u/JoshfromNYC

Sunday, July 19, at 12:15 PM. We'll start and end at the 31st Avenue Open Streets. Come out for a casual stroll through Astoria as we check out the new infrastructure from Newtown Avenue to Northern Blvd.

Councilmember Tiffany Caban and Assemblymember Diana Moreno will be there.

Anecdotally, I rode on 31st Street a bunch before these upgrades, and it's been a remarkable improvement since the bike lanes were implemented. See you there!

This isn't a shocking revelation to anyone who participates in this sub, but it's refreshing to see someone in leadership acknowledge that bike lanes save lives.

Next time some random firefighter speaks in opposition to a street redesign (in an unofficial capacity), bring this video up. At this point, a firefighter rallying against street redesigns is the equivalent of arguing against seatbelts.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/06/02/mamdanis-fdny-commish-lillian-bonsignore-backs-protected-bike-lanes-overriding-bikelash-firefighters

We have an important opportunity to testify in support of the 31st Avenue Phase 2 rollout at the Queens CB1 general board meeting. The meeting will take place TOMORROW — Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 PM — at Astoria World Manor.

It’s important that we continue to show the DOT, the CB1 board, and the broader community that there is strong neighborhood support for these projects.

Q: "But Josh, wait. Didn’t we just testify at CB1 last month?!"
A: We did! But that was for the 31st Street safety improvements. This is a separate project. Look at that beautiful roundabout. That could be your life!

Phase 2 would extend the corridor from Steinway St to 51st St, creating a much longer east-west connection and expanding one of the city’s most successful street redesigns.

At April's meeting about 31st Street, supporters showed up in a big way. It concluded with roughly 20 consecutive speakers testifying in favor of the 31st Street improvements. Let’s bring that same energy again and make sure the board and DOT hear that support for safer, more connected streets continues to grow.

The opposition consistently shows up, so it’s important that supporters do too.

Click here to view the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.
Click here to view the DOT presentation.
Click here to watch the DOT presentation to CB1 Transportation Committee.

Livestream for those unable to attend: https://youtube.com/live/7Uwk97fu8vQ

Here's the link to the DOT survey.

It's important to note that only one of the two proposals includes bike lanes. The second page of the survey asks for feedback on each proposal, so I definitely recommend letting the DOT know you strongly prefer the proposal with bike facilities.

There's also a question where you can rank how important it is to include a bike lane on a scale from 0-10.

ConEd was doing some construction on 35th Street.

Cars were traveling the wrong way down 1-way streets and using the bike lane. Several near accidents between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists in the time I was there.

There was a parking enforcement officer who said she wished she could give all the cars tickets, but it was outside her jurisdiction. She genuinely seemed like she wanted to help.

An NYPD cruiser coincidentally showed up a few minutes after I submitted a 311 complaint. The bike lane was full of cars. The officer spoke to the first car, then spoke to the guys directing traffic and then left.

Absolutely wild. Btw, the last car in the video has 109 violations.

I have plenty more footage but this is some of the interesting bits