LOOK OUT FOR IN 2020!
COURIER LIFE, JANUARY 3-9, 2020 3
use, one of Prospect’s Parks
hidden treasures, the Rose
Garden, has a dramatic facelift
in the works. Located in
the northeast corner of the
park near Flatbush Avenue,
the garden was once a gem
of Brooklyn’s Backyard, a
“botanic garden before there
was a botanic garden” as one
greenspace guru described
it, but as the lawn fell into a
period of decline it became a
shell of its former self. Today,
the once glorious garden is
a literal hole in the ground,
fi lled in with cement and
surrounded by non-curated
growth — but not for long.
Park honchos revealed their
plans to restore the garden in
2017, and 2020 should be the
year we fi nally learn the details
of the long-time-coming
scheme.
Gowanus rezoning: With
a review of the high-profi
le Gowanus rezoning just
around the corner, residents
of the affected neighborhood
are pushing for specifics
in what has so far been an
opaque community input process.
The fi rst public meeting
held on the rezoning in early
February devolved into a
shouting match over city offi
cials lack of a clear presentation,
and things haven’t gotten
much clearer since then.
Gowanasaurs have since demanded
the rezoning take
their concerns into account,
which include cleaning the
neighborhoods fetid canal and
providing affordable housing
in the increasingly gentrifi ed
neighborhood.
2020 Census: The nation’s
decennial headcount is just
around the corner, when Uncle
Sam will ask every man,
woman, and child — including
prisoners, the homeless,
and undocumented immigrants
— to offer up personal
information used to tally the
population and divy up more
than $700 billion in federal
resources. Some fear that the
hugely important count has
been jeopardized by the Trump
Administration, which added
a citizenship question on the
survey that’s expected to scare
off would-be immigrant participants.
The Supreme Court
struck down Trump’s citizenship
question in June, but even
that may not be enough to lure
immigrants into participating.
And, while Brooklyn stands to
benefi t from high participation
rates in the form of new
congressional seats and more
federal funding, the borough
is also in the running to overtake
Chicago as the third largest
city in the country! Lets go
Brooklyn!
Marijuana legalization:
The push to create a legal
weed market in New York
State built up a lot of momentum
in 2019 thanks to Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, who in January
outlined a plan to open pot
stores across the state by 2024,
which would generate an estimated
$300 million in annual
tax revenue. However, the effort
to include Cuomo’s legalization
in the 2020 budget fi zzled
out over the spring, with
legislators failing to reach
consensus over how the drug
would be taxed and where that
money should be spent. Safety
concerns raised by local lawenforcement
didn’t help, and,
while the bill was expected to
clear the Assembly, it lacked
the support to pass through
the Senate. But the legalization
movement still has a lot of
support in New York, and the
bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Liz
Krueger (D-Manhattan) and
Majority Leader Crystal Peoples
Stokes (D-Buffalo), have
vowed to revive the effort after
legislators head back to Albany
in January.
Brooklyn’s bus redesign:
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority kicked off
a borough-wide revamp of
Brooklyn’s bus network in
October, and is expected to
begin wholesale implementation
of strategies designed to
cut costs and provide more reliable
service beginning next
year.
Bike lane expansion:
The borough is set to receive
a whole new network of bike
lanes under new citywide initiatives
to increase bike safety,
after nearly 30 cyclists were
killed in the fi ve boroughs in
2019. Along with Mayor de Blasio’s
Green Wave initiative, the
city council passed Speaker
Corey Johnson’s Streets Master
Plan, both of which call for
the aggressive installation of
new bike and bus infrastructure.
Several Brooklyn neighborhoods
are labeled as priority
districts under the Mayor’s
plan, including Borough Park,
Midwood, Sheepshead Bay,
Coney Island, East Flatbush,
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick,
Brownsville, and East
New York. While most of the
Green Wave won’t be put into
place until after de Blasio
leaves offi ce, Brooklyn can
expect several new bike projects
in 2020, including a DOT
scheme to wrap the perimeter
of Prospect Park with protected
lanes.
E-bike bill: Governor
Cuomo crushed the dreams
of Brooklyn delivery guys and
gals when he vetoed a bill legalizing
e-bikes and e-scooters,
despite legislators voting
overwhelmingly in support of
the measure last June. Cuomo
criticized the legislation for
lacking helmet requirements
and other safety features, but
lawmakers vowed to re-introduce
the bill next year with
alterations to make it more
palatable for the governor.
Meanwhile, anyone caught
riding electric bikes, or scooters
will be subject to a whopping
$500 fi ne.
Gov. Cuomo failed to realize his vision for a legal weed market in New
York last year, but legislators have already vowed to renew the fi ght for
legalization in 2020. Governor Cuomo’s Offi ce / Mike Groll
The MTA will implement service changes next year as part of a borough-wide revamp to Brooklyn’s bus network.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
The city will begin a sweeping expansion of the city’s bike lane network
beginning next year, when Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s “Streets
Master Plan” kicks into effect. Photo by Stefano Giovannini