McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn will receive additional street safety measures, including the extension of protected bike lanes, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday, announcing the latest twist for the dangerous road at the center of a corruption scandal under Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
Speaking at Father Studzinski Square, Mamdani said each direction of the boulevard will include one travel lane, one parking protected bike lane, and a vehicular parking and loading lane, adding that the project is set to commence as soon as the weather warms. It is similar to an earlier proposal that was watered down by Adams. Prosecutors in Manhattan alleged last year that Adams’ chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin had accepted more than $10,000 in bribes from the prominent owners of a Greenpoint-based film production company to meddle in the project.
To Mamdani, the scandal was a sign of Adams’ willingness to put moneyed interests over safety. Advocates pointed to McGuinness as a sign that neighborhood-level street safety projects had become fodder for old-school New York City corruption.
“The city committed to a redesign of McGuinness Boulevard,” Mamdani said. “That commitment promised to deliver the safety and improvements that residents had been asking for until the prior administration bowed to big money interests, leaving the project incomplete and Greenpointers still at risk. Today, however, there is a new mayor in City Hall.”
Mamdani’s move represented the fulfilment of a campaign promise. As a candidate for mayor, he held a rally on McGuinness Boulevard in August, vowing to complete the original project if elected.
McGuinness Boulevard, a wide arterial roadway running from the Pulaski Bridge to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, has long been considered one of Greenpoint’s most dangerous streets. The corridor has a history of serious crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists, prompting city transportation officials to propose a major redesign aimed at slowing traffic and reducing injuries. Street safety advocates pushed aggressively for an overhaul of the road beginning in 2021, when a popular teacher, Matthew Jensen, was killed by a hit and run driver.
“McGuinness Boulevard should stitch Greenpoint together, not divide it in half,” said newly appointed Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn. “These upgrades will make it safer and easier for children and parents to cross the street. They’ll protect cyclists, reduce reckless driving, and transform what can feel like a highway into a calmer neighborhood street.”
Earlier versions of the project called for removing a vehicle lane in each direction, installing protected bike lanes and shortening pedestrian crossings from the Pulaski Bridge to below the BQE. The plan won support from the local community board and street-safety advocates, but it also faced fierce opposition from some residents and elected officials who warned it would increase congestion and harm local businesses.
Ultimately, Adams sided with critics, approving a scaled-down version of the project that divided the project into two sections, with the stretch closest to the Pulaski receiving a barrier-protected bike lane. Street safety advocates have frequently clashed with local businesses as bike lanes have proliferated across the city over the past two decades. Recently, a Queens judge blocked an Astoria bike lane in what was an unusual legal victory for the plaintiffs.
The Adams administration’s reasons for changing the plan were unclear, until Manhattan prosecutors charged Lewis-Martin with accepting $2,500 and $10,000 worth of free catering at Gracie Mansion in exchange for interfering with the project for Tony and Gina Argento, the sibling owners of the Broadway Stages production company.
Prosecutors alleged the Argentos also arranged for Lewis-Martin to make a brief appearance on the “Godfather of Harlem” television show. Both the Argentos and Lewis-Martin have pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing.
Ryan Kost, Jessica Gould, Christian Santana
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