Bottcher-Sponsored Bill to Green Up Pedestrian Islands Passed

On its final day in session, the New York City Council passed an Erik Bottcher-sponsored bill—Intro 1233—that will mandate tree plantings on new medians, in a bid to green up otherwise vacant stretches of concrete infrastructure and pedestrian islands.

Bottcher, who recently celebrated the planting of 1,000 trees in his Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen district, specified to Chelsea News that the bill will apply to projects “going forward.” The medians that would be targeted are those that separate bike lanes from car traffic.

However, the bill also pointedly instructs the Department of Transportation to “plant greenery in these medians whenever possible,” meaning that currently-existing medians will ideally see some serious sprucing-up as well.

Bottcher made the clarification at a presser held in City Hall Park on Dec. 18, which he walked to after attending a hearing on the legislation. He said that the bill will have an “outsized impact on safety, public health, quality of life, and mitigation of climate change.”

“One of the first rallies I held when I first got elected to City Council in 2022...[involved] calling for a protected bike lane on Tenth Avenue, and one on lower Sixth Avenue,” Bottcher noted, adding that both of those projects have come to fruition. “These projects have made our neighborhoods safer, and more pleasant, but too often the pedestrian refuge islands that are created are left as concrete barren slabs.”

He said that in addition to being “aesthetically pleasing,” medians with more vegetation would absorb rainwater during flash floods, as well as increase biodiversity and cool temperatures. As he is fond of doing, Bottcher also cited studies that demonstrate safer traffic patterns on tree-lined streets.

Indeed, a study published in 2019 arrived at the finding that there is “a significant positive statistical effect of urban tree cover on perceived safety,” and that “such an intervention could prove especially helpful in increasing the feelings of safety in denser and in poorer neighborhoods.”

“We have found that the DOT doesn’t automatically include trees on medians,” Bottcher said. “In fact, on Eleventh Avenue they created a protected bike lane and pedestrian island—and there was not one tree. It feels much more like a highway than a residential neighborhood.”

In fact, the Council member described having to pressure the DOT to plant trees next to the bike lane that eventually went up on Tenth Avenue, which reportedly wasn’t going to be the case initially.

The bill could theoretically also spur the DOT to clean up otherwise unpleasant medians, such as those with lingering litter, at least according to a mandate in the legislation’s official text: “The [DOT] shall post on its website a list or map that identifies each such median built . . . and identifies the agency or office responsible for the long-term cleaning and maintenance of the median.”

Interestingly enough, the bill was co-sponsored by a slew of Council members who span the ideological spectrum, from both the Democratic and Republican parties (Bottcher identifies himself as a progressive Democrat).

Allies of Bottcher also chimed in to support the bill’s passage. “Green street medians are small spaces with outsized impacts—delivering resilience for New York City while supporting urban biodiversity and healthier neighborhoods,” NYC Bird Alliance Director of Advocacy & Engagement Saman Mahmood said, in a statement.