Transportation Alternatives Calls For Investigation Into All Stalled Street Safety Projects After Corruption Charges Against Lewis-Martin
Ingrid Lewis-Martin is facing bribery charges after allegedly working with the Argento family to stop the McGuinness Boulevard street redesign.
McGuinness Boulevard is one of several street safety projects inexplicably stalled, delayed, watered down, or halted by the Adams administration.
NEW YORK — Today, weeks after a former top City Hall official was indicted on bribery charges related to selling the stoppage of street safety projects, Transportation Alternatives is calling for an investigation into all street safety projects stalled by the Adams administration.
A few weeks ago, former top City Hall official Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Gina Argento, and Tony Argento were all indicted on corruption charges. Prosecutors allege that Gina and Tony Argento bribed Lewis-Martin to stop the McGuinness Boulevard redesign, a street safety project spurred by the death of a local teacher that was suddenly watered down by the Adams administration last summer. McGuinness is far from the only stalled, watered down, or backtracked safety or transit project; since 2022, City Hall has stalled safety improvements on Ashland Place, Bedford Avenue, McGuinness Boulevard, and Third Avenue in Brooklyn while also blocking bus projects on Fifth Avenue, Fordham Road, and Tremont Avenue.
In a new letter to the City Council, Transportation Alternatives is calling for a timeline for the completion of each stalled project, an oversight hearing into the stalled projects, and a public message affirming the overwhelming evidence that street safety projects reduce crashes and save lives.
Read the full letter:
Dear Honored Members of the New York City Council,
Mayor Adams is leaving a wake of unfinished street safety projects across New York City. These are projects that have the potential to save lives, speed up public transit, and bring long-overdue safety improvements to communities across the city, but they’re languishing half-finished. Much of the hard work is done: community engagement, traffic studies, and even physical infrastructure, but yet these projects have been abandoned.
We can’t let all of this progress go to waste just because the current administration hasn’t finished the job. Too many projects and changes that would improve New York City are wasting away in the mayor’s graveyard of good ideas. New Yorkers can’t wait for safe streets — we need a full investigation into every street safety project stalled by City Hall.
As law enforcement looks into the possible bribery and corruption that’s stonewalling the street safety project on McGuinness Boulevard, it is time for the Council’s oversight authority to be called upon to investigate every paused street safety project. New York City’s elected leaders must affirm that bribery has no place in our City’s safety decisions.
What allegedly happened on McGuinness Boulevard was abhorrent, and if this behavior is allowed to stand, our City is sending a clear message: public safety can be bought and sold. In New York City, the safety of children walking to school, seniors crossing the street, and delivery cyclists commuting to work can’t come second to gifts and political pressure.
We can’t afford to wait. Since 2022, City Hall has intervened in multiple street-redesign projects, including safety improvements on Ashland Place, Bedford Avenue, McGuinness Boulevard, and Third Avenue in Brooklyn. Busways on Fifth Avenue in Midtown, Fordham Road and Tremont Avenue in the Bronx have also been put on hold without clear justification.
These political blockages have already cost New Yorkers far too much and it’s time to respond. According to Streetsblog, if seven major stalled projects had been implemented, more than 150 traffic injuries could have been prevented, and nearly a quarter-million bus riders would have had faster commutes by now.
New Yorkers depend on safe, efficient streets—not political games. As such, we urge the Council to:
Demand firm timelines for the completion of each stalled DOT street-safety project by the end of 2025.
Hold an oversight hearing to investigate the cause of abruptly paused street safety projects and demand that public safety, not political pressure, drive DOT implementation.
Publicly reaffirm the overwhelming evidence that these interventions reduce crashes and improve transit access.
Selling out safety for political favors is an insult to every New Yorker — and a slap in the face to every bus rider trapped in traffic, cyclist forced onto an unsafe street, or child trying to dodge trucks just to cross the street. Every day that these arbitrarily paused projects remain incomplete, communities face more crashes, worse commutes, and their faith in local government erodes further.
Thank you for your consideration and leadership on this critical issue. We urge New York City to stand up and declare that safety must never be for sale. We won’t accept a city where petty bribery and corruption comes before our children’s safety — and neither should anyone else.
Sincerely,
Ben Furnas
