Brooklyn Seniors Slam 'Nazi Germany' Transit Overhaul Favoring Hipsters

Longtime residents in Brooklyn's rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods are voicing strong opposition to proposed transit changes, including new bike lanes and bus route modifications, which they claim disproportionately impact the elderly and favor newer, younger residents.

Elderly residents in areas like Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights feel ignored by the city administration, with some likening the situation to "Nazi Germany in 1933." They argue that plans to transform streets like Dean and Bergen into pedestrian and bike-friendly zones, alongside potential rerouting of the B65 bus, will force seniors to walk significantly farther to access public transportation.

"It's like people of a certain age are no longer welcome in Brooklyn," said Betty Davis, 82, a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant who relies on the B65 bus. "Anytime you deprive any group of people — especially working-class, elderly and handicapped people — of public transportation, that is more than just an issue of civil rights. That's an issue of human rights."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) initially proposed shifting the B65 bus route two blocks north onto Atlantic Avenue as part of its 2022 Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign Draft Plan, aiming to improve speed and efficiency. However, Community Board 8 and local residents pushed back as early as 2023, deeming aspects of the proposal "counterproductive and arbitrary," particularly for a neighborhood described as a "naturally occurring retirement center."

These concerns were amplified this spring when Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans for a "Bike Boulevard" project that would further alter Dean and Bergen streets, aiming to "prioritize cyclists and pedestrians" without eliminating vehicular traffic. While city officials maintain the bus redesign and bike boulevard projects are separate, residents see them as a coordinated effort.

"Someone's selling us the Brooklyn Bridge," commented Kwasi Mensah, a member of Community Board 8 and a 27-year resident of Crown Heights, labeling the plans a "war on motorists."

Peter Anekwe, 62, a fellow community board member and a lifelong cyclist, argued that Crown Heights already has adequate bike lanes. He expressed concern that rerouting the B65 would force seniors and children to cross the busy Atlantic Avenue, a thoroughfare for trucks, to reach the bus. "The elders and children have to cross the busy thoroughfare of Atlantic Avenue, which is where trucks are allowed to traverse. They have to now get caught up in that mix in order to utilize the B65," Anekwe stated.

Local resident Stephon Richardson suggested that the administration's plans are aimed at appeasing newer residents who might be politically aligned with the current administration but may not remain in the neighborhood long-term. "It feels like Mamdani is talking from both sides of his mouth in the sense that he campaigned on keeping longtime black residents in their homes, not pushing them out," Richardson said. He criticized the urban renewal policies, suggesting they are not for the immediate community but for "the passer-by, the transients, the people who are gentrifying."