As 140 speed safety cameras placed around city schools are about to be turned off at the end of the day, state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were busy pointing the finger on who to blame.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, with help from the state legislature, rolled out the cameras in 2014 on a trial run. The photo equipment has been used to ticket drivers going at least 10 mph above the speed limit during school hours. That pilot program expires at the end of the day.
With this knowledge state lawmakers went into their legislative session, which ended June 30, and a bill passed in the assembly with de Blasio’s strong support to not only keep the 140 cameras in place, but to add another 150 at other schools.
State Senators Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend) and Jose Peralta (D-Queens) then introduced the bipartisan measure in the Republican-controlled State Senate. It stalled, however, with some senators saying the cameras are good, but other traffic calming measures around schools such as stop signs, stop lights and speed bumps should also be installed around schools.
Competing measures were soon introduced. This included Sen. Andrew Lanza’s (R-Staten Island), legislation (s6212) which would create traffic control zones around schools with traffic lights and stop signs and doubles the penalty for speeding in the zone, and Sen. Simcha Felder’s (D-Borough Park, Flatbush, Midwood, Madison) to reauthorize the city’s use of speed cameras in front of schools as long as all the revenue generated from its enforcement go to funding an armed New York City Police member in front of public schools.
And the session ended in a Mexican standoff, in which multiple lawmakers were bickering over the issue without any strategy for either party to achieve a victory. And today and in the last few days, the finger-pointing continued.
Golden today announced a petition drive calling on Gov. Cuomo to reconvene the state legislature to pass his bill.
“Until today there were speed cameras in 140 school zones. Where these cameras were used, speeding dropped by an average of 63%, while pedestrian injuries dropped by 23 percent according to the Mayor’s Office. During that same period of time, roadway fatalities increased by about 15% nationally. Clearly, speed cameras in school zones work. Bring the legislature back to pass this bill, before another innocent life is needlessly lost. It is the right thing to do. You know it, I know it, the mayor knows it, and in his heart, the governor knows it,” said Golden.
“Gov. Cuomo owes it to all of us to call the legislature back, have us pass the bill, and sign it into law before someone is hurt, or God forbid, killed,” he added.
But in a preemptive strike, Cuomo countered Golden’s move with a statement yesterday.
“This is not an ideological issue — Senator Golden and his conference are playing politics with the lives of children, and it’s transparent. I have said for weeks, there is no need for me to call a special session as the Assembly has already passed the bill during session — all that is left is for the Senate Republicans to act,” said Cuomo.
Felder referred his comments to the following statement that Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-LI) released yesterday.
“Tomorrow, 120 of 140 speed cameras in New York City schools zones will go dark as a result of Governor Cuomo and the Assembly’s unwillingness to engage senators with a larger vision for street safety to protect children. Instead, these politicians shamelessly mug for the press as they blame others. They should look no further than within.
“In fact, Governor Cuomo, who was derelict in his responsibilities and absent from Albany until the very last days of session, only sent the Senate a speed camera extender in the dead of night, long after the Assembly left town and the Senate adjourned. The Governor’s motive should be transparent to all.
“Senators came up with many ways to protect students from speeding cars, including installing red lights and stop signs at every school intersection to protect all students while also extending the current speed camera program. Governor Cuomo, at the time, urged legislators to “do the stop signs, do the lights,” until elevating his campaign became more important than safety,” said Flanagan.
Meanwhile de Blasio announced that starting today at 5:30 p.m., 120 school zones with speed cameras will no longer issue violations. Twenty school zones will still have speed cameras and issue violations until the end of August. The administration can move these locations daily to maximize safety near schools across the five boroughs, he said.
De Blasio said the city will continue to call on the state senate to return to Albany to pass S6046/A7798-C, legislation that would preserve and expand speed cameras near schools. The legislation has passed the Assembly and currently has 34 co-sponsors in the State Senate where only 32 votes are needed to pass any given bill, he said.
“The state senate has shown a complete disregard for the safety of our kids by not preserving and expanding speed cameras near schools. We still have the authority to use speed cameras near 20 school zones – and we can change those locations daily,” said de Blasio.
“Let this be a warning to drivers that the state senate’s inability to act is no license to travel at unsafe speeds,” he added.
