City Makes U-Turn On McGuinness Boulevard Redesign — Again

By Gwynne Hogan, The City

October 3, 2024

Third time’s the charm.

The city’s Department Transportation is reverting to an earlier version of a street redesign for McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn with a one-lane reduction in traffic in either direction and a protected bike lane, part of the initial plan proposed last May and closer to a version of the plan that was widely lauded by safe streets advocates.

The DOT confirmed the change in an email to THE CITY Wednesday morning.

“This administration is committed to making our streets safer for all New Yorkers, no matter how they travel around our city — by car, by bike, or on foot,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “I am grateful to DOT for its commitment to McGuinness Boulevard and willingness to adapt to community and elected officials’ feedback, and of course to New Yorkers for their candor.”

A spokesperson for the DOT declined to comment further on the timing or motivation of the announcement, which came five days after federal investigators raided the home and seized the phones of the mayor’s chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. THE CITY previously reported how Lewis-Martin had a hand in squashing the DOT’s first proposal for McGuinness, following a pressure campaign from a longtime Adams ally and donor.

This week’s change triggered speculation among transportation advocates about the agency’s apparent ability to act more independently as a cloud of investigation looms over Adams and his top officials including Lewis-Martin.

Lewis-Martin did not immediately return a request for comment.

Advocates said they hoped that the latest McGuinness reversal might signal that other stalled street upgrades, like the proposed Ashland Place bike lane that would connect two boroughs’ bike networks, might move forward. That one-block project had stalled after pressure from developer and Adams ally Two Trees, which operates a car garage on the block, Streetsblog previously reported.

‘Respect the Process’

For years, neighborhood advocates had urged the city to redesign McGuinness Boulevard, where three people were killed in a decade, including beloved elementary school teacher Matthew Jensen in 2021.

But the redesign of the treacherous Robert Moses-era thoroughfare that bisects Greenpoint became a lightning rod in the neighborhood last year as the city plotted roadway upgrades to make it safer.

After unveiling its original plan last May, which followed months of study and community board meetings, the DOT watered down that down following a pressure campaign with ties to the Argento family — the owners of film production studio company Broadway Stages and longtime donors to and allies of Adams.

The DOT’s second version of the street redesign, released last July, drew ire from transit advocates for including a northern section of the street with a combined parking and bike lane, but no reduction in traffic lanes. That version of the plan would have still incorporated the initial “road diet” for the southern part of the street, with two fewer lanes of traffic and protected bike lanes.
But that version too was watered down in August as the city waffled again. This time the city planned to extend the work it had done on the northern half of the roadway to the southern half, with no reduction in traffic lanes.

News that the DOT was reverting back to the second version of their plan was met with praise from elected officials who represent the neighborhood.

“Credit to the Adams administration and Department of Transportation for taking the safety of Greenpoint seriously,” Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, State Senators Kristen Gonzalez and Julia Salazar, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher and Councilmember Lincoln Restler wrote in a joint-statement.

“We are excited to see safety improvements implemented on McGuinness Boulevard.”

Juda Englemeyer, a spokesperson for Broadway Stages, said, “We expressed our concerns about the original road diet along with other businesses and it appears that the DOT has made its decision.”

He added, “We respect the process.”

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.