Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good evening. It’s great to be here with you. Thank you to Ben Furnas, Board Chair Janet Liff and Transportation Alternatives for bringing us together, and Mary Beth Kelly for the kind introduction. What a joy it is to look out and see so many familiar faces—friends old and new. I must admit, it feels strange to be together in a room with a roof, not exposed to the elements. So often, when we have stood together or marched side by side over the past years, it has been through streets piled with snow and slush or under the sun beating down, sweat forming on our brows.
The fight to improve McGuiness Boulevard—the fight to imagine a safer New York City, one where every child can be safe crossing the street, where every cyclist can be safe biking to work—was one waged by so many people here this evening, people who called for change even when change seemed far out of reach.
Each of you spoke up for those who were stolen from us, who were robbed of the chance to speak for themselves. We are together tonight because of New Yorkers who put one foot after the other even though they were numb with grief—and who found the strength to do so because they never wanted another family to have to wrestle with that same anguish.
As we look forward this evening towards a New York City with safer streets, I want to pause and look back for a moment. I want to name some of the New Yorkers we have lost. Matthew Jensen, who was killed five years ago this past May. When so many P.S. 110 students remember Matthew, they remember a teacher who cared about them, who asked them questions and cared about the answer, who taught them life was meant to be lived curiously and fully.
Neil Chamberlain, who was only 28 years old when he was hit by another speeding car while crossing McGuinness in 2010. Solange Raulston, who was killed four months before Neil, who brought so much joy to New Yorkers’ lives through the music she played. Solange loved Ray Charles, and she loved her friends.
There are too many more names to list—but they stretch all the way back to Jimmy Battaglia, who was three years old in 1956 when he was the first casualty of McGuinness. If the past has been marked by loss after loss, we are together this evening to celebrate a different future.
One where parents are not afraid to let their children play outside, one where cyclists no longer feel a pit in their stomach when they turn onto certain streets, one where we no longer have to read headlines of tragedy. City Hall holds a deep, unwavering commitment to delivering the safer streets across our city that New Yorkers deserve.
On the third day of my administration, I announced that we would follow through where past administrations had not—that we would complete the redesign of McGuinness Boulevard.
Just a few days ago—once the weather had warmed enough to break ground— Commissioner Flynn and his team at the DOT got to work.
Parking-protected bike lanes will be installed along the entirety of McGuinness Boulevard, from Meeker Avenue to the Pulaski Bridge. Pedestrians will have shorter crossings. This work that an entire community has called for for years will be completed before the end of the year. We will complete it before winter arrives.
This is just one part of a larger commitment to creating safe streets before tragedy strikes—not because of it. No longer will we wait for a New Yorker to get hurt before we take action.
I know that I am speaking to a room that has never taken the smallness of the present to curb their ambition for what the future can hold.
Thanks to your energy, your devotion to the city you love, your refusal to accept less than the safety that every New Yorker deserves, we stand together today, delivering the safety that has too long been withheld.
I’ll close with this: There is a Jane Jacobs quote that I have called upon regarding McGuinness—once last August and once in January, when we announced City Hall would complete the redesign. If you’ll permit me, I’d like to use it a third and final time.
It speaks to me, not only because of how it captures this movement before us, but because of how it captures those in this room, who advocate for other New Yorkers they have never met and never will. As Jacobs once said: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
Thank you, sincerely, for your work to build a city created by everybody, one that provides something for everybody. Now, it is my enormous honor to invite Bronwyn Breitner to accept the Tom Kempner Street Fighter Award on behalf of the Make McGuinness Safe Coalition.
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