CBS TV CHANNEL 2 IN NYC DID A STORY ABOUT THIS PETITION.

                                CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Jill Tarlov was killed by a racing cyclist at THIS pedestrian crosswalk on West Drive in Central Park at the 63rd Street entrance on September 19, 2014. This crosswalk is less than 350 feet from the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and the YMCA. Over 200 children from ECFS and the YMCA cross this very crosswalk every school day to and from the playgrounds in the park a few hundred yards away.

The children at Ethical Culture Fieldston School range in age from under 3 years old to 14 years old. When they are in the park, they are accompanied by their teachers. The YMCA also has a Pre-K and Early Childhood Center and they also cross this crosswalk in their cute little yellow YMCA safety vests, all gripping a blue rope, accompanied by their teachers as well. The children at the YMCA are as young as six months old and as old as 4 years.

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ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, I FILED A LAWSUIT IN FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK NAMING THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THREE OF ITS DEPARTMENTS, AND THE CPC AS DEFENDANTS. THE CASE NUMBER IS 22 CV 8210.

                       LEARN MORE & READ THE COMPLAINT HERE

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The level of danger to families and children in this particular crosswalk has not gone down since Jill was struck and killed here eight years ago. Racing bikes still come flying thru the crosswalk in packs of 4-6 bikes, way over the speed limit, even when the stop light is red and pedestrians are in the crosswalk. But today there is a cornucopia of small EVs of every size and shape, flying thru it as well and going even faster than the racing bikes. I have been recording video clips of the pedestrians and vehicles in this crosswalk almost every day from May 24, 2022, to September 5, 2022, and accumulated over 2700 of these clips, ranging in length from a few seconds to 3 hours, many simultaneously from two angles. These clips are often truly frightening.

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LINKS TO DOWNLOADABLE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THIS CROSSWALK IN ACTION ARE CONTAINED IN THE UPDATES BELOW OF WHICH THERE ARE MANY. I RECORDED 1 HOUR PER DAY ON WEEKDAYS AND 3 HRS PER DAY ON SAT/SUN BETWEEN JULY 8 AND LABOR DAY, SEPTEMBER 5. THE LINKS SUNSET 30 DAYS AFTER THEIR PUBLICATION.

FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS BEFORE LABOR DAY, I WAS USING A MEGAPHONE WITH A CLIP FROM A FISH CALLED WANDA WITH KEVIN KLINE SHOUTING "ASSHOLE" TO CALL OUT THE ASSHOLES WHO RUN THE RED LIGHT WHEN PEDESTRIANS ARE IN THE CROSSWALK. "WHATISNEWYORK" FILMED IT & POSTED IT ON INSTAGRAM. THE ASSHOLE SHOW GOT A MILLION VIEWS, 32K LIKES AND 1.1K COMMENTS ON INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK IN JUST ONE WEEKEND.

                       CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ASSHOLE SHOW

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More than a decade of studies about this problem have been done. Do children have to die in this crosswalk before NY DOT does something more than just study? They study while the problem evolves beyond their study, then they study some more. Wash, rinse, repeat, with no tangible result except outdated studies.

When this petition was initiated, we demanded that before Labor Day 2022 at the 63rd Street and West Drive crosswalk in Central Park:

1. The crosswalk be officially designated a school speed zone with a 15 MPH speed limit, and that
2. NY DOT install:
   • One or more full-width speed reducer(s) or other traffic-calming devices to reduce the traffic speed of ALL VEHICLES, including bicycles, entering this crosswalk to the posted speed limit,
   • Standard school zone street markings and signage assembly that call for caution because babies and kids cross here in numbers every school day,
   • Accessible Pedestrian Signal (APS) crosswalk call buttons, 
   • A raised crosswalk, and 
   • Physical barriers to separate the 3 lanes of traffic for at least 20 meters coming into the crosswalk.

Labor Day has come and gone and the only item on this list that got done is the APS signal buttons, which were already mandated by the federal court in a remedial order in Am Council of the Blind v The City of New York.

The deadline has come and gone. Now it's time to bring our petition to the court.  

I am no longer standing in the crosswalk filming. That phase is over. Perhaps there will be an encore performance of The Asshole Show one busy Saturday this Autumn. One never knows.

I POST REGULAR UPDATES WITH LINKS TO THE ICLOUD VIDEO CLIPS I SHOOT. PLEASE READ THEM ALL IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT PROGRESS WE ARE MAKING AND WHAT OCCURRED IN THE CROSSWALK DAY BY DAY.