Go Big on Safe Streets

I see every day how our streets are unsafe.  I walk and bike around Brooklyn; ferried my eldest daughter from Park Slope to Carroll Gardens for three years of preschool on a bike; and took my twins up and down 4th and 5th Aves in a bike trailer for their Pre-K year.  To me, a cyclist isn’t a super-athlete: they are a parent ferrying kids, a delivery person, or my 76-year-old father who still criss-crosses the city on two wheels, with his new hip and all. And while there are several projects we can be proud of that have installed protected bike lanes, narrowed crossing distances, or redesigned intersections, the results of Vision Zero have not matched the massive organizing and advocacy efforts around the city to have safer streets.  Families for Safe Streets has tirelessly championed the idea that fatalities and injuries from car crashes should not be labeled as inevitable ‘accidents’ but should be addressed through street design and enforcement.  Transportation Alternatives has put forward a bold 25x25 plan to provide more space for people.  Riders Alliance has consistently and creatively called for fixing buses and subways.  It is time for these visions to come closer to reality and it starts by going big on safe streets in 2022.

Of course, I’ll work in the City Council to fully fund efforts to get the most dangerous drivers off the road, pursue smarter crash investigations that use technology, and see traffic enforcement transferred to the Department of Transportation — and, in many of these areas, build upon the great work of the current incumbent Brad Lander I’m looking to succeed. And I’ll push the next Mayor to adopt an ambitious bike master plan and become a real partner in these efforts.

But those require citywide efforts — which I will advocate for — and the fruits may not be in place as soon as we might like. That’s why in addition to citywide policy efforts, I’m making a pledge to focus on advancing progress in the district as quickly as possible. It’s understandably hard to envision the city, our neighborhoods, and our lives as different than the way they are. But often, once we make changes, we can’t imagine going back.

Together we can do this:

• Focus enforcement and design solutions on the most dangerous intersections.
  I would seek to fund and create a partnership with local civic groups and DOT and local NYPD precinct representatives to address the most dangerous intersections through enforcement and quick-implementation design interventions.  

• Get a permanent open street in each neighborhood in 2022. 
  As we were reminded during the pandemic, our streets are our public spaces — and when we treat them as such, we can help our neighborhoods survive and flourish. We recognized the value of streets for recreation and play, for schooling, for restaurants and other business, for community gatherings and, most recently, for structured live performance. These have allowed us to build social capital, get much-needed exercise, improve our mental health and support local businesses which, in turn, help our main streets and neighborhoods thrive. But these can’t be one-off ad-hoc events. Creating regular, enduring programs to create streets that prioritize pedestrians — and staffing the set-up and clean-up of these open streets so they don’t rely entirely on neighborhood volunteers — is a way to invest in the heart of every neighborhood and make our public space truly public. 

• Pilot a “pedestrians-first zone” in one neighborhood. 
  Over the last five years, Barcelona — a city historically choked by traffic — has created a transformational series of pedestrian-first areas (often referred to as “superblocks”) in residential neighborhoods while still allowing for direct access for residents, emergency services and deliveries.  The benefits for quality of life for all ages have been tremendous and have created a series of parklets right outside residents’ doors. Using this model, I would seek to pilot a pedestrian-first zone in one neighborhood in 2022.  While efforts like DOT’s “slow zones” are well-meaning, we need to go further than signs and paint to create safe spaces that reconnect neighbors and give safe places for children to play freely.  And we can bring these benefits to side streets without limiting needed curbside access.

• Expand Citibike in Kensington now. 
  Citibike is only now coming to the southern end of District 39, but is stopping at Church Avenue.  I would push for the rest of Kensington to be included in the next round of expansion and  would be open to finding public funding available to do this, if necessary.  It would be fitting to have bike share stations on Ocean Parkway — one of the first paved bike paths in the U.S.  And if done in coordination with Flatbush, it would provide quicker access for Kensington residents to/from the Q train.

• Roll out neighborhood bike networks safe from ages 8 to 80. 
  Decades into our street-by-street redesign approach, we are only now reaching something one might consider a network in only a handful of neighborhoods. We need neighborhood bike networks that work as well for eight-year-olds as they do for adults and seniors. If there are gaps at a major intersection or along a particular stretch of road, a safe bike trip to school or the library won’t happen. That’s why I’ll work to get a DOT commitment to implement neighborhood bike networks in the district over five years, beginning with one in 2022.

• Install a Busway in the district. 
  The example of 14th Street in Manhattan shows that by dedicating road space to buses the experience of taking the bus can be something other than maddening waits in traffic. I would work with DOT, transit riders, and community groups to commit to at least one dedicated bus corridor in the district that maintains curb access for dropoffs, loading, and deliveries.

• Make it easier for everyone to have a bike.
  This starts with piloting secure storage for bikes, because not everyone can store a bike in their apartment, let alone carry one up. And I’d partner with local bike stores to identify ways to make it cheaper for carless households to purchase e-bikes, especially those that can allow families to travel together. If there is a way to defer car ownership for even a few families with young kids it’s worth it.

Go Big on Reducing our Food and Waste Footprint

When the city began the curbside composting pilot, our apartment building didn’t immediately qualify. I had to research the program, bring it to the co-op board and get buy-in. People were hesitant: Would it lead to more rats? A cluttered garbage area? What if we didn’t compost correctly? With the help of the Organics Program of the Department of Sanitation, we answered all these questions and opted in as a trial run. Last year, when Mayor de Blasio suspended the program, several neighbors who had initially been hesitant came to me: “Justin, you know city government. How do we get composting back?”

Composting is one of the most basic things that we all can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and have a positive impact on the environment. It was a real blow to lose curbside collection of composting and I am grateful that community-based composting organizations rallied to preserve drop-off sites. I will advocate for renewed City funding for municipal composting as well as partnerships with local community groups which ensure composting at the lowest possible cost to New Yorkers, educate our communities on the impact of community compost, and provide vital jobs.   We can get the program back on its feet and go even further by launching local efforts to make textile and e-waste recycling available to every block.

Similarly, we can better empower our students to be environmental stewards in their schools with real composting programs, alternatives in food procurement and environmental education. Numerous cooperative and mutual aid groups have shown us what is possible when we work together. The Park Slope Food Coop and its younger sibling, the Windsor Terrace Food Coop, are beacons for what is possible when people come together to ethically source their food at reasonable prices.  The Gowanus Canal Conservancy has been a leader in establishing a long-running community composting site at the “Salt Lot” in Gowanus and leading to get funding for community collection restored in our budget.  And BIG Reuse has long been advancing new ways to reuse all sorts of building materials in the district. Now there is a new generation of efforts in the form of mutual aid networks and “Buy Nothing” groups that are furthering cooperative economies and material reuse.  These efforts provide the base to go to scale on reducing our carbon footprint of our consumer habits and the waste they create.

Together, we can do this:

• Have robust grassroots programs to get closer to zero waste.
  Even in NYC neighborhoods that had access to curbside composting pre-pandemic, the participation rate was only 10%, even while more than one-third of our City’s waste could be transformed into fertilizer and other sustainable uses. Once composting is back, I would seek to bring groups together to go door-to-door to educate residents on how to participate and to incentivize participation in simple, fun online trainings.  This effort could also expand on existing efforts the city has to put e-waste and textile collection bins in apartment buildings and find other ways to get them accessible to residents of smaller buildings.  This effort can make sure every building knows there are existing options like BIG Reuse for donating surplus construction materials and reusable items from renovations. And we need to continue to support and build on the efforts of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, BIG Reuse, and LES Ecology Center, among others, to run community-based composting sites. 

• Create a district-wide network of cooperative economy initiatives. 
  I would seek to create a network of cooperative economic groups together, such as food coops, reuse centers, mutual aid groups, and buy nothing groups, among others.  This convening would be charged with identifying ways to create further economies of scale for the cooperative economy in the district and find ways that there can be more public support for these groups.

• Pilot containerization on a commercial street. 
  Trash night is the worst form of New York exceptionalism.  It is a rat’s paradise and a pedestrian’s nightmare, with piles of bags clogging the sidewalks in a way few other cities tolerate.  Containers shared by multiple buildings don't just keep the rats away and provide more convenient ways to sort recyclables and compostable material, it reduces the energy and carbon footprint needed to haul it away.  I would work with a BID or other civic group to pilot a waste containerization pilot on a commercial street, building on the City’s commercial waste zones program.

• Invest in our kids as environmental stewards in their schools.
  The DOE is one of the largest purchasers of food in our country — and can have an impact on entire food systems in how it sources its food, from working with networks of farms on their own waste management to continuing efforts to reduce carbon-intensive meat consumption in our cafeterias. Furthermore a citywide commitment to composting in our schools — which has existed more in name than in practice — would have a direct impact on our waste systems and teach stewardship by our own students. While pushing citywide to use our purchasing power to influence our nation’s food systems, we can start immediately to ensure composting in schools is real, not fiction, working with community partners on handling compost as needed and on environmental education for every student in District 15.

Accelerate the Cleanup of Toxic Legacies in our Backyard

The Gowanus Canal and the surrounding areas have been burdened by a historic legacy of toxic industry. This historic pollution continues to be added to by combined sewage overflows (CSOs) from the City’s sewers that wash into the canal every time it rains.  Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has been a stalwart leader in getting the canal designated as a Superfund and overseeing the EPA’s work.  This work deserves to be done as quickly as possible.  

Together we can do this:

• Move quickly on the City’s commitments under the Superfund program.  At the municipal level, the Gowanus Canal cleanup begins with the City moving quickly on its responsibilities by building the stormwater detention tanks previously agreed to.  And the City’s investments in these tanks can be leveraged to make low-cost investments in and ensure continuous operations of community composting, public access, and other ecological programming in the model proposed by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and BIG Reuse.  

• Ensure sites are cleaned up to appropriate standards safe for residential uses.
  For the areas upland of the canal, I will be a strong advocate to get these sites cleaned up to appropriate standards safe for residential uses.  While there is an on-going state process to clean up the most contaminated sites adjacent to the canal, the pending Gowanus rezoning (see below) will allow for these sites to be cleaned up to standards that are safe for residences.  I will work to make sure the City and land owners are living up to their responsibilities here.

• Use the cleanup to spur pathways to green jobs. 
  The City can direct its workforce training funding to provide training and industry-recognized certifications to achieve jobs and pathways to the middle class in safe hazardous waste removal and other associated occupations. 

• Move forward on the Gowanus Rezoning if the conditions set by the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice are met. 
  At the same time, the decade-long community-led work to re-envision Gowanus as a resilient, mixed-use model neighborhood for the 21st Century should continue to move forward, provided that the conditions set by the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice are met.  Given the delays in the rezoning process, it is possible this issue may be decided in the next Council.  While I believe that comprehensive planning in a fair share framework is vital for the future of New York, we have the possibility of getting almost a thousand units of affordable housing, a new school, and a public park at Gowanus Green (as part of a joint venture that includes the non-profit Fifth Avenue Committee) in the coming years as the canal and upland sites are cleaned.  To move forward on the rezoning, it must be accompanied by fully funding NYCHA’s pressing capital needs at the Wyckoff and Gowanus Houses, investment to ensure net zero CSOs from new construction, and local oversight of an Environmental Justice Special District, among other goals sought by the Coalition.

• Gowanus is a generational project that we need to get right.
  Regardless of what happens with the rezoning, getting Gowanus right is a generational project, and if elected, I would pledge to be a leader in holding the City and other parties accountable for any commitments they make, and further advancing the vision of a resilient 21st Century neighborhood.