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COURIER LIFE, SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Activists rally for safe streets
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Transit activists, elected
offi cials, and the devastated
family of a 10-yearold
boy slain by a driver in
Midwood last week rallied
on Sept. 12 to demand bold
reforms to protect pedestrians
and bicyclists from
getting killed on the road.
“We lost our baby, and
he’s not coming back,”
said the boy’s teary-eyed
mother, Mary Majao.
“Let’s make Brooklyn a
safer place for all.”
Advocates from Transportation
Alternatives and
Families for Safe Street
gathered at Ocean Avenue
and Avenue L, where a
motorist behind the wheel
of a Lexus SUV suffered
what police described as
a “medical episode” and
struck Enzo Farachio as
he waited at a nearby bus
stop on Sept. 10.
Farachio’s death follows
a sharp rise in traffi
c fatalities in Brooklyn,
where traffi c deaths have
increased 72 percent this
year as compared to the
same period in 2018, according
to Police Department
statistics.
City Council Speaker
Corey Johnson — who introduced
legislation that
would require the installation
of 250 miles of protected
bike lanes and 150
miles of dedicated bus
lanes within fi ve years —
joined the rally to promote
his bill.
“Prayers and condolences
— which we do give
— needs to be backed up
by action. That is why we
are going to move this bill
forward,” said Johnson.
“We are going to set real
benchmarks to pedestrianize
areas across New
York City.”
Failure to adopt the
Council speaker’s plan —
which is slightly more aggressive
than the Green
Wave bike lane expansion
being pursued by
Mayor de Blasio, who
Johnson hopes to replace
come 2021 — would lead to
more senseless deaths like
Farachio’s, according to a
Trans Alt spokesman.
“We will never see an
end to traffi c violence if we
Enzo’s parents, Mary Majao and Angel Farachio, speak at the vigil for their son, who died earlier this week in a fatal car crash. Photo by Caroline Ourso
don’t make safe street designs
the standard across
all fi ve boroughs,” said Joseph
Cutrufo. “To do anything
less would be an insult
to the families of the
thousands of New Yorkers
killed by unsafe streets
and deadly drivers, and
put countless more residents
at risk.”
One local activists,
whose daughter was fatally
struck by a car in
Gravesend six years ago,
claimed that new protected
bike lanes would
safeguard both cyclists
and pedestrians from outof
control motorists, saying
the cycling paths provide
an additional buffer
between traffi c and the
sidewalk.
“Protected bike lanes
would provide an extra
cushion as opposed to the
bike lanes that are just
painted on the street. It
would provide an added
level of protection when
you’re on the sidewalk,”
said Jane Martin-Lavaud.
“Of course you should be
careful crossing the street,
but when you’re standing
on the sidewalk, you
should not be fearful. You
should not be in danger.”
The teary-eyed activists
concluded Thursday night’s
demonstration with a grim
procession to the site of two
other fatal crashes — one
that left 52-year-old cyclist
Jose Alzorriz dead on Coney
Island Avenue and Avenue
L last month, and another
that killed 16-year-old
cyclist Yisroel Schwartz at
a Borough Park intersection
in May.
Hours after the street
safety demonstration
ended, a motorist behind
the wheel of an SUV
slammed into a city bus
two blocks from where
Farachio was killed, injuring
eight people.
Cecilia Green tells her story of being injured by a motorist biking nearby in 2015.
Photo by Caroline Ourso