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Police killing of Daunte Wright renews call
to get NYPD out of traffi c enforcement
BY MARK HALLUM
The death of Daunte Wright at the hands of a Minnesota
police offi cer on Sunday — a Black man killed
in the middle of a traffi c stop — is rekindling the older
debate in New York City as to whether the NYPD should
continue conducting traffi c enforcement in the fi ve boroughs.
Brooklyn City Councilman Brad Lander released a plan
in November alongside Queens City Council candidate Tiffany
Cabán to remove NYPD from the task as well as crash
investigations with the aim to bring these duties under the
purview of the city Department of Transportation, similar
to a notion going back to the George Floyd demonstrations
last summer.
“No one should die over a traffi c stop,” Lander said.
“Daunte Wright, Allan Feliz, Sandra Bland, Philando
Castile — we’ve seen over and over again how pre-textual
stops are used to racially profi le and quickly escalate into
deadly violence. Traffi c enforcement by police does too
little to achieve safer streets. With smarter use of data and
a preventative approach we are piloting here in NYC, we
have better ways to address reckless driving and traffi c
violations that will prevent crashes and save lives.”
Lander’s Reckless Driver Accountability Act, passed
by the city council in early 2020 formally creating the
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
The DOT and the NYPD pushed the Dusk to Dawn
program as more people will be traveling in the
dark. Highway cops stand near billboard calling on
drivers to slow down.
Dangerous Driver Abatement Program, has yet to get
off the ground as the de Blasio administration has not
provided funding since the advent of the COVID-19 crisis.
After nearly a year on the back-burner, Mayor Bill de
Blasio agreed to fund the program in the upcoming budget.
Automated enforcement, for example, is preferred
among motorists as a recent poll from Transportation
Alternatives shows that 73% of drivers would prefer to
get a ticket in the mail instead of being stopped by NYPD.
We need a new approach to traffi c safety that invests not
in armed offi cers, but in self-enforcing streets.
Manhattan Councilman Mark Levine reacted to the
death of Wright by calling for the greater punitive authorities
separate from NYPD’s discipline measures such
as giving the Civilian Complaint Review Board power to
handle police accountability.
“Just yesterday it was revealed that the NYPD failed to
turn over records related to a botched no-knock raid, complete
with a false arrest and unnecessary trauma infl icted on
a family of six,” Levine said Tuesday. “In the City Council,
we have been forging ahead with crucial accountability
measures, including passing an historic repeal of qualifi
ed immunity. But we have much more work to do… This
includes pushing to give the CCRB full power to mete out
discipline for offi cer misconduct–without the ability of the
police commissioner to overturn their recommendations.”
Kim Potter, the police offi cer of 26 years on the force
was identifi ed in the killing, shot Wright, 20, claiming
it was a tragic mistake — she said she used her sidearm
when she meant to use her Taser. She has since resigned.
Wright’s death took place about 10 miles from where
George Floyd was killed in May 2020.
Stringer gains traction with WFP endorsement for mayor race
BY STEPHEN WITT
City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s
campaign to become the next mayor
gained serious traction last night,
April 13, after the left-leaning Working
Families Party (WFP) made him their fi rst
choice of support in the June 22 Democratic
Party mayoral primary.
With the rankled-choice voting (RCV)
system now in play as part of election
strategies, the WFP also endorsed mayoral
candidates Dianne Morales as their second
choice and Maya Wiley as their third choice.
Under RCV, voters rank the candidates by preference on
their ballots. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the
tallied fi rst-round vote, the candidate with the fewest fi rstpreference
OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN PHOTO
Comptroller and Mayoral
Candidate Scott Stringer.
votes is eliminated, and their second choice
votes is then distributed among the remaining candidates.
This continues until there are two candidates remaining
and the candidate with the highest vote count wins.
“We are confi dent Scott Stringer has both the coalition
to win and can lead New York out of this public health and
economic crisis, centering the needs
of Black, brown, and immigrant New
Yorkers, and ensuring our communities
do not just survive but thrive in
the years to come,” said New York
Working Families Party State Director
Sochie Nnaemeka.
“Given the likelihood of an instant
runoff in the Mayor’s race, it is essential
New Yorkers vote for these three
leaders as their fi rst, second and
third choices to ensure a progressive
wins and avoid a corporate-backed
candidate from seizing power in City
Hall,” Nnaemeka added.
Stringer, a former assembly member and Manhattan
Borough President before being elected as the city’s
comptroller, called the WFP the heart of the city’s progressive
movement and he was honored to receive their
endorsement.
“We have worked side by side for decades to speak truth
to power and deliver justice to all New Yorkers. Now,
we’re marching together to fi ght for a progressive vision
that upends the status quo and lifts up working people,
communities of color, and immigrant New Yorkers who
are the backbone of our city — and who will be at the
forefront of a truly progressive recovery from COVID-19,”
said Stringer.
“In this election, New Yorkers have a very clear choice
among the leading candidates. We need to elect a progressive
mayor who will be ready to deliver on day one to
make our city more affordable, more sustainable, and most
importantly: more just. I will be that mayor. At the same
time, ranked-choice voting is a groundbreaking reform
that will breathe new life into democracy, and I’m glad to
see the WFP putting this new system front and center by
ranking Dianne Morales second and Maya Wiley third,
so we can ensure New York gets a progressive mayor,”
he added.
The WFP, with its large membership and voter turnout
operation, is a major boost for Stringer, who in past elections
has been a strong fi nisher. He currently lags behind
in recent polls to frontrunners Andrew Yang and Eric
Adams. However, these same polls note that about 50
percent of Democratic primary voters remain undecided
and that a clear frontrunner has yet to emerge.
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