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A comment on Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens.

Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by billyto on Sunday November 03, 2013 @06:57AM (#6662898)
How to fix it: - Improve G train service. - Use the Pulaski bridge. - Take care of the BQE infrastructure. - Public jetpacks!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by betterunix on Sunday November 03, 2013 @07:35AM (#6662979)
Another possibility would be to build all the planned subway extensions in Queens; Brooklyn already has good subway service, and a few more lines connecting the two boroughs would not hurt:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IND_Second_System

While we are at it, let's actually make use of this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockaway_Beach_Branch

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by fennecfoxen on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:43AM (#6663514)
Build it? With whose money? The city's finances have been a disaster since 2008 and they've only been scraping by with a series of unsustainable tricks. The next mayor will almost certainly be Bill de Blasio, whose top agenda item is basically to spending a lot more money on the city's unionized labor. (His next agenda item is to revive rent control, because the War Emergency Tenant Protection Act apparently hasn't done enough to run the city into the ground yet. (And yes, that war emergency is WWII.))

Have you ever wondered why we can't have nice things? :P

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by betterunix on Sunday November 03, 2013 @10:48AM (#6663531)
The MTA is a state agency, so really you need to look at the state's budget, not the city's. I also have little sympathy for the argument that the MTA is too short on cash -- they have been wasting enormous amounts of tax dollars on failed projects for decades.

Not that that should give us any hope for an expanded subway system.

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by saalweachter on Sunday November 03, 2013 @12:01PM (#6663915)
Are the state finances in any better shape?

The tolls on the new Tappen Zee bridge are expected to be $15, and even that might not be enough to fund it after the hole Coumo blew in the transportation budget after deciding to pillage a general fund instead of raising tolls for commercial vehicles last year.

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by betterunix on Sunday November 03, 2013 @12:20PM (#6664021)
As I said, I am not saying that we should have much hope for expanding the subway system even if the state budget was perfect. The MTA's main area of expertise is wasting money.

In my earlier comment I mentioned the Rockaway Beach Branch. That right-of-way would require only a bit of cleanup, some maintenance on a few bridges, and switches to connect to the A line and hundred feet of tunnel in Rego Park, and we would have a new subway line in Queens with access to JFK. We are talking maybe a hundred million dollars, assuming competent engineers and contractors are hired -- a fraction of what the MTA has been spending trying to get the Rail Control Center online.

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by fennecfoxen on Sunday November 03, 2013 @11:30AM (#6663729)
Good point! Either way, the IND Second System routes can get in line behind the Second Avenue Subway.
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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by llamataboot on Sunday November 03, 2013 @12:48PM (#6664156)
What's wrong with trying to protect against the shrinkage of the middle class?
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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by jessaustin on Sunday November 03, 2013 @11:02PM (#6666742)
...spending a lot more money on the city's unionized labor.

I must be misunderstanding something. Aren't big public works projects a pretty reliable method for achieving this goal?

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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by fennecfoxen on Monday November 04, 2013 @11:35AM (#6669492)
Spending more per unit of labor achieves very, very little (well, except in campaign contributions from the labor union).
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Re:Why It's So Hard to Get From Brooklyn to Queens by jessaustin on Monday November 04, 2013 @01:10PM (#6670115)
Realistically, when building a public works project in the Northeast USA, one must hire union labor. I guess I'm not understanding which you personally care about more, improving public transit or balancing public budgets. My point was just that a mayor who likes unions will likely support public transit projects, which is kind of what betterunix was talking about.
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