Hundreds of people showed up to mourn the loss of pediatrician, husband and father of two Daniel Cammerman on the Upper West Side yesterday, and a dozen rallied on Third Avenue in Sunset Park, where four people have been killed by drivers this year (NYDN, Streetsblog).
Mayor de Blasio wasn't at either event. And that's a shame, because he would have heard from the other victims of this year's carnage — the survivors like Cammerman's widow, Karen, and his two children, who need immediate action, not just more promises like the mayor has made several times this year.
To that point, this morning in Long Island City, Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and new NYPD Transportation Bureau Chief William Morris will appear "to announce [a] new crackdown on dangerous driving" that will consist of "a heavy focus on traffic safety during the last week of the year, the darkest days of the year — generally among the deadliest for pedestrians."
It will be a beautiful day for an announcement, though — clear and cold, thanks to that high pressure over West Virginia.
Here's the news roundup from the last few days:
- The weekend started with a vigil for Cammerman, two days after his death on Wednesday in Central Park. (WCBS2)
- The Times editorial board joined Streetsblog in questioning the MTA's decision to hire 500 more unaccountable cops to police (and most likely overpolice) the subway. "The hiring of these officers is not just a misuse of funds. It’s a blow to the fragile public trust that officials had finally earned in their promising efforts to turn around New York’s subway system." The editorial was so powerful that MTA Chairman and CEO Pat Foye wrote a letter to the editor (which was sent to the media), accusing the paper of wanting to "go back" to the "bad old days" of the 1980s. But it wasn't printed.
- The Queens Eagle reviewed the racial composition of the borough's community boards and found them woefully out of touch with today's demographic realities.
- Guse of the Newsuh spent the weekend reading the MTA's 85-page version of the 12-page audit released earlier to find that one in five MTA projects is overbudget.
- The Post did a nice profile of Friend of Streetsblog Craig Sachs, who documents reckless driving. Meanwhile, the Times covered the recent rash of pedestrian deaths.
- Vin Barone at amNY did his annual year-in-review for the city's transportation scene — and didn't like what he saw.
