Friday’s Headlines: Let’s Talk About Safety Edition

Last Saturday's crash at Cooper and Cypress avenues in Queens.
Last Saturday's crash at Cooper and Cypress avenues in Queens.

From the assignment desk: Later today, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez will join Council Member Bob Holden at the corner of Cypress and Cooper avenues to talk about road safety less than a week after a pedestrian was run down by two drivers in a crash whose brutality shocks the conscience.

We covered the crash earlier this week, so we’ll be on hand to (spoiler alert) grill the commissioner on what he intends to do to appease residents who have been complaining about crashes in a corner of the city that seems to have been fully surrendered to drivers. Join us at 2 p.m. if you’re around.

Until then, here’s the roundup of yesterday’s news:

  • Lots of outlets were all over Mayor Adams’s strange (and really not so money-saving) elimination of a slated expansion of the city’s residential compositing program. Streetsblog, Gothamist, amNY (times two) and the Times all covered.
  • How about a Fair Fares program for Access-a-Ride customers? (Gothamist)
  • About a year and a half ago, we reported that the NYPD was violating a city law requiring the agency to report every six months on misuse and abuse of city-issued parking permits. Well, guess what reporter David Meyer found?! (NY Post)
  • Mayor Adams will send school nurses and outreach workers into the subway to help with undomiciled people. (NY Post)
  • The permanent outdoor dining program cleared another hurdle on its way to full Council approval. (NY Post)
  • Finally, it looks like Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez has started making good on his promise of bolstering half the unprotected protected bike lanes in his first 100 days, dispatching DOT workers in the rain last night to lay down Jersey barriers on Broadway in the Financial District. OK, that’s one done with 52 days left:

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Families for Safe Streets Meets With Cuomo Rep to Talk DMV Reforms

|
In a meeting with representatives from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration Tuesday, members of Families for Safe Streets called for reforms to New York State Department of Motor Vehicles protocols, with the goal of discouraging reckless driving and obtaining some measure of justice for crash victims and their families. Karen Rae, Cuomo’s deputy transportation secretary, met with relatives […]

Citizens Hammer NYPD Commissioner Kelly on Street Safety

|
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at Baruch College last week The following report was submitted by Carol Wood, a Murray Hill resident, along with Emilia Crotty, Bicycle Education Program Associate for Bike New York. Both are members of the NYC Bicycling Coalition. Last Thursday evening, March 20, nearly 200 East Siders turned out for a "Town […]

This Week: City Council Probes NYPD Crash Investigations

|
Even with new laws on the books designed to hold dangerous motorists accountable, NYPD still, by and large, allows drivers who maim or kill other people to get right back behind the wheel with little or no repercussions. Stories abound of police failing to follow up with crash witnesses, neglecting to use the legal tools […]