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Eric McClure
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Transportation Equity in News 2022-03-07 15:28:41 -0500
StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Transportation Equity
We testified today at the New York City Council's Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing regarding transportation equity. Our full testimony follows below.
This hearing, let alone our two minutes of testimony, will only begin to scratch the surface of the problem of inequity in New York City’s transportation system. It’s a crucial topic that requires much more attention and effort, but calling attention to it today is a good and welcome start.
New York City is plagued by inequality, and that grave imbalance extends from incomes and housing and education to the city’s streets. Black and brown New Yorkers, and African Americans and low-income communities especially, are disproportionately victimized by traffic violence. This is due in large part to the city’s failure to make equitable and adequate investments in life-saving infrastructure, in traffic-calming designs like road diets, curb extensions, refuge islands and protected bike lanes, a failing underscored in an excellent analysis last month in Streetsblog developed by reporter Julianne Cuba and How’s My Driving creator Brian Howald.
The New York City Streets Plan, however, is a promising step in beginning to address that inequity. Passed by the last Council and signed into law by then-Mayor de Blasio, the Streets Plan lays out important benchmarks for investment in the city’s transportation network and infrastructure, and it rightly prioritizes that investment in communities that have been poorly served in the past. It’s incumbent on this committee and the Council, and we in the advocacy world, to make certain that City Hall and DOT meet the benchmarks laid out in the Streets Plan – and to insist that it’s fully funded.
We must also continue to prioritize investment in automated enforcement strategies that remove human bias, like speed and red-light cameras, and lobby Albany to allow those devices to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We don’t turn off ShotSpotter overnight or on weekends. We don’t turn off security cameras after hours. Far, far too many crashes that cause death or injury happen in places with speed cameras that are not operating due to curfew. The Council must join with the Mayor in lobbying Albany for home rule, for speed limits as well as camera systems.
Our colleagues in advocacy have spoken and will speak about buses in greater detail, but we as a city must make better bus service a top priority. Buses are lifelines for working-class New Yorkers who often don’t have other means to get around, but we neglect them by allowing single-occupancy private vehicles to hog road space. A lone double-parked SUV can ruin a commute for 50 people on a bus. We must build more busways and separated bus lanes, rapidly expand signal priority and all-door boarding, and put enforcement cameras on every bus in the city.
We also must make cycling attractive, affordable, and safe for many more New Yorkers. Biking has boomed during the pandemic, but there’s so much more we can do. Subsidizing accelerated expansion of Citi Bike to many more neighborhoods, rolled out in tandem with a robust network of safe, protected bike lanes, is a great place to start. The city’s bike-share system is immensely popular, but it has yet to reach many New Yorkers for whom it would be an attractive mobility option. As the only facet of our transportation system that doesn’t receive public funding, it’s high time that we boost the bike-share program with operating subsidies, and with the kind of safe bike-lane network that will attract and protect new cyclists. Let’s see a bill come out of the Council this year that puts that in motion.
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Outdoor Dining in News 2022-02-08 15:15:47 -0500
StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Outdoor Dining
We testified today at the New York City Council's Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection and Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises joint hearing regarding the city's permanent outdoor dining program. Our full testimony follows below.
New York City’s Open Restaurants program is responsible for having saved hundreds, if not thousands, of the city’s restaurants, by and large small, family-owned businesses, which faced overwhelming challenges at the depth of the pandemic, along with tens of thousands of attendant restaurant jobs, and has proved overwhelmingly popular with diners, who have voted convincingly with their cash and credit cards to make the program permanent.
That isn’t to say that the program is perfect, nor that some of the criticism of the Open Restaurants program isn’t valid. There are legitimate concerns about noise on blocks that mix commercial activity with residences, many outdoor dining structures are flimsy or sited haphazardly, and more than a few pose a hazard to safe cycling. But these are fixable flaws.
Ideally, as a long-term goal, the city should expand the width of sidewalks in places in which outdoor dining has proved popular, allowing for expanded café space immediately adjacent to the storefronts of participating restaurants. In places where that’s not possible, restaurants should pay a fee for using street space, or the city should create communal spaces open to anyone, along the lines of the Streets Seats program. In the shorter term, however, there are a number of things we can and should do to improve the Open Restaurants program. These include:
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Shifting from more fully built structures to movable tables, chairs, and umbrellas, like in the Meatpacking District or Bryant Park.
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Situating seating immediately adjacent to the curb, with physically protected accommodations where possible for existing curbside bike lanes rerouted between restaurant setups and motor-vehicle lanes.
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Imposing strict design guidelines that limit the heights of restaurant structures to allow for better visibility, and to ensure that sidewalks are fully and easily passable.
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Establishing well enforced rules regulating hours of operation and noise levels, to control negative effects in places with adjacent residences.
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Reducing speed limits on smaller streets with curbside dining, and implementing physical safety barriers on larger streets and avenues where speed-limit reductions are impractical. A group of more than three dozen elected officials, including Speaker Adams and Council Members Ayala, Brannan, Powers, and Rivera, wrote to then-Mayor de Blasio in September of 2020 asking for such measures, which have yet to be implemented.
Finally, we must view the Open Restaurants program in the larger context of how the city manages curb space. Open Restaurants, Open Streets, and other pandemic-era efforts to increase access to street space have demonstrated the public’s overwhelming interest in allowing curbside uses beyond the storage of private cars. The curb has tremendous value, and should be managed in a way that reflects that. To that end, we urge the creation of an office of public space management or the public realm to oversee such efforts.
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It's Election Day in New York City!
Good morning! Today is Election Day in New York City!
Polls open at 6 a.m., and will remain open until 9 p.m. You can locate your polling site, confirm your registration status, and view a sample ballot at www.vote.nyc.
StreetsPAC's board has spent the past eight months evaluating responses to our detailed candidate questionnaires, analyzing policy platforms, and conducting in-depth personal interviews with more than 100 candidates. We've endorsed 28 candidates across New York City, for Mayor; Comptroller; Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn Borough President; Manhattan District Attorney; and for City Council seats in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. You can learn more about each of our endorsees below, and the safe-streets and transportation policies they'll champion in office.
We urge you to vote for all the StreetsPAC-endorsed candidates on your ballot! Read on below for our full voter guide; you can click the links below to jump to our endorsements in a particular borough. Council races are listed in numerical order by district.
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StreetsPAC's General Election Voter Guide
Tomorrow is Election Day in New York City!
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can locate your polling site, confirm your registration status, and view a sample ballot at www.vote.nyc.
StreetsPAC's board spent the past several months evaluating responses to our detailed candidate questionnaires, analyzing policy platforms, and conducting in-depth personal interviews with more than 100 candidates. We've endorsed 28 candidates across New York City, for Mayor; Comptroller; Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn Borough President; Manhattan District Attorney; and for City Council seats in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. You can get to know each of our endorsees below, along with the safe-streets and transportation policies they'll champion in office.
We urge you to get out and vote for all the StreetsPAC-endorsed candidates on your ballot! Read on for our full voter guide; you can click the links at the top to jump to our endorsements in a particular borough. Council races are listed in numerical order by district.
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Eric McClure published Early Voting Continues; City Council Hearing on Vision Zero in News 2021-10-27 13:24:49 -0400
Early Voting Continues; City Council Hearing on Vision Zero
Early Voting Continues through Sunday
Early voting for New York City's municipal election continues through Sunday, with polls open today until 8 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m, Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Polls will then open again on Election Day, Tuesday, November 2nd, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
You can locate your polling site, confirm your registration status, and view a sample ballot at www.vote.nyc.
You can also see the complete roster of the 28 candidates StreetsPAC has endorsed in our voting guide, which you can find here. Here's a preview:
Testimony to City Council on Vision Zero, Illegal Parking, Reducing Reliance on Motor Vehicles, and Improving Street Safety
Yesterday, we testified at the New York City Council's joint Transportation and Public Safety oversight hearing on the topics above. We told the Council that Vision Zero doesn't need to be rethought so much as it needs to be implemented properly, with significantly greater emphasis on street design and less reliance on often-lacking police enforcement.
We also urged the speedy passage of Council Member Steve Levin's Int. 2159, which would enable civilian reporting of illegal parking, along with bills that would ban the sale or distribution of license plate covers and decriminalize jaywalking.
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2021 NYC General Election
2021 Endorsees: Citywide | Manhattan | Bronx | Queens | Brooklyn
Eric Adams, Mayor (Open Seat) – Eric Adams, who emerged victorious from a crowded and competitive Democratic mayoral primary in June, has been a reliable ally to advocates of safe and complete streets for more than a decade.Mr. Adams, who was elected Brooklyn Borough President in 2013 after serving in the State Senate for seven years, has often credited a 2010 walk he took in Park Slope with "20's Plenty" founder Rod King for solidifying his views about the importance of traffic-safety issues.
As New York City's next Mayor, he is determined to revitalize the city's Vision Zero initiative. No elected official has shown up more often for victims of traffic crashes than Mr. Adams since he assumed the Borough President's role, and he clearly takes traffic violence personally. Come January, he'll be in a position to get Vision Zero back on track – with a focus on equity that has been missing from the program to date.
He introduced legislation while a State Senator calling for better education of drivers, has supported Neighborhood Slow Zones, and, with an eye to promoting equity in the city's cycling infrastructure, championed the Flatbush Avenue bike path, which now connects Grand Army Plaza and Ocean Avenue.
Mr. Adams's "Moving Forward Together" transportation plan calls for building true Bus Rapid Transit corridors, especially outside Manhattan, focusing first on wide corridors with service roads like Brooklyn's Linden Boulevard, and for accelerating the rollout of electric buses. He's pledged to stripe 150 new miles of bus lanes and busways, citing the success of Manhattan's 14th Street busway as a blueprint.
He also intends to go to bat for improved transit accessibility, such as faster implementation of elevators and ramps in the city's subway stations, reopening of existing-but-closed subway entrances, expansion of the Fair Fares program, and broad implementation of the Freedom Ticket. He's called for speedy implementation of the city's congestion-pricing program.
A strong proponent of active health and its many benefits, Borough President Adams can often be found riding his bicycle around Brooklyn, and he has for several years hosted a diverse Earth Day ride to call attention to the need for better street designs. In May, following a bike ride with members of our board, he announced his commitment to creating 300 miles of new protected bike lanes within his first four years in office, including bike "superhighways" running under elevated roadways and rail lines.
He intends to expand Citi Bike, and has cited development of a citywide network of electric bike- and scooter-share, especially in underserved areas, as a priority. Mr. Adams has also called for significantly increasing safe and secure bike-parking options for New Yorkers. He's a champion of the Harbor Ring, and will advocate for improved bike access on state-managed bridges like the Verrazzano-Narrows. He has a vision of a city in which it's safe for kids to bike to school.
Borough President Adams has also spoken frequently on the campaign trail about inequity in the city's built environment, and he plans to expand the Open Streets program, especially in lower-income communities of color. He's embraced Transportation Alternatives' 25x25 Challenge for reallocating the city's public space from cars to people, again with an eye to underserved corners of the city.
Mr. Adams has also talked often about his experience in European cities, and the creative ways in which they allocate street space and promote alternatives to driving. New York City has fallen behind a number of its peers when it comes to smart street design, but as Mayor, Eric Adams will have the opportunity to lead our transformation into a pedestrian-, bike-, and transit-friendly city that is the envy of the world.
Brad Lander, Comptroller (Open Seat) – Brad Lander has dedicated himself to making streets safer since first winning elective office in 2009. He was an early supporter of the Prospect Park West redesign, and his refusal to waver in the face of some very politically connected opposition to the bike path was instrumental in facing down the years-long legal effort to remove it. In 2016, he patiently listened to constituents complaining about Citi Bike's expansion into his Brooklyn district, while firmly letting them know that the bike-share system was here to stay in a statement that Streetsblog called "pitch-perfect."Mr. Lander was a vocal proponent of Fourth Avenue's road diet, pushing the Department of Transportation to speed up completion of the protected bike lanes that now span the four miles from Atlantic Avenue to 64th Street. He's fought for better accessibility at subway stations, and to restore the B71 bus.
Most notably, Mr. Lander's biggest safe-streets legislative accomplishment grew from a terrible tragedy that occurred just a block from his district office in 2018. Following the devastating crash that killed two young children at Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, Mr. Lander, in partnership with advocates, developed the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, working deftly and relentlessly to steer the bill through the City Council, overcoming a number of legal and procedural hurdles. What became the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program will, once fully implemented, require the city's most persistent dangerous drivers to take a safe-driving class or have their vehicles impounded.
For good measure, Mr. Lander also made sure that DOT quickly redesigned Ninth Street following that deadly crash, adding protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuges.
Mr. Lander has put forth a number of detailed plans for how he would manage the Comptroller's office. He'll oversee the city's capital-projects tracker, which he legislated in the City Council, and is intended to bring transparency and accountability to the billions of dollars the city spends each year on infrastructure. He plans to use the Comptroller's powers to make the financial case for street redesigns, and to create an audit unit dedicated to transit and transportation. He will use audit and contract-registration powers to push for fleet reductions, and track implementation of the Better Bus Action Plan.
For both his track record, and his commitment to promoting progressive transportation policies as the city's next fiscal steward, we enthusiastically endorse Brad Lander to be New York City's next Comptroller.
Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President (Open Seat) – Mark Levine, who currently represents Upper Manhattan's 7th Council District and chairs the Council's Health Committee, is our pick for Manhattan Borough President.Mr. Levine, whom we endorsed when he won his current seat in 2013, and again four years later, has been a leading voice for better bus service and safer streets. He championed 125th Street Select Bus Service when he ran for office, bucking opposition from other elected officials, and introduced a bill in 2017 to speed up the city's implementation of transit-signal priority. He supported expansion of the Amsterdam Avenue protected bike lane into Harlem, a road diet for Riverside Drive, and pedestrian-safety improvements on Morningside Avenue, all in the face of Community Board intransigence. And he backed the replacement of three city-owned parking garages on West 108th Street with a 200-plus-unit affordable senior-housing project that included a shelter.
As Borough President, Mr. Levine will diversify Manhattan's Community Boards, and he's committed to working to pedestrianize sections of Broadway and implement safe crosstown bike paths through Central Park. He will advocate for replicating the highly successful 14th Street busway on other major east-west streets, and has put forth a plan to rezone parking garages to allow them to serve as local package-delivery hubs, which could facilitate a major increase in e-cargo bike deliveries.
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney (Open Seat) – Alvin Bragg rose to the top among an impressive group of contenders in the Democratic primary, both among the voters and in our endorsement process.Mr. Bragg most recently served as New York State's Chief Deputy Attorney General, and is now Co-Director of New York Law School's Racial Justice Project. He's expressed a commitment to treating vehicular violence as serious crime while also seeking alternatives to incarceration, has important experience managing a large prosecutorial and investigative staff, and has shown a willingness to innovate.
Mr. Bragg has pledged to put a greater focus on traffic violence as Manhattan's top prosecutor, and plans to staff a robust vehicular-crimes unit to investigate any fatal, and many serious-injury, crashes, independent of NYPD investigations. He intends to create a Manhattan version of the Center for Court Innovation's Brooklyn Driver Accountability Program, which has proven effective in changing driver behavior without incarceration.
Additionally, Mr. Bragg has vowed to challenge the "Rule of Two" that allows too many dangerous motorists to escape meaningful consequences for the harm they cause, and as Manhattan DA, will routinely seek technological evidence, like cell phone records and information from vehicles' event data recorders, in performing crash investigations.
We believe that Mr. Bragg will bring a new, serious focus on vehicular crime to the Manhattan DA's office, which will have a direct and positive effect on the safety of the borough's streets.
Christopher Marte, Council District 1, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Christopher Marte, who nearly beat current Council Member Margaret Chin in the 2017 primary for this seat, is a Lower East Side native who most recently has served as New York State Director for Arena. He supports pedestrianizing the Seaport District, as well as a substantial part of the Financial District, and wants to see a protected crosstown bike lane on Chambers Street, among other routes. Mr. Marte will advocate to allow delivery cyclists to use the Hudson River Greenway, and has pledged to introduce legislation that will require that "protected" bike lanes actually provide physical protection for cyclists.
Carlina Rivera, Council District 2, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Carlina Rivera, a 2017 StreetsPAC endorsee who is running for re-election in her Lower East Side district, has championed multiple transportation issues during her first term in the Council. Her support for implementation of the 14th Street busway was crucial, and she was prime sponsor of the bill that requires the creation of a temporary bike lane when construction interferes with existing bike infrastructure. Earlier this year, the city enacted into law her bill making the Open Streets program permanent, more equitable, and more robust, and her bill requiring a restaurant to provide restroom access to delivery workers who are making deliveries on their behalf recently passed the Council. Ms. Rivera has called for the widening of the Second Avenue bike lane, and if re-elected, she'll work to expand loading zones and implement more curb extensions and daylighting.
Erik Bottcher, Council District 3, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Erik Bottcher, who was Corey Johnson's Chief of Staff for six years, is running to succeed his former boss. He’s committed to bringing street-safety improvements to 10th Avenue, including a protected bike lane, and has pledged to work to extend the Sixth Avenue protected bike lane south of 9th Street. Mr. Bottcher will seek to make the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program more stringent, and to push Albany to remove restrictions on the operation of speed cameras, and his sanitation plan calls for getting trash off crowded city sidewalks and into containerized waste corrals. He's also committed to timely and complete implementation of the Streets Master Plan.
Keith Powers, Council District 4, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Keith Powers, who won his East Side Council seat in 2017 with StreetsPAC's backing, has delivered on many of his campaign promises, including extension of Sixth Avenue's protected bike lane to Central Park, the closing of the gap in the Second Avenue bike lane, and the creation of the busway on 14th Street. In his second term, he's committed to advocating for more protected bike lanes and safer intersection treatments in his district. He's a supporter of creating a busway on Fifth Avenue, and also wants the city to replicate the successful 14th Street model on 34th and 96th Streets.
Julie Menin, Council District 5, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Julie Menin has an impressive resumé of public service, including stints as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, and most recently, as Director of the city's highly successful census effort. Ms. Menin has released a detailed and progressive transportation agenda, which includes a call to reimagine the FDR Drive in order to reconnect Eastsiders with the waterfront. She would expand sidewalks, advocate for more busways, and for integrating Citi Bike into the transit system, and supports expanding the city's network of protected bike lanes.
Gale Brewer, Council District 6, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Gale Brewer, who represented this Upper West Side district currently held by Helen Rosenthal from 2002 to 2013, and who's been Manhattan Borough President for the eight years hence, feels like she still has a lot to contribute to public service. She plans to fight for more funding for Open Streets, particularly for programming, and for improved and expanded bus service, especially an increase in dedicated bus lanes. She's a strong supporter of creating an office of the public realm in order to end siloing in City Hall, and plans to introduce legislation to that effect once she's (back) in the City Council.
Shaun Abreu, Council District 7, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Shaun Abreu, who’s running for the open seat in upper Manhattan now held by Mark Levine, won a hotly contested Democratic primary in June. He's committed to making sure that the city implements the Streets Master Plan fully and on time, and will advocate to remake the city's curbsides in order to facilitate deliveries, trash collection, and car sharing – and to put a dent in double-parking. He wants to extend the Amsterdam Avenue protected bike lane uptown, and supports a wide range of improvements to bus service.
Pierina Sanchez, Council District 14, Bronx (Open Seat) – Pierina Sanchez, who's a native of the district she's running to represent, served as New York Director at the Regional Plan Association before working on housing, land use, economic development and labor issues at City Hall. At RPA, she played a key role in drafting the 2017 Transportation and Equity Agenda issued by StreetsPAC and other advocacy groups. She'll continue to focus on those issues in the City Council, especially faster and more reliable bus service, an expanded Fair Fares program, and adoption of the Freedom Ticket for intra-city trips on Metro North and the LIRR. Ms. Sanchez will also advocate for redesigning streets for people, with more protected bike lanes and traffic-calming features, and she wants to eliminate parking placards for all but the most essential uses.
Amanda Farias, Council District 18, Bronx (Open Seat) – Amanda Farias was born and raised in the community in which she's seeking election. She ran for the seat in 2017, finishing second to Ruben Diaz, Sr., who is not running for a second term. Ms. Farias, a board member at the Riders Alliance, will prioritize improving transit access for residents of her East Bronx district. She'll advocate to expand the Fair Fares program to serve more low-income straphangers, and to bring Citi Bike across the Bronx River. She also wants to see a network of protected bike lanes connecting the district's neighborhoods, new busways, and a big increase in the number of Open Streets.
Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President (Incumbent) – Mr. Richards, who represented Southeast Queens's 31st District in the City Council, frequently played against type in a district that in many places is more suburban than urban. He supported congestion pricing and speed cameras, and in championing the Downtown Far Rockaway rezoning in 2016, called for improved transit service, new bike lanes, and reduced parking requirements in the face of Community Board demands for more parking spaces.In his State of the Borough address in March, and again in responding to our questionnaire and in his interview, Mr. Richards laid out an ambitious agenda for safer streets and better transit service. He will advocate for a network of protected bike lanes across Queens, expanded access to bike share, and bike parking at subway stations. He's pushing for busways around Jamaica to speed up commutes, and wants to expand Open Streets across the borough. And he's allocated about $3 million to build the security fencing that will allow for the opening of the Queensboro Bridge south outer roadway to bikes.
He's also begun reforming Queens's Community Boards, appointing more women, people of color, persons under 35 – and people who ride bikes.
Tiffany Cabán, Council District 22, Queens (Open Seat) – Tiffany Cabán, whom we endorsed in 2019 when she ran for Queens DA, handily won the June primary against a formidable field. Ms. Cabán supports redesigning streets, creating car-free superblocks, and lowering speed limits as ways to get Vision Zero back on track. She'll advocate for a 21st Street busway, and a Queens bus-network redesign that adds more service. She's also called for greatly expanding the Open Streets program, and for adding 500 miles of dedicated bus lanes and 500 miles of protected bike paths citywide. 
Shekar Krishnan, Council District 25, Queens (Open Seat) – Shekar Krishnan, a civil rights attorney and activist, won a close primary to succeed term-limited Council Member Danny Dromm. Mr. Krishnan will prioritize building more transit corridors in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and more busways and dedicated bus lanes on streets like Northern Boulevard, where he supports a comprehensive redesign. He'll also advocate for a network of connected and protected bike lanes, and more space for pedestrians throughout the district.
Julie Won, Council District 26, Queens (Open Seat) – Julie Won, who works in tech and has a community-service resumé that fills a page, will bring an advocate's passion to the fight for better street design. While commuting on her bike last November, she was struck by a hit-and-run driver who left her in the street. She'll prioritize bike lanes that are protected by concrete, and supports comprehensive curb reform, including an end to the city's Stipulated Fine program. Ms. Won will also work to improve transit service, to expand the city's Fair Fares program, and to ensure that sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible.
Nantasha Williams, Council District 27, Queens (Open Seat) – Nantasha Williams, who nearly won the primary for the local Assembly seat in 2016, has 10 years of experience in government. She's a champion of the Freedom Ticket, and will advocate for bringing bike-, scooter-, and car-sharing programs to this eastern Queens district. Ms. Williams believes many wide local streets could be redesigned to help reduce speeding. She'd also like to see Open Streets efforts in places with high concentrations of restaurants, and a redesign of local bus routes to reflect the evolution in ridership patterns and community input.
Felicia Singh, Council District 32, Queens (Open Seat) – Felicia Singh, an educator, Peace Corps veteran, and lifelong resident of Ozone Park, is running to succeed three-term Council Member Eric Ulrich. Her priorities are to improve mass-transit options for district residents, including better bus service from the Rockaway peninsula to the mainland, and more reliable subway service along the A line. She wants to expand Citi Bike service into southern Queens, with a corresponding expansion of a network of protected bike lanes to keep riders safe. Ms. Singh will also center accessibility by pushing for more elevators and a better state of repair at subway stations, and more bus shelters with benches to accommodate straphangers.
Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President (Open Seat) – Mr. Reynoso, who had just sold his car to fund his initial run for office when we first encountered him in 2013, also happened to be making that run against the still-formidable former Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez. Seven-and-a-half years later, he's still riding a bike instead of driving, and has distinguished himself as perhaps the most outspoken member of the City Council on the need to move New York City away from its automobile-dominated status quo.As Chair of the Council's Sanitation Committee, Mr. Reynoso led the effort to pass the Commercial Waste Zone effort that will eliminate millions of miles of dangerous truck trips every year. He pushed the Department of Transportation to move ahead with the Myrtle-Wyckoff pedestrian plaza in 2016, advocated for the physically protected bike lanes on Brooklyn's Grand Street, and last year, called on NYC DOT to build a busway on Berry Street.
Mr. Reynoso has an expansive progressive vision for the Borough Presidency. He wants to remake Atlantic Avenue, which he thinks should be a modern complete street of which Brooklynites can be proud, rather than the dangerous "embarrassment" it is today. He'll push the city to create a borough-wide network of protected bike lanes, and to expand Open Streets widely and equitably. He'll prioritize completion of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which has lagged for years, and is more than willing to commit capital dollars to expand bike- and scooter-share.
Like Mr. Richards in Queens, Mr. Reynoso has also pledged to overhaul Community Boards to make them much more representative of the neighborhoods they serve.
Lincoln Restler, Council District 33, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Lincoln Restler, a founding member of the progressive New Kings Democrats who spent several years working in City Hall, is our choice to succeed term-limited Steve Levin. He's laid out a progressive vision for safer streets and better public transit, and believes the 33rd Council District should be a model in that regard for the entire city. He'll advocate for a network of concrete-protected bike lanes, safer intersections, improved bus service, and seamless integration of fares for all transit, including Citi Bike.
Jennifer Gutiérrez, Council District 34, Brooklyn/Queens (Open Seat) – Jennifer Gutiérrez is running to succeed soon-to-be Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, for whom she served as Chief of Staff for several years. Gutiérrez is committed to getting Vision Zero back on track, and will prioritize safety improvements along Bushwick and Myrtle Avenues, and Broadway. She'll advocate for expanding the city's protected bike lanes into a true network, and for implementing 14th Street-style busways in the 34th District. Ms. Gutiérrez will also lobby for a comprehensive automated-enforcement system that adds failure-to-yield and blocking-the-box cameras to the city's toolkit.
Crystal Hudson, Council District 35, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Crystal Hudson, a former marketing executive who spent the past few years working in city government, won a convincing primary victory in June, and plans to make public transportation and safe streets a priority. She's laid out an expansive and progressive vision for improving transportation in New York City, from increased investment in Vision Zero, Bus Rapid Transit, and Open Streets, to transitioning the NYPD out of traffic enforcement, to expanding protected bike lanes and secure bike parking – all of it centered around equity for Black and brown New Yorkers.
Sandy Nurse, Council District 37, Brooklyn (Open Seat, Defeated Incumbent in Primary) – Sandy Nurse is a community organizer and carpenter who defeated the incumbent Council Member, Darma Diaz, in June's primary. She is determined to improve transit service for the district, in which two-thirds of residents don't have access to a car. She'll advocate for more Select Bus Service, accessibility upgrades – especially at the Broadway Junction transit hub – and expansion and connection of the bike network. Ms. Nurse also welcomes more Open Streets, as well as the creation of new pedestrian plazas.
Alexa Avilés, Council District 38, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Alexa Avilés, who won a competitive primary to succeed term-limited Council Member Carlos Menchaca, is a foundation executive and activist. An advocate for making public transit free, she'll also push for more dedicated busways, and for widening and physically protecting bike lanes with concrete barriers. Ms. Avilés believes that Citi Bike should be integrated into the transit system, and expanded to include cargo bikes and adaptive bicycles. She also supports creation of superblocks, and equitable expansion of a better-funded Open Streets effort.
Shahana Hanif, Council District 39, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Shahana Hanif, who spent time working for term-limited Council Member Brad Lander, won the highly competitive primary to succeed him. She'll be a champion for safe streets and public transit, and will continue and enhance Brad Lander's legacy in the 39th District. Ms. Hanif supports building out a safe, connected bike-lane network, improving transit service and making the system more accessible, and dedicating more public space to people rather than cars. 
Rita Joseph, Council District 40, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Rita Joseph, an educator who won a very competitive Democratic primary in June, will advocate for better public transit, including 14th Street-style busways and more-accessible stations. She'll push for faster expansion of Citi Bike and the protected lanes necessary to keep riders safe, as well as secure parking solutions for personal bikes. She'll also go to bat for the rapid implementation of congestion pricing, while making sure that her district gets its fair share of transit funding.
Justin Brannan, Council District 43, Brooklyn (Incumbent) – Justin Brannan, who won his seat in 2017 with StreetsPAC's endorsement, has teamed up with State Senator Andrew Gounardes to begin changing the transportation culture in southern Brooklyn. Mr. Brannan, who has a love/hate relationship with the R train, will continue to advocate for improvements to subway and bus service as a key means of getting his constituents out of their cars. He plans to keep pushing for Citi Bike's expansion throughout his district – the first stations were deployed earlier this year – and supports subsidizing bike share to speed up the process. Mr. Brannan is also an advocate for delivery cyclists, and introduced recently passed legislation that will limit the distances of app-based deliveries as part of a package of bills intended to improve working conditions for Deliveristas. -
StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Rethinking Vision Zero, Stopping Illegal Parking, Reducing Reliance on Vehicles and Improving Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety
We testified today at the New York City Council Committee on Transportation's oversight hearing today regarding the shortcomings of the city's Vision Zero efforts, the epidemic of illegal parking, and related topics, and also voiced our support for bills that would prohibit the sale of illegal license plate covers and decriminalize jaywalking. Our full testimony follows below.
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StreetsPAC's General Election Voter Guide
New York City's 2021 general election is here!
Early voting begins this Saturday, October 23rd, and continues every day through the following Sunday, October 31st, in advance of Election Day, November 2nd. Polls will be open this weekend from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, and times will vary by day during the remainder of early voting. You can locate your polling site, check early-voting hours, confirm your registration status, and view a sample ballot at www.vote.nyc.
Our board has spent the past several months evaluating responses to our detailed candidate questionnaires, analyzing policy platforms, and conducting in-depth personal interviews with more than 100 candidates. We've made dozens of general-election endorsements: for Mayor; Comptroller; Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn Borough President; Manhattan District Attorney; and City Council seats in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. You can learn more about each of our endorsees below, as well as the safe-streets and transportation issues they'll champion in office.
We urge you to get out and vote for all the StreetsPAC-endorsed candidates on your ballot! Read on for our full voter guide; you can click the links at the top to jump to our endorsements in a particular borough. Council races are listed in numerical order by district.
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Brad Lander for Comptroller
Brad Lander, Comptroller (Open Seat) – Brad Lander has dedicated himself to making streets safer since first winning elective office in 2009. He was an early supporter of the Prospect Park West redesign, and his refusal to waver in the face of some very politically connected opposition to the bike path was instrumental in facing down the years-long legal effort to remove it. In 2016, he patiently listened to constituents complaining about Citi Bike's expansion into his Brooklyn district, while firmly letting them know that the bike-share system was here to stay in a statement that Streetsblog called "pitch-perfect."Mr. Lander was a vocal proponent of Fourth Avenue's road diet, pushing the Department of Transportation to speed up completion of the protected bike lanes that now span the four miles from Atlantic Avenue to 64th Street. He's fought for better accessibility at subway stations, and to restore the B71 bus.
Most notably, Mr. Lander's biggest safe-streets legislative accomplishment grew from a terrible tragedy that occurred just a block from his district office in 2018. Following the devastating crash that killed two young children at Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, Mr. Lander, in partnership with advocates, developed the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, working deftly and relentlessly to steer the bill through the City Council, overcoming a number of legal and procedural hurdles. What became the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program will, once fully implemented, require the city's most persistent dangerous drivers to take a safe-driving class or have their vehicles impounded.
For good measure, Mr. Lander also made sure that DOT quickly redesigned Ninth Street following that deadly crash, adding protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuges.
Mr. Lander has put forth a number of detailed plans for how he would manage the Comptroller's office. He'll oversee the city's capital-projects tracker, which he legislated in the City Council, and is intended to bring transparency and accountability to the billions of dollars the city spends each year on infrastructure. He plans to use the Comptroller's powers to make the financial case for street redesigns, and to create an audit unit dedicated to transit and transportation. He will use audit and contract-registration powers to push for fleet reductions, and track implementation of the Better Bus Action Plan.
For both his track record, and his commitment to promoting progressive transportation policies as the city's next fiscal steward, we enthusiastically endorse Brad Lander to be New York City's next Comptroller.
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Eric Adams for Mayor
Eric Adams, Mayor (Open Seat) – Eric Adams, who emerged victorious from a crowded and competitive Democratic mayoral primary in June, has been a reliable ally to advocates of safe and complete streets for more than a decade.
Mr. Adams, who was elected Brooklyn Borough President in 2013 after serving in the State Senate for seven years, has often credited a 2010 walk he took in Park Slope with "20's Plenty" founder Rod King for solidifying his views about the importance of traffic-safety issues.
As New York City's next Mayor, he is determined to revitalize the city's Vision Zero initiative. No elected official has shown up more often for victims of traffic crashes than Mr. Adams since he assumed the Borough President's role, and he clearly takes traffic violence personally. Come January, he'll be in a position to get Vision Zero back on track – with a focus on equity that has at times been missing from the program to date.
He introduced legislation while a State Senator calling for better education of drivers, has supported Neighborhood Slow Zones, and, with an eye to promoting equity in the city's cycling infrastructure, championed the Flatbush Avenue bike path, which now connects Grand Army Plaza and Ocean Avenue.
Mr. Adams's "Moving Forward Together" transportation plan calls for building true Bus Rapid Transit corridors, especially outside Manhattan, focusing first on wide corridors with service roads like Brooklyn's Linden Boulevard, and for accelerating the rollout of electric buses. He's pledged to stripe 150 new miles of bus lanes and busways, citing the success of Manhattan's 14th Street busway as a blueprint.
He also intends to go to bat for improved transit accessibility, such as faster implementation of elevators and ramps in the city's subway stations, reopening of existing-but-closed subway entrances, expansion of the Fair Fares program, and broad implementation of the Freedom Ticket. He's called for the speedy rollout of the city's congestion-pricing program.
A strong proponent of active health and its many benefits, Borough President Adams can often be found riding his bicycle around Brooklyn, and he has for several years hosted a diverse Earth Day ride to call attention to the need for better street designs. In May, following a bike ride with members of our board, he announced his commitment to creating 300 miles of new protected bike lanes within his first four years in office, including bike "superhighways" running under elevated roadways and rail lines.
He intends to expand Citi Bike, and has cited development of a citywide network of electric bike- and scooter-share, especially in underserved areas, as a priority. Mr. Adams has also called for significantly increasing safe and secure bike-parking options for New Yorkers. He's a champion of the Harbor Ring, and will advocate for improved bike access on state-managed bridges beyond the Verrazzano-Narrows. He has a vision of a city in which it's safe for kids to bike to school.
Borough President Adams has also spoken frequently on the campaign trail about inequity in the city's built environment, and he plans to expand the Open Streets program, especially in lower-income communities of color. He's embraced Transportation Alternatives' 25x25 Challenge for reallocating the city's public space from cars to people, again with an eye to underserved corners of the city.
Mr. Adams has also talked often about his experience in European cities, and the creative ways in which they allocate street space and promote alternatives to driving. New York City has fallen behind a number of its peers when it comes to smart street design, but as Mayor, Eric Adams will have the opportunity to lead our transformation into a pedestrian-, bike-, and transit-friendly city that is the envy of the world.
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A Quick Update on Election Results
As we head into the holiday weekend, we wanted to provide a brief update on where things stand with the results of the June 22nd primary election.
As many of you surely know, the New York City Board of Elections released preliminary results of in-person ballots on Tuesday, only to rescind those results a few hours later when it was discovered that the tally included some 135,000 test ballots that it had failed to clear from its system.
The corrected tally, released on Wednesday, showed Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with a lead of 14,755 votes over StreetsPAC's endorsee, Kathryn Garcia, with about 125,000 absentee ballots still to be counted. An initial tally of those absentee ballots, which had to be received by NYCBOE by June 29th, will most likely be reported on July 6th.
Garcia gained votes steadily as other candidates were eliminated in the ranked-choice process, edging Maya Wiley by just 347 votes in the eighth round of rankings.
So the race still appears to be a contest among Adams, Garcia, and Wiley, with a fair possibility that absentee ballots will alter the outcome. We'll know more next week.
In the other competitive citywide primary, City Council Member Brad Lander holds a lead of about 21,000 votes over Council Speaker Corey Johnson in the race for Comptroller (Public Advocate Jumaane Williams easily won his primary with about 70% of the vote).
Manhattan District Attorney's Race
With runner-up Tali Farhadian Weinstein having conceded, StreetsPAC-endorsed Alvin Bragg has won the Democratic primary for Manhattan District Attorney (as a state office, the primary for DA was not conducted with ranked-choice voting). Given the overwhelming registration advantage that Democrats have in the borough, Bragg is almost certain to be the next Manhattan DA. We're proud to support him, and congratulate him on his victory.
City Council Races
The Board of Elections has not released any tally of ranked-choice results in City Council races to this point, and a number of races in which we endorsed are very close after the preliminary count of in-person votes. So again, we'll have to wait until next week for clarity.
Have a safe and enjoyable holiday. And no, we have not endorsed in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest.
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Eric McClure published Help StreetsPAC's Candidates Get Out the Vote! in News 2021-06-16 13:04:37 -0400
Help StreetsPAC's Candidates Get Out the Vote!
Early voting continues through Sunday, June 20, before the June 22 primary election, and many of the outstanding candidates we've endorsed in the primary need your help to get out the vote.
We've collected below links to volunteer opportunities over the coming days with all the candidates we've endorsed. Even an hour or two of your time knocking on doors, phone-banking, or handing out literature could make the difference between winning or losing in a closely contested election – and the difference between electing a candidate who will support protected bike lanes or a dedicated busway and one who will defend the cars-first status quo.
Click on links below to learn more about upcoming volunteer shifts with StreetsPAC's 2021 endorsees!
Citywide Races
Kathryn Garcia, Mayor: All Volunteer Events
Corey Johnson, Comptroller (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Events
Brad Lander, Comptroller (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Events
Manhattan
Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President: All Volunteer Opportunities
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney: All Volunteer Opportunities
Christopher Marte, Council District 1 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Gigi Li, Council District 1 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Carlina Rivera, Council District 2: All Volunteer Opportunities
Erik Bottcher, Council District 3: All Volunteer Opportunities
Keith Powers, Council District 4: Contact
Billy Freeland, Council District 5 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Julie Menin, Council District 5 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Kim Moscaritolo, Council District 5 (Ranked #3): All Volunteer Opportunities
Sara Lind, Council District 6: Election Day Polling Sites | GOTV Canvassing | Phonebanking
Marti Allen-Cummings, Council District 7: GOTV Canvassing | Phonebanking | Election Day Polling Sites
Mario Rosser, Council District 9: All Volunteer Opportunities
Bronx
Shanequa Moore, Council District 12: All Volunteer Opportunities
Pierina Sanchez, Council District 14: All Volunteer Opportunities
John Sanchez, Council District 15: All Volunteer Opportunities
Amanda Farias, Council District 18: All Volunteer Opportunities
Queens
Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Borough President (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Austin Shafran, Council District 19: All Volunteer Opportunities
John Choe, Council District 20: All Volunteer Opportunities
Tiffany Cabán, Council District 22 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Evie Hantzopolous, Council District 22 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Jaslin Kaur, Council District 23: All Volunteer Opportunities
Shekar Krishnan, Council District 25 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Carolyn Tran, Council District 25 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Amit Bagga, Council District 26 (Co-Endorsement): All Volunteer Opportunities
Julie Won, Council District 26 (Co-Endorsement): All Volunteer Opportunities
Jesse Laymon, Council District 26 (Ranked #3): Contact
Nantasha Williams, Council District 27: All Volunteer Opportunities
Aleda Gagarin, Council District 29: All Volunteer Opportunities
Juan Ardila, Council District 30: All Volunteer Opportunities
Felicia Singh, Council District 32: GOTV Canvassing, June 21 | Phonebanking June 21 | Election Day Canvassing | Election Day Phonebanking
Brooklyn
Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Jo Anne Simon, Brooklyn Borough President (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Jen Gutiérrez, Council District 34: All Volunteer Opportunities
Crystal Hudson, Council District 35 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Michael Hollingsworth, Council District 35 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Sandy Nurse, Council District 37: All Volunteer Opportunities
Rodrigo Camarena, Council District 38 (Co-Endorsement): All Volunteer Opportunities
César Zuñiga, Council District 38 (Co-Endorsement): All Volunteer Opportunities
Alexa Avilés, Council District 38 (Ranked #3): All Volunteer Opportunities
Brandon West, Council District 39 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Shahana Hanif, Council District 39 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Justin Krebs, Council District 39 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Doug Schneider, Council District 39 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Rita Joseph, Council District 40 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Josue Pierre, Council District 40 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Nikki Lucas, Council District 42 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Wilfredo Florentino, Council District 42 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Justin Brannan, Council District 43: All Volunteer Opportunities
Anthony Beckford, Council District 45 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Farah Louis, Council District 45 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
Staten Island
Amoy Barnes, Council District 49 (Ranked #1): All Volunteer Opportunities
Ranti Ogunleye, Council District 49 (Ranked #2): All Volunteer Opportunities
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC's 2021 New York City Primary Election Voter Guide in News 2021-06-11 17:21:21 -0400
StreetsPAC's 2021 New York City Primary Election Voter Guide
Today is Primary Day in New York City, and polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.! If you're registered with a political-party affiliation, you are eligible to vote in your party's primary.
We spent the past several months evaluating responses to our detailed candidate questionnaires, analyzing policy platforms, and conducting in-depth personal interviews with more than 100 candidates. We've made dozens of endorsements: for Mayor; Comptroller; Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn Borough President; Manhattan District Attorney; and City Council seats in all five boroughs. You can learn more about each of our endorsees below, as well as the safe-streets and transportation issues they'll champion in office.
This primary is likely to continue the trend of low-turnout elections, which means that your vote for a candidate who supports safe, complete and livable streets, and reliable, efficient and affordable public transit, could make a real difference in a close race.
To check your voter-registration status, find your polling location and hours, see a sample ballot, and learn more about Ranked Choice Voting, please visit vote.nyc. Remember that under the new ranked choice system, you may rank up to five candidates in a particular race in your order of preference.We urge you to get out and vote for the StreetsPAC candidate of your choice! Read on for our full voter guide. Click the links at the top to jump to our endorsements in a particular borough. Council races are in numerical order by district.
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Improving Working Conditions for Delivery Cyclists in News 2021-06-09 12:45:04 -0400
StreetsPAC's Testimony to City Council on Improving Working Conditions for Delivery Cyclists
We submitted testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing yesterday in support of a package of legislation intended to improve conditions for working cyclists, including a Carlina Rivera bill requiring bathroom access for delivery workers, a Justin Brannan bill that would let Deliveristas set distance limits on orders made through third-party apps, and a Brad Lander bill that would lead to setting minimum per-trip payments for workers delivering on behalf of app companies. Our testimony follows below.
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC Endorses in NYC Comptroller's Race in News 2021-06-04 13:04:21 -0400
StreetsPAC Endorses in NYC Comptroller's Race
We've had to make a lot of tough endorsement choices over the past few weeks. None yet has been tougher than our decision in the contest for New York City's next Comptroller.
Three candidates completed our endorsement process, submitting detailed and compelling responses to our questionnaire, and sitting down for in-depth interviews with our board: Corey Johnson, the current Speaker of the New York City Council; Brad Lander, the three-term Council Member representing Brooklyn's 39th District; and Zach Iscol, a non-profit entrepreneur and former Marine.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Lander are well known to people in the world of safe-streets and transit advocacy. StreetsPAC endorsed them both when we launched in 2013, and supported their respective re-election bids in 2017. Both have championed a number of critical initiatives and causes. Each of them heaped praise on the other when we interviewed them.
Under different circumstances, Mr. Iscol might merit greater consideration. He has an impressive résumé and record of public service, and the no-nonsense, confident demeanor you'd expect from a Marine veteran. He's put in a lot of miles on a bike in New York City. And he demonstrated a good grasp of the powers and limits of the Comptroller's office, and how they intersect with transportation issues.
But Mr. Johnson and Mr. Lander are exceptional public servants, with years of accomplishment in elective office, and we believe this contest is very much between the two of them.
After much deliberation and consideration, we have opted for a ranked endorsement, giving Corey Johnson a slight edge over Brad Lander. We believe Mr. Johnson's role as Speaker, dealing regularly and directly with the Mayor and the highest levels of city agencies, is a notable advantage in experience. And secondly, harder to quantify, is Mr. Johnson's outsized personality. He has the potential to be able to draw attention to the Comptroller's office, and its critically important but often dry focus on audits and numbers, that his predecessors have not. As Mr. Johnson told us, "the numbers really don't lie," but we think he might be able to make them fly.
Read on below for more about Corey Johnson's and Brad Lander's platforms and accomplishments.
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC Endorses in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens Borough-wide Races in News 2021-06-02 12:12:12 -0400
StreetsPAC Endorses in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn Borough-Wide Races
We're excited to announce our endorsements for the June 22nd primary election in borough-wide races in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
As with the candidates we've endorsed for City Council, we're greatly impressed by the degree to which candidates for higher office have emphasized the importance of safe and livable streets in their campaigns. And we've had to make some very difficult endorsement decisions, given the quality of the fields in numerous races. This is especially so as elected officials whom we've supported in the past – most notably sitting City Council Members who are term-limited – face off against each other in races for higher offices. It's not easy to endorse one reliable ally over another, but at the same time, and luckily for New York City, there are many more good candidates than there are elective offices.
About 150 candidates have sought StreetsPAC's endorsement in this election cycle, about twice the number as in any previous election. To be considered, a candidate must complete a detailed questionnaire, and meet with our board. We sought the broadest possible participation, contacting more than 400 campaigns; those candidates who did not participate fully in our process were not considered for endorsement.
Read on below to learn about our endorsees and their positions on street-safety and transportation issues, and check back soon for our endorsements in citywide races.
2021 Borough-Wide Endorsees: Manhattan BP | Queens BP | Brooklyn BP | Manhattan DA
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Eric McClure published StreetsPAC Announces More City Council Endorsements in News 2021-05-28 12:34:13 -0400
StreetsPAC Announces More City Council Endorsements
We're proud today to announce our second and final round of 2021 endorsements for the June 22nd city primary election, again devoted to candidates running for City Council.
As with our first group of endorsees, which we announced last week, we're just so impressed by the depth of talent of the people running to serve in the City Council – and with how committed they are to centering street safety and advocacy for improved public transit in their campaigns. We highlighted some of the transportation initiatives each candidate would pursue in our write-ups, but it's really just scratching the surface; many of them have published detailed, and impressively progressive, transportation agendas.
In this round, we made some ranked-choice endorsements, given the quality of the candidates in quite a few races, and made co-endorsements in two Council contests. Even in races in which we we've gone three deep with our recommendations, we're convinced those third-ranked candidates would be tremendous allies in the Council, should they come out on top.
With the addition of this second round of City Council endorsements, we're supporting candidates in 33 of the 51 Council races, ten more than in 2017. We're very excited about the potential for the next Council to be transformational on issues of public space and transportation. Read on below to learn about the candidates and their positions, and check back next week for endorsements in citywide races, multiple Borough President contests, and the Manhattan District Attorney's race.
2021 Endorsees (City Council, Round 2): Manhattan | Bronx | Queens | Brooklyn | Staten Island
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2021 NYC Primary
2021 Endorsees: Citywide | Manhattan | Bronx | Queens | Brooklyn | Staten Island
Kathryn Garcia, Mayor (Open Seat) – New York City has come a long way in eight years.In 2013, Bill de Blasio was the only serious mayoral contender with even a mildly progressive street-safety and transportation platform. His embrace of Vision Zero set him apart from the pack, even if he did seem a little too sympathetic to drivers and, at times, not completely sold on his own policy proposals. To be sure, the Mayor has presided over significant improvements to the city's streets. But at the same time, too many opportunities have been squandered for want of better execution.
Fast forward to 2021, and nearly every serious candidate in the race for mayor has put forth an ambitious and progressive agenda for remaking the city's streets and improving its public transit system. All seven candidates who completed our questionnaire – Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang – told us they're committed to reducing New York City's reliance on cars, vastly improving transit service, and building a robust citywide network of protected bike lanes. Every one of them advocates the quick implementation of congestion pricing. They all say they intend to commit more city resources to Open Streets. And all seven have pledged support for Transportation Alternatives' ambitious 25x25 proposal to reallocate a quarter of the city's street space from cars to people.
This election marks a sea change. The race to the top among mayoral candidates on these issues is truly something to behold, and it's a testament to the relentlessly effective work that activists and advocacy organizations have done over the past several years. The next mayor will have the opportunity – and the responsibility – to truly transform New York City's streets and transportation system. That will require decisive action in addition to good ideas.
Among all these candidates who promise a better future, we believe Kathryn Garcia possesses the best combination of vision and an ability to successfully implement large-scale, transformational change, and we are excited to endorse her to be New York City's next mayor.
Ms. Garcia has held a number of important positions within New York City government over the past decade and a half. She served as operations chief for the Department of Environmental Protection under Mayor Bloomberg, with responsibility for the water supply, sewers, and wastewater treatment. Mayor de Blasio appointed Ms. Garcia Sanitation Commissioner in 2014, a position she held until she stepped down to run for mayor. As Sanitation Commissioner, her leadership was crucial to the passage of the city's Waste Equity law in 2018, and the Commercial Waste Zone law in 2019, the latter of which will reduce private-carting trips by millions of miles annually.
In response to a lead-poisoning crisis in 2018, Mayor de Blasio tapped Ms. Garcia as the city's "lead czar," and she also served as interim NYCHA boss in 2019. Last year, Mayor de Blasio put her in charge of the city's emergency pandemic food-distribution efforts. She has earned a reputation as a get-things-done leader, while also commanding the respect and loyalty of staff, including that of the Sanitation Department's 7,000+ uniformed rank-and-file workers.
That ability to lead and execute is key to our endorsement of Ms. Garcia. Setting aspirational goals is important, but so is having the wherewithal and expertise to implement them. While all of the leading candidates, Ms. Garcia included, have proposed ambitious transportation agendas, we firmly believe that she is best equipped to deliver on her promises.
She understands clearly that physically preventing crashes through street design is the key to reducing deaths and injuries, and she has pledged to implement roadway redesigns across the city that put pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders first. She'll commit more resources to Open Streets, and more of the city's street space to pedestrians, and will build 250 miles of new protected bike lanes, expand Citi Bike, and get the city moving on providing secure bike-parking solutions.
When it comes to public transit, Ms. Garcia is committed to creating more busways and dedicated bus lanes, and expanding off-board payment, all-door boarding, and signal priority at intersections. She'll expand the Fair Fares program, potentially by reallocating outsized ferry subsidies. She's determined to improve accessibility, with more and better-maintained subway elevators. And she'll advocate with the MTA to create a one-tap, in-city transit network that integrates the Long Island and Metro North Railroads, and, potentially, Citi Bike and the ferry system.
Ms. Garcia will crack down on placard abuse by deploying electronic readers to remove "professional courtesy" from the equation. She'll pursue camera enforcement of failure-to-yield violations and bike-lane blocking, and has indicated support for Steve Levin's bill that would enable citizen-reporting of illegal parking. Furthermore, she intends to expand the city's loading zones, in both commercial and residential areas, and to expand the Clean Curbs program to containerize trash and keep sidewalks clear for pedestrians.
Finally, Ms. Garcia has pledged to treat the city's working cyclists like the essential workers they are, making sure they're protected from wage theft and unfair conditions, and deploying her long-coveted Multihogs to promptly clear bike lanes of snow and ice. In embracing TA's 25x25 challenge, she explicitly cited the safety of delivery workers.
For her commitment to reimagining the city's streets, remaking and upgrading our transit system, and reinvigorating Vision Zero, coupled with her highly regarded ability to deliver results and her belief that pedestrian- and bike-friendly street transformations will accelerate the city's economic recovery, we enthusiastically endorse Kathryn Garcia for mayor, and urge you to rank her #1 on your ballot in the June 22nd Democratic primary.
Corey Johnson, Comptroller (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Mr. Johnson, who was elected to represent Manhattan's 3rd Council District in 2013, became Speaker after winning re-election in 2017. In his State of the City address in 2019, he laid out a strong case for municipal control of New York City's transit system, thrusting that issue into the mainstream, and presented the outline for the Streets Master Plan, which he pushed through the Council and onto Mayor de Blasio's desk for his signature just a few months later.The Streets Master Plan requires that the city create and implement a citywide transportation plan every five years, and sets critical benchmarks, such as requirements for the implementation of 250 miles of protected bike lanes and 150 miles of physically separated bus lanes over five years, safety- and transit-related upgrades to thousands of intersections, and more. It's a hugely important step in moving New York City away from car-dependency.
When Albany let the city's speed-camera program expire in 2018, Mr. Johnson shepherded emergency legislation through the Council that allowed the city's cameras to be reactivated until the legislature renewed and expanded the program. That same year, his support for the Fair Fares program, and his willingness to include funds for it in the Council's budget response, were key to overcoming the Mayor's resistance.
And last April, Mr. Johnson threw his support behind Open Streets, quickly moving a bill through the Council requiring 75 miles of Open Streets after the city's cop-heavy, minuscule, two-week pilot flopped.
If elected Comptroller, Mr. Johnson pledges to prioritize audits of procurement practices at various agencies, such as the MTA and Department of Design and Construction. He's committed to ensuring that the Streets Master Plan's benchmarks – which he emphasized are not merely "goals" – are met in full, and on time. He plans to keep a close eye on the implementation of congestion pricing, and will audit the city's speed-camera program to ensure that it's equitably deployed. He'll also track progress on the city's promised bike-rack deployments, and expressed interest in our suggestion to analyze disparities in how the city subsidizes different forms of transportation. He'll also use the Comptroller's audit powers to make the case for significantly reducing the size of the city's vehicle fleet.
Brad Lander, Comptroller (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Brad Lander has dedicated himself to making streets safer since first taking office in 2010. He was an early supporter of the Prospect Park West redesign, and his refusal to waver in the face of some very politically connected opposition to the bike path was instrumental in facing down the years-long legal effort to remove it. In 2016, he patiently listened to constituents complaining about Citi Bike's expansion into his Brooklyn district, while firmly letting them know that the bike-share system was here to stay in a statement that Streetsblog called "pitch-perfect."Mr. Lander was a vocal proponent of Fourth Avenue's road diet, pushing the Department of Transportation to speed up completion of the protected bike lanes that now span the four miles from Atlantic Avenue to 64th Street. He's fought for better accessibility at subway stations, and to restore the B71 bus.
Most notably, Mr. Lander's biggest safe-streets legislative accomplishment grew from a terrible tragedy that occurred just a block from his district office in 2018. Following the devastating crash that killed two small children at Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, Mr. Lander, in partnership with advocates, developed the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, working deftly and relentlessly to steer the bill through the City Council, overcoming a number of legal and procedural hurdles. What became the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program will, once fully implemented, require the city's most persistent dangerous drivers to take a safe-driving class or have their vehicles impounded.
For good measure, Mr. Lander also made sure that DOT quickly redesigned Ninth Street following that deadly crash, adding protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuges.
Mr. Lander has put forth a number of detailed plans for how we would manage the Comptroller's office. He'll oversee the city's capital-projects tracker, which he legislated in the City Council, and is intended to bring transparency and accountability to the billions of dollars the city spends each year on infrastructure. He plans to use the Comptroller's powers to make the financial case for street redesigns, and to create an audit unit dedicated to transit and transportation. Like Mr. Johnson, he'd use audit and contract-registration powers to push for fleet reductions, and track implementation of the Better Bus Action Plan.
Finally, it's essential that we address the recent revelation of Mr. Lander's traffic violations. We, and many other safe-streets advocates, were dismayed when the news broke that this leading proponent of driver accountability had himself accumulated a sizable number of tickets over the past five years, including several speed-camera violations. A deeply embarrassed Mr. Lander has pledged to slow down and drive less. We believe he can and will change, and we tried hard to not let his driving violations factor into our endorsement decision. At the same time, the safety of New York City's streets shouldn't depend on drivers' willingness to slow down. We must, instead, redesign streets to make driving above the speed limit as difficult as possible – something Mr. Lander, and Mr. Johnson, both support.
Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President (Open Seat) – Mark Levine, who currently represents Upper Manhattan's 7th Council District and chairs the Council's Health Committee, is our pick for Manhattan Borough President.Mr. Levine, whom we endorsed when he won his current seat in 2013, and again four years later, has been a leading voice for better bus service and safer streets. He championed 125th Street Select Bus Service when he ran for office, bucking opposition from other elected officials, and introduced a bill in 2017 to speed up the city's implementation of transit-signal priority. He supported expansion of the Amsterdam Avenue protected bike lane into Harlem, a road diet for Riverside Drive, and pedestrian-safety improvements on Morningside Avenue, all in the face of Community Board intransigence. And he backed the replacement of three city-owned parking garages on West 108th Street with a 200-plus-unit affordable senior-housing project that included a shelter.
If elected Borough President, Mr. Levine will diversify Manhattan's Community Boards, and he's committed to working to pedestrianize sections of Broadway and implement safe crosstown bike paths through Central Park. He will advocate for replicating the highly successful 14th Street busway on other major east-west streets, and has put forth a plan to rezone parking garages to allow them to serve as local package-delivery hubs, which could facilitate a major increase in e-cargo bike deliveries.
We were also favorably impressed by Mr. Levine's three leading opponents in the race for Manhattan Borough President: State Senator Brad Hoylman, City Council Member Ben Kallos, and Lindsey Boylan, the former Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Housing for New York State. All three have put forth compelling visions for improving street safety and public transit options for Manhattanites, like Mr. Hoylman's aspirational plan for a car-free Manhattan, Mr. Kallos's call to expand congestion tolling to the entirety of New York City, and Ms. Boylan's interest in Barcelona-style superblocks.
Mr. Hoylman, whom we've endorsed in the past for the State Senate seat he first won in 2012, has been a strong voice in the legislature on a number of important issues. He stopped the NYS DMV from tacking on improper fines for cycling violations, drew a line in the sand in support of congestion pricing, and late last year, introduced "Sammy's Law," which, if passed, would clear the way for further reductions in the city's speed limit. It's not for us to decide the length of Mr. Hoylman's commute, but he's been a good and effective ally in Albany.
We endorsed Mr. Kallos when he first ran for City Council in 2013, and again when he won re-election in 2017. He's been a champion for better biking infrastructure during his tenure. He pushed NYC DOT to implement crosstown bike lanes on the Upper East Side, and was instrumental in the closing of the dangerous nine-block gap in the Second Avenue bike lane. More recently, his offer to fund security fencing on the Queensboro Bridge's south outer roadway finally spurred City Hall to make significant upgrades to the bridge's bike infrastructure.
Ms. Boylan, who ran for Congress in 2020, is passionate about walking or riding her bike (which she calls "Flash") around Manhattan. She's keen to create more Open Streets throughout the borough, and would make improving transit accessibility a top priority.
But for the promises he's kept, the vision he's put forth, and his energy and temperament, we believe Mark Levine is the best choice for Manhattan Borough President in the June 22nd Democratic Primary.
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney (Open Seat) – There's a deep and accomplished field contending to succeed Cyrus Vance, Jr., who is not seeking re-election to the job of Manhattan District Attorney. Of the eight candidates running, five of them – Alvin Bragg, Diana Florence, Lucy Lang, Dan Quart, and Tali Farhadian Weinstein – completed our questionnaire and met with our board for an interview.Among this impressive group of lawyers, one candidate rose to the top of our list, based on a combination of commitment to treating vehicular violence as serious crime while also seeking alternatives to incarceration, important experience managing a large prosecutorial and investigative staff, a willingness to innovate, and a plausible path to victory.
That candidate is Alvin Bragg, whom we're proud to endorse in the Democratic primary for Manhattan District Attorney.
All five of the candidates seeking StreetsPAC's endorsement brought relevant experience to the table. Mr. Bragg most recently served as New York State's Chief Deputy Attorney General, and is now Co-Director of New York Law School's Racial Justice Project. Ms. Florence and Ms. Lang both have prior prosecutorial experience in the Manhattan District Attorney's office as Assistant District Attorneys. Mr. Quart, who has represented the Upper East Side in the State Assembly for the past decade, has twice earned StreetsPAC's endorsement on the strength of his legislative work to hold dangerous drivers accountable. Ms. Farhadian Weinstein clerked for Sandra Day O'Connor, served as a federal prosecutor, and was General Counsel in the Brooklyn DA's office.
Each of the candidates has pledged to put a greater focus on traffic violence as Manhattan's top prosecutor. They would all staff robust vehicular-crimes units to investigate any fatal, and many serious-injury, crashes, independent of NYPD investigations, and all of them pledged to create a Manhattan version of the Center for Court Innovation's Brooklyn Driver Accountability Program, which has proven effective in changing driver behavior without incarceration.
Additionally, Mr. Bragg, Ms. Florence, Ms. Lang and Mr. Quart all vowed to challenge the "Rule of Two" that allows too many dangerous motorists to escape meaningful consequences for the harm they cause, and also told us they would routinely seek technological evidence, like cell phone records and information from vehicles' event data recorders, in performing crash investigations.
However, Mr. Bragg stood out among the competition, and we believe strongly that he will bring a new, serious focus on vehicular crime to the Manhattan DA's office, which will have a direct and positive effect on the safety of the borough's streets.
[Note: Because the Manhattan District Attorney is a state office, the primary election is not subject to ranked choice voting.]
Christopher Marte, Council District 1, Manhattan (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Christopher Marte, who nearly beat current Council Member Margaret Chin in the 2017 primary for this seat, is a Lower East Side native who most recently has served as New York State Director for Arena. He supports pedestrianizing the Seaport District, as well as a substantial part of the Financial District, and wants to see a protected crosstown bike lane on Chambers Street, among other routes. Marte will advocate to allow delivery cyclists to use the Hudson River Greenway, and has pledged to introduce legislation that will require that "protected" bike lanes actually provide physical protection for cyclists.
Gigi Li, Council District 1, Manhattan (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – We also like Gigi Li, who has served as Margaret Chin's Chief of Staff for the past two years, and have ranked her as our #2 choice in this race. She wants to build out a better network of protected bike lanes across the district, especially connecting the east and west sides, and is committed to working to rein in placard abuse, which continues to plague lower Manhattan.
Carlina Rivera, Council District 2, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Carlina Rivera, a 2017 StreetsPAC endorsee who is running for re-election in her Lower East Side district, has championed transportation issues during her first term in the Council. Her support for implementation of the 14th Street busway was crucial, and she was prime sponsor of the bill that requires the creation of a temporary bike lane when construction interferes with existing bike infrastructure. Just last week, the city enacted into law her bill making the Open Streets program permanent, more equitable, and more robust. Rivera also recently introduced legislation that would require a restaurant to provide restroom access to delivery workers who are making deliveries on their behalf. She's called for the widening of the Second Avenue bike lane, and if re-elected, she'll work to expand loading zones and implement more curb extensions and daylighting.
Erik Bottcher, Council District 3, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Erik Bottcher, who was Corey Johnson's Chief of Staff for six years, is running to succeed his former boss. He’s committed to bringing street-safety improvements to 10th Avenue, including a protected bike lane, and has pledged to work to extend the Sixth Avenue protected bike lane south of 9th Street. Bottcher will work to make the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program more stringent, and to push Albany to remove restrictions on the operation of speed cameras, and his sanitation plan calls for getting trash off crowded city sidewalks and into containerized waste corrals. He's also committed to timely and complete implementation of the Streets Master Plan.
Keith Powers, Council District 4, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Keith Powers, who won his East Side Council seat in 2017 with StreetsPAC's backing, has delivered on many of his campaign promises, including extension of Sixth Avenue's protected bike lane to Central Park, the closing of the gap in the Second Avenue bike lane, and the creation of the busway on 14th Street. In his second term, he's committed to advocating for more protected bike lanes and safer intersection treatments in his district. He's a supporter of creating a busway on Fifth Avenue, and also wants the city to replicate the successful 14th Street model on 34th and 96th Streets.
Billy Freeland, Council District 5, Manhattan (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – There's a deep field contending for the Upper East Side Council seat held currently by Ben Kallos, but Billy Freeland earned our endorsement for his passionate commitment to changing the district's streets. Freeland, an attorney and activist, has been an outspoken supporter of better biking infrastructure, improved public transit, and expanded green spaces. He's put forth a detailed transportation plan that includes overhauling Third Avenue and transforming Citi Bike into a public utility, and he has a long-term vision to reconnect the East River waterfront with the adjacent neighborhoods by eliminating the FDR Drive.Julie Menin, Council District 5, Manhattan (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Julie Menin, who has an impressive resumé of public service, has released a detailed and progressive transportation plan of her own. She would expand sidewalks, advocate for more busways, and for integrating Citi Bike into the transit system, and has also called for reimagining the FDR.
Kim Moscaritolo, Council District 5, Manhattan (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #3 – Kim Moscaritolo, an activist and journalist, earned a place in our ranking thanks to her own thorough transportation vision. She wants to expand loading zones and incentivize off-hour deliveries, build more dedicated bike and bus lanes, and increase the accessibility of the transit system.
Sara Lind, Council District 6, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Sara Lind, who's running for the open seat on the Upper West Side currently held by Helen Rosenthal, has laid out a progressive vision for improving street safety and public transit. She advocated for the Central Park West protected bike lane, and has called for the implementation of similar lanes running crosstown from Central Park to Riverside Drive, as well as safe cycling paths across the park to the East Side. Lind has proposed reimagining Broadway, including rezoning the area for more flexible mixed uses, dedicating the northbound lanes to buses, bikes, and pedestrians, with access for local pickups and drop-offs, and more greenery and community space. She'll also advocate for busway treatments on West 57th and West 72nd Streets. Gale Brewer, who's had a distinguished career in city government and a good record on transportation issues, and who held this seat before becoming Manhattan Borough President in 2014, is also on the ballot, but we believe Lind will bring fresh ideas and energy to the City Council.
Marti Allen-Cummings, Council District 7, Manhattan (Open Seat) – Marti Allen-Cummings, who’s running for the open seat in upper Manhattan held by Mark Levine, would make implementing crosstown busways on 125th, 145th and 157th Street a priority. They would advocate for significantly increasing the number of protected bike lane miles in the district, and for subsidizing Citi Bike to fuel more rapid expansion of the bike-share program. Allen-Cummings would also like to double the number of Open Streets across the city, and will advocate for better conditions for the city's working cyclists. In a race with a number of qualified candidates, we believe voters will do well to elect Allen-Cummings.
Mario Rosser, Council District 9, Manhattan (Challenger) – Mario Rosser, an activist who works in tech, is committed to building more dedicated bike lanes in his Harlem district. He's pledged to advocate for bringing the Harlem River Greenway into a state of good repair, and to improve and speed up bus service in Harlem, which many people, especially seniors, rely on to get around, by pushing for more bus lanes and transit-signal priority, and by cracking down on placard abuse. Incumbent Bill Perkins did not participate in our endorsement process.
Shanequa Moore, Council District 12, Bronx (Challenger) – Shanequa Moore, a social worker and non-profit entrepreneur, is challenging Kevin Riley for the northern Bronx seat he won in a special election in December. (Mr. Riley did not participate in our process.) If elected, Moore would advocate for redesigning wide and dangerous streets, like Boston Road. She supports the city's scooter-share pilot, and wants bike-share expanded to the district as well, accompanied by new protected bike lanes to keep riders safe. Moore also wants to expand sidewalks, and to create more Open Streets.
Pierina Sanchez, Council District 14, Bronx (Open Seat) – Pierina Sanchez, who's a native of the district she's running to represent, served as New York Director at the Regional Plan Association before working on housing, land use, economic development and labor issues at City Hall. At RPA, she played a key role in drafting the 2017 Transportation and Equity Agenda issued by StreetsPAC and other advocacy groups. She'll continue to focus on those issues in the City Council, especially faster and more reliable bus service, an expanded Fair Fares program, and adoption of the Freedom Ticket for intra-city trips on Metro North and the LIRR. Sanchez will also advocate for redesigning streets for people, with more protected bike lanes and traffic-calming features, and she wants to eliminate parking placards for all but the most essential uses.
John Sanchez, Council District 15, Bronx (Challenger) – John Sanchez, who ran a competitive third in the March special election for this seat, currently serves as District Manager of Bronx Community Board 6. He has made safer streets a centerpiece of his campaign. Sanchez has been vocal about the need to reduce automobile use, and would accomplish that in part by supporting new busways on Fordham Road and Third Avenue, and protected bike lanes throughout the 15th District. He will advocate for universally daylighting street corners to increase safety, and plans to introduce legislation to create parking benefit districts, which would return extended parking-meter revenue to communities to fund streetscape improvements.
Amanda Farias, Council District 18, Bronx (Open Seat) – Amanda Farias was born and raised in the community in which she's seeking election. She ran for the seat in 2017, finishing second to Ruben Diaz, Sr., who is not running for a second term. Farias, a board member at the Riders Alliance, will prioritize improving transit access for residents of her East Bronx district. She'll advocate to expand the Fair Fares program to serve more low-income straphangers, and to bring Citi Bike across the Bronx River. She also wants to see a network of protected bike lanes connecting the district's neighborhoods, new busways, and a big increase in the number of Open Streets. We also think highly of Michael Beltzer, another repeat candidate from 2017, but we believe Farias is best positioned to deliver transportation improvements for the 18th District.
Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President (Incumbent), Ranked Choice #1 – The race for Queens Borough President is effectively a three-way affair, among incumbent BP Donovan Richards, who won the seat in 2020, succeeding Melinda Katz; current City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents portions of western Queens; and former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who did not participate in our endorsement process.While both Mr. Richards and Mr. Van Bramer have progressive records on transportation issues, and offer compelling visions for Queens, our top choice in the race is the incumbent, Mr. Richards.
Mr. Richards, who represented Southeast Queens's 31st District in the City Council, frequently played against type in a district that in many places is more suburban than urban. He supported congestion pricing and speed cameras, and in championing the Downtown Far Rockaway rezoning in 2016 called for improved transit service, new bike lanes, and reduced parking requirements in the face of Community Board demands for more parking spaces.
In his State of the Borough address in March, and again in responding to our questionnaire and in his interview, Mr. Richards laid out an ambitious agenda for safer streets and better transit service. He will advocate for a network of protected bike lanes across Queens, expanded access to bike share, and bike parking at subway stations. He's pushing for busways around Jamaica to speed up commutes, and wants to expand Open Streets across the borough. And he's allocated about $3 million to build the security fencing that will allow for the opening of the Queensboro Bridge south outer roadway to bikes.
He's also begun reforming Queens's Community Boards, appointing more women, people of color, persons under 35 – and people who ride bikes.
Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Borough President (Challenger), Ranked Choice #2 – Jimmy Van Bramer, whom we supported in both his 2013 and 2017 City Council races, has been a staunch supporter of progressive transportation policies. He advocated relentlessly for Citi Bike, and as a result, his district was the first place in Queens to get bike share. He championed the redesign of Queens Boulevard, and the critical inclusion of protected bike lanes in the project. He was an early supporter of congestion pricing, and along with Ben Kallos, offered up the funding that led to City Hall's embrace of more space for biking and walking on the Queensboro Bridge. As the Council's Cultural Affairs Chair, he played a key role in the city's adoption of the Open Culture program, which facilitates live arts performances in public spaces.Mr. Van Bramer also has big plans for Queens' streets if elected. And given his record, our decision was not easy. But we believe Mr. Richards is best positioned to sell the entire borough on a vision that prioritizes biking and walking and public transit while weaning Queens – especially its eastern and southern reaches – off its dependence on cars.
Austin Shafran, Council District 19, Queens (Open Seat) – Austin Shafran, a Bayside native with experience in city, state, and federal government, is running for the open seat he nearly won eight years ago, losing to current Council Member Paul Vallone by fewer than 200 votes in the 2013 Democratic primary. Though the Northeast Queens district is a transit desert with a decidedly suburban feel, Shafran would like to expand Open Streets, calling the Bell Boulevard Open Street "tremendous." He's pledged to work with neighborhood stakeholders to expand the local bike network, and will seek community input in developing a safe bike lane on Northern Boulevard to link residents to transit. He'd also like to see the area's bus routes better connect to the closest LIRR stations.
John Choe, Council District 20, Queens (Open Seat) – John Choe, who leads the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, is running to succeed term-limited Council Member Peter Koo. Choe has been perhaps the biggest booster of Flushing's recently implemented Main Street busway, and will continue to push for transit improvements if elected. A daily bike commuter, he has a plan to create the "Flushing Ring," a protected bike lane network that would feed the downtown area. He'll also advocate for more bike parking, and expansion of Citi Bike and scooter share. He's committed to working to improve conditions for delivery cyclists, and has called for a full ban on parking placards.Tiffany Cabán, Council District 22, Queens (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Primary voters in this western Queens Council district have a number of excellent candidates from whom to choose, but for us, two rose to the top. We gave a narrow edge to Tiffany Cabán, whom we endorsed in 2019 when she ran for Queens DA. Cabán supports redesigning streets, creating car-free superblocks, and lowering speed limits as ways to get Vision Zero back on track. She'll advocate for a 21st Street busway, and a Queens bus-network redesign that adds more service.
Evie Hantzopolous, Council District 22, Queens (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Evie Hantzopolous earned our very strong #2 ranking in the race with her commitment to improving bus service, allocating more space for safe biking, and creating more public plazas and Open Streets – like the 31st Avenue Open Street, in which she has played a lead organizing and operating role.
Jaslin Kaur, Council District 23, Queens (Open Seat) – Jaslin Kaur, an education-equity and immigration-rights activist, is running for the Queens seat held by Barry Grodenchik, who is not seeking re-election. While the local Community Board recently deadlocked on a vote to just request a bus lane study, Kaur, a devoted rider of the Q46, is committed to improving the district's public transit. She will advocate for dedicated bus lanes on Eastern Queens routes, and for adoption of the Freedom Ticket to increase affordable access to the LIRR. Kaur wants protected (read: jersey barriers) bike lanes installed on key routes, supports completion of the Eastern Queens Greenway, and will work to bring bike share to the district.Shekar Krishnan, Council District 25, Queens (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Shekar Krishnan, a civil rights attorney and activist, is our top choice to succeed term-limited Council Member Danny Dromm. Krishnan will prioritize building more transit corridors in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and more busways and dedicated bus lanes on streets like Northern Boulevard, where he supports a comprehensive redesign. He'll also advocate for a network of connected and protected bike lanes, and more space for pedestrians throughout the district.
Carolyn Tran, Council District 25, Queens (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – We also really like Carolyn Tran, who spent several years as Danny Dromm's Chief of Staff. She supports building a protected bicycle arterial network, an equitable expansion of Open Streets, ending parking minimums, and removing police from traffic enforcement.
Amit Bagga and Julie Won (Co-Endorsement), Council District 26, Queens (Open Seat) – The crowded race to succeed term-limited Jimmy Van Bramer includes a number of outstanding candidates, and we were ultimately unable to choose a favorite between our top two. Amit Bagga, who was Deputy Director of New York City's successful 2020 Census effort, and a veteran of City Hall, is committed to improving the plight of the city's delivery cyclists. He wants to expand Select Bus Service, and force compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act to make the transit system universally accessible. Bagga supports accelerated expansion of Citi Bike, and implementation of the Freedom Ticket.Julie Won, who works in tech and has a community-service resumé that would fill a page, will bring an advocate's passion to the fight for better street design. While commuting on her bike last November, she was struck by a hit-and-run driver who left her in the street. She'll prioritize bike lanes that are protected by concrete, and supports comprehensive curb reform. Won will also work to improve transit service, and to expand the city's Fair Fares program.
Jesse Laymon, Council District 26, Queens (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #3 – While he didn't quite crack our top two, Jesse Laymon was a close third in our 26th District candidate ranking. He too has laid out a progressive streets platform, which calls for miles of new busways and protected bike lanes, more permanent Open Streets and plazas, and a major overhaul of the way we allocate curb space.
Nantasha Williams, Council District 27, Queens (Open Seat) – Nantasha Williams, who nearly won the primary for the local Assembly seat in 2016, has 10 years of experience in government. She's a champion of the Freedom Ticket, and will advocate for bringing bike-, scooter-, and car-sharing programs to this eastern Queens district. Williams believes many wide local streets could be redesigned to help reduce speeding. She'd also like to see Open Streets efforts in places with high concentrations of restaurants, and a redesign of local bus routes to reflect the evolution in ridership patterns and community input.
Aleda Gagarin, Council District 29, Queens (Open Seat) – Aleda Gagarin, a non-profit executive with a Masters in urban planning, is running on a progressive platform for the seat held for the past dozen years by term-limited Council Member Karen Koslowitz. Gagarin is committed to redesigning streets to improve safety and accessibility, especially for seniors, and to facilitate the building of a robust network of protected bike lanes. She supports implementation of the Freedom Ticket, expansion of the Fair Fares program, and faster, more reliable bus service. Gagarin is also a fan of Barcelona-style superblocks, something she'd like to see piloted in the more dense, transit-rich neighborhoods in her district.
Juan Ardila, Council District 30, Queens (Challenger) – Juan Ardila, who's challenging incumbent Council Member Robert Holden, has made expanded transportation access for residents of this Queens district a centerpiece of his campaign. Ardila will advocate for better bus service, especially routes that connect to transit hubs, to reopen former LIRR stations that once served the district, and more improved subway station accessibility. He's also committed to bringing Open Streets to local neighborhoods, and to pushing for a connected network of protected bike lanes.
Felicia Singh, Council District 32, Queens (Open Seat) – Felicia Singh, an educator, Peace Corps veteran, and lifelong resident of Ozone Park, is hoping to succeed three-term Council Member Eric Ulrich. Her priorities are to improve mass-transit options for district residents, including better bus service from the Rockaway peninsula to the mainland, and more reliable subway service along the A line. She wants to expand Citi Bike service into southern Queens, with a corresponding expansion of a network of protected bike lanes to keep riders safe. Singh will also center accessibility by pushing for more elevators and a better state of repair at subway stations, and more bus shelters with benches to accommodate straphangers.
Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Two candidates for Brooklyn Borough President stand out from the pack when it comes to the issues central to our agenda, and they're both elected officials whom we've endorsed multiple times for their current seats. While both would make fine choices for this office, our pick in the Brooklyn BP's race is Antonio Reynoso.Mr. Reynoso, who had just sold his car to fund his run for office when we first encountered him in 2013, also happened to be making that run against the still-formidable former Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez. Seven-and-a-half years later, he's still riding a bike instead of driving, and has distinguished himself as perhaps the most outspoken member of the City Council on the need to move New York City away from its automobile-dominated past.
As Chair of the Council's Sanitation Committee, Mr. Reynoso led the effort to pass the Commercial Waste Zone effort that will eliminate millions of miles of dangerous truck trips every year. He pushed the Department of Transportation to move ahead with the Myrtle-Wyckoff pedestrian plaza in 2016, advocated for the physically protected bike lanes on Brooklyn's Grand Street, and last year, called on NYC DOT to build a busway on Berry Street.
Mr. Reynoso has an expansive progressive vision for the Borough Presidency. He wants to remake Atlantic Avenue, which he thinks should be a modern complete street of which Brooklynites can be proud, rather than the dangerous "embarrassment" it is today. He'll push the city to create a borough-wide network of protected bike lanes, and to expand Open Streets widely and equitably. He'll prioritize completion of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which has lagged for years, and is more than willing to commit capital dollars to expand bike- and scooter-share.
Like Mr. Richards in Queens, Mr. Reynoso has also pledged to overhaul Community Boards to make them much more representative of the neighborhoods they serve.
Jo Anne Simon, Brooklyn Borough President (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Jo Anne Simon, whom we've endorsed in the past three elections for her current seat in the State Assembly, has been a strong supporter of congestion pricing and speed cameras, among other important initiatives. Before running for office, she played a key role in advocating for the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming project and fixing the Gowanus Expressway. She recently introduced a bill that would establish electronic enforcement of overweight trucks on the BQE's Triple Cantilever.If elected Borough President, Ms. Simon would appoint an independent screening panel to evaluate Community Board applicants, and would be committed to improving the borough's bus service, including restoration of the B71, for which she's long campaigned. She'll push for expansion of Brooklyn's cycling network, and for prioritizing equity in transit, biking and walking.
While both Ms. Simon and Mr. Reynoso have embraced progressive ideas about transportation policy, we believe Mr. Reynoso will best be able to use Borough Hall's bully pulpit to fulfill his mission of breaking car culture, and that's why we endorse Antonio Reynoso as our top choice for Brooklyn Borough President.
Lincoln Restler, Council District 33, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Two candidates in the race to succeed Steve Levin, who is term-limited, stand out from the pack, and both would make terrific Council Members. But we give the edge to Lincoln Restler, a founding member of New Kings Democrats who spent several years working in City Hall. He's laid out a progressive vision for safer streets and better public transit, and believes the 33rd Council District should be a model in that regard for the entire city. He'll advocate for a network of concrete-protected bike lanes, safer intersections, improved bus service, and seamless integration of fares for all transit, including Citi Bike.
Elizabeth Adams, Council District 33, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Elizabeth Adams, who's served as Legislative Director for Steve Levin, dedicated her own time to helping create the North Brooklyn Open Streets Community Coalition. She's committed to redesigning McGuinness Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, and supports Transportation Alternatives' 25x25 plan. She helped write the bill that would allow citizens to report illegal and dangerous parking, and supports creating bike boulevards in multiple neighborhoods. The 33rd District will be in good hands if either of these excellent candidates prevails.
Jennifer Gutiérrez, Council District 34, Brooklyn/Queens (Open Seat) – Jennifer Gutiérrez is hoping to succeed term-limited Council Member Antonio Reynoso, for whom she's served as Chief of Staff since early in Reynoso's tenure. Gutiérrez is committed to getting Vision Zero back on track, and will prioritize safety improvements along Bushwick and Myrtle Avenues, and Broadway. She'll advocate for expanding the city's protected bike lanes into a true network, and for implementing 14th Street-style busways in the 34th District. Gutiérrez will also lobby for a comprehensive automated-enforcement system that adds failure-to-yield and blocking-the-box cameras to the city's toolkit.Crystal Hudson, Council District 35, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Voters in Brooklyn's 35th Council District, which is generally well served by transit and is a short bike trip to job centers in Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan, have a chance to elect a new Council Member who will make public transportation and safe streets a priority. Between two stand-out candidates, we give the edge to Crystal Hudson, a former marketing executive who spent the past few years working in city government. She's laid out an expansive and progressive vision for improving transportation in New York City, from increased investment in Vision Zero, BRT and Open Streets, to transitioning the NYPD out of traffic enforcement, to expanding protected bike lanes and secure bike parking – all of it centered around equity for Black and brown New Yorkers.
Michael Hollingsworth, Council District 35, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Our strong second choice in the 35th is Michael Hollingsworth, a tenant organizer and activist with the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization adept at winning races in this part of Brooklyn. Hollingsworth has outlined his own progressive transportation and environmental platform, including support for an expansive network of protected bike lanes, more Open Streets and green space, major improvements to transit and accessibility, and a restorative justice approach to traffic enforcement.Sandy Nurse, Council District 37, Brooklyn (Challenger) – Sandy Nurse is a community organizer and carpenter challenging Darma Diaz, who won the seat last year. Nurse is determined to improve transit service for the district, in which two-thirds of residents don't have access to a car. She'll advocate for more Select Bus Service, accessibility upgrades – especially at the Broadway Junction transit hub – and expansion and connection of the bike network. Nurse also welcomes more Open Streets, as well as the creation of new pedestrian plazas. Council Member Diaz, who submitted a promising response to our questionnaire, did not complete an interview.
Rodrigo Camarena and César Zuñiga (Co-Endorsement), Council District 38, Brooklyn (Open Seat) – Brooklyn's 38th Council District is another place where primary voters will have a wealth of qualified candidates from whom to choose, and it's a key reason we're co-endorsing our top two picks. Rodrigo Camarena, an immigrant advocate, will make improving conditions for delivery cyclists a priority. A regular bike commuter, he wants to greatly increase transportation options in the district, including more and safer bike lanes, improved bus service, and ferry service that integrates with New York City Transit to make it an option for more working-class residents.
César Zuñiga, who has capably chaired Community Board 7 for the past few years, is adamant about revitalizing Vision Zero, especially in light of the still-unaddressed dangers along Third Avenue. He'll advocate for improved bus service for underserved neighborhoods like Red Hook and Dyker Heights, and for building out a robust protected cycling network. Zuñiga is also a big fan of Open Streets, and will push for more city funding to operate them.
Alexa Avilés, Council District 38, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #3 – Alexa Avilés, a foundation executive and activist, is an advocate for making public transit free. She'll push for more dedicated busways, and for widening and physically protecting bike lanes with concrete barriers, and she believes that Citi Bike should be integrated into the transit system.
Brandon West, Council District 39, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Four candidates aiming to succeed term-limited Brad Lander were highly credible contenders for our endorsement, but we are giving the nod to Brandon West, who led the "Rep Your Block" campaign as president of New Kings Democrats and has experience in City Hall as a budget analyst. An advocate for a "15-minute city," he'll push for integration of the fare system across all transit, which he thinks should ultimately be made free. He also supports building a citywide network of protected bike lanes, bringing back the B71 bus, and improving conditions for working cyclists.
Shahana Hanif, Justin Krebs, and Doug Schneider (Co-Endorsement), Council District 39, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – We couldn't find enough daylight among Shahana Hanif, Justin Krebs and Doug Schneider to rank them separately, but all three would be champions for safe streets and public transit, and would continue and enhance Brad Lander's legacy in the 39th District. They all support building out a safe, connected bike-lane network, improving transit service and making the system more accessible, and dedicating more public space to people rather than cars. Rita Joseph, Council District 40, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Voters in the 40th District have the opportunity on June 22nd to elect a successor to the City Council's longest-tenured member, Mathieu Eugene, for whom transportation has been an afterthought, at best. But things are about to get much better. Of several qualified candidates, two stood out to us, and first among them is Rita Joseph. An educator, Joseph will advocate for better public transit, including 14th Street-style busways and more-accessible stations. She'll push for faster expansion of Citi Bike and the protected lanes necessary to keep riders safe, as well as secure parking solutions for personal bikes.
Josue Pierre, Council District 40, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Our very strong second choice is Josue Pierre, a local district leader and veteran of the New York City Comptroller's office. Pierre, who rides his bike for transportation, supports implementing more protected bike lanes, especially on dangerous roads like Linden Boulevard. He'll fight to make transit service more reliable through dedicated bus lanes, and believes new developments should be required to provide secure bike parking.
Nikki Lucas, Council District 42, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Brooklyn's 42nd District has been represented in the City Council by either Charles or Inez Barron for the past two decades, but that could change this year. Both Nikki Lucas and Wilfredo Florentino promise to bring a greater focus on transportation issues. We gave Lucas the edge, given her name recognition as a former district leader. She'll advocate for better transit accessibility – like more station elevators and bus shelters – and will push to have Linden Boulevard, where a friend was killed a couple years ago, redesigned with physically separated bike lanes and better pedestrian protections.
Wilfredo Florentino, Council District 42, Brooklyn (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – Wilfredo Florentino, who's served for several years as Transportation Chair of Community Board 5, is also deeply committed to tackling transit and street-safety issues. He'll push for more engagement from NYCDOT, dedicated bus lanes, and elimination of two-fare zones.
Justin Brannan, Council District 43, Brooklyn (Incumbent) – Justin Brannan, who won his seat in 2017 with StreetsPAC's endorsement, has teamed up with State Senator Andrew Gounardes to begin changing the transportation culture in southern Brooklyn. Brannan, who has a love/hate relationship with the R train, will continue to advocate for improvements to subway and bus service as a key means of getting his constituents out of their cars. He plans to keep pushing for Citi Bike's expansion throughout his district – the first stations were deployed earlier this year – and supports subsidizing bike share to speed up the process. Brannan is also an advocate for delivery cyclists, and recently introduced legislation that would limit the distances of app-based deliveries as part of a package of bills intended to improve working conditions for Deliveristas.
Anthony Beckford, Council District 45, Brooklyn (Challenger), Ranked Choice #1 – Anthony Beckford, and activist and organizer, is challenging incumbent Council Member Farah Louis. We gave Beckford the nod based on his record of advocating for safer streets. Beckford, who's been hit by drivers three times in the district, will advocate for better bike infrastructure, citing deadly Coney Island Avenue along with East 53rd and 55th Streets as priority corridors. He's also committed to improving bus service, and scrapping the MTA's diesel buses for newer electric models.
Farah Louis, Council District 45, Brooklyn (Incumbent), Ranked Choice #2 – Farah Louis, who succeeded Jumaane Williams in the City Council in 2019, shows some promise as a potential advocate on transportation and street safety issues. We couldn't get past her vote against the Streets Master Plan soon after she took office, but her positions on bike infrastructure are evolving, and she's committed to improving transit and micro-mobility options for constituents, supports automated enforcement, and is pursuing pedestrian safety upgrades around the district.
Amoy Barnes, Council District 49, Staten Island (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #1 – Amoy Barnes, an organizer with experience working in City Hall, is running for the open seat on Staten Island's North Shore currently held by Debbie Rose, who is term-limited. She'll make improving transit options for her constituents her mission, with an eye toward quicker and more reliable commutes through implementation of real BRT and transit-signal priority, and she'll push for expanded fast-ferry service. Barnes, who's committed to making Staten Island more bike-friendly – she called the fact that the 15-minute bike ride from her home to the ferry feels so unsafe a "disgrace" – will advocate for more protected bike lanes, and won't rest until Staten Island gets its fair share of Citi Bikes.
Ranti Ogunleye, Council District 49, Staten Island (Open Seat), Ranked Choice #2 – We were also impressed by Ranti Ogunleye, an educator with a passion for working with youth. He'll prioritize the long-promised North Shore BRT route, and will advocate to make transit more accessible. Ogunleye ditched his own car a year-and-a-half ago in favor of commuting by bus or on foot. -
Eric McClure published StreetsPAC Announces First 2021 Endorsements in News 2021-05-21 06:46:53 -0400
StreetsPAC Announces Initial 2021 Endorsements
We're excited today to announce our first round of 2021 endorsements for the June 22nd city primary election, focused exclusively on candidates for City Council. We intend to make at least one more round of Council endorsements, as well as endorsements in multiple Borough President races, the Manhattan District Attorney's contest, and citywide races.
Our first 15 City Council endorsees are a diverse group, covering four boroughs, and including three incumbents whom we first endorsed in 2017: Carlina Rivera, Keith Powers, and Justin Brannan. All three have delivered on the promises they made four years ago to champion street-safety and transportation issues, and all should factor significantly in the race to be the Council's next Speaker.
We received well over 100 questionnaire responses from City Council candidates, and have conducted scores of interviews over the past two months. It's deeply gratifying to see how far candidates have come in just a few years in prioritizing safer streets and better public transit in their campaigns, and it's testament to the work that we've done, in partnership with fellow advocacy organizations like Transportation Alternatives and Riders Alliance, among many others, to advance the conversation on these incredibly important issues.
We're proud to support this great group of candidates. Read on below to meet them and learn about their platforms, and check back soon as we roll out more endorsements.
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Eric McClure 2384pc
Eric McClure is StreetsPAC's Executive Director and Treasurer. He currently serves as the chairperson of Brooklyn Community Board 6, and is a co-founder of Park Slope Neighbors, a grassroots community-advocacy organization.
