars.
If you are unsure, let’s try it this way for the Summer. If it doesn’t work out, we repaint the road and move the barriers.
If it isn’t a protected bike path, most parents here aren’t going to allow their kids to use it. Why? Because they are good parents and they know how careless some drivers are here.
We don’t get second chances sometimes – so let’s do this right.
A lot of people who don’t know much about the BQE or urban planning want to remove lanes from the BQE.
How interesting. NOT!
C’MON BROOKLYN you know a developer must be padding some politicians pockets for this project.
And of course lobbyists are involved…..aren’t they always?!
Let’s vote out anyone who is part of the machine pushing this project.
I could tell you more about the BQE probably than most people living in NYC. It was made wider because it needed to be made wider! Anyone telling you differently, doesn’t know the history of it or blowing smoke.
I first heard about this project first from a man who supported AirBnB in Brooklyn. Rents skyrocketed after they (him and his cronies) supported AirBnB. Did we predict it? YES!
That man didn’t have the knowledge or experience to understand what the repercussions of AirBnB were on a city. Why would we trust him with recommending to remove parts of the BQE?
Adam Balhetchet wrote this: Two officers were hurt in an accident in Bay Ridge around 4:30 pm today. A police car and a Mercedes SUV collided. According to the Mercedes driver, he was driving through a green light when he was struck by the marked police car.
The police car was on an emergency call. Someone called 911 and reported a gun at 92nd Street, but it was a false alarm call.
Officers were treated for minor injuries, one of them went to the hospital for a head injury.
RadioFree Bay Ridge shared notes and pictures from this evenings meeting about the protected bike lane being planned for 7th Avenue in Bay Ridge. See here.
Conclusion: Two-way protected bike lane, 2 traffic lanes, 25mph, no parking impact.
