Today was the first day I actively tried to talk to parents of ECFS and YMCA. In the morning at 9:30, I talked to parents entering and exiting the ECFS school building and gave them a flyer about the petition or they took a picture of it with their phones. Then I went back again at 2:30 in the afternoon and talked with parents and caregivers waiting to pick up their kids at ECFS and the YMCA, again giving out the petition flyers.
There was universal agreement among the parents and caregivers that the crossing is very dangerous and that a speed bump and/or raised crosswalk would at least make the traffic slow down, if not stop on the red light. In the morning today, we had 52 signatures on the petition that we got over the first three days before I started seeking out parents. By 9:00 pm tonight, the signature count had gone to 96. These 44 signatures are almost 100% parents or caregivers of students attending ECFS and YMCA programs.
To everyone who signed, thank you so much for adding your voice and for the opportunity to speak with so many of you personally. I hope to see you again soon near these schools or at this crosswalk in the park and continue the conversations we started today. I am convinced that the appropriate traffic-calming devices, like speed bumps and raised crosswalks, can and must be installed at this crosswalk before Labor Day along with the standard school zone traffic marking assemblies, like flashing lights and children crossing signs.
I hope you will support me in getting this done. It is going to be very difficult to make this deadline but it is doable if we are organized and keep the pressure on. Please read my first update (May 28) to find the table of officials I have already contacted which includes Rob Cousins (ECFS), Kathryn Colglazier (YMCA), Roger Mosier (CPC), Colleen Chattergoon (NY DOT), and Kimberly Rancourt (NY DOT). Their titles and email addresses are also shown there. Please send them a short email with a link to the petition and tell them you support this idea.
A lot of people have suggested contacting Gale A. Brewer, District 6 NYC Council Member whose district includes Central Park, and other elected officials. I think this is a great idea. I also came across an article in the NYT about how our new Mayor, Eric Adams. is keen on raised crosswalks and wants to install a hundred of them in NYC this year (link below). The ECFS and the YMCA should have enough clout with the mayor's office to at least get someone looking at why this can't be done by Labor Day.
I need one or several of you to take up the task of looping in the elected officials. I will deal with CB7 and the municipal agencies involved as well as the schools. I know that among the 40+ parents who signed the petition today, there are many who feel as passionate as I do about cleaning up this chaos that has already killed one lovely lady (please take a minute to read her obituary as she also loved and worked with children). This chaotic situation will CERTAINLY kill and maim more children or adults if we don't take a stand now and act like it's a five-alarm fire. Because for the parents, it is.
Today's photo is a group of about 35 ECFS kids last Friday in the crosswalk with a security guard and 3 teachers. Two bikes come whizzing thru (I'd say ~30 mph) when the kids are already halfway into the crosswalk. The photo doesn't do justice to the effort the security guard made to stop the bikes, which was impossible at this speed without causing an accident. A 10 mph speed bump (THIS IS THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT) would have at least slowed them down so that he had a chance to intimidate them into stopping.
REFERENCES
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/nyregion/nyc-raised-crosswalks-traffic-deaths.html
http://www.jewishledger.com/2014/09/jill-tarlov-remembered-for-her-kind-and-compassionate-spirit/