Lander Announces Support from Three Dozen Transportation Advocates and Releases Transportation Policy Agenda
NEW YORK – Comptroller candidate Brad Lander announced the support of more than three dozen leading transportation advocates today. The Council Member also released a new comprehensive transportation policy agenda detailing ways to improve transit and create livable streets as a foundation for NYC’s economic recovery.
The list of 40+ transportation advocates includes prominent public transit advocates Gene Russianoff, John Raskin, and Mark Winston Griffith, bike advocates Paul Steely White, Marco Conner, and Jon Orcutt, and street safety advocates Amy Cohen and Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio. Full list of endorsers below.
Lander’s policy agenda identifies key ways the NYC Comptroller can advance progressive, livable streets goals, including:
Hire and assign a dedicated team within the Audit Bureau to focus on accessibility including in our subways, sidewalks, crosswalks and bus access
Fight for an implementation of congestion pricing that ensures it achieves both emission reduction and revenue raising goals without putting a disproportionate burden on communities of color
Use data and analysis to shine an urgent spotlight on signal modernization to get trains running on time and more frequently
Hold the City accountable to its commitments to build hundreds of miles of bus and bike lanes, and transition to a zero-emission bus fleet by 2040
Conduct an analysis of the economic impacts of the Open Streets program in NYC as well other ambitious open street programs like Barcelona’s “superblocks.”
“A just and durable recovery for NYC will hinge on how easy, safe, and affordable it is to get around,” said Brad Lander, candidate for NYC Comptroller. “For New York City to be a place where people of all backgrounds can continue to live, work and thrive, we need to prioritize stronger, more sustainable, convenient and accessible transportation infrastructure that better serves New Yorkers, spurs economic recovery, promotes climate justice, and sustains livable neighborhoods. I’m proud to be a long time partner to advocates working towards those goals, and eager to use the tools of the Comptroller’s office to advance a bold, progressive transportation agenda for our city.”
Lander has been a champion for improving public transit, making streets safer, and expanding cycling infrastructure as an advocate and as a city council member:
Helped lead the advocacy coalition in the 2007 push for congestion pricing, as director of the Pratt Center for Community Development.
Partnered with DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan to help launch the neighborhood plaza program.
Supported the Prospect Park West bike lane, even as it faced backlash and lawsuits.
Early supporter and founding member of the CitiBike program in 2013.
In 2014, he invited Amy Cohen to testify in the City Council, which helped to spark the campaign that reduced the speed limit in New York City.
In 2018, he was arrested in civil disobedience alongside members of Families for Safe Streets to restore the city’s speed camera program.
Working closely with safe streets advocates and families of victims of traffic violence, Brad created the innovative, data-driven, Reckless Driver Accountability Act, to get reckless drivers off the roads and into a restorative justice driver accountability course.
Lander’s transportation agenda builds on his comprehensive plan to invest better in infrastructure and his plan to transform traffic safety.
Quotes from Supporters:
"After my 12-year-old son Sammy was killed in a car crash, Brad was there to support our family and fight alongside us for safe streets. He arranged for us to testify at a hearing to lower NYC’s speed limit just weeks after Sammy died. Brad helped lead the fight to lower NYC’s speed limit, expand our speed safety camera program, and most recently pass the Reckless Driver Accountability Act. He stands up for what he believes is right. When the NYS legislature allowed the speed cameras to go dark, he stood with other bereaved parents and was arrested alongside them in our fight to save lives. I am confident that he will bring the same compassion and dedication as NYC Comptroller,” said Amy Cohen, mother of Sammy Cohen Eckstein who was killed in a traffic crash outside her home in 2013 at the age of 12.
"My big professional passions have been New York City's subways, a more accessible city, and good government. Brad Lander has been a champion for all three. He was one of the early advocates for congestion pricing and bus rapid transit -- so I never had to give him the "pokey" award. He reformed the rules of the City Council to ban outside income and lulus, and he helped to strengthen NYC's campaign finance laws with the strongest independent expenditure disclosure law in the country -- so I never had to call him out for a conflict of interest. As Comptroller, I know he'll stay focused on funding the subways, modernizing the signal system, improving transit service, holding City agencies and the MTA accountable to New Yorkers, and making our subways, buses, and streets more accessible for everyone,” said Gene Russianoff, good government advocate and straphanger.
“Brad has been a partner in the fight to make our streets safe for cycling and walking for more than a decade. He stood with us in the protracted fight for the Prospect Park West bike lane that changed the landscape of what is possible on our streets. I’m confident he will be the Comptroller we need to hold the city accountable to ambitious goals for hundreds of miles of safer cycling infrastructure,” said Paul Steely White, former director of Transportation Alternatives.
“After Carmen Porras was killed by a driver who failed to yield on Church Avenue in Kensington, Brad showed up for her daughter, Ana Karen, and for the neighborhood. He organized a meeting with DOT officials and mobilized the community to demand changes for that deadly intersection. Not only is he a consistent advocate for victims of traffic violence, but he doesn’t let up on advocacy to transform our street infrastructure to bring more safety for our neighborhoods,” said Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, advocate for traffic violence victims.
“Brad takes the fight for safer streets personally and leads with creative policy ideas and unrelenting follow through. He worked closely with families who have lost loved ones to traffic violence over years in the fight to pass and then fund the groundbreaking Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Act. As Comptroller, I believe Brad will be a champion for reclaiming streets for the people -- from investing in accessibility infrastructure to using data to identify areas for safety improvements to auditing the city’s progress on creating protected bus and bike lanes,” said Marco Conner DiAquoi, transportation advocate.
"In the 15 years that I have worked with Brad, he has been a dogged fighter not just for better public transportation but for the more equitable and sustainable city that public transit helps us build," said John Raskin, the former executive director of the Riders Alliance.
“From the Prospect Park West bike lane to Fair Fares to the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, Brad Lander has been New York City government’s boldest, most creative, and reliable champion for livable streets and progressive transportation policy over the last decade. Now he is the candidate with the best ideas for how to use the tools of the Comptroller’s office to sustain and improve New York City’s transportation systems. Brad Lander for Comptroller is an easy choice,” said Aaron Naparstek, founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog.org, co-host of The War on Cars podcast.
“Achieving safe streets in New York requires a lot of creative problem solving. That includes changing city institutions so they can better deliver on that goal. Many thanks to Brad Lander for proposing real steps to hold dangerous drivers accountable and situating them in a broad call for better designing and managing streets at a time when traffic safety in New York City is deteriorating,” said Jon Orcutt, former NYC DOT policy director and bike advocate.
"Brad Lander has long been an ally to communities organizing for justice, so it's no surprise to see him bringing that leadership to his campaign for New York City Comptroller. His plan for safer streets with less policing is a model for the kind of anti-racist policy that our city needs, and that our communities are demanding, in how we achieve public safety in so many other areas as well. I'm proud to support the platform, and to support Brad," said Mark Winston Griffith, Central Brooklyn nonprofit executive director, journalist, and long-time organizer for police reform, educational, transportation, and economic justice.
Full List of Endorsers:
Raul Ampuero
Blythe Austin
Rebecca Bailin
Nick Bedell
Amanda Berman
Melodie Bryant
Joan Byron
Dulcie Canton
Bahij Chancey
Amy Cohen
Marco Connor
Elena Conte
Clarence Eckerson
Ellen Foote
Michael Freedman Schnapp
Peter Frishauf
Dahlia Goldenberg
Doug Gordon
Steve Hindy
Mary Beth Kelly
Dana Lerner
Hsi-Pei Liao
Adam Mansky
Debbie Marks Kahn
Charlie McCorkell
Fabiola Mendieta
Aaron Naparstek
Michael O'Loughlin
Luke Ohlson
Joanna Oltman Smith
Jon Orcutt
Neysa Pranger
John Raskin
Gene Russianoff
Caroline Sampanaro
Ron Shiffman
Paul Steely-White
Amy Tam-Liao
Seth Ullman
Adam White
Mark Winston Griffith
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