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Seeking safer streets
Council passes Slope pol’s bill to curb reckless drivers
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Kings County speed demons
will soon be forced to
take a driving safety course,
or risk having their cars impounded,
after Council passed
a landmark piece of legislation
on Tuesday.
The bill — which was sponsored
by Councilman Brad
Lander (D–Park Slope) in the
wake of a devastating 2018 car
crash that killed two children
— will force motorists who
accrue 15 speed camera violations,
or five red light violations
within a 12-month span
to complete a 90-minute road
safety course, or else their vehicles
will be booted.
Colloquially known as the
Reckless Driver Accountability
Act, the bill will help prevent
the most predictable traffic
related fatalities, Lander
said at a Tuesday morning
press conference at City
Hall.
“It’s intuitive that the most
reckless drivers are disproportionately
likely to injure
or kill other New Yorkers,”
the Councilman said.
The Park Slope legislator,
and city comptroller candidate,
has championed the idea since
Photo by Todd Maisel
Activists and politicians gathered in front of City Hall
on Tuesday before the bill passed the City Council.
wide every year.
The compromise legislation
— which was ultimately rebranded
the ‘Dangerous Vehicle
Abatement Program’ at
the 11th hour — was necessary
to ensure the city was not ensnared
with legal challenges
due to the tricky constitutional
questions the bill raises, according
to the Department of
Transportation.
Even in the wake of the
higher ticket threshold, activists
and politicians alike
hailed the successful passage
of the bill, which comes on the
heels of a particularly deadly
2019 for New York pedestrians
and cyclists — where 205
traffic deaths were recorded
citywide last year, including
29 cyclists, more than half of
which were killed in Brooklyn
alone.
The bill passed 41-to-5 in
the council, and is expected to
be signed by the Mayor.
Mayor throws a little shade
Supports project that will tower over Botanical Garden
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Now he’s a gardener too!
Mayor Bill de Blasio undermined
the expert opinion
of professional green thumbs,
architects, and executives at
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
during an appearance on the
Brian Lehrer show on Feb. 7,
when he suggested that building
a massive residential complex
a stones throw away from
the beloved horticultural museum
would cause no serious
injury to its collection of rare
and exotic plants.
“I don’t think it ruins the
March 2018, when a woman
with a history of unsafe driving
fatally struck 1-year-old
Joshua Lew and 4-year-old
Abigail Blumenstein at the
intersection of Ninth Street
and Fifth Avenue.
Blumenstein’s mother,
Ruthie Ann Miles, later miscarried
as a result of her injuries.
“It really broke the hearts
of our neighborhood,” said
Lander.
Safe streets advocates, who
have rallied behind the idea
for years, celebrated its passage
as a historic victory for
the protection of pedestrians
and cyclists.
“Driving is a privilege, not
a right,” said Transportation
Alternatives Executive Director
Danny Harris. “This landmark
bill, the first in the nation,
will make New York City
safer for everyone.”
But while the legislation
marks a significant step in
regulating unsafe drivers,
the bill is a far more watered
down version of Lander’s
initial proposal — which
would have targeted drivers
after just five speeding tickets.
The bill is now expected
to affect 5,000 motorists city-
garden forever, I just don’t,”
Hizzoner said.
Garden stewards have
maintained a firm opposition
to the proposed megadevelopment
at 960 Franklin
Ave. — a mixed-use complex
containing 1,578 residential
units, half of which would be
offered at so-called “affordable”
rates — since the project
was unveiled in 2018, with executives
fearing the destruction
of plant life as a result of
shadows cast by the development’s
39-story towers.
Their concerns are supported
by shadow studies
conducted by two architectural
firms, which demonstrated
that the towers would
subject critical areas within
the garden to hours of additional
gloom per day.
The mayor has shied away
from weighing in on a rezoning
application that developer
Continuum Company needs
to erect the massive complex
until last week, when a caller
asked the city’s lame duck
leader if he would support
the construction of roughly
800 subsidized housing units
at the expense of Kings County’s
cherished attraction.
“If we want this to be a
city for everyone...we’re going
to have to build some
things where people can actually
live and afford,” de Blasio
said.
Botanic Garden reps shot
back, arguing that housing
should not come at the expense
of the garden’s survival.
“Protecting BBG’s greenhouses,
nurseries, and conservatories
is crucial for preserving
BBG’s collections and
community programs,” said
garden spokesperson Elizabeth
Reina-Longoria.
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