“Unwarranted, Unlawful, Reckless, and We Are Suing”: Brooklyn Parents and Community Members Join Transportation Alternatives in Suing City Over Plan to Remove the Bedford Avenue Safety Improvements

Protected bike lanes reduce killed and seriously injured rates by 29% for all pedestrians and 39% for senior pedestrians. 

Pedestrian and motorist injuries have fallen since the implementation of the Bedford Avenue protected bike lane.

NEW YORK —  Today, Brooklyn parents and families, represented by Peter Beadle, J.D., sued the Adams administration over its illegal plans to suddenly remove the Bedford Avenue safety improvements and protected bike lane. 

According to the suit, the Adams administration announced plans to remove portions of the Bedford Avenue bike lane “improperly, irrationally, without proper legal notice and in an abuse of discretion.” The protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue was initially installed by the Department of Transportation in response to documented safety issues and after months of community review of the plans.  

“Today, we are suing the City of New York for its illegal plans to rip up multiple blocks of street safety improvements along Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn,” said Peter W. Beadle, Esq. “It is unlawful for City officials to intentionally and knowingly put people at risk like this. These street safety improvements have been proven to save lives, reduce crashes, and protect people from injury, and we cannot sit idly by while the Adams administration takes steps to make our streets more dangerous, without even providing the mandatory notice and time for community feedback required by City law. We do not make this decision lightly, but if we don’t act now, people are going to die. New York City, we’ll see you in court.”

Council Member Lincoln Restler also submitted a signed affidavit in support of a temporary restraining order on the removal project. The Council Member was not notified of any intention to remove the lane — which is legally required under Section 19-101.2 of the Administration Code, as amended by Local Law 3 of 2024 — even after proactively reaching out to DOT yesterday asking if there would be a major transportation project notification process.

"I passed a law that requires the Mayor to notify communities when proposing to add or remove bike lanes. We hope and expect the Mayor will comply with the law,” said Council Member Lincoln Restler.

The Law Office of Peter W. Beadle is suing on behalf of Baruch and Rafael Herzfeld, a father and son who bike along the lane daily, and Transportation Alternatives. 

“My son Rafael turns 13 next month. In Jewish tradition, that’s when a boy becomes a bar mitzvah — responsible for his actions, his words, and his place in the community. Rafael is preparing for this by suing the mayor of New York City,” said Baruch Herzfeld, a Brooklyn father who is suing the City. “Tearing out portions of the Bedford Avenue bike lane will only make our streets more dangerous for everyone who uses them, including children. I’m honored to stand with my son to fight for his street, his community, and his city.”

“The Bedford Avenue safety project was put in place after years of danger and death, and it has worked,” said Ben Furnas, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. “This is unwarranted, unlawful, reckless, and we are suing. It’s illegal for the mayor to unilaterally decide to rip up safety improvements, in contravention of the City's own safety data. No design is without room for some improvement, but removing this safety project leaves Brooklyn families less safe."

Transportation Alternatives has spent years advocating for this project alongside the Better Bedford Coalition, a group of community members, organizations, and local businesses concerned with the unsafe street. After years of organizing, over 2,900 residents, six elected officials, and 43 local businesses and organizations have signed on in support, and the bike lane was built late last year. Between 2014 and the finalization of this safety effort, there have been 12 fatalities along this 1.5-mile stretch of Bedford. Since its completion, there have been no fatalities.

“I have lived on or near Bedford Avenue for years, but it wasn’t until the protected bike lane was installed that I finally felt safe biking home,” said Lewis Anderson, who signed an affidavit in support of the lawsuit and is a volunteer with the Better Bedford coalition. “I live between Park and Flushing avenues, so I depend on the northernmost blocks of the protected bike lane to get home safely. We have spent countless months building a local coalition and fighting for this bike lane, and the mayor’s plan to tear out part of it feels like a slap in the face to everyone in the Better Bedford coalition who fought alongside us for this. We hope that the mayor wakes up to the enormous safety improvements the protected bike lane has provided, as well as his own City laws, which prohibit the removal of a protected bike lane without adequate notice.”

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