Streetsblog New York City

Eight city council members have put a portion of their discretionary capital funds up for a vote as part of an exercise in participatory budgeting, which allows residents to decide how the money will be spent in their own neighborhoods. Votes in each district are approaching soon, and there’s an opportunity to support livable streets projects.

With participatory budgeting, residents of a City Council district have a say in how $1 million in discretionary capital funds are spent. Photo: Daniel Latorre/Flickr

The participating council members are David Greenfield, Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, and Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn; Dan Halloran, Eric Ulrich, and Mark Weprin of Queens; and Melissa Mark-Viverito of Manhattan. Each has put up $1 million in discretionary capital funds, with residents submitting ideas that will appear in early April on a final ballot, open to district residents age 16 and older.

In Lander’s district, stretching from Cobble Hill to Borough Park, there are five projects related to pedestrian safety and livable streets:

• A Safe Routes to School project at Yeshiva Torah Temimah, on Ocean Parkway near 18th Avenue [PDF];
• Extending an upcoming DOT capital project on Church Avenue by adding curb extensions at Coney Island and McDonald Avenues [PDF];
• Constructing a larger plaza space at the triangle intersection of Church Avenue, 14th Avenue, and 35th Street;
• Adding capital funds to an existing DOT project on Hicks Street, to gain concrete curb extensions and improve visibility at the intersection with Congress Street;
• Creation of a new concrete pedestrian plaza adjacent to a community garden at Van Brunt Street and Hamilton Avenue.

Lander is hosting a science fair-style expo where residents can learn more about the projects on the ballot, this Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Park Slope branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Council Member Stephen Levin’s office identified two projects that may be of interest in the district, stretching from Park Slope to Greenpoint along the East River waterfront:

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NYPD will increase the number of officers assigned to investigate serious traffic crashes, and will revise protocols that denied the possibility of justice to thousands of victims of vehicular violence, according to a letter from Commissioner Ray Kelly to the City Council. In another major shift, the department will stop using the word “accident” to describe traffic crashes, and the Accident Investigation Squad will soon be known as the Collision Investigation Squad.

Under long-standing NYPD procedures, drivers who injured pedestrians and cyclists, and who were sober and remained at the scene, were not investigated unless the victim died or was believed likely to die. This policy undermined or destroyed investigations into an untold number of crashes, including those that took the lives of Stefanos Tsigrimanis and Clara Heyworth. The new standards described by Kelly represent a significant step forward for the department’s crash response protocol, and should result in more investigations. However, they will apparently fall short of what is required by state law.

The number of crash investigators — currently 19 — will be increased, according to Kelly. The size of the increase is not known, but the Times reported Sunday that NYPD has for months assigned investigators to “dozens” of crashes that would not have warranted investigation under the “dead or likely to die” rule. The Times says “many” of those crashes have resulted in criminal charges.

Those charges could include reckless endangerment or third degree assault, says attorney Steve Vaccaro. Reckless endangerment requires proof that a driver was aware of a risk of seriously injuring someone else, Vaccaro says. “Third degree assault requires a lower level of culpable mental state. It requires that the driver not be aware of the risk, and the failure to perceive the risk was a gross deviation of what a reasonable person would have perceived.”

“I would think that third degree assault would be a major source of these criminal prosecutions, to the extent it’s true that NYPD is investigating cases outside of the dead or likely to die rule subset,” says Vaccaro.

According to Kelly’s letter, dated March 4, crash investigators will be “notified to respond when there has been a critical injury or when a Police Department duty captain believes the extent of injuries and/or unique circumstances of a collision warrant such action.” Critical injury status will be determined by utilizing existing FDNY EMS guidelines, defined “as a patient either receiving CPR, in respiratory arrest, or requiring and receiving life sustaining ventilator/circulatory support.” Changes in the NYPD Patrol Guide will provide officers with “additional guidance” when determining whether crash investigators should be notified, and will require patrol personnel to confer with EMS at the scene.

In cases that do not result in criminal prosecution, a summons for failure to exercise due care, or merely the gathering of evidence — functions limited to AIS — will be of great help to victims. But many crashes may still fall through the cracks.

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City Council Speaker Chris Quinn and Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca finally responded to the deaths of Amar Diarrassouba and Raizel and Nachman Glauber today, after devoting their energy earlier in the week to keeping municipal parking underpriced.

So are they calling on Albany to pass speed camera legislation? Nope. Pressuring NYPD to get serious about crash investigations and truck enforcement? Not that either.

Quinn and Vacca, joined by five other council members, are making their stand for safer streets by sending a letter to the one agency that’s taken meaningful action to reduce traffic violence, NYC DOT. How courageous:

Christine Quinn remains noncommittal on whether NYPD should investigate maimings and killings on NYC streets. Photo: James Estrin/New York Times/Redux

It was a year ago today that the City Council transportation committee, led by James Vacca and Peter Vallone Jr., convened a hearing on pedestrian and cyclist safety and the failure of NYPD to properly investigate traffic crashes.

“Driving in our city is a privilege, not a right,” said Vacca, to a room packed with victims of vehicular violence and their loved ones, safe streets advocates, and media. Of dangerous drivers, Vacca said: “I want to know what the police department is doing to track down these scofflaws. We have to bring these people to their senses. We don’t accept gun violence as a way to die. We shouldn’t accept traffic deaths as a way to die either.”

Vacca and Vallone listened sympathetically to hours of testimony from those whose lives were forever altered by traffic crashes, and whose misery was often compounded by an inept and indifferent NYPD. Council members learned that the department has just 19 officers assigned to its Accident Investigation Squad, and that no one else on the force has the authority to charge a motorist with careless driving, much less a serious crime, unless the officer witnesses a violation.

“There will be laws arising out of this,” said Vallone, who grilled NYPD brass alongside Jessica Lappin, Gale Brewer, Dan Garodnick, Steve Levin, Letitia James, Brad Lander, Dan Halloran, and Vincent Ignizio.

Five months later, council members introduced the Crash Investigation Reform Act. Among its provisions was the formation of a multi-agency task force charged with reforming NYPD crash investigation protocols, which allow thousands of serious injuries to go uninvestigated every year, in violation of state law.

Since last July, the Crash Investigation Reform Act has gone nowhere. Vallone has pretty much been a no-show on matters of street safety, while Vacca spent the rest of the year targeting delivery cyclists and working to make it easier for motorists to park.

Speaker Christine Quinn, whose imprimatur is essential to moving legislation through the council, has not taken a position on NYPD crash investigation reforms.

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Jefferson Avenue at Mason Avenue, where a motorist making a left turn struck a Staten Island couple Friday evening, killing one. Image: Google Maps

A motorist who killed an elderly man and injured his wife on Staten Island has been cleared of responsibility by NYPD.

Bujar Hasimja, 72, and his 64-year-old wife were crossing Jefferson Avenue at Mason Avenue, near their home, at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday when the driver of a Nissan SUV hit them while making a left turn, according to reports.

The Post reported that Hasimja was declared dead on arrival at Staten Island University Hospital, and his wife, whose name was not released, suffered “minor injuries.”

If the crash occurred as described by police, at the very least the motorist failed to yield. Details such as vehicle speed and whether the driver may have been using a phone or was otherwise distracted are rarely divulged by NYPD.

Within hours of the crash, NYPD issued its boilerplate “No criminality suspected” statement to the press. There is about a 50 percent chance that the driver will not receive so much as a traffic summons for running over two people who had the right of way.

As pedestrians continue be wounded and killed at an alarming rate, their killers unpenalized by NYPD, the City Council continues to focus on delivery cyclists and parking perks.

This fatal crash occurred in the 122nd Precinct. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Captain Joseph B. Veneziano, the commanding officer, go to the next precinct community council meeting. The 122nd Precinct council meetings happen at 8 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the precinct, 2320 Hylan Boulevard. Call 718-667-2292 for more information.

The City Council district where Bujar Hasimja was killed is represented by Minority Leader James Oddo, an enemy of bike lanes who has supported neighborhood slow zones while also stating that “drivable roads” for Staten Island motorists are his primary concern. Another pedestrian, Suying Du, was killed by a motorist in Oddo’s district last November. To encourage Oddo to take action to improve street safety in his district and citywide, contact him at 212-788-7159, joddo@council.nyc.gov or @HeyNowJO.

Here’s another example of how James Vacca and Jessica Lappin, if they’re serious about street safety, targeted the wrong agency for a public scolding yesterday.

The 34th Precinct issued 50 tickets in the nine months before DOT installed a Slow Zone in Inwood, and two tickets in the three months after. Photo: Brad Aaron

In September, DOT completed the installation of Manhattan’s first 20-mph “Slow Zone,” between Dyckman and W. 218th Streets west of Broadway, in Inwood. This Slow Zone was requested by my neighbors and approved by Community Board 12. Within its boundaries are two parks, several churches and schools, and at least one daycare center — and of course the homes of thousands of people who want to walk and bike their neighborhood without fear of being harmed by speeding motorists.

Before the Slow Zone was completed, the 34th Precinct, which covers all of Inwood and part of Washington Heights, had issued a total of 50 speeding citations in 2012. In the three months after the speed humps and Slow Zone markings went in, and the speed limit in Inwood west of Broadway was lowered to 20 mph, the precinct handed out two speeding tickets. In November and December, not one driver was cited for speeding by the officers of the 34th Precinct.

We have asked NYPD how many speeding tickets, if any, were issued on Inwood surface streets by the Highway Patrol in October, November, and December, but have yet to hear back.

Vacca has endorsed a 20 mph speed limit for all of New York City. He understands that speed kills. He is also surely aware of the proverbial three “E”s of traffic safety: education, engineering, and enforcement. While DOT has succeeded in educating the public on the concept — there are more applications than DOT can handle — and the engineering cues are impossible to miss, to achieve its full potential the Slow Zone program needs NYPD to provide enforcement. Under Ray Kelly, however, NYPD has demonstrated little to no interest in doing its part to help make streets safer, whether the task is enforcing speed limits or holding dangerous drivers accountable.

The fact is no city agency is doing more to reduce traffic deaths and injuries than NYC DOT. If anything, thanks to lax enforcement by police and electeds who prefer grandstanding to governing, NYPD and the City Council have made it more difficult for DOT to do its job.

If Vacca and Lappin have any doubts about which department has failed to hold up its end of the deal on matters of street safety, I have a Slow Zone to show them.

Avenue O, looking east, with E. 7th Street indicated by the marker in the background. Police say Sara Mishik, 15, stepped between parked cars into the path of the driver who killed her, but NYPD also says she was crossing from north to south (left to right) when she was struck. Image: Google Maps

The driver of a Ford van killed a 15-year-old girl in Midwood Tuesday. It was the second crash in which a child has died in city traffic in less than a week, and at least the fourth time a motorist has killed a pedestrian in the course of six days.

Sara Kishik was crossing Avenue O near E. 7th Street, a residential area where homes line both sides of the street, at approximately 2:50 p.m. when she was struck, according to reports. NY1 says the van was a “private ambulette.” A bystander told DNAinfo that Kishik was thrown into the air upon impact.

A witness, who only gave his name as Vinny, 52, said that the girl was crossing midblock when she was struck by the van, catapulting her into the air.

“She went into the air and hit her head on the ground,” he said.

If the witness account is accurate, it’s a sign the driver may have been speeding. In addition, multiple reports indicate the driver was eastbound on Avenue O, and that Kishik was crossing from north to south. If that is the case, she would have been at least halfway across the street when she was hit, having already crossed the westbound lane. It is impossible to imagine an attentive driver traveling at 30 mph or less on a clear afternoon failing to see a 15-year-old crossing the street directly in front of him.

Nevertheless, NYPD immediately assigned blame to the deceased victim. The Daily News says that according to police Kishik “stepped in the road from between two parked cars.” Within hours, NYPD issued its standard “No criminality suspected” statement to the press.

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While the City Council sits on a package of bills intended to make city streets safer, Joel Rivera proposes one to make them more dangerous.

City Council Member Joel Rivera is taking some heat for a bill that would, in his words, “allow parents to double park when picking up their kids from school [and] not receive a parking ticket.” It’s the latest answer to a question no one asked from a council whose raison d’être seems to be absolving city motorists of as many responsibilities as possible.

Specifically, Intro 997 states:

[I]t shall be permissible for an individual to double park a motor vehicle with its engine off for up to five minutes in a roadway immediately adjacent to any school while a student at such school is being dropped off at such school by such motorist, and for up to ten minutes while such motorist waits to pick up or is in the process of picking up a student from such school. This section shall not apply where movement of such vehicle is required by an on duty emergency service vehicle.

Can you imagine traffic enforcement agents clocking how long individual motorists are sitting in front of schools? In effect, this bill would make it legal to double park in school zones, period.

As we wrote earlier today, the first known pedestrian fatality of 2013 occurred in Rivera’s council district, where roughly 75 percent of households are car-free. This bill isn’t doing his constituents, or anyone else, any favors.

Double-parked cars create “blind spots.” They lead to jostling and unpredictable vehicle movements as drivers attempt to pass. Does it really need to be said that this is not what you want in areas populated by kids? That kids are small and are often not seen until they are in a driver’s path? That kids don’t have the same ability to judge speed and distance as do adults?

If there is one place in the city where motorists most deserve tickets for double parking, it’s outside a school.

Hate to break it to Jimmy Vacca, but the City Council's parking bills aren't making New York City any safer. Image: @TransportNation

The City Council transportation committee met today, and if you thought the council was due for a break from dreaming up motorist entitlements, think again: this afternoon’s agenda was all about parking.

On the docket were three bills: one to require DOT to provide notice before changing street signs that affect parking; one to allow residents with vehicles to block their own driveways; and a third to relax rules against double parking near schools and day care centers.

Judging by the Transportation Nation Twitter feed, today’s discussion was full of gems like this one from committee chair James Vacca.

It has been nearly 10 months since the City Council held its last hearing on traffic safety. In the four months since council members introduced the Crash Investigation Reform Act, some 5,000 pedestrians and cyclists have been injured in crashes that were not investigated by police, and at least 48 people have died after being struck by drivers.

Council Member Margaret Chin’s office has joined those calling for a full investigation into the death of Kwok Fu, the 82-year-old man who was struck by the driver of  a National Guard truck on Canal Street.

Following an email exchange with Streetsblog, Margaret Chin's office has pledged to ask NYPD to "fully investigate" the death of Kwok Fu.

A convoy of National Guard trucks was on its way to the Javits Center to pick up Sandy relief supplies on the afternoon of November 6 when Fu was killed as he attempted to cross Canal at Centre Street. Witnesses said convoy truck drivers did not slow down and gave no warning before running a series of red lights on Canal.

National Guard spokesperson Eric Durr told Streetsblog that the convoy was trailing a police escort. No published accounts of the crash made mention of an escort, and a man who had to step out of the way of the convoy, and who witnessed the collision, told Streetsblog he did not see one.

Durr claims that the National Guard is not investigating the crash, and referred our questions to NYPD, which in characteristic fashion has ignored our query.

After Streetsblog informed a Chin spokesperson that the National Guard has taken no responsibility and that police aren’t talking, the spokesperson said she would contact NYPD ”and urge them to fully investigate this incident.”

The National Guard’s refusal to own up to its role and NYPD’s eternal silence are indicative of how city traffic fatalities are handled as a matter of course. This is not lost on the 1,000-plus who have signed an online petition calling for a full investigation into Fu’s death.

That a City Council member would have to ask Ray Kelly’s NYPD to investigate a fatality is a telling indicator of the state of New York City traffic enforcement. Worse still, considering that police have not responded to Dan Garodnick, who made a similar request concerning the crash that killed Upper East Side pedestrian Rubin Baum, it’s not known what if anything such pleas accomplish.

To prod NYPD to take action to ensure justice for Kwok Fu, to help prevent the next traffic fatality, and to hold NYPD accountable for slapdash crash investigations and loosen the department’s grip on crash information, the council will have to act as a body. A first step would be passage of the Crash Investigation Reform Act, which would bring the formation of a multi-agency task force charged with assessing NYPD crash investigation practices and recommending reforms. The package of bills has gone nowhere in the four months since it was introduced.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who is up for reelection in 2013, does not comment on vehicular crimes.