In a letter published yesterday, North Brooklyn elected officials asked that the city’s Department of Transportation implement the complete redesign of McGuinness Boulevard.
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, City Council Member Lincoln Restler, and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez say that the recent developments to the project have been lacking. While they call the newly implemented bike lane “a welcome asset,” the lack of enforcement for overnight flex parking and lack of designated loading zones makes navigating the boulevard confusing for pedestrians, bikers, and drivers alike.
“It is abundantly clear to us why DOT’s original road diet proposal is far superior and must be implemented along the entire corridor in the spring,” they write. “We again urge DOT to implement their plan to reduce to one lane of traffic in each direction as was announced by City Hall in May 2023 after a robust community planning process, endorsement from every single elected official representing the Greenpoint neighborhood, and a petition signed by more than 9,000 residents and 105 local businesses.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso signed the letter as well. While his borough president predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, supported pedestrian and bike safety measures during his tenure, he has since changed his tune as mayor. Transportation activists say that the mayor has worked to water down or kill popular street safety measures, such as the Underhill Avenue bike lane and bus lane changes on Fordham Road, after backlash from campaign donors and close advisors.
The original redesign plan would have eliminated a traffic lane in either direction with the addition of parking-protected bike lanes. While the DOT was set to start work on the project this summer, Adams later called for a compromised version, effectively killing a full redesign implementation. The new version added bike lanes but kept two lanes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with the outer lane serving as a parking lane after hours.
The letter calls for the changes to be implemented by spring 2024. In the meantime, the elected officials call for short-term solutions to help mitigate the confusion, such as jersey barriers and clearer signage.
It is very unfortunate that these pictures were chosen and captioned this way. “Keep McGuinness Moving” is presented as having a large “rally”; while “Make McGuinness Safe” is shown as just a small group of “protestors”.
In reality, “Keep McGuinness Moving” is an astroturf organizations ran by the Argentos/Broadway Stages. They overruled years of research by the DOT by using their donor connection to one of the Adams close advisors (see, for example, here: https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/07/06/argento-eric-adams-mcguinness-redesign/).
And “Make McGuinness Safe” is a very popular multi-year movement, backed among others by every single elected in the area.
Now that countless parking spaces have been lost on McGuinness Blvd, when alt side is on neighboring streets near 100% of the car people sit in their cars instead of the usual 80% to avoid a ticket and the sweepers shoot right down the street without parking.
typo without sweeping not parking.
Hi Mike,
I’m on the side of keep McGuinness Moving, and I’m not influenced by those orgs.
What about the legitamate concern of the designs diverting traffic to inner streets? I live in Greenpoint, have kids that cross the inner streets, have had friends die on the inner streets….
Hello, Anyone who believes one lane in each direction will work on Mcguiness Blvd is out of their mind, The traffic which is already terrible will become beyond OPPRESIVE! I cross that Blvd every day and NEVER had a Problem. If bikes choose to ride on any street that is frequented by trucks and buses they need to have their head examined! The politicians who signed off on this need to GO!