page_title: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
section_title: Staten Island connection and later years
hierarchical_section_title: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn / History / Staten Island connection and later years
caption_attribution_description: English: The Verrazzano Bridge on a foggy day, as seen from Shore Road Park and Parkway.
context_page_description: Bay Ridge is a residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Dyker Heights on the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway on the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on the south. The section of Bay Ridge south of 86th Street is sometimes considered part of a sub-neighborhood called Fort Hamilton.
  Bay Ridge was formerly the westernmost portion of the town of New Utrecht, comprising two smaller villages: Yellow Hook to the north and Fort Hamilton to the south. Yellow Hook was renamed Bay Ridge in 1853 to avoid negative connotations with yellow fever at the time. Bay Ridge became developed as a rural summer resort during the mid-19th century. The arrival of the New York City Subway's Fourth Avenue Line in the early 20th century led to its development as a residential neighborhood.
  Bay Ridge is part of Brooklyn Community District 10, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11209 and 11220. It is patrolled by the 68th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 43rd District.
context_section_description: There had been plans to build the Staten Island Tunnel, a railroad or subway tunnel, from Bay Ridge to Staten Island as early as 1890. By the 1910s, there were two proposals to build a tunnel splitting from the Fourth Avenue subway in Bay Ridge, either at Fort Hamilton or at between 65th and 67th Streets. The plan for the tunnel from 65th-67th Streets was ultimately selected and work started in 1923, though the project was halted two years later. In 1927, two years after the cancellation of the Staten Island Tunnel, engineer David B. Steinman brought up the possibility of constructing a vehicular bridge, the "Liberty Bridge", across the Narrows. The tunnel proposal was also revived with the announcement of the Liberty Bridge, and proposals for vehicular and rail tunnels were both considered. The bridge was disapproved by the United States Department of War in 1934, and plans for a bridge were revived in 1936. By the time the bridge was approved by the city's Board of Estimate in 1943, residents of Bay Ridge had turned against it, citing a detrimental impact to the neighborhood's character.
  Robert Moses, the chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), announced the revival of plans for what would become the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1947. U.S. Representative Donald Lawrence O'Toole, whose constituency included Bay Ridge, opposed the proposal for the bridge in part because he believed it would damage the character of Bay Ridge. The U.S. military approved the proposal anyway, and in 1957, Moses proposed expanding Brooklyn's Gowanus Expressway and extending it to the Narrows Bridge by way of Seventh Avenue, which would require cutting through the middle of Bay Ridge. This proposal drew opposition from the community, who wanted the approach to follow the Belt Parkway along the Brooklyn shore.  After holding a hearing for concerned Bay Ridge residents, the Board of Estimate affirmed the Narrows Bridge plan in October 1958, though this angered Bay Ridge residents since the construction of the approach would displace 7,500 people. Also destroyed was Fort Lafayette, part of New York City's defense system along with Fort Hamilton and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island; it was replaced by the base of the bridge's east tower. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964.
  The 2007 Brooklyn tornado hit this area, specifically 68th Street and Bay Ridge Avenue between Third and Fourth Avenues. Eleven houses had to be vacated after they suffered significant damage, and many of the trees on the two blocks toppled, landing on cars and stoops. The 4th Avenue Presbyterian Church had its very large stained glass window blown out. As the tornado lifted, it peeled the roof of a nearby Nissan dealership and deforested 40% of Leif Ericson Park. The tornado has been rated EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds between 111 and 135 MPH.
caption: The Verrazzano Bridge on a foggy day. Photo taken at Shore Road Park and Parkway.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2020:05:14 23:07:46", "Image ExifOffset": "122", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:05:14 23:07:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:05:14 23:07:46", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "063", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "063", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "720", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}