Mourning a Death, Reimagining a Street

The city finally redesigned this intersection on 9th St after a cyclist was killed in 2023. But at the victim’s vigil, both her family and transit advocates said the changes didn’t go far enough. 

Mourners placed candles at a shrine to Sarah Schick, the cyclist who was slain by a box truck on 9th St and 2nd Ave in 2023.

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

When Sarah Schick was hit and killed by a box truck two years ago while riding an e-bike at the intersection of Ninth Street and Second Avenue, the tragedy ignited a firestorm of local activism. A week later, nearly 100 people staged a mass ‘die-in’ at the crash site, sprawling in the street as vexed drivers jeered at them to clear the way. At the same event, advocates with all-caps posters confronted the Department of Transportation’s head, Ydanis Rodriguez, demanding to know why safety measures had been delayed despite years of community complaints, and skewering the agency’s “terrible track record.”

On Friday evening, at a vigil commemorating the second anniversary of Schick’s death, the scene was more muted. And it offered glimpses into the parallel stories of how families, neighborhoods, and the city itself engage with a tragedy as time wears on.

2023 marked a 24-year high for the number of bicyclist deaths, the majority of which involved e-bikes, even as the fatality rate has steadily decreased, an indicator that biking in the city has become safer on the whole.

In Northwest Brooklyn, Ninth Street is notorious for dangerous traffic — at its junction with Fifth Avenue, per public data, 15 cyclists and pedestrians have been injured by collisions with cars since 2011. In 2018, a driver with multiple sclerosis ran a red light at the same intersection, killing two children and causing the mother of one victim, the Tony Award-winning actor Ruthie Ann Blumenstein, to later miscarry.

In the wake of that incident, Rodriguez and the DOT took action, as the agency had in 2004, after two boys were struck and killed by a truck on Ninth Street and Third Avenue. Back then, the artery was redesigned to include a protected bike lane starting at Prospect Park West, but construction stopped short at Third Avenue, leaving the remainder of Ninth Street up to Smith Street unchanged.

The logic went like this: that stretch, a mostly grey swath of Gowanus, was less residential and therefore lower priority. Yet in the subsequent 2018 redesign, even as the area gentrified and its population rose, the gauntlet below Third Street was spurned again.

“We shouldn’t have to wait until the bridge is broken or someone falls before we fix the bridge,” said State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who shared at Schick’s memorial that his family had also lost someone to a crash, albeit 70 years ago. (“That pain still lives with us to this day, and we never forget it,” he said. “We just channel it to create a better place for us all.”)

A law called the NYC Streets Plan mandates that the city install at least 50 miles of protected bike lanes each year from 2023 to 2026, and a total of 250 miles from 2022 to 2026. Yet only 24 of the 50 were installed in 2024, leaving the DOT behind pace: it currently sits at a mere 85 of the 250 miles of protected lanes the law asks for by next year.

It took Schick’s death in 2023 to force the DOT’s hand on Ninth Street, creating enough public pressure to actualize the long-awaited extension of protected bike lanes down to Smith Street.

“The current design of this corridor is safer than it was before,” states a joint letter from Transportation Alternatives, Families for Safe Streets, CM Shahana Hanif, Brooklyn CB6, and Maxime Le Mounier, the widower of Schick, to Mayor Eric Adams and DOT Commissioner Rodriguez. “But there is room for improvement.”

What would it take to make Ninth Street safe in its entirety, then? The letter, which was distributed at the event, outlines over 20 targeted fixes. The primary suggestion is to beef up physical barriers to shield the lanes, which it notes were promised in the 2023 update but remain absent for about 75% of the corridor. Flimsy ‘flex-posts’ were earmarked for replacement during a public forum two years ago; that has yet to happen. The most effective change, the signees argue, would be to harden all barriers using metal bollards, jersey barriers, or planters.

Another ask is to hold traffic and parking violators accountable on a more consistent basis. The letter calls out local business Ferrantino Fuel by name, which it says contributes to the chronic blocking of bike lanes. And in the long run, those present advocated for cracking down on cars parked in bikers’ throughways while working to connect the protected lanes as part of a larger, borough-wide network.

“We know that there are tools — high quality networks of protected bike lanes, daylighting, and adequate enforcement — that can keep tragedies like this from ever happening again,” said Ben Furnas, the newly-appointed executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “We’re calling on the city to take these steps to improve Ninth Street.”

The DOT signaled it was open to further discussion, without naming specifics. “Safety is our top priority, and we’re laser focused on making it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to get around our city,” said a spokesperson by email. “We will review Transportation Alternatives’ concerns and continue to monitor the success of the safety enhancements we have already made at this intersection.”

At the vigil, activists, elected officials, and family and friends formed a united front on the street corner outside a Tesla dealership, speaking to a small camera crew. Yet after the initial public statements, the gathering split into separate camps: officials and nonprofit reps talked shop, while mourners speaking French hovered by the candlelit shrine.

That division reflected the sometimes complementary, occasionally awkward nature of the event — both a rally for policy change, and a memorial for a person whose life and influence extended far beyond the tight-knit world of transportation advocacy.

“It has been two years since we have been living in slow motion: laughing on the outside but crying on the inside,” Schick’s father said, via a text read aloud by a family friend. “We still don’t have the words to express our immense grief.”

“Everywhere on this planet and throughout time,” the text continued, as trucks and bikers whizzed by the shrine, oblivious, “there are always stars shining in the night. Maybe they are not stars but rather openings in the sky where the love of our departed loved ones shines down on us to let us know they are happy.”

Timeline: Scooter Robberies, Biden’s Polling and other highlights from the Week of January 12th

Courtesy: Governor Newsom’s X Account

By Olivia Graffeo

Here’s your weekly recap of news from around the city, nation, and world:

1. Man Commits Eleven Robberies Aboard Scooter Wielding Knife

Over the months of November and December, a man riding a dark colored scooter robbed eleven men throughout Brooklyn and Queens. With most of the robberies taking place in the late-night or early-morning hours, the suspect rode up on a scooter, targeting victims for cash, cellphones, and jewelry. The crimes occurred in the Brooklyn areas of Bushwick and East New York, as well as Ridgewood in Queens. The man is said to wield a silver knife, which he uses to threaten his victims. While there have been no reports of injuries from the robber, he could be considered dangerous.

2. Poll Shows Nearly Half of Respondents Consider Biden a “Failed President”

In a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll, 44% of those surveyed said they believed history would consider Joe Biden a failed president. Another 27% said they would consider him a fair president, with even lower numbers considering him “good” or “great.” With Donald Trump about to take the White House for a second time next week, 44% of the survey’s respondents also reported that they believe history will view him as a failed president as well. Biden’s presidency has been rife with turmoil, with many citing disapproval of his handling of military pullout of Afghanistan as well as rising inflation rates. Biden’s approval rate dipped into the negatives in the fall of 2021, and never raised back into positives.

3. Hamas Accepts Draft Cease Agreement

After fifteen months of war and tens of thousands dead, a ceasefire deal might have finally been reached between the state of Israel and Hamas. Negotiators of all sides have confirmed that Hamas believes talks to be in “the final stage,” which would allow for a ceasefire. “I believe we will get a ceasefire,” “It’s right on the brink. It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” and word could come within hours, or days,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The ceasefire would bring respite to Gaza, where 90% of the population has been displaced and at risk of starvation. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet would have to approve the agreement, world leaders are optimistic about this particular ceasefire. Civilians on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, have been protesting fervently for a stop to the war.

4. Some Lawmakers Pushing for Delay in January 19th TikTok Ban

TikTok, the popular social media platform with over 150 million American users, is set to be banned in the United States on Sunday, January 19th. The decision to ban the app from being downloaded in the country was due to its Chinese owners, with many citing issues of foreign security. However, citizens and some lawmakers have spoken against the planned ban, declaring it an infringement on free speech. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey recently announced his plan to submit legal action to U.S. courts in order to delay the ban by another 270 days, allowing for more arguments to be heard. Not only do many believe a ban negates their first amendment rights, but it would also hurt thousands of content creators who use the app as a form of employment. While President-Elector Donald Trump was in favor of banning the app in his first term, he has now changed his tune and has called for a delay on the ban so his administration can solve the issue through compromise.

5. Los Angeles Wildfires Continue to Rage, 25 People Dead

The wildfires that have consumed Southern California have continued burning this week. The destruction has caused the deaths of 25 people as well as 60 miles of land. Los Angeles County firefighters have reported that they are bracing for the Santa Ana winds to reach the fires, which are expected to fan the flames and cause even more devastation. While forecasters believe this week’s fires won’t be as dangerous as last week’s, residents continue to worry. Experts have commented on the fires, noting that climate change could be making an impact in the large-scale wildfires. “Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States,” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While firefighters work to stop the flames from growing, 88,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. Many who have been displaced by the fires are facing further challenges in securing housing. Though illegal, some rents have increased since the emergency began, making housing even harder to acquire for those who need it most.

6. John F. Kennedy International Airport Invites Queens Businesses to Open Storefronts in Terminal 6

The Queens Economic Development Corporation has announced that John F. Kennedy Airport is inviting headquartered Queens businesses to open locations within Terminal 6. Businesses now have an opportunity to expand and open a kiosk or storefront in the new terminal. According to the QEDC, “The purpose of this program is to create meaningful opportunities for local businesses within the community of Queens. Businesses that participate will receive help with: outreach, procurement, day-to-day operations, marketing, funding for design, construction, and basic fixturing.” The deadline to submit an application is January 17th.

 

Bite-Sized Borough History: Two Labadists in Gowanus

Long before the canal, two Dutch travelers wrote down their colorful impressions of a marshland called Gowanus. Here’s what they found.

W.H. Bartlett’s “View from Gowanus Heights, Brooklyn” is from 1839, but it offers a sense of how sparsely populated the neighborhood was until relatively recently.

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

The Gowanus didn’t always stink of sewage. Once upon a time, it stank of regular old swamp, and was lush enough that to two overseas travelers it seemed like a cornucopia.

In 1679, Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter set off from the Dutch island of Texel to find a place to establish a community for their religious sect of Labadism, a variety of Lutheranism. Their first stop was New Amsterdam, and the even newer settlements across the East River — the town of Breukelen, “which has a small and ugly little church standing in the middle of the road,” and a tiny and dispersed hamlet to its south called ‘Gouanes.’

For a brief sense of how heavily populated the area was in the 17th century, one can look to transportation infrastructure as a proxy, and specifically the state of the ferries. In 1642, the Dutch West India company greenlit a boat to run between South Street Seaport and DUMBO, in today’s terms, and entrusted the Brooklyn landing to a man named Cornell Dircksen. 

It wasn’t very high-tech, even by that era’s standards: in his book Gowanus, Joseph Alexiou writes that “travelers wishing to cross the river would go to the water’s edge, where a conch shell hung from the branch of an old tree. The conch call would summon [a] farmhand, who would leave his plough and retrieve a roughly hewn boat hidden under some nearby bushes.”

But back to the two Labadists, wandering through Gowanus a few decades after Dircksen launched the borough’s first ferry. Much of their observations centered on food, such as the milk, cider, fruit, tobacco, and especially the “miserable rum or brandy which had been brought from Barbados” and which local settlers — whose fortunes were in some cases made by forcing enslaved people to build tide mills along the creek — were hooked on. 

The duo were treated to venison, oysters, and watermelons, and were struck by how bountiful the harbor was: Danckaerts saw “fish both large and small, whales, tunnies and porpoises, whole schools of innumerable other fish, which the eagles and other birds of prey swiftly seize in their talons.”

The Dutch travelers went on to meet the oldest European woman on the continent, or so her children said, who owned a peach orchard among the plantations farther inland in Gowanus. The diarist described a pack of wild hogs that feasted on fallen peaches while the proprietor, originally from the city of Liège in current-day Belgium, offered the travelers cider as she expertly blew “plumes of blue smoke around her guests” with her pipe. 

Danckaerts and Sluyter ricocheted about the bay, returned home to the Netherlands, and came back once more in 1680. It’s clear that they were taken with New York, yet they finally found luck for their designs in Maryland, where a local Dutch merchant granted them a plot of land. 

But their settlement never grew larger than 100 people, and it dissolved completely by 1720. Luckily, their diaries — and descriptions of a marshy Gowanus teeming with wildlife — have had a much longer afterlife. 

Have an idea for a intriguing person, place, or event in Brooklyn’s past? Email jdelaney@queensledger.com to have it featured in next week’s issue!

Timeline: Crime is down, Justin Trudeau resigns, and other highlights from the week of January 5th

Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tish gave a press conference celebrating the year-end crime statistics. Courtesy nyc.gov

By Olivia Graffeo

Here’s your weekly recap of news from around the city, nation, and world:

1. Murder and Shooting Rates in NYC Down 5% From Last Year

In a recent press conference with Mayor Eric Adams and new Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, it was reported that major crime, including shootings and murders, are down by 5%. While there were 391 murders in New York City in 2023, last year tracked only 377. In addition, 2023 showed almost 50 more people shot. “This translates to 3,362 fewer incidents of major crime last year compared to the year before — and these are not just numbers,” Tisch said. Despite the recent highly publicized acts of violence on the subway, a 5% decrease in major crimes was also found there. Tisch and Adams noted plans to increase police presence on New York City subways even more, with 200 officers rolled out this week. A new plan to increase police presence in certain high-crime “zones” is also being implemented, with reports of positive outcomes during a trial in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, rates of rapes, domestic violence, felony assaults, and stranger attacks have increased in the city. 

2. New Orleans Had Visited the City Twice Before to Conduct Surveillance

The alleged attacker who killed fourteen people at a New Years celebration on News Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street apparently visited the city to conduct surveillance. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a former U.S. Army soldier, drove his truck into a crowd of people that left over a dozen dead and even more injured. The truck was outfitted with technology to ignite two bombs he had previously placed, but they did not detonate. Afterwards, Jabbar exited his vehicle and shot at police before he was killed by the returning fire. FBI investigators reported that after Jabbar’s time in the military, he became inspired by the terrorist group ISIS, revealed through flags and other materials in his possession. As more information has come to light, officials have found that Jabbar had visited New Orleans (from his home in Houston) twice in the weeks prior to the attack. Records show that Jabbar rode around the city on a bicycle, recording his surroundings with “smart-glasses,” which he later used to map the area he would kill in. Investigators are still looking into any possible motives Jabbar could have had, and any accomplices domestic or foreign. New Orleans has expressed to the public they are working to beef up security measures, especially ahead of next month’s Super Bowl. Mourners have gathered throughout the city to pay respects for the fourteen people killed. 

3. Donald Trump Interested in Buying Greenland, Staff Visit This Week

This week, some of President-Elect Donald Trump’s staff, including his son Donald Jr. visited the country of Greenland. While Greenland is technically owned by the country of Denmark, it is governed autonomously. Trump first expressed interest in buying Greenland in his first term, noting possible strategic assets for America. He has touched on the idea again, saying controlling Greenland is “an absolute necessity.” However, Greenland’s Prime Minister, Múte Egede, has made it very clear that he has no objective or intention to help broker such a deal. “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom,” Egede said. Greenland is not the only place Donald Trump has set his sights on acquiring. In recent statements, Trump noted that America could possibly take control of the Panama Canal, which was met with similarly negative sentiments from President Mulino. In addition, Trump said that Canada could possibly become America’s 51st state. 

4. Brazilian Woman Kills Family Members with Poisoned Cake

On December 23 in a small town in Brazil, three women died and three other family members hospitalized from what was found to be a poisoned cake. Brazilian police have arrested a woman, another member of the family, but have not released her identity. The woman allegedly poisoned the cake with arsenic, a highly toxic chemical, resulting in fatalities and injuries. “To give an idea, 35 micrograms are enough to cause the death of a person. In one of the victims there was a concentration 350 times higher,” said Marguet Mittman, Forensic police director of Rio Grande do Sul. Calls have now been made to exhume the body of another man in the family who had reportedly died in September from food poisoning. Brazilian authorities are looking into motives for the crime, but reports from family say relations were mostly “harmonious.”

5. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Resigns 

First elected as Leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister of Canada in 2015, Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation after nearly ten years in office. Calls for Trudeau to step down have been mounting for months, many from those in his own party. With Canadian federal elections eight months away, Liberal Party members do not believe Trudeau will be able to win the seat again. Polling shows conservative numbers only growing in Canada during a cost-of-living crisis. This has only been exacerbated by President-Elect Donald Trump’s threats to place a 25% tariff onto Canada. Until the Liberal Party chooses a replacement for Trudeau, he will remain Prime Minister. “… I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians,” Trudeau said. “Removing me as the leader who will fight the next election for the party should decrease the polarization that we have right now,”

The City is About to Conduct its Annual Homelessness Survey. It Needs Your Help.

City officials speak at an event in 2023 about initiatives to address the city’s rising homeless population. Photo: NY City Council

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

What you need to know: 

  • The HOPE survey is an annual estimate of how many people in New York are homeless but living on the street, rather than in shelters.
  • The Department of Homeless Services relies on volunteers to carry out the citywide survey, which will take place on January 28.
  • Critics say the count is inaccurate and downplays the scale of the problem, while officials stress that the data remains vital for supporting those who are chronically unhoused.

Read on: 

In just a few weeks, thousands of volunteers will fan out across every borough to ask a simple question: “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”

City agencies track the number of people staying overnight in shelters. But the purpose of the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) survey, now entering its 20th year, is to determine the size of another population: those in New York City who are currently sleeping in public spaces like streets and subway stations, eschewing the shelter system.

This year’s survey comes at an inflection point, as homelessness hits highs not seen since the Great Depression. As of October 2024, the last month on record, the Coalition for the Homeless estimates that around 350,000 New Yorkers were without homes. For reference, during the recession of the early 1990s, the city’s total population was just over 7 million, and about 6,000 people were using shelters each night. Today, with 8 million residents, that system is absorbing more than 130,000 people nightly. 

Searching for answers to explain this spike, economists have traced the problem back to the gradual loss of single occupancy rooms that began in the 1950s. Current pressures —  an historically low rental vacancy rate, a rise in asylum seekers, and a political atmosphere that makes non-punitive reform a poison pill — have exacerbated the issue. And while New York City is feeling the housing crisis acutely, it’s not an outlier. A nationwide point-in-time survey conducted last January by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that 771,480 people were homeless, which is the largest unhoused population the country has ever seen, up 13% from 2023. 

Last year’s HOPE census marshalled 1,181 volunteers, complemented by a small contingent of professional outreach staff. DHS reintroduced volunteers in 2023, after halting community involvement during the pandemic, and will continue to train volunteers virtually for the upcoming count.

But the survey, mandated by the federal government and organized by the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS), has not escaped controversy. On its website, the agency calls the initiative “one of the most methodologically rigorous efforts nationwide to estimate the number of individuals who are experiencing street homelessness” — yet it has drawn criticism in the past for allegedly lowballing the real figures.

In 2016, City & State reported that activists were disputing that year’s HOPE results, which had suggested that street homelessness was declining. Critics like Mary Brosnahan, then-head of the Coalition for the Homeless, decried the fact that the survey only includes New Yorkers who have been on the street for more than a year, and argued that it was a means for city officials to downplay the scale of homelessness.

“Any rational person would agree,” said Brosnahan at the time, “that sending volunteers out on a single, bitterly-cold night in the dead of winter and attempting to count the heads of those who appear homeless is a preposterous way to accurately gauge the magnitude of the problem.” 

Officials countered that the count is not meant to be a “comprehensive survey of all homeless people living on the city’s streets,” but rather a snapshot of a smaller subset struggling with particularly chronic homelessness. 

In an email to community boards this month, a DHS spokesperson stressed the pivotal role that the resulting data plays in guiding the agency’s operations. “We depend on community leaders like you,” they wrote. “Just one night of your time will help us collect information that is critical to our efforts to move New Yorkers from the streets and into safe, stable environments.”

The HOPE survey is scheduled for January 28, and will run from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. If you’re interested in volunteering, you can find more information at https://hoperegistration.cityofnewyork.us/.

Congestion Pricing Launches, to Cheers and Boos

 

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber holds a press conference on Sunday, in the hours before congestion pricing is rolled out. Courtesy of MTA

By Jack Delaney jdelaney@queensledger.com

What you need to know:

  • Congestion pricing took effect this week, charging drivers $9 to enter a ‘relief zone’ in Manhattan that starts at 60th Street.
  • The EZ Pass system crashed on the first workday, but the rollout was generally uneventful.
  • Traffic seemed better in the opening days, though the sample size is still small.
  • Outer borough politicians vowed to continue fighting the initiative, calling it a ‘scam.’
  • The MTA said it would use the $20 million generated by the toll to fund improvements to public transit.

Read on:

Congestion pricing launched last Sunday, one minute after midnight. The long-awaited — or long-dreaded, for some — initiative has been hotly contested, and was celebrated by a small crowd of public transportation enthusiasts, who amassed at the edge of the tolling zone to cheer on the earliest cars to pay the new fee. 

Yet after decades of tooth-and-nail fighting over whether the program would spell doom or deliverance for Manhattan, its first week has been surprisingly mundane. On Sunday, average travel speed for cars within the zone was initially higher than usual, which indicates that traffic was perhaps being reduced. But by later in the day it had slowed again, to below the benchmark from 2024, making it hard to gauge the toll’s impact on congestion.

The real test was Monday, a workday. Public data compiled by Joshua and Benjamin Moises into this visualiser (https://www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com/) shows that commute times were significantly faster during rush hour than previous weeks, though a major caveat is in order: a winter storm brought snow and icy conditions, so it’s difficult to establish congestion pricing as the cause. There were other hiccups, too. The EZ Pass system briefly crashed around noon, though it quickly came back online.

Janno Lieber, CEO of the MTA, cautioned against expecting instant results during a television spot that morning, and predicted that any disruptions would be temporary. He noted that despite the operation involving 1,400 cameras, over 110 detection points, over 800 signs and 400 lanes of traffic, sailing had been for the most part smooth. “We’re headed in the right direction,” he told NY1. “This is like everything in New York. We tend to argue about it in a very zero-sum way, and when it’s implemented, people adapt and move on.”

Others were less sage. City Council Member Bob Holden of Queens, who has sued the MTA over allegations that congestion pricing discriminates against the outer boroughs, predicted (perhaps wishfully) that it would soon be nixed again. Congressman Mike Lawler of Rockland County was of a similar mind, calling the toll a ‘scam’ and a “cash grab from hard-working, middle-class New Yorkers.” 

Sunday represented the culmination of a 70-year political rollercoaster ride, the outcome of which remained uncertain through the final stretch. Congestion pricing for the city was first floated in 1952 by young economist William Vickrey, who would later win a Nobel Prize, but it faced staunch opposition through the 70s despite support from Mayor John Lindsay. In 1980, a plan that would have prevented single-person cars from entering Manhattan was dropped, as was Mayor Ed Koch’s proposal in 1987 to charge drivers $10 to enter the borough. 

Congestion pricing gained real traction in the late 2010s, when Governor Andrew Cuomo sought to use it to shore up funding shortfalls. It was passed as part of the 2019 budget, with a timeline to be realized by 2021 — but it drew the ire of representatives from New Jersey and Staten Island, whose drivers were already absorbing high tolls from bridges and tunnels. Nonetheless, a $15 charge was greenlit in 2023. Yet Governor Hochul unexpectedly halted the rollout in June of last year, citing the need to recalibrate pricing, only to revive it in November. Even then, the saga continued. This past Friday, mere days before the toll was set to be rolled out, a judge denied a last-ditch attempt by the state of New Jersey to temporarily block it. And the imminent inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump, a vocal critic of the toll, leaves its future unclear.

The MTA expects the new tolls to rake in $20 billion per year, which it will use to fund improvements to public transportation (see graphic). Courtesy of MTA

New York is the first city in the country to enact a congestion pricing scheme of this scale. Evidence from other jurisdictions around the globe that have similar tolls in place, such as London, which introduced the policy in 2003 and now charges the equivalent of $18, suggest that changes may be uneven. London saw an immediate reduction in traffic that gradually leveled out, though according to some correlative studies it has cushioned the impact of congestion — reducing it by around 10% between 2000 and 2012 — as the city grows. Stockholm, Milan, and Singapore have analogous tolls; in Milan, a charge of 5 euros led to around a 30% drop in car usage, which was still true four years after implementation.

For many supporters, improving commute times is only one expected benefit of the new tolls. Another target is reducing emissions, which by some estimates could be cut by up to 20% within the relief zone. Just as central are the MTA’s chronic budget woes, which congestion pricing is meant to ameliorate both through the toll money itself, as well as by nudging more New Yorkers to use the public transportation system. 

“We want to encourage trucks to do more deliveries at night, we want improvements to vehicle speeds especially for buses, we want to make sure that emergency response vehicles can get where they are going faster,” said Lieber. “And I hope drivers will take another look at the speed and convenience of mass transit.”

As it stands in NYC, congestion pricing entails a $9 toll once per day for drivers entering the relief zone in Manhattan, which runs southwards starting at 60th Street. But that fee is variable: if you don’t use EZ Pass, for example, you’ll be charged $13.50. The full fare only takes effect during peak hours — 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends — so overnight trips will cost drivers $2.25 for the former window, and $3.30 for the latter. The rush-hour price will increase to $12 in 2028, before rising to $15 in 2031.

A range of exemptions and discounts also apply. Low income drivers may qualify for a half-price toll, which kicks in after the first 10 trips each month. New Yorkers with disabilities that prevent them from taking public transit may be exempted from the toll entirely. And for-hire drivers, whose passengers pay a roughly $2 congestion fee for traveling into Manhattan, will be spared the toll but will pass on an additional $1.50 to their riders. 

Over the past decade, both Uber and Lyft have spent millions lobbying for congestion pricing. Per the New York Post, from 2015 to 2019 Uber alone spent $2 million on advocacy to promote the initiative, which proponents have projected will reduce traffic by up to 20% within the relief zone, in the hopes that it will spur more commuters using their own cars to rely on rideshare apps instead.

The MTA has announced that it will use the proceeds from the toll, which it projects will be $20 billion a year, to back bonds that will fund a range of transit upgrades. Eighty percent of the revenue generated will go to capital improvements on city subways and buses, 10% to the Metro-North Railroad, and 10% percent to the Long Island Rail Road. The initial projects will include signal modernization for the A and C trains in Brooklyn, plus new ramps for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. 

“Congestion pricing will reduce traffic, improve our air quality, and increase street safety all while generating critical revenue to modernize the MTA’s subway and bus systems,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of the Department of Transportation. “We are closely coordinating with the MTA on the rollout of congestion pricing this weekend and we continue to work to reimagine our streets, making it easier than ever to travel to and through Manhattan’s core without a car.”

Ultimately, the toll’s first week was a Rorschach test, as boosters and detractors alike claimed vindication. The former camp saw a miraculously uncongested city, hinting at a more climate-friendly status quo; the latter just saw snowy roads, and an unfair tax on drivers. Until more data arrives, the proverbial jury is out. 

What To Do About Myrtle and Broadway? Rez Have Thoughts.

The intersection of Myrtle Ave and Broadway has faced chronic problems, mainly public drug use and homelessness. At a town hall, Bushwick and Bed-Stuy residents told officials they want to see change — now. 

Assembly Member Maritza Davila (far left) teed up a report from Deputy Inspector David Poggioli (right, standing) on crime statistics for the Myrtle Ave and Broadway intersection. Photo: Jack Delaney

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

What you need to know:

  • Residents near the intersection of Myrtle and Broadway in Bushwick/Bed-Stuy, especially small biz owners, have complained for years about public drug use and unhoused people loitering on the street.
  • Local politicians hosted a town hall to update the community on what law enforcement, nonprofits, and their own offices are doing to address the problem, and to brainstorm new solutions.
  • Attendees agreed that a priority was better lighting in the corridor, while officials cited the way district maps are drawn as one reason why funding has been delayed.
  • One resident suggested that an overdose prevention center was needed, which divided the room — some shopkeepers were curious, but politicians remained wary.

Read on:

At a town hall on the Friday before Christmas, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick residents pressed local officials for a concrete plan of action to address substance abuse and homelessness around the long-fraught intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Broadway.

The complaints are familiar: in an article this October, the New York Times quoted a Bushwick resident who called the area “probably the worst intersection in the entire city.” Accurate or not, the connotation has been difficult to shake. In 2016 and 2018, respectively, spikes in the sale of laced K2 led to over 100 overdoses in the corridor alone. Along with drug use, housing insecurity has been persistent, even as the surrounding neighborhoods gentrify rapidly. In 2023, as glittering condos went up only blocks away, Bushwick Daily reported that hundreds of asylum seekers were being housed in “crowded rooms without access to showers or proper food,” in an empty building by the Myrtle Av/Broadway subway station. And on December 16, a large fire further damaged the intersection’s already iffy infrastructure.

No-Shows and Map Woes

The forum, which aimed to cover “sanitation issues, unhoused individuals, mental health, and substance abuse,” had an inauspicious start: four of the five elected officials who were slated to appear did not show, sending aides instead, and one—Council Member Chi Ossé—did not send any representative from his office whatsoever. Likewise, the MTA and Department of Sanitation (DSNY) were absent, merely passing along a written statement. 

The evening was emceed by the one prominent politician who did attend, Assembly Member Maritza Davila, whose district encompasses Bushwick and Williamsburg. Before opening the floor for input from residents, she summarized the problem at hand.

“We are here today,” Davila said, “because everyone obviously knows that we are having a lot of issues on the corridors of Broadway and Myrtle. We are aware that there are people who are homeless. We are aware that there are a lot of issues with drugs. Straphangers that take these trains are usually very afraid to go through these corridors, because they don’t feel safe.”

Yet Davila also hammered home a rationale for why progress had been slow in coming, a bugbear — or scapegoat, depending on one’s perspective — which would be reiterated again and again throughout the evening: district maps. 

“About four or five years ago, we tried to tackle it,” she explained, invoking the K2 epidemic. “We went out, we had press conferences, we got programs to come out. We did everything we could. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out because of the way [the corridors] are split up politically. We all try to get on the same page, but it doesn’t always work like that.”

Here is the issue: to the northeast, on the Bushwick side, there is City Council District 34, Assembly District 53, Senate District 18, and Congressional District 7. To the southwest, the Bed-Stuy contingent comprises City Council District 36, Assembly District 56, Senate District 25, and Congressional District 8. If the numbers start to swim, the upshot is that the intersection falls under the jurisdiction of eight different offices, which makes it difficult to wrangle which of them should take responsibility.

The headache worsens when you account for city agencies, which have their own logistical challenges. “Just to piggyback,” said Assistant Police Chief Scott Henderson, “you see it’s one area, right? But it’s actually three different precincts, so they have to think collaboratively and cooperate.”

Nevertheless, Davila struck a positive note as she shifted to fielding residents’ questions. “It takes a village,” she said. “We have the right people here today so that we can come up with a plan to move forward.”

A Matter of Lighting?

First up was Mr. Rivera, the owner of a 24-hour florist’s shop two blocks down from the intersection. After he introduced himself, he was briefly drowned out by a round of applause — since opening his store a year ago, other residents said, public drug use in its vicinity had decreased significantly. 

Via a translator, Rivera said that he had migrated to the U.S. in 2023, and noticed ‘a lot’ of panhandlers in the area who would physically harass passersby, as well as unhoused people who had pulled their pants down near families in the community. 

His main request was for more street-level lighting, which Davila immediately amplified. “Myrtle and Broadway has always been a dark area to walk,” she said, turning to Deputy Inspector Khandakar Abdullah of the NYPD’s 81st Precinct. “What can we do differently?” Abdullah replied that his office had received 11 calls in 2024 relating to homelessness, and that he would raise the issue of lighting with other agencies.

Myrtle and Broadway from above. At the town hall, almost everyone present agreed that insufficient lighting was contributing to safety issues. Photo: Google Earth

Rivera also wanted to see better dialogue between police and residents, since he said there was a lot of distrust. Specifically, he asked for more community events, to which the NYPD officers present responded that each patrol unit hosts quarterly ‘Build the Block’ meetings to solicit feedback.

The next question came from Jalisha Hunte, a Bed-Stuy resident who attends Community Board 3 meetings. Were political lines really enough to explain the dysfunction she had witnessed for years at the intersection?

Yes, said Alexis Rodriguez, deputy chief of staff for Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who seconded Davila’s earlier comments. Even if one elected official wanted to earmark funds for addiction services or better lighting, he or she could not guarantee that other crucial stakeholders would also prioritize the issue.

Hunte was dissatisfied with those explanations, however, and with the forum’s narrow framing as a whole. 

“I’ve lived in the neighborhood all my life,” she said. “I used to walk home [from school], and I had to walk through these streets, and it was terrible. It’s gotten a lot better, but the entire strip of Broadway is in trouble, right? I get that we’re having a meeting about Broadway and Myrtle, but there are other corners like Broadway and Flushing that are way worse — where people are laid out in the street coming from the psych ward, and don’t have help. This is a collective thing on Broadway, so what plans do you guys have to work together to fix that? Because if this is something I’ve been noticing all my life, that means it’s at least a 35-year-old issue.”

Davila pushed back, calling Hunte — jokingly, it seemed — a “whippersnapper” and flexing her local bona fides. She had been in Bushwick during the power outage of 1977, which many historians view as the neighborhood’s darkest hour, in this case literally. On July 13th of that year, a pair of lightning bolts downed a substation, two lines, and a critical plant, cutting electricity for the entire city. Soon looting broke out, and upwards of 60 stores were burned down over the course of a few days. Today’s problems were nothing in comparison to those of the past, Davila argued.

“Back in the 80s and 90s — horrible,” she asserted. “I would like to say that now the community has been uplifted. New businesses are coming in. The community is a melting pot. It wasn’t like that before.”

Evelyn Cruz, district director for Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, backed her colleague while taking a more conciliatory approach.

“We’ve come a long way from when Bushwick was in ashes,” she said, “but we also agree that we have a condition that’s chronic along these corridors.”

Cruz placed blame at the foot of the MTA, saying she was “personally distressed” by the agency’s failure to build more lighting even as it blocked street lamps with construction. Yet she also drew attention to good news: in the fall, Hochul had unveiled the Opioid Settlement Fund, a $55 million dollar payout from negotiations with drug manufacturers and distributors deemed responsible for the national painkiller epidemic, which will support efforts to mitigate and reduce substance abuse. 

“There are resources,” Cruz assured Hunte, “we just have to continue to keep our eye on the prize to get them allocated. And [that does] happen, it’s just that everything takes time.”

At this point, Robert Camacho, chairperson of Bushwick’s Community Board 4, rose. He agreed that the most urgent priority was to improve the lighting around Myrtle and Broadway. From his vantage, though, it was equally important to call out the lack of collaboration from the community board and representatives of Bed-Stuy. 

“We need to put a lot of pressure on the other side, to make sure that they come here,” Camacho stressed. “[Davila] can’t say it, but I can. This half of Broadway won’t get fixed if the other half isn’t, too.”

‘One Real Difference Between Williamsburg and Bed-Stuy’

In their own ways, Hunte and Camacho had expressed dissatisfaction with local officials, but it was Bed-Stuy resident Anderson Footman, also known as Hollywood Anderson, who gave the strongest indictment yet of their response to public safety issues along the corridor.

“The MTA, I see them spray everything in the city all the time,” he said. “They’re out there with trucks, they have the pressure washer going. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them out here, and I’ve been living in New York for 15 years. They clean the train stations in the Bronx more than they do down here — that’s crazy, you know what I’m saying?”

Gridlock was presented as the norm, Anderson noted. But the elephant in the room, he suggested, was gentrification: “I think what a lot of people really came here for today is not to hear y’all saying, ‘We’ve got stuff in motion.’ Like, give us some timelines. What’s actionable? You’re telling me that we can’t get the same action they’re getting over in Williamsburg? There’s only one real difference between a room over there and one over here. So how do we get the same treatment? I’m not really hearing real answers. I’m just hearing semantics and bureaucracy.”

Davila countered that there was real change afoot. “In the north part of Brooklyn, we all work together,” she said. “And we get a lot done.” She pointed to lead abatement on Myrtle Ave as proof that her office was working in concert with the other four that represent the area to improve conditions.

Cruz touched on Anderson’s deeper critique. “I cover Williamsburg,” she said. “Believe me, I’m born and raised in Williamsburg. We’ve been gentrified. It’s been a struggle for decades.” But she rejected the notion that a federal investigation was needed, as he had intimated, and pointed instead to the role of community boards in dictating how funds are spent. 

Zachary Henderson, a member of Community Board 4, argues for the creation of an overdose prevention center. Photo: Jack Delaney

Anderson had highlighted Bedford Ave and North 7th in Williamsburg as a foil to Myrtle and Broadway, an intersection in a now-wealthy neighborhood where improvements were actually implemented. Cruz’s riposte was that the accessibility elevators on North 7th were “federally funded because [they were] a high need, according to the community,” and painted them as evidence that local boards writ large can be effective.

Switching gears, Davila asked the police captains in attendance to brief the room on their statistics for Myrtle and Broadway. While acknowledging that problems still existed, the NYPD leaders — Abdullah, Poggioli, and Wernersbach — emphasized that crime was down across the board. In the 81st Precinct, it had dropped 18% from 2023 to 2024, matched by a 13% decrease in the 83rd, and a 9% dip in the 90th. 

David Bueno, who owns the Concrete Jungle coffee shop on Jefferson St., expressed his appreciation for the support of the NYPD and other agencies. He had been running his café for two and a half years, and his family has done business in Bushwick since 1998. Yet he implored officials to act soon.

“I have a front row seat to all the activity. Ever since this young gentleman opened this flower shop under the stairs,” Bueno said, referencing the event’s earlier speaker, “the conditions have improved — he pushed all of the people sleeping under there, out.” The construction of a new condo had also shunted unhoused Brooklynites further down the corridor, but he noted that in both cases the fixes amounted to reshuffling people without addressing the core issue.

“I don’t really blame any of the service people who work here,” he said. “But this is a chronic condition that has to be pulled out from the root.”

There it was, the question that everyone present had been carefully circling — what was the root of the problem, after all? And what would it mean to pull it out? 

Assembly Member Davila’s vision seemed to involve empowering local nonprofits with more funds to address addiction. At the town hall, she championed one in particular, StartCare, a medical services provider that has been located at 1149-55 Myrtle Avenue, just off Broadway, for almost 47 years. Davila praised its CEO, Jonnel Doris, who she said had been more proactive than past directors in engaging with the community.

“This is a medical issue,” said Doris, “and we’re addressing it as such.” He called attention to the fentanyl crisis — in 2023, NYC’s overdoses decreased for the first time in four years, but only by 1%, meaning they still claimed 3,046 lives. And he outlined his clinic’s holistic approach, which pairs medication with counseling and workforce training. StartCare also offers Narcan and anti-stigma education. 

A Bold (But Contentious) Fix

Zachary Hendrickson, the final resident to speak, floated a solution that was complementary to that of Davila and Doris, if more controversial.

“We’re talking a lot about the resources and services that are already here, which is good for folks to know,” said Hendrickson, a member of Community Board 4. “But I want to lift up something, Assembly Member [Davila], that you’ve already been a leader on — can you comment on the Safer Consumption Services Act?” 

That act, which has stalled in the State Senate, would legalize overdose prevention centers. Up until recently, there were only two centers authorized to operate in the U.S., both in Manhattan, which provide a secure location for drug use with the goal, true to their name, of avoiding overdoses due to tainted supplies and infected equipment. Another site opened late this year in Providence, Rhode Island.

“The minute someone is being robbed, the minute someone discards a needle into the street, the harm is already happening. The whole point is to avoid that, to go further upstream,” Hendrickson argued. “What we really need here is an overdose prevention center, a place different from a lot of other services, because people can actually go inside and use their drugs safely under monitor, so overdose is highly unlikely to happen.”

To bolster his case, Hendrickson cited a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that 911 calls for medical emergencies near the overdose prevention centers in Manhattan decreased by nearly 50% after they were implemented, compared to 9% in similar areas without the centers.

Yet Davila, who made it clear that she was not a co-sponsor of the bill, was cautious. “We grew up in this neighborhood. We understand what it is to have family members that have been affected. I know mothers that have lost their children to all of these drugs. It’s getting worse, but there’s a critical part to this, and that’s the community — the community has to be the one to say, we want this.”

Footman, who had broached the topic of gentrification, came to Hendrickson’s defense, disputing the suggestion that residents would be automatically opposed to overdose prevention centers. “People may protest against it,” Footman said. “But if you lay out the facts and you tell this brother over here, who’s got the coffee shop, ‘Hey, bro, we put this thing down, and they won’t be outside your spot no more,’ I’m pretty sure he’ll be open to hearing about it.”

But the subject fizzled, and after a brief back-and-forth about social media outreach, Davila closed the forum. “I really want to thank everybody for the afternoon,” she said, and the officers filed out. 

Children at Maimonides Cancer Center Enjoy Holiday Party

Photo courtesy Britney Trachtenberg

By Brooklyn Star Staff

Last Thursday, Maimonides Cancer Center brightened up its patients’ holiday season by welcoming children, families, and their medical care teams for a party. Now in the 13th year of this tradition, the bash included a photo booth, a face painter, and a performance by Looney Louie the clown. Also present were sixth- and seventh-grade Girl Scouts from Dyker Heights and Gravesend, who served delicious food, and firetrucks from FDNY Engine 241/Ladder Co. 109 in Bay Ridge.

“Our holiday party serves as a true example of the family-centered care we provide,” said Dr. Ludovico Guarini, MD, Chief, Pediatric Hematology & Oncology at Maimonides Health. “Patients and their families are at the heart of the celebration. Clinical staff members attended the event to bring more than just medical care—they embraced each child, parent, and caregiver with compassion and support. We hope this event reminds families that, even in difficult times, they are never alone.”

True to festive form, gifts were involved. Back in November, patients sent in wish lists worth up to $100, which Maimonides staff and the nonprofit Toys for Hospitalized Children generously fulfilled by donating toys and other items. During the event, Santa made an appearance to distribute the presents. 

Photo courtesy Britney Trachtenberg

“Through this event, young people and families can experience the magic of the holiday season,” said Shari Feinberg, Nurse Practitioner and Team Leader of the Hematology/Oncology Team at Maimonides Health, who praised the high degree of involvement on the part of hospital employees and community members. “This holiday party would not have been possible without the generosity of the Girl Scouts, who volunteered their time to serve food, and Maimonides Health clinical staff, who donated toys and gifts to fulfill kids’ holiday wishes.”

JJ: A Holiday Wish List For NY Sports

JOHN JASTREMSKI

I hope that the 2024 holiday season has treated you well. 

We all have our wish lists every year for Santa Claus and what he may bring us under the Christmas tree. 

Maybe it’s that apple watch or the newest video game console, but I have my wish list for Santa Claus for some of the New York Sports teams. 

For some of the New York teams, this past year brought a lot of presents. 

For some others, a whole lot of coal. 

Mets: Re-Sign Pete Alonso

Yes, the Mets are coming off one of their best seasons without a championship. A feel good ride to the NLCS. To cap off the year, the Mets signed Juan Soto away from the Yankees to become the next franchise cornerstone. 

The Mets added Soto, brought back Sean Manaea, but still have one more major need to address. 

They need to bring back Pete Alonso to round out the middle of their lineup. 

The power, protection for Soto and the idea of Alonso being a Met for life all should make the Mets fans spirit bright. 

Giants: Find And Draft a Franchise Quarterback

The Giants are in the middle of the worst season in the 100 year history of the franchise. 

The season thankfully ends in two weeks, but now the stage is set for a great present in late April.

If the Giants lose their final two games of the season, they end up with the # 1 pick in the draft.

Of course it’s not a given, but the idea of the next hope at quarterback come April and the entire draft to choose from, at least gives 2025 a chance at a promising start. 

Jets: End the longest playoff drought in professional sports! Hire Mike Vrabel! 

The Jets have the longest playoff drought in professional sports. They’ve hired plenty of GM’ and head coaches since 2010. 

They brought in Aaron Rodgers, a future Hall Of Fame quarterback, yet here we are. 

No playoffs since 2010.

The franchise needs a program and culture builder. 

There is no better place to start than to look at Mike Vrabel to be that guy. 

Vrabel thrived for years as coach of the Tennessee Titans. His teams were always prepared, tough minded and successful. 

This is the perfect choice to change the culture. 

Yankees: Become More Fundamentally Sound in 25! 

The 2024 Yankees ended a 15 year drought without an American League pennant. 

They were also a team that was fundamentally flawed all season long. 

They ran the bases terribly and the team’s defense left a lot to be desired. 

The Yankee defense was responsible for one of the worst defensive innings in the history of the Yankees and the World Series in a 5th inning of Game 5 of the World Series that will live in infamy. 

I am hopeful that the Yankees can be a more fundamentally sound team next season. 

Adding Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt who are two terrific defensive players should help the overall team defense. 

It will be needed with the addition of weak contract machine Max Fried joining Gerrit Cole at the top of the rotation. 

There are a few of the things I listed for New York fans to wish for under their trees for 2025. 

To all a Merry Christmas and to all a good night. 

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on the Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

Greek Americans Defeat Pancyprian Freedoms 3-1 in Hellenic Derby

First defeat faced by Pancyprians in EPSL as we head into the winter break

NOAH ZIMMERMAN

noah@queensledger.com

The NY Pancyprian Freedoms suffered their first loss of the EPSL season, dropping the Fall finale to the NY Greek Americans in the “Hellenic Derby” at Hofstra University.

NY Pancyprians were near perfect in league play, with 9 wins and a draw heading into the rivalry matchup. They boasted a division-leading 33 goals and 7 goals allowed (+26 GD) with 5 consecutive wins since their 2-2 draw to Lansdowne Yonkers prior to the final contest.

Right behind the Pancyprians were the Greek Americans, who had gone 7-1-1 since their Week 1 loss to NY Athletic Club. They sat just behind the leaders in points and goals scored entering the final week.

Under the lights at Hofstra, the Greek Americans put their rivals to the test. In the 28th minute, a deflected free kick gave them a 1-0 advantage heading into the half.

In the 64th minute Brian Saramago doubled the Greek lead, going on to complete his brace with their third goal just minutes later.

The Pancyprians were able to pull a goal back in stoppage time, but ultimately fell 3-1 in the derby. They maintain a three point advantage in the EPSL Metro Division as we await the second half of the season following the Winter break.

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