Hello, hi, good morning, please stay safe out there, and welcome to this July 26, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the Greenpoint newsletter.
Cyclist death in Greenpoint spurs action from local pols
The deceased 58-year-old cyclist’s bike. Photo provided to e&c by Kevin LaCherra.
A 58-year-old man died Tuesday after being struck by a box truck in Greenpoint, adding to an unusually deadly year for biking New Yorkers and spurring, in part, a multi-million dollar mayoral initiative and additional funding from one local legislator.
The crash occurred Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of McGuinness Blvd and Norman Ave, mere hours after a teenage cyclist was killed in Staten Island. An investigation into the 58-year-old’s death is reportedly on-going; the NYPD did not respond to e&c’s request for comment. The victim’s name has not been released to the press.
McGuinness Blvd, a high-speed trucking corridor connecting the Long Island Expressway, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and industrial Greenpoint, historically has been considered a dangerous area for automotive and non-automotive travelers alike. At least one cyclist and at least one pedestrian have been injured on McGuinness this year, along with at least ten drivers, according to city data.
Most of Greenpoint’s local pols remarked on the incident on social media; Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Councilmember Stephen Levin both called for infrastructural solutions, with Levin offering his support to Mayor de Blasio’s expanding Vision Zero program.
Joseph Lentol, Greenpoint’s state assemblyman, announced Wednesday that he would grant the city Dept. Of Transportation one million dollars to fund immediate protective changes in Greenpoint and nearby areas.
“Now is the time to envision a broader approach to roadway safety,” Lentol said on Wednesday, proposing signage, barriers and altered traffic patterns as potential solutions. “We need to be extraordinarily aggressive so we can prevent further deaths and injuries.”
Lentol’s director of community affairs, Emily Mijatovic, explained to e&c that the DOT had a clear mandate with the so-called “multi-modal” funds: “Assemblyman Lentol advised [the] NYC DOT Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor [on Wednesday] that he would be allocating funds for his district for these safety measures.” She added, “The agency then is charged with using the funds as it was directed.”
The death in Greenpoint on Tuesday underlined the increasing frequency of cyclist deaths in the city, as well as the particular impediments to bike-riders in Greenpoint. On Thursday, according to social media accounts, a cyclist suffered a broken bone after being struck by a box truck at the notorious intersection of Franklin, Banker and Calyer Streets.
Also on Thursday, the NYPD’s 94th Precinct announced that it had removed an abandoned truck that had been blocking the West St bike lane since as early as July 19, racking up at least $590 in parking and other tickets in the process. Local cyclists had documented the truck’s West St residency with frustration and bemusement, wondering whether the vehicle would have been allowed to linger so long in one of the neighborhood’s automotive thoroughfares.
In response to recent protests over this year’s cyclist deaths, the mayor proclaimed at a press conference on Thursday, as reported by the New York Times, “No loss of life on our streets is acceptable. Last year was the safest year on record and we have to keep pushing the envelope and increasing our efforts.”
De Blasio announced $58.4 million in funding for protected lanes, intersection re-designs, and new DOT hires, after Streetsblog reported Wednesday that the NYPD would permanently extend its “enforcement blitz against bike lane blockers and drivers who fail to yield.” And, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg on Thursday “estimated ‘thousands’ of parking spaces will be lost throughout the city” as a result of bike lane construction.
NYPD at the scene of Tuesday’s crash. Photo provided to e&c by Kevin LaCherra.
What else is up in Greenpoint?
Bakery Rzeszowska closed this week after more than three decades in the neighborhood. Greenpointers reports: “The Polish bakery was a go to for makowiec, freshly baked bread and authentic pączki near the Greenpoint Avenue subway for decades.” (Greenpointers)
Meanwhile in New York City…
A recount in the momentous Queens District Attorney race ended Thursday, with Queens borough president Melinda Katz pulling 60 votes ahead of public defender Tiffany Cabán. The race now hinges on a court challenge from the Cabán campaign dozens of invalidated affidavit ballots. (Gothamist’s Emma Whitford)
The city council passed legislation this week creating a public database that will track street-level retail vacancies. Curbed reports: “Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who requested the bill, touted the benefits of having a definitive resource to account for the city’s plague of empty storefronts as ever climbing rents push out mom-and-pop small businesses.” (Curbed’s Caroline Spivack)
The MTA is running late on its promise to identify the next 50 subway stations to receive accessibility updates. About a quarter of the city’s 472 subway stations have elevators, all but shutting out subway riders with physical disabilities. (The City’s Jose Martinez)
And Con Edison is well behind schedule on a “state-mandated study” to “assess how the city’s changing climate—increased humidity, longer and hotter heat waves, wind and other severe weather — would affect the electrical grid and other elements of its operations in the long-term.” No rush, folks. (Gothamist’s Gwynne Hogan)
The nonprofit hired by the state to provide homelessness services in major MTA rail stations failed for years to spend adequate time working in the field, according to a new report from the state comptroller. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s Kelly Mena)
The Williamsburg home of the “rainbow bagel” was seized by the state Wednesday after failing to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes. The Bagel Store told its followers in an Instagram story this week, “Thank you to everyone for giving us positive vibes while we work towards a solution to our closure.” (Eater’s Carla Vianna)
And finally… last week e&c shared with you the mysterious story of an In-N-Out burger, abandoned far from home on the streets of Jamaica, Queens. This week, in an exemplary piece of investigative journalism, the person who first found the orphaned sandwich explains how he identified its original, rightful owner. (Vice’s Lincoln Boehm)
Your Subway Weekender
G - Normal service.
L - “Normal” slowdown service; no service between Broadway Junction and Lorimer St between midnight and 5 a.m.
Thus concludes this July 26, 2019 edition of East & Creek, the twice-weekly newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.
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See ya around the neighb,
Jon Hanrahan
Author, e&c