This week, Bushwick’s Community Board 4 voted on a controversial Department of Transportation proposal to bring new bike lanes to the neighborhood. Despite significant planning leading up to the proposal and the vote, the plan passed by a single vote: among the 25 assembled board members, 13 voted for the bike lanes, 10 voted against it, and two abstained (which CB4 counted as a votes against the proposal). Here’s why this plan was so divisive.

Parking and other car related concerns are prioritized by board members in many New York City community board districts where a contingent of residents, senior citizens among them, own cars and rely on them as an alternative to public transit options that may or may not serve their needs ( for example, note that few of Bushwick’s elevated train stations feature a reliable elevator option).

CB4 is among these; other recent hotly debated subjects brought before the board include the introduction of 2-hour metered parking along Bushwick’s Broadway border and a DOT proposal to turn the section of Wyckoff Ave between Gates Ave and Palmetto St into a pedestrian plaza on Bushwick’s Ridgewood border.