Friday Headlines: Anti-Bike Path Pols Edition

State lawmakers are cool on Gov. Hochul’s proposal to streamline the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process, and in the process, working to keep the status quo on what can be protracted bike path construction.

According to NY1’s Bernadette Hogan, the Assembly wants to narrow the governor’s proposal to speed up project approvals and lessen the possibility for lawsuits by focusing primarily on housing, but restricting where it can be built, requiring more stringent labor agreements and sunsetting the changes in 2029.

The state Senate’s proposal also limits SEQRA reform to housing projects with similar restrictions on locations.

The crux of Hochul’s proposal is speeding up project approvals on previously disturbed land. It’s one thing to create a new greenway that juts through a nature preserve chock full of endangered species, but it’s another to repurpose land in various stages of pollution or distress that lies dormant after being subjected to other construction projects, some of which may have gone through a SEQRA already.

As Streetsblog has previously reported, some bike paths and greenways fall victim to delays because of the complex interplay of SEQRA and other environmental regulations in New York. While it can occasionally be the result of well-meaning environmental concerns, SEQRA is regularly weaponized by communities and businesses who disagree with the aesthetic or social impact of a project, and hope to kill it through a war of legal attrition.

While that pain is often felt in the housing sector as much-needed projects fail to get off the ground, the failure to create safer paths for New Yorkers is ultimately a detriment across the state.

More news:

• A bridge crossing the Long Island Sound between Connecticut and Suffolk County may be dead in the Connecticut General Assembly, but developers have hope. (Newsday)
• Hochul is painting her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, in a Trumpian light. (Gothamist)
• State lawmakers may allow climate laws to be delayed to avoid worse rollbacks. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is staying out of the debate. (City & State, New York Focus)
• State Senate Majority Leader Mike Gianaris and major unions endorsed Brian Romero for a Queens Assembly seat being vacated by his old boss, Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas (D-Jackson Heights). (QNS)
• Orange County jurors convicted former Chester Highway Superintendent John Reilly on multiple counts in connection with the shooting of a DoorDash delivery driver last year. (The Times Herald-Record)
• As state lawmakers seek to tax the rich, Wall Street bonuses have hit a record high, according to the state comptroller. (WXXI)
• As most large upstate cities face financial headwinds (some more viral, controversial or troublesome than others), Syracuse is apparently rock solid. (The Syracuse Post-Standard, The Times Union, BTPM)
• The Village of Red Hook endorsed school speed zones near local schools on state Route 199 and Linden Avenue. (The Red Hook Daily Catch)