When NYCDOT isn’t rejecting perfectly good locations for CitiBike stations, they are charged with road safety. Community members frequently petition Council Member Holden for safety improvements. Below is a sample:
• A traffic light at 69th Street and 60th Avenue
• Speed bumps and stop signs along 78th Avenue
• Speed bumps along 68th Street
• A traffic study for 69th Street
All these requests were rejected by NYCDOT, and the council member says that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to requests to the agency. DOT claims they want community part- ners in their Vision Zero safety initiative but getting safety improvements has been proven to be next to impossible. One thing we noticed is that the DOT Streets Plan has prioritized neighborhood safety improvements based on the racial makeup of the neighborhood. Our area is in “Tier 3” out of three tiers (all the light areas on the map above), so that may have something to do with the slew of rejections. Traffic safety based on race rather than clear and present danger – what jackass came up with this?