Mayor Mamdani is defending the 72nd Street redesign against opposition from a tiny cohort of residents that claims the design is radical — even though it has been successfully deployed across the city for nearly 20 years.

Mamdani Says He'll Back DOT Against Bikelash in W. 72nd St. Safety Revamp - Streetsblog New York City

Unlike his predecessor, Mamdani vowed to not throw his Department of Transportation under the bus.

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This month CB7 passed a “public safety” resolution about the menace of e-bikes, yet motor vehicles continue to pose orders of magnitude more risk and potential for harm than even the heaviest, fastest e-bike. We need to design car supremacy out of our public spaces and transportation networks.

Micah Lasher@micahlasher.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I am horrified by the killing of two people by a drunk driver on a block I walked just the night before. My heart is with their families.

It’s shaping up to be a gorgeous day tomorrow ☀️😎🚲 What better way to kick it off than by joining a whole bunch of your friends, families, and neighbors for a short and joyful group bike ride to support the proposed redesign of West 72nd Street. Details at the link below. Hope to see you there!

Streetopia Upper West Side@streetopia.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New Yorkers, join us this Saturday, May 16, for an all-ages-and-abilities group ride on the Upper West Side to show support for proposed improvements to West 72nd Street, including what will be the neighborhood’s first crosstown protected bike lane. www.streetopia.city/events/group...

New Yorkers, join us this Saturday, May 16, for an all-ages-and-abilities group ride on the Upper West Side to show support for proposed improvements to West 72nd Street, including what will be the neighborhood’s first crosstown protected bike lane. www.streetopia.city/events/group...

Our latest newsletter gets into the mounting NIMBY drama around rather basic upgrades proposed for West 72nd Street. We’ve seen it all before. action.openplans.org/mail-message...

The DOT’s design addresses the same thing we found: the current street is outdated, a relic of 20th century car-centric planning, and doesn’t support today's users and needs. Learn more about our work reimagining W 72nd Street: www.streetopia.city/reimagining-... @streetopia.bsky.social

Reimagining West 72nd — Streetopia Upper West Side

streetopia.city

After years of researching and advocating for this, we are thrilled it's finally happening! Most people using 72nd street are bus riders, micromobility users, and pedestrians, but the current street doesn't reflect this. This design will improve things for everyone.

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · 5mo ago

nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/04/14/e...

Come join our team! You’ll help build grassroots support for our campaigns to transform the UWS into the walkable, bikeable, transit-forward utopia it deserves to be. What’s more fun than talking to people about the possibilities for their n’hood and working with them to make it happen? ✨🚶🏽‍♀️👩🏻‍🦽🚲🚌🌳

Open Plans@openplans.org · 6mo ago

We are hiring a Community Organizer! We are seeking an energetic, driven person to join StreetopiaUWS. This role involves building community relationships, attending public meetings, and connecting Upper West Side residents to our campaigns. Apply: https://www.openplans.org/careers

Here’s the shape of the Central Park West bike lane this past weekend, several weeks after this winter’s snowstorms. It’s time this bike lane got a proper upgrade: real protection, wider lanes, and make it two-way. Also, can we fully clear the lane of snow next time? @nyc-dot.bsky.social

It’s time for LTNs in NYC on the UWS. This video helps explain.

Open Plans on Instagram: "Take a look at London’s impressive Low Traffic Neighborhoods! Residents, advocates & elected leaders shared how they have transformed their local streets to quiet, peaceful &...

949 likes, 23 comments - openplansnyc on February 4, 2026: "Take a look at London’s impressive Low Traffic Neighborhoods! Residents, advocates & elected leaders shared how they have transformed their ...

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A plea to Council Member @shaunabreu.bsky.social: please get off X/Twitter and post to Bluesky instead. At a minimum, and maybe as an interim step, please cross post to Bluesky so advocates who left X/Twitter for moral reasons can still engage with you.

@nyc-dot.bsky.social should designate a at least one loading zone in front of every large building on the UWS and shared loading zones on each block proportional to population density. CB7 can help decide where exactly the loading zones go on the block, but they don’t get to grant permission.

Kevin Duggan@kevinduggan.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Condo owners on the Upper West Side want to convert two parking spots at their building entrance into a loading zone, but parking-first Community Board 7 isn't having any of it. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/12/p...

Easy to imagine these kinds of simple and amazingly effective treatments on the UWS. How about it @nyc-dot.bsky.social and @galeabrewer.bsky.social ?

Clarence Eckerson Jr./Streetfilms@streetfilms.bsky.social · 11mo ago

This is LIVE! And everyone needs to see the benefits of Low Traffic Neighborhoods from London! There is so little good documentation and this needs to be spread far & wide! Thanks for giving it a watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRc...

It’s time for a mayor willing to think big and deliver on people-first streets. Here’s one idea for a quick win. www.streetopia.city/reimagining-...

Reimagining West 72nd — Streetopia Upper West Side

streetopia.city

Award-Winning Reporter Dave Colon@davecolon.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Zohran Mamdani you must keep the city’s historic bike boom going nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/05/a...

UWS Council Member Gale Brewer has been in office for 24 years yet the streets of her district are stuck in the past 🚗💨😷 We've made it easy to send her a letter to encourage her to use her final term in the Council to become a livable streets champion & leave a legacy of people first public space.

Tell Gale Brewer to Think Bigger - StreetopiaUWS

Gale Brewer is about to enter her 25th year in elected office. Now is a great time to encourage her to use the next four years to help turn the Upper West Side into the preeminent livable neighborhood...

action.openplans.org

“You can’t tell me a parking space at the corner of a street is worth a life.” Advocates are in front of the district office of @galeabrewer.bsky.social this morning to ask her why she changed her mind and no longer supports universal daylighting in NYC.

New episode up! We talked with researcher Tim Gill about how we need to make our cities safe for children, not cars. "Children are basically living very captive and kind of contained lives, and that's just not healthy." podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

@nyc-dot.bsky.social is making up math here. There are roughly 300 intersections on the UWS or ~2,400 potential daylighting spots, many of which are already bus stops or fire hydrants. @galeabrewer.bsky.social got some bad information. Why are we bean counting street safety in the first place?

Kevin Duggan@kevinduggan.bsky.social · 12mo ago

DOT's crusade against a Council bill for universal daylighting was able to peel off support by Council Member Gale Brewer, after agency officials told her it would remove 13,000 parking spots in her Upper West Side district. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/30/g...

Should we teach 8 year olds how to move “defensively” through their neighborhoods just to stay alive? Or is the assumption that kids will be escorted everywhere (by a properly defensive adult) until their executive function is fully developed? That’s quite a bleak view of childhood & community.

NPR@npr.org · 12mo ago

In 2024, 7,100 pedestrians were killed on the road, and in recent years, more than 1,000 cyclists have been hit and killed annually. Safety experts explain how bikers and walkers can stay safe.

If you’re on the west side today, stop by the West Side County Fair on Pier I and tell us what you think is the “Best Block in the UWS” We’re just getting started and will be here all day. C’mon down!

The demand to cycle for transportation is undeniable among every age group across the city. The only thing holding us back is incomplete infraction and a political bias toward the status quo. It’s time for leadership that understands the value of positive change and has the will to make it happen.

Dad on the bike@measuredworks.bsky.social · last yr.

More than two dozen bikes at drop-off every day this week at my kid’s school. You love to see it. Our next mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social should give @nyc-dot.bsky.social a mandate to quickly transform NYC into the safest city in North America for kids to bike. The demand is there & growing.

"Everybody’s in favor of 'safety,' but compared to what? That’s the question: what are you willing to sacrifice for safety?"

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · last yr.

Members of Manhattan Community Board 7 refused — twice! — to back a purely symbolic effort to demand that the Department of Transportation prioritize street safety over free parking. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/11/w...

City Hall’s interference here at the behest of @galeabrewer.bsky.social sets a terrible precedent and risks compromising future street improvement projects, almost all of which will require converting some amount of free parking to a use that serves a broader & more diverse segment of the community.

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · last yr.

Elected officials are supposed to use their positions to make the agency’s program work better, not undermine it with line-item vetoes that favor a narrow group of constituents at the expense of everyone else.

This is incredibly disappointing from @galeabrewer.bsky.social.

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · last yr.

The city's nascent effort to convert 70 curbside spots on the Upper West Side from free to metered parking is on hold after drivers threw a fit — and the local Council member declared war on the very idea of charging drivers to park their private property on publicly-owned streets. buff.ly/CwQawnq

How can we reclaim our streets with Low-Traffic Neighborhoods? Join the conversation with Jon Jon Wesolowski this Tuesday July 1st at 6:30PM to learn how we can create safer, more local streets. 📍Hi-Note - 188 Ave B RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/what-europ... @1014nyc.bsky.social

We predict the war on e-bikes will run out of gas, and the apocalypse will be gentler than advertised. biketalk.org/2025/06/2522... @streetopia.bsky.social @openplans.org @consumerreports.org @transalt.org @sbalkan5.bsky.social

#2522 – Criminalization of Bikes in NYC and Biking in The Apocalypse - Bike Talk

Listener email: the difference between bike packing and bike touring, and what handlebar bags and panniers to get (1:11). New York City has begun a policy of criminalizing minor traffic violations for...

biketalk.org

High quality bike lanes make cycling more appealing and accessible to more people. This is not a high quality bike lane.

Thank you for speaking out, Council Member. Targeting bicyclists with criminal summonses does nothing to make our streets safer, particularly when car drivers inflict orders of magnitude more harm to everyone—pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers.

Gale A. Brewer@galeabrewer.bsky.social · last yr.

I do not support criminal summonses for bicyclists who commit minor traffic infractions. I want people to follow the rules of the road but a civil summons is more appropriate when they are necessary. Car drivers rarely get criminal summonses even when they are deserved.

Daylighting is good and popular policy that makes streets safer for everyone, especially pedestrians. We’re grateful to @galeabrewer.bsky.social for her support of @council.nyc.gov bill Int 1138 which would require NYC to *follow state law* and implement daylighting across the city.

Inspired Infrastructure got inspired by our W 72nd St vision. Check it out:

Fixing NYC’s 72nd Street: A People-First Vision

YouTube video by Inspired Infrastructure

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