Friday’s Headlines: Greening Medians Edition

From the mean streets to the green streets?

Legislation passed by the City Council on Thursday would require the city, starting in 2026, to bring plants and greenery to “at least one linear mile of paved medians every two years until 2046.”

“The greenification of street medians will achieve countless benefits in historically disadvantaged communities: help clean the air residents breathe, reduce noise pollution, beautify communities, improve mental health, and even help prepare for environmental threats,” bill sponsor Oswald Feliz (D-Bronx) said in a statement.

“Historically, disadvantaged communities have had the least access to green and healthy spaces,” he added. “Natural spaces are important to our mental health and physical well-being, and this legislation will help ensure every community has access to these green spaces.”

Trees and plants cool neighborhoods and gobble up pollution, but a 2021 analysis by BetaNYC found that verdant plains are overwhelmingly concentrated in wealthy parts of the city.

Feliz sent us some Google Maps screenshots of uncovered medians in his district, which you can see below. Compare them to the Upper West Side’s “Broadway Malls” or the median on Park Avenue (see above).

Hopefully Feliz’s bill will start to make a green dent in the medians of the Bronx.

In other news from a slow day:

• An SUV driver killed a pedestrian in Bay Ridge … then fled. (NY Post)
• DOT celebrated its latest “shared street” and protected bike lane redesign of Broadway, between East 17th Street and East 21st Street. (NYC DOT via nyc.gov)
• Gothamist covered the City Council’s abrupt decision not to pass a bill decriminalizing jaywalking. So did we!
• Gov. Hochul — lowering the congestion pricing toll risks delaying the program indefinitely. (Crain’s)
• NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban resigned Thursday amid a federal investigation into his brother’s “nightlife consulting” business. (NY Times)