YEAR IN REVIEW
City transportation honchos
scrapped their plans to build
protected bike lanes on both
Seventh and Eighth Avenues
in Sunset Park, opting instead
to build a single two-way
lane on Seventh, after locals
expressed concern about the
loss of parking spots. The new
plan will also keep parking on
Eighth Avenue, while still extending
the sidewalk near intersections.
City makes Jay Street busway
in Downtown Brooklyn
permanent after one-year
pilot: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
that after a successful
one-year pilot program, the
0.4 mile bus-only throughway
on Jay Street would remain
permanently. Bus speeds improved
signifi cantly under the
program, which banned car
through-traffi c on the stretch
during peak hours.
Brooklyn Diocese ousts
86-year-old priest following
credible abuse allegations:
The Brooklyn Diocese ousted
86-year-old Rev. Peter Mahoney
after substantiating 50-year-old
abuse claims leveled against
the priest. A lawsuit fi led under
the Child Victims Act said that
Mahoney groomed and sexually
The city Council approved the hotly-contested neighborhood-wide Gowanus rezoning in November (left), and the city completed work on Emily
Roebling Plaza in Brooklyn Bridge Park in December (right).
abused a teen at a Brooklyn
Catholic school.
Council votes to approve
Gowanus rezoning
after years of debate: The
New York City Council voted
nearly-unanimously to approve
the Gowanus rezoning,
offi cially setting the project in
motion after years of planning
and debate. The vote came after
outgoing councilmembers
Brad Lander and Stephen
Levin successfully negotiated
for key community demands.
DECEMBER
Leadership battle erupts
among Brooklyn’s Republican
party: An intra-party
fi ght broke out within Brooklyn’s
Republican Party, as
COURIER LIFE, DEC.14 31, 2021-JAN. 6, 2022
conservative bigwig Stephen
Maresca looks to usurp the
leadership of the Kings County
GOP — citing consistently “disappointing”
electoral results,
including in the 2021 citywide
elections.
Brooklyn Bridge Park
completed with opening
of Emily Warren Roebling
Plaza: The fi nal stretch of the
85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park
opened with fanfare as the tenyear
construction of the park
was offi cially fi nished. Named
after construction engineer
Emily Warren Roebling, who
oversaw construction of the
Brooklyn Bridge in the late
1800s, the plaza connects
the north end of the park, in
Dumbo, and the piers.
City Council grants noncitizen
voting rights: Despite
challenges to its constitutionality,
the Our City, Our Vote Bill
passed in the council, granting
around 800,000 green card and
work visa holders the right to
vote in city elections. The bill
was reviewed by Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s legal team, several academic
lawyers, revised three
times and compared against
federal, state and local law before
it came to the vote.
Council approves River
Ring on the Williamsburg
waterfront: The City Council
voted unanimously to approve
River Ring, a massive new development
on the Williamsburg
waterfront, effectively
bringing to a close the city’s
lengthy land use review process
and clearing the path for
the two towers to move ahead.
The mixed-use buildings will
be among the tallest in the borough,
and a soft-edge waterfront
park is expected to house
wildlife and defend the development
and the neighborhood
from fl ooding.
Omicron strains testing
capacity as infections spike:
The newest variant of the coronavirus,
Omicron, sent positivity
rates skyrocketing and
thousands of New Yorkers out
into the cold to wait for tests.
The reportedly milder but very
infectious virus upended holiday
travel and has shuttered
schools, theaters, and more as
it ravages the city.
Continued from page 13
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