This totally slipped under our radar here but here are the good folks at the Gothamist with the basics. Living testimony to the efficiency line in local (some might say NIMBY-istic) activism, here are some wikipedia details on the South BK paragon. Check the curiously tamed down brouhaha
The bridge was the last great public works project in New York City overseen by Robert Moses, the New York State Parks Commissioner and head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, who had long desired the bridge as a means of completing the expressway system which was itself largely the result of his efforts. The bridge was the last project designed by Chief Engineer Othmar Ammann, who had also designed most of the other major crossings of New York City, including the George Washington Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, and the Throgs Neck Bridge. The plans to build the bridge caused considerable controversy in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge, because many families had settled in homes in the area where the bridge now stands and were forced to relocate.
Hm… that’s more than a little understated. Strange how history works.
This reads like someone’s history paper, t/h to everything2.com (anyone have better sources?).
In order to construct the bridge and its approachways, [Robert Moses] would have to condemn houses that lay in the right-of-way he wanted. The residents of Bay Ridge protested and picketed and petitioned that the bridge approachways run along the shoreline and connect to the Shore Parkway there, rather than the approach from the Gowanus that Moses proposed. Moses carefully considered their requests, but maintained that his way would require less condemnation of property and cost less. The right-of-way was acquired in 1957, and despite vehement efforts by the public and politicians, seven thousand residents were removed from their homes in 1959. Interestingly, some of these residents (including some of the most violently opposed) ended up working on the bridge.Incidentally, the opposite was occurring on the Staten Island side. Twice as many homes would be destroyed in Richmond County, but the residents were all for the bridge; it would finally link their isolated community with the rest of the city of which it had been a part for over 60 years. 1959 saw a massive land rush on the island, with lots doubling or tripling in price, some even during the same day. The bridge was seen as Staten Island’s savior.
Alas for the B+T crowd… see you at the Salty Dog.
