The Trolley Disaster that Boston forgot
This is a really great long read about a specific Boston historical accident known as the 1916 Summe Street Bridge Disaster where a streetcar plunged into the Four Point Channel and killed 46 people.
The Boston Globe gives you two options here to invest yourself in the story: You can either hit play and hear it as a podcast of sorts, or you can read the article which includes photos and annotations of the accident scene.
There are more photos here too if you want to check it out. Maybe have this open while you're listening to the audio from the article.
Mayor de Blasio to Propose Streetcar Line Linking Brooklyn and Queens
Building a Subway in NYC takes forever. Maybe it's time to try a streetcar? Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce the proposal of a streetcar running along the East River from Astoria, Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn. The proposed line, dubbed the Brooklyn Queens Connector, will serve some of Queens and Brooklyn's newly revived neighborhoods (which just so happen to be where a ton of uber-expensive housing will be in the future).
The project is estimated to cost about $2.5 billion with an opening date -- if approved -- by 2024. As you can imagine, there are a ton of hurdles to cross, especially for a transit system going through this many neighborhoods, but at least the conversation is going about finally getting a decent connection between Queens and Brooklyn that doesn't involve the G train or going through Manhattan. At the moment, I'm skeptical this will ever happen, but hey, the renderings are a nice way to dream.