"New York City’s Department of Transportation deactivated 77 percent of the pedestrian walk push buttons at intersections and left the signs telling pedestrians to use them. It was 25 years before it was revealed in 2004 that they had become mechanical placebos. For 25 years cars whizzed by hapless pedestrians waiting for a useless walk button to stop traffic."--Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money by Dr. Joel S. Hirschhorn
The traffic control button that was removed from Caton Avenue at E. 2nd Street might have been functional--or it might have been one of those placebos.
