Tonight: Tell Mayor de Blasio the Bronx Supports a Safer Tremont Avenue

Mayor de Blasio will hold a town hall in Throggs Neck tonight, and Transportation Alternatives organizers are expecting a significant turnout from a small but vocal group of area residents and businesses who oppose a DOT road diet for East Tremont Avenue.

East Tremont Avenue is where a hit-and-run driver killed 26-year-old Giovanni Nin as he was biking to his girlfriend’s house from work on June 11. The crash happened near Mayflower Avenue, just a block from where three drivers struck and killed 74-year-old Angel Figueroa in 2013.

A 2015 DOT safety plan called for a road diet, pedestrian islands, and other improvements that could have saved Nin’s life [PDF]. But the Throggs Neck Merchants Association and other groups organized to defeat the plan and Bronx Community Board 10 voted against it. DOT did not implement the project as scheduled.

In this video from a June memorial ride honoring Nin, made by TA’s Luke Ohlson, local Council Member Jimmy Vacca blasts CB 10 for voting against the plan.

At Vacca’s urging, DOT has since moved to implement the traffic-calming plan by the end of the summer. Now opponents are expected to vent at the mayor himself at this evening’s town hall. Nin’s family and members of TransAlt’s Bronx Committee will also be in attendance to support the road diet.

On Monday, Vacca posted a video on Facebook addressing what he called “misinformation” about the project. It has been viewed over 3,600 times and received 48 comments, many of which are about the specter of traffic congestion on East Tremont.

If you want to speak out for a safer street and show support for the Nin family, the town hall begins tonight at 7 p.m. at Villa Barone Manor, located at 737 Throggs Neck Expressway. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and RSVP to townhallrsvp@cityhall.nyc.gov is required.