New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has been criticized by pedestrian safety activists and, when a driver ran a red light killing two young children, hundreds came out to confront the mayor in person.
Ninth Street has been the site of a number of deadly crashes, and on Monday March 5th, two children died when struck by a driver. "The details of the crash — the words the mothers reportedly cried out as they lay on the pavement, the photos of a Brooklyn street in broad daylight covered in blood — only furthered the community’s sense that this could not go down as just another 'accident,'" Aaron Gordon writes in the Village Voice.
Doug Gordon (not related to the author of the Village Voice article) a long-time pedestrian advocate and critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio's lack of action on pedestrian safety, "…called for the rally outside the YMCA, where de Blasio exercises most mornings, to demand an immediate redesign of Ninth Street to improve intersection safety." The rally, which took place the next day, was the site of a face to face exchange between the mayor and the activist.
"Gordon and other advocates argue that wide streets like Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue allow cars to go much too fast for a neighborhood with lots of foot traffic and busy crosswalks," The Village Voice story reports.
Pedestrian deaths are up around the country, and while New York is in the midst of a Vision Zero plan, many don't see enough getting done.
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