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District 39

Shahana Hanif

Kensington, Borough Park, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and the Columbia Waterfront

A message from Council Member Hanif: My team and I are working hard to improve the quality of life in our beloved Brooklyn neighborhoods. See below for a summary of some of our work on key issues and reach out to our team for constituent service support via phone at (718) 499-1090 or via email at District39@council.nyc.gov.

Street Safety

Ending the epidemic of traffic injuries and deaths in District 39 is one of my core priorities. I’ve successfully secured street safety improvements on particularly dangerous corridors including 9th Street and Atlantic Avenue. I’ve gotten a number of street intersections daylighted (which removes the parking spot closest to the corner to improve visibility) and support making this a required intervention citywide. I sponsor bills like Intros. 80 and 271 to create more bike lanes and make them safer. Additionally, I’ve sponsored a number of bills in the Council to protect pedestrians from unsafe e-bike behavior including Intros. 20, 235, and 1131

Sanitation

In the city budget process, I am currently pushing for more frequent street cleaning, more litter baskets, and more frequent collection. With my discretionary budget, I fund supplemental sanitation services through ACE Programs for the Homeless, which improve our quality of life. I support common sense reforms like expanding trash containerization to get black garbage bags off our sidewalks and address the pervasive rat problem. I also wrote and passed the Zero Waste Act to save composting from Mayor Adams’s budget cuts and cement composting as a permanent citywide program. Lastly, I encourage constituents to notify my office of graffiti, especially if it contains hateful messages, so I can coordinate with city agencies to get it swiftly removed.

Parks

In the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn, our parks are treasured spaces that must be prioritized. I’m proud to have made a number of critical improvements to parks infrastructure in the district including the refurbished dog run in Washington Park, making the Dimattina Playground fully ADA accessible, and numerous upgrades in Prospect Park including Harmony Playground, the adult fitness center, the bandshell lawn, and the lakeshore. I’m a champion of the 1% for Parks Campaign which calls for investments into parks sanitation, maintenance staff, bathrooms, and playground equipment.

Housing Issues

My team and I have supported renters and homeowners with everything from utility outages, tenant-landlord conflicts, deed theft, and more. While city agencies and utility companies can seem like impossible bureaucracies to navigate, we try to cut through red tape and deliver speedy resolutions for constituents. 

Unlicensed Marijuana Stores

The surge in smoke shops illegally selling cannabis products in our neighborhoods poses serious risks to public health and undermines the emerging legal market. Proper regulation is essential to ensure safety and compliance. My Office recently surveyed our constituents and sent a list of relevant stores to the Sheriff’s Office to encourage them to take action. We’re pleased that a number of stores have since been padlocked and we will continue to support related enforcement efforts.

Noise

In order to properly enjoy their neighborhoods and homes, New Yorkers deserve a respite from unnecessary noise pollution. Just a few weeks ago, I sponsored and voted yes to pass the Helicopter Oversight Act to ban non-essential helicopter flights that fail to meet the Federal Aviation Administration’s strictest noise standards. I also proudly sponsored and voted yes on Local Law of 7 of 2024, which creates a new “noise camera” pilot program to hold needlessly noisy drivers accountable. These pieces of equipment pick up when a passing vehicle emits a sound louder than 85 decibels and initiates a ticket to the violator.

Street Trees

Our City’s tree canopy reduces the “heat island effect”, improves our air quality, and provides some needed beauty to our concrete jungle. My Office is proud to host tree stewardship events with Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Big Reuse to care for street trees and ensure they have what they need to thrive. Through our Participatory Budgeting initiative, our Office has also funded 100 new street trees. We’ve already planted 70 trees!

Rats

The persistent rat problem undermines the health and wellbeing of our neighborhoods. I support expanding trash containerization to get black garbage bags off our sidewalks. I’ve partnered with the City’s “Rat Czar” Kathy Corrado on walkthroughs of trouble spots in the district to devise targeted mitigation strategies and encourage residents and businesses to play their part in keeping our streets clean. I also co-sponsored and voted yes to pass Local Law 101 to launch a rat contraption pilot.

Flooding

I’ve worked closely with the Department of Environmental Protection to host community town halls focusing on the agency’s plans on flood mitigation and adaptation strategies in the district. My team and I have gone door to door to educate constituents, collaborating with local groups like The City Sponge and Field Form, who have been instrumental in efforts to prevent flooding in the district. In the Council, I’ve recently voted yes to pass Intro. 807 to strengthen flood preparedness and sponsor Intros. 1067, 153, and 1244 to better flood-proof the city.

Scaffolding

New Yorkers are tired of the excess of green sidewalk scaffolding that covers our streetscape. I recently sponsored and voted to pass Local Laws 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 of 2025 to strengthen the safety and efficiency of sidewalk shed management, including bills to shorten the duration of sidewalk shed permits and improve their designs.

Bathrooms

Everyone has at some point experienced our City’s profound lack of public bathrooms. I recently sponsored and voted to pass Intro. 694 to establish a citywide strategy for ensuring the availability of more public bathrooms, with a goal of creating over 2,120 in the next ten years – approximately double the existing number.

Homeless Outreach

In City Hall, I’m pushing hard to address the causes of street homelessness including ending shelter evictions and strengthening our mental health and addictions infrastructure through the Progressive Caucus’s Crisis to Care plan. In the district, I coordinate closely with Breaking Ground, which does outreach to people experiencing street homelessness, builds trust, and connects them to long-term services.