Over the years, the combined efforts of our community, our elected officials, and the city and state Departments of Transportation (DOT) have brought improvements to the intersection. But, as the community knew prior to this death, it can't yet be called "safe."
As the slogan of the community's major safety push of 2013 said, "Our neighborhood is not a highway."
In response to this most recent tragedy, City Councilmember Brad Lander and Assemblymember Robert Carroll wrote a letter to the city and state DOTs and the NYPD. Below are Councilmember Lander's statement to the community, followed by the letter.
Let's be ready to participate in making Church and OP safer for all of us--pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.
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In the wake of the tragedy Tuesday night, Robert Carroll and I sent the following letter last night to Commissioner Polly Trottenberg of NYC DOT, Commissioner Cathy Calhoun of NYS DOT, and the Commissioner James O'Neill of the NYPD, seeking their urgent collaboration to do everything we can to make sure this ceases to be an intersection of death.
After the death of Ngozi Agbim at this same intersection in 2013, we added a pedestrian refuge island (which the community voted for in participatory budgeting), and DOT adjusted the signal timing. And we have pushed regularly for additional enforcement of frequent illegal turns & failure-to-yield. But tragically (and, yes, perhaps predictably) those things have not been enough.
There has been a periodic debate about trying to close off the north-side crossing altogether, with fencing and signs -- previously, the opinion of experts has been that too many people would just go around the fence, creating an even more dangerous condition.
Obviously, and tragically, we need to look at all of this again. That's why we are calling on NYC DOT, NYS DOT, and the NYPD to work with the community on a comprehensive review, to develop plans to make it safe, and to dramatically increase enforcement until those changes can be made. We pledge to work together, with the agencies & with the community, to do everything we can.
