Council Candidate Justin Krebs to Bike all 120 Miles of His District; 10 Miles to Go
In under 4 weeks, Justin Krebs will have biked every block of Brooklyn’s 39th district.
BROOKLYN, NY -- Four weeks ago, City Council candidate Justin Krebs began a quest to bike every block in Brooklyn’s 39th District, roughly 120 miles of NYC streets. Now, he has less than 10 miles to go. The project allows Krebs to see firsthand where our City’s bike infrastructure works and where it must be improved and is a continuation of his lifelong enthusiasm for biking and looking at how to create and share open space in our city.
Krebs, a public school parent leader who biked his three daughters to preschools in Carroll Gardens and Sunset Park from his home in Park Slope, is running on a platform that prioritizes pedestrian-first zones, more bike accessibility, creation of shared public space, and investing more in neighborhood main streets. Krebs plans to finish biking and walking every block in his district by Friday, April 30th.
“My twins rode to preschool on a buggy on the back of my bike and my 76 year-old father has been riding around Manhattan for decades,” said Krebs. “I’ve loved zig-zagging through the neighborhoods and getting the perspective you can only see behind handlebars. But I’ve seen where bike lanes end abruptly, where residential streets are treated like highways for cars, and where roadways have sliced neighborhoods in half. I’ve met small business owners that feel like the city is letting them down, only giving them unclear instructions about the future of open streets. And I’ve met fellow bikers and pedestrians that just don’t feel safe at busy intersections like Church and East 7th and 9th St. and Hamilton, period.”
The 39th District covers Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, parts of Borough Park, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and the Columbia Waterfront District in Red Hook. It runs about five miles between Maimonides Hospital in Borough Park and Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park and includes 120 miles of streets.
If elected, Krebs plans to pursue smarter crash investigations, see traffic enforcement transferred to the Department of Transportation, and push the next Mayor to adopt an ambitious bike master plan. He also will champion expanding Citibike to all of Kensington, pilot a “pedestrians-first zone” that creates safe, open spaces on residential blocks, and make a permanent open street in each neighborhood in 2022.
“I’ve known Justin for almost twenty years and during that time, I’ve had a chance to see up close Justin’s ability to bring people together to solve problems,” said Michael Freedman-Schnapp, a long-time transit and safe streets advocate. “I really appreciate how he has used his visit to every block to build on his strong connections to the communities of the 39th District and that it has deepened his commitment to bring people together to make streets safer for all ages.”
Amidst COVID, biking every block of the district allowed Krebs to see which parts of the neighborhood need more open spaces and better protected bike lanes. Krebs periodically stopped to meet with small business owners along the way to discuss different ways of supporting our main streets. His platform for small business recovery includes support measures to take away the monopolistic advantage of Amazon and support government backed loans to back payroll for struggling small businesses and nonprofits—as well as expanded use of our streets for outdoor dining and retail, helping our small businesses survive.