It took four hours and 51 minutes of testimony, two recesses, and one gavel that briefly went missing, but Community Board 2 voted 23 to 14 late Thursday to support a protected bike lane on DeKalb Avenue between Flatbush and Classon Avenues.

The vote, recorded at 1:04 a.m., caps a fight that has simmered since a delivery cyclist was seriously injured near Fort Greene Park in March. The city's design would remove roughly 60 parking spaces and add concrete-protected lanes on both sides, along with loading zones near the avenue's restaurants.

Those loading zones did not satisfy everyone. "You cannot run a restaurant off a bike lane," said Marcy Holloway, who has owned a Caribbean takeout spot on DeKalb for 19 years and worries her suppliers will circle for parking. "My oxtail doesn't arrive by Citi Bike."

Cyclists countered with a map of every crash on the corridor since 2020, printed on a bedsheet. "I count 14 dots between my apartment and my job," said Ibrahim Diallo, who commutes to Downtown Brooklyn. "I'd like to stop being a potential dot."

The Department of Transportation said construction could begin in spring 2027. The board's vote is advisory, but the city rarely proceeds without it.