Safer Streets: Will Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein's Senate Step Up?

I would hope so.  The lives of New Yorkers are on the line.  Will the Republican and IDC-led Senate block progress on street safety yet again?

An Assembly bill co-sponsored by Speaker Sheldon Silver would lower

the City’s default speed limit from the current 30 mph to 25 mph, as

part of Vision Zero – Mayor Bill de Blasio’s policy to eliminate

traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. But with the session

set to end on June 19th, the legislation still has no sponsor in the

Senate.

“We are not engineers or lawyers; we are families whose loved ones

have been hit or killed in traffic,” said Aaron Charlop-Powers, a

founding member of Families for Safe Streets. “We have one question

for the State Senate today: are you prepared to let politics stand in

the way of saving lives? We can’t wait until next year to pass this

legislation. You can pass a bill this session and reduce the number of

people killed on the City's streets. No family should have to know the

pain we know. We ask that you hear our pain and act in response.” 

“We cannot allow Albany to get off the hook for the traffic deaths on

our streets; we need their action and we need it now,” said Council

Member Ydanis Rodriguez. “The city has done its part, but this work is

not done. With the state legislative term coming to a close shortly,

we want to be sure this remains at the top of their to-do list.”

There is even broader support for the bill:

“The de Blasio Administration joins with the families who have lost

loved ones in calling upon Albany to pass legislation reducing New

York City’s default speed limit to 25 mph,” said NYC Department of

Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “At Vision Zero town

halls across the City to meeting people on the street to walking

through the State Capitol with families who've lost loved ones, we

hear the resounding call to lower New York’s driving speeds and make

our streets safer.”

“Demand for slower speeds is coming from all over the five boroughs,”

says Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation

Alternatives. “We have thousands of petitions signed by New Yorkers

who want to live in communities free of dangerous speeding. Mayor de

Blasio, the City Council and the State Assembly have shown us how the

City and State can work together to save lives on our streets. Now we

need a lifesaver in the State Senate.”