Tonight: Tell Mayor de Blasio the Bronx Supports a Safer Tremont Avenue

Mayor de Blasio will hold a town hall in Throggs Neck tonight, and Transportation Alternatives organizers are expecting a significant turnout from a small but vocal group of area residents and businesses who oppose a DOT road diet for East Tremont Avenue.

East Tremont Avenue is where a hit-and-run driver killed 26-year-old Giovanni Nin as he was biking to his girlfriend’s house from work on June 11. The crash happened near Mayflower Avenue, just a block from where three drivers struck and killed 74-year-old Angel Figueroa in 2013.

A 2015 DOT safety plan called for a road diet, pedestrian islands, and other improvements that could have saved Nin’s life [PDF]. But the Throggs Neck Merchants Association and other groups organized to defeat the plan and Bronx Community Board 10 voted against it. DOT did not implement the project as scheduled.

In this video from a June memorial ride honoring Nin, made by TA’s Luke Ohlson, local Council Member Jimmy Vacca blasts CB 10 for voting against the plan.

At Vacca’s urging, DOT has since moved to implement the traffic-calming plan by the end of the summer. Now opponents are expected to vent at the mayor himself at this evening’s town hall. Nin’s family and members of TransAlt’s Bronx Committee will also be in attendance to support the road diet.

On Monday, Vacca posted a video on Facebook addressing what he called “misinformation” about the project. It has been viewed over 3,600 times and received 48 comments, many of which are about the specter of traffic congestion on East Tremont.

If you want to speak out for a safer street and show support for the Nin family, the town hall begins tonight at 7 p.m. at Villa Barone Manor, located at 737 Throggs Neck Expressway. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and RSVP to townhallrsvp@cityhall.nyc.gov is required.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

DOT Overrides CB 10, Advances E. Tremont Safety Project After Cyclist Death

By Brad Aaron |
DOT will implement a road diet on the stretch of East Tremont Avenue where a motorist killed cyclist Giovanni Nin in June. Last year DOT had dropped the project in response to a hostile reception from Bronx Community Board 10. In early 2015, DOT proposed a number of improvements for East Tremont between Williamsbridge Road and Bruckner Boulevard [PDF]. The plan would reduce […]

De Blasio, Vacca, Trottenberg Rebuff Opponents of East Tremont Safety Plan

By David Meyer |
A leader of the Throggs Neck Merchants Association tried to thwart DOT’s safety plan for East Tremont Avenue at a town hall in the Bronx last night and was firmly rebuffed by Mayor de Blasio, Council Member Jimmy Vacca, and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. After the exchange, Raisa Jimenez, whose son Giovianni Nin was killed by a hit-and-run driver on East Tremont earlier […]

Eyes on the Street: Bike Lane Stripes on Tremont Avenue

By David Meyer |
DOT has striped the first pieces of the Bronx’s newest bike route on Tremont Avenue. The city is putting down bike lanes and sharrows on the 4.1-mile stretch of Tremont Avenue between Cedar Avenue and Boston Road, following a 2014 request from Council Member Ritchie Torres for a cross-town route on Tremont. Reader Jonathan Rabinowitz snapped the photo above of freshly-painted […]

Tremont Avenue in Line for New Cross-Bronx Bike Route

By David Meyer |
Last month, when Council Member Ritchie Torres lambasted DOT’s deference to community boards over street safety projects, he anticipated a fight over the agency’s plan for bike lanes on Tremont Avenue. DOT presented its design for the western segment of Tremont Avenue to Bronx Community Board 5 on January 20 [PDF] and, the following day, presented the design for the eastern segment […]