Slow our roll.
A panel of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents has asked the Department of Transportation to reduce the speed limit in the neighborhoods from 25 to 20 miles per hour to take advantage of a state law allowing New York City to do just that.
Community Board 1's 18-15 vote late last month — supported by 40 groups, plus virtually every elected official in the area — represents the first time a community has volunteered for a neighborhood-wide slow zone since the passage of the state speed limit law, also known as Sammy's Law, last April.
Only one neighborhood — Manhattan below Canal Street — has had its speed limit reduced to 20 miles per hour since passage. And the city Department of Transportation has not announced any more such zones, though it has promised one per borough.
Supporters of safe streets are getting antsy. In letters to DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, elected officials including Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez and U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez pointed out that CB1 ranks fifth amongst Brooklyn community boards with 3.27 fatalities per 10,000 residents (higher than the citywide average of 2.85). The neighborhood is also fifth boroughwide for injuries with 10.3 serious injuries per 10,000 residents (higher than the citywide average of 9.67).
Overall, Brooklyn Community Board 1 had the most fatalities — 13 — last year of any community board in the borough, city stats show.
"Nearly eight months [after the Lower Manhattan zone was created] there has been no progress on the promised slow zones for our city’s other four boroughs," the three-dozen-plus groups wrote in a letter to Rodriguez. "The communities of Greenpoint and Williamsburg cannot wait."
The community board vote was obviously controversial, given the 18-15 margin. Pro-driving board members continued to spin false narratives about safety in what was the first clash since the Adams administration decided to finish a long-promised redesign of McGuinness Boulevard (a decision that came after a City Hall opponent of redesign was indicted in an alleged pay-to-play scandal). Many of the same opponents of the road diet for the deadly high-speed sluice voted against reducing the speed limit in the neighborhood.
“Greenpoint and Williamsburg should be neighborhoods where people’s lives and well being matter more than speeding cars," said Kevin LaCherra, a longtime neighborhood resident who spearheaded the slow zone campaign. "I know there’s a small group that’s opposed to that goal, at the end of the day that’s for them to carry on their conscience.”
Speed is deadly on New York City streets. A person struck by a car driver moving at 40 miles per hour has only a 20-percent chance of surviving. But at 20 percent, the chances increase to 90 percent:
For its part, the DOT is also focused on slowing down car drivers, but, for now, won't commit to action beyond Lower Manhattan.
“The Lower Manhattan Regional Slow Zone helps protect our most vulnerable New Yorkers in an area with high pedestrian activity," agency spokesperson Mona Bruno said in a statement. "We appreciate the support of Brooklyn’s Community Board 1 and look forward to sharing more information about our vision for Regional Slow Zones in outer boroughs.”
The agency is certainly increasing its safety messaging, posting on X.com some new counter-programming against the newly emboldened culture warriors who see all efforts to redesign roadways as an infringement on drivers' rights. Thanks to protected bike lanes, deaths and serious injuries drop by 18.1 percent for all road users, the agency said.
Update: After initial publication of this story, Council Member Lincoln Restler sent a letter to DOT in support of a CB1 slow zone. It is here.
