Here come the consultants! How can I become a consultant? Who do I have to pay off? Its the best job in the world. Come in ask some questions, figure out how everyone can get a piece of the pie and you just earned yourself a few million dollars, fantastic! But unfortunately you have to be "connected" which I'm not, oh well.

As far as this idea, I live in the area so I'm biased we need something to help us get to the closest mass transit but aren't we in a fiscal crisis? Isn't the money running out? I'm confused. One minute I hear about the city's money woes (closing of firehouses, senior citizen centers, laying off of teachers, policemen. etc.) then the next minute I hear of millions being spent on Bloomberg's pet projects, can someone explain it to me ... please. I sincerely don't get it.

At a time like this, and a fiscal crisis of this magnitude, shouldn't we have a freeze on all non-essential expenditures? Wouldn't that be prudent? I guess when you're the 16th richest man in the world, and richest in NY, the concept of running out of money or not having the money to do something is lost, probably after you earn your first billion.

Poor Bloomberg, so desperately wants to create a "legacy" for himself and all his stadium ambitions went kaput, his dream of hosting the Olympics went no where, and now he envisions himself as the anti-automobile modern day Robert Moses. He sits there everyday looking at maps trying to determine what streets to close, where pedestrian walkways would look pretty, how to extend more sidewalks, and create more bicycle lanes. Crime is going up, the NYPD is a mess, firehouses and senior citizen centers closing, hospitals shutting down, talks of layoffs but there's no time to dwell on this because he's checking the weather for his 20th three day weekend of the year to Bermuda.

Here's on idea Mr.Bloomberg that'll earn you the legacy you desperately need and be beneficial to New York. Use your money to save St. Vincent's Hospital. I heard they were $800 million dollars in the hole but that's small change to you, right? I mean you've wasted close to that "buying" NYC in your re-election campaigns. We can rename it "Bloomberg City Hospital" and have a huge neon sign and even a statue by the entrance so everyone will remember what a great man you were and how you saved the city. Now that's a legacy! Other than your legacy will be faded bike lanes and silly pet projects that the next mayor will undoubtedly cut in his/her first term.

As a resident of the area, I would have to say that finishing the 2nd Avenue subway line is less dire: folks in Manhattan absolutely have other means of under-and-above-ground transportation. I have yet to feel the impact of the upcoming MTA service changes but know that most locals are upset that the MTA went ahead and split the B61 route, greatly improving the commute to the train at Borough Hall, only to revoke that improvement. I also heard that at a recent meeting residents were looking to overturn the service cut decisions, but of course were too late. Yes, one mile is the equivalent of about ten blocks. And yes, riding a bicycle is a smart way to get o the train. But not in the winter, or in the rain. And unless you actually live here (which it doesn't sound as though many of you do), you wouldn't fully understand how impractical the suggestion of walking to Carroll Street or Smith/9th Street is. Additionally, what about a week like this for me, when I just had surgery? I would be expected to WALK to the subway? I would love to know how many Manhattanites would be happy walking 20 minutes to get to a train, especially in crummy weather.

The trolley is a good idea that, like the cherry blossoms, arrives every spring. This consultation hopefully will lead to some progress as the neighborhood's residents should be provided adequate transportation to and from the area. Period.

And as far as the cyclists are concerned for their safety, I'm sure by the time a trolley/light rail exists adequate bike lanes will also exist.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

These corrupt clowns cant even get video cameras to work for hundreds of millions of dollars, even tho there are thousands of them in private buildings all over the city. Sure, do your consulting (scam) and then decide its not worth it after spending millions on a study,which of course will be wasted and stolen and bid-rigged. Finish the 2nd Ave subway before you start talking about new projects.

You know what I want? An intelligent light rail system, not in DUMBO or some other place with a large enough rapid transit system that the addition of a trolly would be a novelty, but in places like Staten Island that leads into New Jersey Transit's light rail system so commuters on SI could use that to take the path into the city. I mean, building an extension of the subway would be too expensive for them right? But a light rail system would do just fine and be a fraction of the cost.

They'd go to all that bother for a one- to one-and-a-half-mile stretch? A mile is ten blocks. Most everyone living here can handle walking that, and the city could put the money to something a little more practical.

screw trolleys. bus rapid transit!

jeez, get with the times brooklyn.

and if you want to sound less idiotic, call it "light-rail." Then you'll sound less like a crazy foamer.

"Once the capital investment of installing them is past." Exactly. Just take the $10 Million and run the damn buses for the locals now. Maybe plan ahead, but please the tourists when the economy and city coffers are in better shape. In SF, the historic street cars are NOT helpful to commuters (because historic F Market light rail is 100% single cars with a capacity of practically nil) and the tracks are deadly for cyclists, peds, and motorcyclists alike. I love the idea of more water taxis: so much cooler than any trolley, and faster, too.

Street-level light rail has higher capacities and are cheaper to run than buses, once the capital investment of installing them is past.

If you want to attract tourists (The park-it-pier (via cruise ship terminal) path here really speaks to that), light rail/trolleys are great.

If the idea was to help commuters, though, the city should spend the money on buses.

Ok, so obviously not spending any money on more new stuff and instead spending it on existing stuff (i.e. the bus lines), but if they were going to spend money (down the line, gov't & DOT folks, when there is money to be spent!) they should use the waterways more. Turn the water taxi into a Metrocard accessable means of public trans.

We don't need no "ding ding" noises to mix in with the "beep beep beep" of the kneeling buses.

Not that bad of an idea - I mean just shoot it down Columbia then cut over to Van Brunt.

Probably be useful to get to Red Hook. It shouldn't be put anywhere else though but there is room down there.

They shouldn't pay for it though, but if the economy wasn't the way it is then it would be a useful idea that people would like.

If you're a cyclist - learn how to rid, not the tracks fault you misjudged or have road tires when you should have mountain or hybrid on pothole filled city streets.

dear to dream, people. i shudder to think of what wastes another $10 million would go to in the hands of the MTA.

It wouldn't involve any construction, so there wouldn't be much room for graft...they'd just running buses that would otherwise be sitting idle.

Trolley tracks are a disaster if you're a cyclist. My brother broke his hip hitting a trolley track in Philly.

Just seems like a massive waste of cash.

People just don't remember that the trolleys were removed for a reason. People got hurt -- a lot -- back in the day. Trollys are a menace to pedestrians.

Just wait until the first bugaboo gets hit because some mommy isn't looking because she too busy texting some other mommy about her baby's pooping all over her $30 onesie.

Actually trolleys were a victim of the birth of the car culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal

The city has no money for teachers, cops, hospitals, firemen, sanitation and a shit-ton of other necessities, but they're going to start feeding millions to the DOT to build and operate trolleys, a business they have no experience in, while they can't even run their ferrys without wrecking them every few years.

Sane solution: Give the MTA $10 million to run buses. The end.

The retro trolley car service (not to be confused with the *cable* car service) in San Francisco is actually pretty cool and a legit way to get from one end of Market to the other and all the way up to the wharf (if that's your thing.)

The only hang-up is that it's wholly unreliable as far as predictable arrivals go. If they do it in Brooklyn I'd hope for at least a dedicated lane so the damn things don't get tied up in traffic.

This is downright stupid. The money doesn't exist to keep the bus lines running, but perhaps it exists to study the possibility of perhaps getting around at some arbitrary point in the future to plan for the eventual funding making it possible to consider building some mythical trolley line, pulled by unicorns?

If that $10M exists, put it back into getting those buses up & running again!