First thing this morning, I went over to the crosswalk and checked to see if the rain or park maintenance had destroyed my posters. They were still intact and none the worse for the wear. After a little puppy-walking, I resumed surveillance of the crosswalk at 3 pm and wrapped up at 6 pm.

Being a weekend, the schools are not in session but there are still plenty of kids in the park with parents and relatives. Lots of old folks are there as well. I took up a position on the west side of the crosswalk and pressed the call button every time a group of pedestrians queued up to cross. In the beginning, I filmed just the crosswalk until the white pedestrian light went off. Technically, traffic has to stop when the red vehicular traffic light comes on after the yellow and this is before white. I got an awful lot of footage and it was rich with examples, some scarier than others. 

The usual suspects were present in abundance - the speed cyclists, the e-bikers, the horse carriages, the bicycle carriages, the e-bike delivery guys, and so on. Even a weird guy in a super-hero costume on a one-wheeled e-vehicle. He was more of a distraction than a danger.

What I have noticed over quite a period of time is that when one vehicle stops completely at the crosswalk, other vehicles tend to stop, with the exception of the speed cyclists, the bicycle carriages, and the horse carriages. These guys just speed on by no matter what excepting the horses, which just plod along relentlessly. I got a great clip of several horse carriages nose-to-butt that created a wall in the crosswalk while the white walk light was on, making it impossible for pedestrians to even attempt a crossing. The only vehicles that observed the vehicular traffic signals at this crosswalk today were the garbage trucks, which are owned and operated by NY Parks.

Early in this effort to get a speed reducer installed at this crosswalk by Labor Day, I researched and developed the list of decision-makers that I shared with you in my May 28 update. When I finally got in contact with the Central Park Conservancy contact, Roger Maloney, he explained that he had just joined the organization and had gone thru the training on the use of CPC vehicles and knew what was expected of his employees in terms of observing the rules in the crosswalks when driving a CPC vehicle. He urged me to inform him if I observed any of his employees breaking the rules. For this purpose, today's surveillance was a bonanza.

As far as I can see, Change.org does not allow me to post more than one photo on an update, so today you get the huge CPC  truck that plowed thru the crosswalk when the white ok-to-cross light was on. A pickup bearing the Central Park Conservancy Logo did exactly the same thing, too. As did two CPC golf carts and three of our finest's NYPD vehicles.

Back to my earlier observation. When one person stops at the crosswalk the other reasonable people stop also. This is a great place to plant a stake. The CPC needs to lead by example. I will be talking to Roger on Tuesday. CPC must ensure that every CPC employee driving a CPC vehicle stop every time day or night at every crosswalk in the park if the red vehicular traffic light is on REGARDLESS IF ANYONE IS IN THE CROSSWALK. This is a small price to pay for order in a public space.

Can you help us just a little? Could you repost our petition or contact your elected official if you are a New Yorker? Nothing has been done to solve this problem for over a decade. Another person will die here if we don't do something, it's only a question of whether it will be child or adult, man or woman.

We aren't asking for much. Just one speed reducer on one school zone crosswalk. Cheap, fast, easy. The DOT can study our speed reducer if they need more studies.

Would you attend the 6:30 pm June 7 meeting of the full board of CB7 and just say you support a speed reducer at this crosswalk? If I show up to support it alone, it will be ok. But if ten people show up, we will have power. Please think about it. Please help.

Thanks.