{"id":56,"date":"2023-11-15T22:04:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T22:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/table-of-success.local\/?p=56"},"modified":"2023-12-18T13:36:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:36:15","slug":"tony-argento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tableofsuccess.mysites.io\/tony-argento\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Argento"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
How do you stop street safety improvements that have been in the works for years and are endorsed by the neighborhood’s elected officials? If you have the money, you could fund a robust PR campaign, complete with robocalls, billboards, and mailers. If you’re politically connected to the mayor, you could bend some ears and pull some strings. If you’re a big shot in the neighborhood, you could call in a few favors and have your powerful friends rally behind you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re Greenpoint film studio honcho Tony Argento trying to kill the McGuinness Boulevard road diet, you could do<\/a> all<\/a> of the above<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This past May, shortly after the Department of Transportation announced<\/a> plans to cut McGuinness from four lanes of traffic to two and install two-way protected bike lanes and other traffic-calming measures, Argento sprung into action. Dozens of local businesses\u2014many linked to Argento<\/a> and his film company Broadway Stages\u2014opposed the project under the banner “Keep McGuinness Moving.” The mayor’s chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin<\/a> complained<\/a> about the redesign in high-level staff meetings. And in mid-June, Argento hosted<\/a> a “town hall” meeting at Broadway Stages. Scores of Brooklyn business interests attended the meeting along with<\/a> members of local Teamsters unions; and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and a major Adams ally. While they expressed their opposition to the DOT plan, Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, who had been summoned from City Hall, stood and listened (many supporters of the redesign weren’t allowed inside<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Bringing Rodneyse to address that group, that’s a flex,” one Brooklyn business insider, who was granted anonymity to speak freely and avoid reprisal, told Hell Gate; Bichotte Hermelyn’s Assembly district sits miles away from McGuinness Boulevard. “When I snap my fingers, the chair of the Democratic Party shows up.<\/em> She didn’t even know why she was there!”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Tony Argento, owner of Broadway Stages, addresses the crowd, talks about moving here in the 1990s when there were dirt streets and trash everywhere. \u201cI live here,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is about safety,\u201d he says regarding McGuinness Blvd, but he thinks there needs to be more input. pic.twitter.com\/obaY7d7AUj<\/a><\/p>— Gwynne Hogan (@GwynneFitz) June 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>