Speed cams to expand citywide
Program will see new cameras installed at rate of 40 per month in 2019
Fort Hamilton kicks off 31st annual
Fleet Week with Salute to Ships
COURIER L M BR B G IFE, MAY 31–JUNE 6, 2019 3
BY BILL PARRY
Before departing on a presidential
campaign swing
through Nevada, Mayor Bill
de Blasio took care of some
city business Friday, announcing
plans for the rapid
expansion of the school
zone speed camera program
which Gov. Andrew Cuomo
signed into law earlier this
month.
The city’s Department
of Transportation will begin
installing new cameras
citywide at a rate of 40 per
month through 2019, 60 per
month in 2020, expecting to
reach the law’s maximum
750 school zones by June
2020.
“Our streets are about to
get a lot safer for our children,”
de Blasio said. “We
fought to expand our speed
camera program and we won
in Albany. Now it’s time to
rapidly scale up our program
to save lives and keep
our kids safe.”
Authorized by state law,
the school zone speed camera
program had been in
place since 2014 with data
showing that speeding in areas
with cameras declines
more than 60 percent, with
more than 80 percent of violators
not receiving a second
ticket.
Speed cameras will now
operate year-round on all
weekdays between 6 a.m. until
10 p.m. Previously, cameras
operated during the
school’s active hours. In the
coming months, the installations
will be made in the
city’s most dangerous areas
where school kids are zoned
to cross.
“We’re going to be able
to put speed cameras at 750
schools, protect our kids,
protect their lives, ensure
they’re safe,” de Blasio said
on WNYC. “And that’s an expenditure
that will be added
to this budget that literally
is about life and death.”
The late Queens state Sen.
Jose Peralta carried the bill in
the upper chamber for years,
but Republicans blocked the
legislation calling it a cash
grab and allowed the program
to expire altogether in
July 2018, forcing de Blasio
and Cuomo to make a rare
collaboration to reinstate the
program just before the start
of the school year.
“New York City has made
so much progress in reducing
traffic fatalities and so
much of that progress can be
credited to the use of speed
cameras, but there are still
far too many areas in the city
that need measures to make
streets safer for pedestrians,”
City Councilman Donavan
Richards, the chairman
of the Committee on
Public Safety, said. “Every
life lost is a tragedy, which
is why it was critical that Albany
renewed and expanded
the program to protect New
Yorkers from the next tragic
accident. This rapid expansion
is the right approach to
slow down reckless drivers
as soon as possible.”
The program will continue
to fine any motorist
caught going 10 miles per
hour over the speed limit
receiving a $50 summons.
The new law also mandates
signage that alerts drivers
when they are entering
a school zone speed camera
location.
READY, SET GO!: The Department of Transportation has begun installing new speed cameras in the city’s most
dangerous school zones, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. File photo by Michael Shain
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
They’re sailing into another
Fleet Week.
Fort Hamilton Army Base
held an 11-gun salute on May
22, welcoming nearly 3,000
service members who poured
into the city aboard ships in
New York Harbor for the 31st
annual Fleet Week.
Brooklynites lined the
Dyker Heights shore, waving
at incoming Sailors, Marines,
and Coast Guardsmen
at the Salute to Ships event,
offi cially kicking off the beloved
weeklong tradition.
More than 1,000 people attended
the early-morning ceremony,
watching the dozen
ships pass under the Verrazzano
Narrows bridge, according
to a Fort Hamilton rep.
“Overall it was a great engagement
of the community,”
said Amanda Hay. “We had
veterans, schools kids, children,
and service members all
coming together to welcome
these ships to New York.”
Guests were serenaded
by the sounds of three high
school bands, from James
Madison’s marching band,
Fort Hamilton’s color guard,
and Xaverian’s multi-instrument
ensemble, which provided
the musical soundtrack
for the kickoff ceremony.
Throughout the course of
Fleet Week, the ships dock in
Brooklyn, Manhattan, and
Staten Island, allowing deployed
service members to
visit family and friends, and
take in the city’s attractions.
New Yorkers will have the
opportunity to meet men and
women in uniform, as well as
tour some of the docked vessels,
getting an inside look at
the buoyant homes of American
service members during
their seven-day excursion in
the northeast.
Ships in the aquatic parade
included the Naval destroyer
USS Jason Dunham,
named for the New York-born
corporal who was posthumously
awarded the Medal of
Honor in 2006 for his service
in Iraq, and the Naval transport
ship USS New York,
named to honor the victims
of 9/11.
FIRE: Fort Hamilton hosts an 11-gun salute to kick of the 31st annual
Fleet Week. Photo by Trey Pentecost