Cuomo Signs Speed-Camera Expansion into Law
Yesterday, in a symbolic Mother's Day nod to the Families for Safe Streets moms who played an instrumental role in advocating for it, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a major expansion of New York City's speed-camera program. The legislation, which was sponsored by Deborah Glick in the State Assembly and StreetsPAC endorsee Andrew Gounardes in the State Senate, authorizes the city to deploy up to 750 school-zone speed cameras – enough, according to the Department of Transportation, to cover virtually every school in the five boroughs.
The full complement of cameras will roll out over the next three years, with the first new cameras targeting schools with demonstrated speeding and crash problems, according to a report in the New York Post.
That Governor Cuomo had a bill to sign is yet another testament to how much elections matter. The city's life-saving school-zone camera program was allowed to lapse last year, when then-State Senator Marty Golden and then-State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan blocked action on legislation that would have extended the program. Flanagan was Majority Leader only because of the complicity of several Democratic Senators who caucused with Republicans under the moniker of the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC. Most of the IDC members were defeated at the polls last year, several of them losing to candidates endorsed by StreetsPAC.
And in the most important contested State Senate race last November, we endorsed Gounardes against Golden, an eight-term incumbent who had never faced strong opposition. Gounardes won by a little more than 1,000 votes in a tight race in which StreetsPAC volunteers knocked on about 5,000 doors. It's not hyperbolic to say that without that effort, coupled with the push to topple the IDC, this expansion of the speed-camera program would not have happened.
We want to thank our indispensable volunteers and donors, the selfless members of Families for Safe Streets, Transportation Alternatives, and of course, Senator Gounardes, Assemblymember Glick, and Governor Cuomo, for this tremendous step forward. We're immensely proud to have played a role in making our city's streets safer for everyone.
Join Us May 22nd to Bike to Work with the City Council's Progressive Caucus!
Next Wednesday, May 22nd, please join us to celebrate Bike Month as we team up with the New York City Council's Progressive Caucus, Transportation Alternatives, and other advocacy groups for our 6th Annual Bike to Work event.
There are three main feeder rides, one convening at the corner of Skillman Avenue and 43rd Street in Queens at 7:30 a.m., another meeting up on the plaza behind Brooklyn Borough Hall at 8:00 a.m., and a third gathering on the 14th Street steps at Union Square in Manhattan at 8:30 a.m. The rides will converge at City Hall for a rally at 9:00 a.m.
In addition, there are a couple of "rides to the rides." On Manhattan's Upper East Side, join Council Member Ben Kallos at his district office, at 244 East 93rd Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, at 7:15 a.m., for a ride to Union Square.
And in Brooklyn, there will be a group riding from Grand Army Plaza to Borough Hall. Meet up and be ready to ride by 7:30 a.m.
Please join us, along with partner organizations Transportation Alternatives, Bike New York, Get Women Cycling, and Citi Bike, for this fun, casual ride, and the chance to bike with some of the City Council's leading voices for safer streets, including Antonio Reynoso, Brad Lander, Ben Kallos and Helen Rosenthal.
Please RSVP at http://tinyurl.com/BiketoWorkPC so we have a sense of how many riders to expect, and if you don't have your own wheels, you can request a Citi Bike with your RSVP.
Let's roll! See you on May 22nd!
Photo: Kevin P. Coughlin, NY Daily News
