Locals rallied with mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Monday, demanding a full redesign of McGuinness Boulevard.
Picture by Ethan Stark-Miller
Greenpointers are demanding that the town implement a full highway eating regimen on McGuinness Boulevard amid allegations {that a} high mayoral aide was bribed to intrude with a Division of Transportation-approved redesign.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former chief advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, allegedly agreed to change the redesign in trade for money and a TV present cameo provided by Broadway Phases homeowners Gina and Anthony Argento, in keeping with indictments that Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg introduced final week.
The indictment was “vindicating” in some methods, stated Bronwyn Breitner, a neighborhood mother and founding member of Make McGuinness Protected. Locals had lengthy suspected that Lewis-Martin had moved behind the scenes to scuttle the venture.
“We’d been seeing really strange behavior by senior Adams officials,” stated Greenpoint resident Vincent Valdmans. “ … it was very clear at a certain point that the administration was not going to respect the process of its own DOT.”
McGuinness Boulevard on the nook of Greenpoint Avenue, the place two lanes of car visitors had been preserved. Picture by Kirstyn Brendlen
But it surely was additionally irritating.
“[The Argentos] have done a lot of good things for our community,” Breitner stated. “It’s hard to accept that these guys would put all of the neighbors of Greenpoint’s safety at risk.”
The combat over McGuinness Boulevard created a “rift” within the neighborhood, Breitner stated, one that also exists in the present day. And whereas a redesign was ultimately applied, it was watered-down and fewer secure than what had initially been promised.
“If these accusations are true, if Mayor Adams doesn’t want to be part of the corrupt landscape that influenced the safe streets redesign, he should go ahead and implement the rest of the road diet tomorrow,” Breitner stated. “There’s no reason not to.”
Lewis-Martin was concurrently charged in three different pay-to-play schemes. She pleaded not responsible to all costs final week, as did the Argentos.
Representatives for the Argentos have stated the siblings “did not engage in any wrongdoing” and “did nothing but exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Indictment was no shock to some
Gina Argento, who together with brother Anthony Argento allegedly bribed a metropolis official, turned herself in to the Manhattan DA final week. Picture by Dean Moses
Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents Greenpoint and Williamsburg, stated the indictment wasn’t a shock.
“I’ve never had the impression that Ingrid operates on the up-and-up,” he stated.
The pol informed Brooklyn Paper that Lewis-Martin was typically described as a “tornado” in Metropolis Corridor.
“If the tornado doesn’t touch you … you’re fine,” he stated. “And you just kind of continue to live your life and do your job. But when that tornado swept in, everything was turned upside-down.”
In the summertime of 2023, shortly after DOT finalized its plan to take away a lane of car visitors all the best way down McGuinness Boulevard and set up parking-protected bike lanes alongside the curb, Adams — allegedly at Lewis-Martin’s behest — ordered the company to provide you with one thing new.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin allegedly accepted bribes to scuttle the McGuinness Boulevard redesign.Picture by Dean Moses
“As a result, we, finally, after years of back-and-forth and the mayor changing his mind more times than any of us could count, ended up with an inadequate compromise plan,” Restler stated. “Now is the time for us to make every single block of McGuinness Boulevard safe.”
However Adams has stated he doesn’t plan to make any adjustments on McGuinness Boulevard.
“McGuinness was a win, to sit down and come to a resolution that both sides could agree on,” he stated at a press convention final week. “[F]rom my understanding, there were a lot of conversations, there were people on both sides of the issue, and you have to come to the middle.”
Adams additionally defended the Argentos, who he described as “wonderful people.”
“They’re great New Yorkers,” he stated. “They contribute in the area of their community, they give back, they’re very dedicated to the people of this city.”
Adams on Friday stated he didn’t have plans to make adjustments on McGuinness Boulevard, and defended the Argentos. Picture courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace
Adams’ son, Jordan Coleman, reportedly labored on a present filmed at Broadway Phases — the identical present Lewis-Martin appeared on two years later — in 2020.
Mamdani and Cuomo on McGuinness
At a press convention on McGuinness Boulevard on Monday, mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani pledged to implement the total redesign – together with a number of different stalled street-safety tasks throughout the town — if elected.
“As mayor, I understand the crises that we are facing, and I understand that the core of the fight to serve this city is a love of this city, and a love of the people who call this city home,” he stated. “We will make McGuinness safe, we will make New York City safe.”
Mamdani and his supporters additionally criticized Andrew Cuomo, who’s working as an Impartial within the November mayoral election.
“Andrew Cuomo doesn’t have a street-safety plan,” Restler stated. “He doesn’t have a plan to create a network of protected bike lanes, he doesn’t have a plan to speed up buses. He only cares about driving his muscle cars.”
In an announcement, Cuomo spokesperson Wealthy Azzopardi stated the marketing campaign would “have to review the plan,” however is mostly “in favor of anything that can achieve the stated goals of increasing pedestrian safety and decreasing fatalities.”
If Mamdani loses, native pols stated, they’re ready to maintain preventing for the total redesign. Meeting Member Emily Gallagher stated the town set a regarding precedent when it determined to take away the protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue with out warning.
“I think we should be prepared to fight just as hard as we’ve ever fought for this road,” she stated. “The one thing about this community is, we are indefatigable. We will not stop.”
