Currently, there are no safe pedestrian crossing areas on the streets surrounding St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy (“SSKCA”). Passenger cars and heavy trucks often travel recklessly and dangerously at speeds in excess of the city’s speed limit and do not yield to pedestrians crossing at the intersections.

Our goal is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our immediate members and all other children and families who use the streets surrounding SSKCA daily, including SSKCA’s 200 students and the 100s of other children and families who use the same school and adjoining buildings for afterschool activities and Saturday school.  We call upon the NYC DOT to implement Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero program to improve traffic safety.

We urge the NYC DOT and our elected officials to immediately install traffic signaling devices or all-way stop signs on the stretches of streets on Driggs Avenue, Newell Street and Nassau Avenue to improve traffic safety for our community and create safe routes to school for families.

Improvements that would greatly contribute to the safety of the community include:

• i. Adding traffic lights or all-way stop signs at the intersections of Driggs Avenue and Newell Street, Newell Street and Nassau Avenue, Nassau Avenue and Diamond Street,
• ii. Installing child crossing signs on Driggs Avenue, and
• iii. Designating a slow zone near the school, on Driggs Avenue, Nassau Avenue and McGuiness Boulevard.

This issue is very important to our school and community. Our children and their families face an unnecessary, dangerous situation that needs to be corrected urgently. Please do not wait for a fatal accident to illustrate the danger present near our school.