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Down-Ballot Recap: A Great Night for the Livable Streets Movement

The message: Stick to the livable streets guns.

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk|

Pols know: Livable streets is a winning campaign. (Clockwise from left): Brooklyn Borough Presidentt Antonio Reynoso, Council Members Shahana Hanif, Rita Joseph, Chi Ossé and Lincoln Restler.

The message: Stick to the livable streets guns.

All across the city in the down-ballot races, candidates who boldly asserted the importance of bike lanes, public transit, and open streets won — while revanchists lost.

"Safer streets and better public transit continue to be winning issues for politicians," said Eric McClure, executive director of StreetsPAC, who openly taunted former Gov. Andrew Cuomo hours after his defeat by transit champion Zohran Mamdani.

"Better buses beat the Summer of Hell. Citi Bikes beat Dodge Chargers," he said, referring to Cuomo's history of MTA mismanagement and his omnipresent car.

Council candidates who campaigned on their support for safer streets were largely rewarded:

Obviously, not every race hinged on advocacy for a bike lane or daylighting intersections — but like chicken soup, it couldn't hoyt.

Chi Ossé advocated for the Bedford Avenue protected bike lane, as part of a much broader campaign for housing affordability. He won.

And Crystal Hudson worked to secure an $115-million commitment for street safety improvements in the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan, also as part of a broad progressive agenda. She also won.

Beyond the Council

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who has supported eliminating parking mandates so developers can build more housing and do so more efficiently, defeated Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, who ran for higher office singlemindedly advocating for e-bike registration and crackdowns on cyclists.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who has advocated for a state review of the West Side Highway and has called for the city to raze the FDR south of the Brooklyn Bridge, won the Comptroller race over Justin Brannan, who waffled on issues such as the redesign of Fourth Avenue and spoke out against congestion pricing last November.

Ben Furnas, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, saw the election as a vindication of what advocates have been saying; he called next year, when Tuesday's winners take office, "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape our streets and create a city where everyone can get around quickly, safely, and affordably, and with dignity."

Mamdani has long championed dignity in a campaign that mostly focused on affordability in the broadest sense. But his agenda also connected to New Yorkers' desire to live in a transit-friendly, walkable, bikeable, livable city.

“A life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few,” said Mamdani, who has called for pedestrianizing streets in the congestion relief zone, expanding protected bike infrastructure, and cracking down on NYPD parking abuse.

Clearly, that's the winning formula.

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