BQX picks up major union endorsement

We’re keeping an eye on the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar project, a proposed 16-mile trolley that will run along the waterfront from Astoria to Sunset Park.

Today, the project picked up a major endorsement from the 42,000-member Transport Works Union Local 100. The union believes the BQX will create good-paying jobs and bring more business to the waterfront.

“The streetcar will give a powerful boost to the city economy, create good union jobs that can sustain working families and provide mass transit to transit-starved neighborhood,” said John Samuelson, president of Local 100.

Why is that important? Samuelson said the union will urge its members and political resources to lobby elected officials to support the BQX.

Keep in mind that the BQX is still in its early stages, trying to win public support. If it’s built, it wouldn’t be functioning for another seven or eight years.

The union says 600 of its members live along the proposed route.

“Too often, the people who most need a reliable transit option are the same people who lack a voice, and for whom a shorter and easier commute can make the biggest difference,” said Ya-Ting Liu, executive director of Friends of the BQX. “The men and women of the TWU know better than anyone how much of a difference transit can make in the lives of New Yorkers.”

Still, opponents of the project say it will increase gentrification and displacement in the highly-desired neighborhoods along the route, such as Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

We’ll keep a lookout other events, rallies, endorsements and news around the BQX. Stay tuned.