On May 18th, 2021, beloved elementary school teacher Matthew Jensen was killed in a tragic hit-and-run crash while crossing the street – the latest victim of Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s notoriously dangerous McGuinness Blvd. In response, local community members, Bronwyn Breitner and Kevin LaCherra, spearhead the grassroots organization Make McGuinness Safe. With the notable help of the state assemblyperson Emily Gallagher, the activists secured a commitment from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to redesign the four-lane street bisecting the community, an obsolete relic of the Robert Moses era.

Following two years of community consultation, the city’s department of transportation responds with a plan introducing protected bike lanes, widening medians and reducing car lanes to two. Though lauded by many, the proposed “road diet” also provokes a predictable backlash, particularly from local businesses and the powerful Argento family, who perceive it as a threat to their bottom line and form a counter-organization, Keep McGuinness Moving. As Mayor Eric Adams wavers and the redesign is delayed, the increasingly polarized fight over McGuinness plays out in public rallies, government meetings, on-line forums and the media, and becomes a microcosm for a dysfunctional American political culture that seems incapable of producing reasonable solutions to critical problems.