Downtown Juneteenth rallies seek justice in NYC
Marchers on Juneteenth along the Lower East Side on June 19, 2020.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
AND ROBERT
POZARYCKI
Thousands of New Yorkers took to
the streets again on June 19 to seek
greater equality for every American
during events commemorating Juneteenth.
The holiday marks the emancipation of
the last slaves in America in Texas on this
date in 1865. The commemoration gained
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The city’s Department of Transportation
is in talks with Mayor Bill de
Blasio to study turning a roadway
on the Brooklyn Bridge into a bike lane,
an agency rep told civic gurus Thursday
evening.
“DOT is in talks with the mayor’s offi ce
and City Hall for conducting a study about
the feasibility of a bikeway on the mainline
of the Brooklyn Bridge and you may hear
about that in the coming weeks,” Emily
Riquelme told Brooklyn Community Board
2’s Transportation Committee at a virtual
meeting on June 18.
City transportation offi cials studied expanding
the iconic span’s existing shared
bike and pedestrian walkway to better
accommodate both users, but found that
to be unfeasible, said Riquelme, who added
that the agency is now looking at moving
cyclists onto one of the car lanes of the
bridge.
“There was a study done for a pedestrian
walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge, the feasibility
was unfounded,” the rep said.
The path is regularly jam-packed with
people and tourists, and a handful of threewheeled
mini police cars routinely take up
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
importance in recent weeks during the protests
following the police-involved death of
Minneapolis resident George Floyd
Friday afternoon, marchers began
outside City Hall where they repeated
calls upon Mayor Bill de Blasio and the
City Council to “defund” the NYPD by
as much as a billion dollars — if not,
completely.
Sharma Lewis, 26, traveled from the
Bronx to match in today’s Juneteenth
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Roughly 1,000 protesters take a knee for a moment of silence at Lafayette and
Worth St. A stone’s throw away from Manhattan courthouses.
Wheelin’ and dealin’: City in talks to turn part
of Brooklyn Bridge roadway into a bike lane
The Brooklyn Bridge walkway in February.
at least one of the bridge’s lanes — making
it a dangerous squeeze for all involved.
“The situation is a death or serious
injury waiting to happen,” said Patrick
’Defund the police’ rally at City Hall. She
compared the bad apples in the city’s police
force to a tumor.
“And like a tumor you have to cut all
the supplies that run blood to it,” she said.
The march also included a caravan of
dozens of vehicles that furthered the message
for change.
From City Hall, those marching on
foot headed along Broadway toward Foley
Square and the Tweed Courthouse. At one
PHOTO BY AMALIA ARMS
Killackey, a member of the committee,
which unanimously endorsed a symbolic
motion in favor of the idea, adding that
they would want to make the elevated
point, some of the marchers called on de
Blasio to resign over his handling of the
NYPD.
The march continued to wind its way
past the African Burial Ground National
Monument, then back up along Thomas
Street and toward Hudson Street. There,
the mood took a more upbeat shift.
Police made their presence known during
the march, but largely stood back and
watched the crowds pass by.
walkway pedestrian-only.
While they were at it, the civic panel also
issued a recommendation to turn at least
one of the Manhattan Bridge’s vehicular
lanes into a bikeway, while turning the
existing bike lane at the crossing’s side into
another pedestrian path.
The City Council and urban design
non-profi t Van Alen Institute in February
launched a design competition to revamp
the bridge’s walkway, which is split in half
between cyclists and pedestrians.
Finalists for that competition were
supposed to be announced mid-May, but
a spokesman for Council Speaker Corey
Johnson’s offi ce told Brooklyn Paper at the
time that the schedule had been delayed
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Finalists will be announced soon,
though this pandemic may alter the schedule
by a couple weeks,” Juan Soto said in a
statement in May.
It is unclear whether that competition
will still move ahead in light of DOT’s
newly-revealed discussions.
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4 June 25, 2020 Schneps Media