October 12, 2023 NYC Office of the Mayor
Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Good morning, everyone, and a beautiful morning it is for a wonderful announcement. I'm Meera Joshi, deputy mayor of Operations, and today we're here to celebrate the start of a process: a start of the process of planning more greenways with funding from a RAISE grant. But before we do that, I think it's important to understand what these terms actually mean and what change they bring about, terms like greenway and RAISE grant.
Greenway is actually another option and way to expand the way New Yorkers get around — an alternate to asphalt and an alternate to concrete — using pathways throughout the city often reinventing underutilized rights of way for people and non motorized wheels to get around for recreation, for health and for a more beautiful commute.
And a RAISE grant is a competitive process, a grant that we get through a competitive process. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. It provides planning dollars for transportation that actually supports people. So, for example, a RAISE grant is the dollars that we get to support reconnecting the Cross Bronx and reducing the harmful health problems that it now… the consequences for that community.
Last summer, New York City received from the U.S. Department of Transportation a $7.25 million in RAISE grants to allow for the expansion of our greenways. Today we have 150 miles of greenways, and with these dollars will be able to plan for 40 more miles. It took many agencies to win this money, and that same dream team will do the planning that it will allow New Yorkers to have expanded greenway. That's our city DOT, our city Parks Department and the Economic Development Corporation.
And we're not stopping there, we're going after every federal dollar— so, be ready for more wonderful announcements just like this. This work comes not just as the work of the dream team of city agencies but with tremendous support from our congressional delegation, our local electeds and the tireless advocates whose work every day makes New York City a more livable city.
I want to just call out a few of those that are here with us today. Our New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, our New York State Assemblymember Michael Novakhov, our New York State Assemblymember Bobby Carroll, New York City Councilmember Rita Joseph, Hunter Armstrong from the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Jackson Chabot from Open Plans, Pat McClellan from New York League of Conservation Voters.
And of course, none of this happens without our city leader who is around town all the time, so having more places to travel around town will be a true expansion of his night life adventures, our Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. And we cannot...really thank our team, electeds who are behind us. And I'm glad you acknowledged them, because nothing gets done we don't have real partnerships. And I do get around town and I get around town on my bike as well. And what's different from what this administration is doing is that we really want community engagement. That's one of the number one things that we hear over and over again, of too many community residents who enjoy of the rebuilding and the reshaping the reusing of our streets, they want input.
And you know, sometimes it's not as fast as we like, but we can't reshape communities if we're not willing to sit down and listen to community. You can't force feed this on community residents. It's about conversation, it's about engagement, it's about introducing people to the new infrastructure. Our streets have changed, the city is changing, and it's about communication.
That's part of what we want to accomplish; and in order to do this right, we have to have the right conversations. And so I thank you, deputy mayor, Mayor Joshi. You know, you're going out, you're getting that money from all over the place to get the infrastructure that we need. So much of our city's history was about changing the natural environment and cutting it down, clearing it out and paving it over.
But going forward, we know that the future is about working with nature, reclaiming green spaces from all over New York and making sure that everyone could have the access that they deserve. And this is increasing transportation and the alternative methods of how we move around the city. And so this is a significant announcement that we are making today: 40 miles into the future.
We are now announcing the expansion of five new greenway corridors with Staten Island, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, something that Commissioner Rodriguez, he had a vision of when he was a Transportation chair and the City Council, and he's rolling this out and we're seeing the expansion every day. By adding 40 miles of new protected bike infrastructure and improving existing infrastructure, these five corridors will span 60 miles and will be a combination of on street and off street bike and pedestrian routes.
A lot of the corridors have been identified, the exact street routes will be identified through a community engagement and planning process. I cannot emphasize this enough. That is one of the top complaints we received. people did not feel as though they were engaged.
We can't move at such a fast pace that we're leaving communities behind, and every community does not think the same and don't want the same but they do want to have input, and we are going to give them that input. This historic expansion agreement corridors will be in our outer boroughs who have been often ignored. More miles of new bike lanes, bikeways and walkways that will fill critical gaps for the city's greenway network, connect every corner of our city with new transportation options and transform the ways New Yorkers live, work and get around.
New Yorkers love cycling — and I do as well — and biking more than ever. Cycling ridership in New York City has reached an all‑time high with two million annual trips taken by bike. That is extremely impressive. And we want to make sure everyone who cycles can get all around the city safely and smoothly. Many people have not cycled because they are afraid of the traffic and the flow of traffic, we want to make it easier.
How do we do that, get that done? By the great work that Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and her team have done thanks to a major $7.25 million grant from federal infrastructure funding in New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Economic Development Corporation and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation with the amazing Sue Donoghue, always making it happen some way, cannot thank her enough. She eats, sleeps and drinks parks. You probably dream about parks.
And so New York City have the green light to begin the collaborative process of planning for five major new greenways projects. And these greenways will build on our plans for the seven mile Harlem River Greenway in the Bronx— a real exciting project we're looking for— and it will include more than 40 miles of additional new greenway corridors and 90 miles of existing corridors which the city will look to improve part of the process.
These greenways will ultimately cover 16 miles of Queens waterfront, connect Coney Island to Highland Park, Randall's Island Park to SUNY Maritime, link the Gothams Bridge to the Verrazano on Staten Island, building on the recently announced North Shore Action Plan, our amazing councilwoman out there is also making it happen, Councilwoman Hanks, and connect the Spring Creek Park to Brookville Park in Southern Queens and JFK Airport.
This expansion of the existing greenway network will begin with a collaborative, as I stated, community‑driven process that will help realize the full potential of this plan with input, engagement from all New Yorkers. It will be the first part of a multi‑step effort that will implement short‑term projects along the identified routes and set the stage for long‑term improvements to be constructed with future capital funds to keep with increased demand for cycling, walking, interaction options with nature.
We have expanded the Citi Bike further into Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. One of the top things that we've heard, they want more access to the Citi Bikes; and this summer, Citi Bike reached a record‑breaking 140,000 rides in a single day. We're also seeing tens of thousands of Citi Bike daily trips both over our East River bridges and into Midtown.
This amazing growth has been made possible by the work we have done to build our safe bike infrastructures, really hats off to DOT and the entire team over there for combining to building out these safe infrastructures as well as expanding our bike network across the city as we plan these greenways.
This year, we're installing new double wide bike lanes on 3rd and 10th Avenues in Manhattan, engage in bringing new protected bike infrastructure to the Bronx and Soundview and Lafayette Avenue, building the longest ever protected bike lanes in East New York— East New York Brooklyn, who has been denied real safe bike access for years— and building out our protected bike lane network in Long Island City to protect riders headed into the city.
Today's announcement is part of our promise to improve not just transit options but equity in the outer boroughs, something that Commissioner Rodriguez has talked about over and over again, equity throughout this entire city. Parks and paths are not luxuries, they're necessities, and we've learned how essential they are during the difficult times of Covid with people needing access to outdoor spaces. Greenways improve the physical health and mental well‑being of New Yorkers, enhance cycling and pedestrian safety and support community economic development.
So again, I want to thank the entire team, Department of Transportation, our amazing commissioner there, New York City Department of Parks Sue Donoghue, New York City Economic Development Corporation President Andrew Kimball, for all of their hard work, their combination, coming together to make this happen. And this is only the start. It's a well thought out plan, it's going to be a well executed plan, but I'm not going to leave communities behind.
This is not going to be a city government driven plan, this is going to be a plan that will allow community residents to have feedback and input. I'm a biker. I enjoy biking. But I'm also going to enjoy those pedestrians that want to walk, those pedestrian who are watching their streets change. Everyone will have input in this plan and we would get to where we have to go by communicating with each other. Job well done.
Thank you, my electeds who are here, for being a part of this great initiative. Major announcement. No administration in its history is going to do more to make our city safe than this administration is going to do. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you. Next, we'd like to bring up our commissioner for the Department of Transportation whose agency will lead the planning efforts, Commissioner Rodriguez.
Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Transportation: Thank you. It's so great to serve as the commissioner this time around with this mayor, this deputy mayor and so many partners. The mayor always says that, you know, he says one of the factors why some New Yorkers they don't ride a bike, because safety, and we're working with that. But the other aspect that the mayor also highlighted is that when you look at the cycling community we also have to see it from the perspective of social class. Most people who are cycling are among the middle class and upper class and is New Yorkers with high level education or degree.
Now, in our time, we are going to the underserved community teaching, educating also that community. As I was riding bikes with the [inaudible] and he said, if you ride a bike half an hour every day, you extend six years to your life. So, unfortunately, many working class New Yorkers such as the community that I represent that I used to represent when I used to be a council member, one of those 35 percent born and raised in another country, they believe that biking is equal being poor, and car was a symbol of progress.
So, I invite my middle class, upper class cycling community to join me as I go once a month to each borough to have conversations with the working class community so that we not only address what are we doing on safety but also educating about the benefits of biking. Biking is go for the health, biking is good for the environment and biking is also good for the economy not only for the city but for those in New York, too. So, this is something that I also wanted to highlight.
Look, this is, again, as I said, I've been here with Deputy Mayor Joshi and Mayor Adams serving as a commissioner with so many great advocates, elected officials, sister agencies, a great opportunity for us to look at the present and the future greenway. Greenway is not what it used to be before. It used to be single lanes not connecting to the park. Now the commissioner and I are responsible to plan together under the leadership with these two great leaders the future of these greenways.
The plans announced today represent the largest and most ambitious plan, as the mayor said, of greenways in our city's history. So, I want for us to look at all the great things that we're doing even though at the moment [inaudible] a few things that we sometimes we are not able to accomplish. After this storm we experienced recently and after members of the United Nation gathered in New York City recently to discuss the climate and emissions, we are taking action here today to support low and emission free transportation options.
This will not only be a huge leap forward in terms of greenway mileage, but as the mayor said, we are also putting equity front and center.
Working class community is a top priority for this administration. As you can see in our map, new greenway will be enhanced and developed in our outer boroughs in a historically overlooked and underserved community. And this is only a new announcement, we already are developing the plan of connecting the Harlem Greenway from Van Cortlandt Park to Hart Island...no, sorry, to Randall's Island, sorry.
From Van Cortlandt Park to Randall's Island. We are already engaging the community getting the feedback about that particular plan already beside the announcement that we are doing today. We worked closely with members of the New York City Greenway Coalition to identify this route to best connect outer borough New Yorker to [inaudible] parks, transportation hub and other important destinations including our [inaudible] greenway. This new corridor will include a network of off street multi use paths as well as on the street bicycle infrastructure to support the environmentally friendly transportation New Yorkers [inaudible] and traffic safety.
Here in Brooklyn we envision a new greenway connecting the historic path of Ocean Parkway and Eastern Parkway. This will create a continuous corridor from Coney Island to Highland Park, also connect to both Prospect Park and Broadway Junction, one of the busiest transit hubs in Brooklyn.
We will also be reviewing that design [inaudible] standards for Ocean and Eastern Parkway to explore improvement of this system path as well. The details of each greenway and [inaudible] will be determined by new implementation plans. We will be launching these plans over the next few years in close collaboration with the department...sorry, with the Parks Department and the City Economic Development Corporation.
This is the first time that in the City of New York we have the most ambitious plan of taking our greenway further. [Speaks in Spanish.] ...Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, who overseas all the operation agency… [Speaks in Spanish.] Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you. So much of the focus of this administration is turning our space into public space for all New Yorkers and being very creative about it and putting money behind it. Earlier last week, we introduced a beach in Manhattan at Gansevoort [Peninsula], and now we're announcing trails and greenways throughout the five boroughs, which again, is another reason you will never need to leave New York City.
A lot of that work comes from those that work every day in the advocacy world to think creatively about how to make our city more accessible for more people. And with that, I'd like to invite our next speaker, Hunter Armstrong from the Brooklyn Greenways Initiative.
Hunter Armstrong, Executive Director, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative: Thank you so much for having me today. My name is Hunter Armstrong. I'm executive director of Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, which for 20 years has been planning and advocating for greenways for cyclists, runners and pedestrians for commuting to jobs and recreation. I could not be more excited to be here today celebrating this historic announcement on Ocean Parkway, which is one of the first dedicated bicycle paths in the United States.
We celebrate the planned upgrade of this historic, beloved but outworn parkway as well as the creation of four other new greenway corridors across the city. I stand here in solidarity with the 45‑member strong New York City Greenways Coalition, which the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative convened in 2021 to organize groups small and large across the city that are calling for an improved and connected greenway network in every borough.
Joining me today are coalition members Bike New York, Bronx River Alliance, New Yorkers for Parks, Regional Plan Association, Transportation Alternatives and other coalition members. Today's announcement is an important milestone and a process of many years, and we look forward to working with Mayor Adams and our city agency partners standing here today to ensure an equitable, safe, well designed and well maintained greenway network.
Our goal is for each greenway corridor to advance equity and address the unique needs of each community, be it the South Bronx, north shore of Staten Island, eastern Queens, western Queens or right here in Brooklyn. We believe greenways are critical infrastructure to address New York City's pressing social, environmental, transportation and economic issues.
A massive expansion of our greenway network will dramatically increase the city's ability to equitably deliver affordable and green mobility options to create open space and environmental benefits and improve public health and social cohesion and also to enhance safe access to jobs and economic development to many more New Yorkers.
So, we commend Mayor Adams, New York City DOT, New York City Parks, the Economic Development Corporation and other city agencies and partners on this historic investment and filling in greenway gaps and New York City's historically underserved communities. And we can't wait to get started on this important work, so thank you.
Mayor Adams: Rarely do I get such an impressive group of electeds, so why don't we bring on our electeds to add their thoughts. Okay, starting with, this is right in your area, Assemblymember Carroll?
Assemblymember Robert Carroll: Good morning. Thank you so much, Mayor Adams. It's wonderful to be here at Park Circle, and I could not be more excited to see the infrastructure improvements and investments in both Ocean Parkway and Eastern Parkway, which both start in my district. I know that it is so important that we create both pedestrian and bike pathways throughout our borough so that folks who are looking for transportation alternatives can find them safely and that they efficiently move individuals throughout our borough to either downtown Brooklyn into Manhattan or elsewhere.
So, thank you so much, Mayor Adams. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Joshi, thank you, Commissioner Rodriguez and Commissioner Donoghue for all the work and investment that you're going to make in Brooklyn right here.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you, and Assemblywoman Rajkumar.
Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar: Good morning. This is such an exciting day, and I want to commend Mayor Adams and the entire administration on a vision for a world‑class greenway network across all five boroughs. And this is so important to me, because I really believe in the transformative power of green space. And when you think about what green space has done for our city and the history of our city, whether it's Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Central Park in Manhattan, my district's Forest Park in Queens, Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, these green spaces have transformed the life and the health of our city.
And so now there's going to be 40 miles of additional greenway in the outer boroughs, and that's going to mean that underserved and overlooked communities are going to be connected with job opportunities, with affordable housing and transportation. It's going to enhance cyclist safety at a time when cycling is at an all‑time high. So, I'm just so excited for this incredible vision of green space in New York City, and I thank you once again, Mayor Adams and the administration for making this possible.
Mayor Adams: No one knows greenspace more than children, so our amazing Councilmember Joseph.
Councilmember Rita Joseph: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Yes, children. And my name is Councilmember Rita Joseph. Thank you for my colleagues in government. So, this is one of the things I wanted to say. These greenways — and I agree a thousand percent with the commissioner — it's not just about bikeways, it represents a bold commitment to improving the lives of our residents by expanding active transportation options, creating more green space while fostering healthier and more sustainable future, safety is paramount.
I recently lost a cyclist in the district, so we know that this is more than ever it's even more important and it allows safety and also making our city accessible. And this is also connecting all the dots that we have left behind, and this is also a new way for us to think about our city. As we invest in these greenways, we're also investing in the future of our communities and the prosperous...in our city. So, thank you so much for all of this, and I look forward to working with you in partnership.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Assemblyman, I know you're sitting down, you want to...you have any comments you want to add? You know, what you doin' in the audience?
Assemblymember Michael Novakhov: Well, the reason I'm sitting here, I'm just trying to learn more about the initiative. But this is a great initiative, really. I represent a part of south Brooklyn, lower Ocean Parkway, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach. And we all understand the importance of greenways, the importance of making our city better for the for the bicyclists, for the pedestrians, I think it's very important to understand that we have a million of car drivers as well.
And you know, the problem is… And in my district, my constituents, complaining a lot that the roads are getting narrow and narrow. For example, on Emmons Avenue, we had a problem with a fire truck getting through because of the narrow roads and the new lines.
So, I'm extremely happy to see this initiative and I'm extremely...will be certainly happy to using myself, using this greenways as a cyclist. At the same time, I have some concerns about the drivers of the regular cars. I mean, it's still New York City, it's still millions of cars and millions of drivers. But thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Adams, and thank you everyone who is supporting this initiative. Thank you so much.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. And I'm so glad, your input, because that's the diversity of our city and that's the balance we want to find. We hear you loud and clear. This is a city that you must balance, 8.3 million people, 35 million different opinions, and we have to make sure we hear all of those opinions. So, why don't we open up to a few on topics?
Question: Let me ask, just a few things to clarify. You guys are saying greenway, green spaces. So, is it grass or is it… [Laughter]
Mayor Adams: You want to do that, commissioner?
Commissioner Rodriguez: It's a combination of… That's the different… The different approach, and that's what I said that conversation about greenway today is not a conversation of 20 years ago. We did a greenway on 34 Avenue in Queens where we turned 1.8 mile that used to be used only for car now is used also for cyclists, for pedestrians, for [inaudible] Food Market. We are also right now, we're in the community engagement connecting Randall's Island to Van Cortlandt Park. So, we are listening for the community, the plan that we have and giving that example is like we are looking to everything.
How do we envision greenway from Van Cortlandt Park to Randall's Island? There's going to be a space for cyclists, there's going to be a space for pedestrians to walk. So, it's a combination of everything, a space for New Yorkers and visitors to walk, as also for a cyclist to have a safe way on how they're biking.
Question: So it’s not like laying out on the grass and taking in the sun…
Rodriguez: We want to hear from the community. In those miles, say, how do you see, how do you envision greenway. For us, we started with [inaudible] cycling and pedestrian, but any other details, there's going to be a grassroots community process of their ideas and input will be taken into consideration to shape how the greenway will look like.
Mayor Adams: Also joined by Assemblyman Ardila, good to see you. Any more?
Question: Mr. Mayor, there's been a lot of talk about safety and keeping cyclists safe at this press conference, but 26 cyclists have died this year, the most in vision zero era. There was a rally last night saying that you've failed cyclists in the city. Do you want to comment on that?
Mayor Adams: You know, and this year we also are seeing some of the safest for pedestrians, you know, so as you add that, add both parts of the spectrum. And that is why we're building out a safe bicycle network. We want to also educate bicycle riders. As I'm riding through the city I'm watching, you know, some of my fellow riders are not adhering to some of this traffic safety rules that are in place. The same rules that are for vehicles are for cyclists as well.
And we know that one of the major problems we're having is dealing with speeders. Our level of enforcement is important, our level of making sure people are adhering to the rules of the road. Our city is changing, and more and more people are riding. We just heard the number of riderships that have increased, and we must all understand the completeness of how to do we use our streets.
And so I'm a rider, so I'm not going to fail myself, I'm not going to fail others. And we're going to continue to move forward to make sure that our roads are safe. Public safety is more than stopping crimes and stopping those who are involved in vehicle crashes. And so we know there are those who are concerned about the increase in bicycle fatalities and bicycle incidents, and we're going to continue to improve on that. But you know people should continue to raise their voices, should continue to advocate. It's important. Advocacy is part of what New York City is. Another question? Yes. Do you ride, Kim?
Question: I was going to say, I'm a fellow rider, yes. Okay. So, and not just for me, you've seen this. Why would a Vespa be in the bike lane? Cyclists can break the rules and go crazy, but a Vespa and a scooter in the bike lane? Like, it's got to stop.
Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. And we hear this from all over the city of the heavy reintroduction or introducing of scooters in our transportation network. It almost...it has come out of nowhere. And everything from delivery person to recreational. We had an incident the other day where a scooter was in an accident on one of our highways.
The New York City Police Department, they have come up with a scooter plan that we're going to roll out. We have to refocus our attention on all of the scooter use, the mopeds, the scooters, and really give clear rules of the road. And that is what I have charged our DOT and NYPD, our team to come up with some very clear guidelines so that we can get this scooter usage under control. I hear it all over the city. People are talking about the scooters, the mopeds, the delivery persons that are using them, and we have to get it under control. Right now it is not at the state that I want it in. Okay.
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Good, how are you? Just to follow up on some of your initial remarks, you're talking a lot about people expressing concerns and about wanting a lot of community involvement, so I just wanted to ask, A) is there a particular project or initiative that you've been hearing a lot of criticism about that, that's on your mind a lot? And B) when you talk about taking it slow, in a lot of other respects you've been talking about trying to speed things up. So, I'm wondering how you sort of balance that, taking it slow but also not wanting these projects to take years and years to be implemented.
Mayor Adams: Yes. No, no, and that's a great question. You know, I remember as the borough president the Classon Avenue bike lane that, you know. people were against but it was the right thing to do and I came out in support of it. I think of about a lot of the biking initiatives that people were slow and reluctant to do as borough president that I pushed through as the borough president.
The goal is to engage in conversation, not reach the point of stagnation. We're not looking to stop projects, we're looking to make sure the community, that they have input. And as I move around the city as we reshape the streets of our city I hear a great deal of input for those who want to see the projects move at an expeditious pace, but I also hear from folks in the assemblyman's district who are saying, wait a minute. Can we have some engagement in this? That's the balance we must have.
And so it can't be, as the commissioner stated, it can't be that we're coming in and just dictating to communities without communicating to communities. There is a clear economic gap on those who have the right education about bike usage, and if we bring people up to the same level, we're going to get to participation that we're looking for.
I don't want to steamroll communities, and I hear it often, but when I'm on the ground, people talk about waking up next day seeing their entire streets change without their knowledge of it, and I don't want that. We're not going to stop, but we're going to move at a pace where we are engaging New Yorkers on all sides of this conversation such as the Assemblyman's district, such as Assemblyman Carroll's district.
Different communities want different things and done in different ways, but we can all get to the same destination together. And that's my goal.
My goal is community engagement and involvement and education so that we can reach the destination together. Thank you very much. Good to see you all.
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