Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Signs Package Of Life-Saving Traffic Safety Bills

June 23, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. This morning, we return to the intersection – we returned, I should say – to the intersection of Northern Boulevard and 61st Street. Last time we were here in January, we were responding to a tragic loss. Today, we're again at the spot where 8-year-old Noshat Nahian was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer in December. Every parent at that moment understands, when you stand in a spot where a child was lost, you feel something. And I certainly felt, again, the loss of a young boy that we wish so deeply was here with us today, and we, in his memory, are taking real actions to make sure we won't lose other children. I want to thank Noshat's family for joining us – his mother Nargish, his father Mohammed, and his sister Nousin.

And we came here in January, and we launched an idea that was new in this city, the idea of comprehensively addressing the dangers we face. And we committed ourselves to a series of changes that would be strong and immediate, to protect pedestrians, to protect bicyclists, to protect motorists, to protect all of us – and particularly, to protect our children. We've been taking aggressive action from that day forward, because we understand these collisions injure almost 4,000 New Yorkers a year, and kill over 250 New Yorkers in recent years. And that's been the minimum. And that’s been an unacceptable reality each year.

I have to say, for this school community, it has been an incredibly difficult time since this tragedy. And I want to take a moment to thank everyone here at P.S. 152 – in particular, Principal Vincent Vitolo – for their incredible efforts to support the family, and support the whole school community, let's thank them. 

[Applause]

I want to thank all the members of my administration who are here playing leadership roles in Vision Zero – Commissioner Polly Trottenberg at DOT, Commissioner Meera Joshi at TLC, and the chief of transportation for the NYPD, Thomas Chan. And a special thanks to all the family members of individuals we lost, who have turned that pain into activism, and have had a huge impact in this city, and in this state, fighting to protect others. And I commend them for their perseverance, in the light of everything they've gone through, turning their tragedy into action. I also want to ask for a round of applause for all the family members. 

[Applause]

Thank you to all the elected officials who are with us, Assembly Member Mike Dendekker; Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, the chair of the Council Transportation Committee; Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, whose district we are in, correct? – wrong side, correct? All right. Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Council Member Mark Weprin, Council Member Jimmy Vacca, and Council Member Rory Lancman; also a special thanks to Council Member Vanessa Gibson, the chair of the Public Safety Committee; and Council Member David Greenfield, who has been working on these issues for many years with great diligence. 

We're here to report a series of actions and some real progress that's happened just in the last few weeks, and we're very, very proud, and everyone standing around me gets tremendous credit for this. And of course, again, a thanks to the family members who have been extraordinary advocates, particularly in Albany, and we're happy to report, first of all, something really foundational to our efforts – that we have won approval from Albany, authorizing the city to establish a default citywide speed limit of 25 miles an hour. This is a huge step forward for New York City.

[Applause]

When you think about Vision Zero, all its components, so fundamentally it comes down to reducing speeding, reducing reckless driving. This is an essential element to that plan. It's been achieved. I want to thank the state legislature for empowering the city to protect our own people. And then the City Council has done something extraordinary, an extensive package of tough new bills, designed to decrease traffic fatality. I have to say that these bills will do so many important things to protect New Yorkers, and the City Council stood up and provided real leadership, so one more time, I'm going to ask for a round of applause for members of the City Council. 

[Applause]

I'm sorry, I noted – Council Member Fernando Cabrera is here as well. Welcome.

These bills really do important things for our city. They increase penalties for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. They ban dangerous stunt behavior and speed contests by motorcyclists. They increase the number of neighborhood slow zones and speed limits near our schools. They make it easier to suspend the licenses of taxi drivers who injure people. And one bill in particular we all feel a lot for, it is known as Cooper’s Law, named after 9-year-old Cooper Stock, who was killed while crossing a street on the Upper West Side, something that so many of us felt deeply around this city. Taxi driver failed to yield to Cooper and his father, and Cooper was lost, but in his name we are doing something important to protect others. I want to thank Cooper’s mother, Dana Lerner, for joining us here today. Thank you.
[Applause]

Cooper’s Law makes it easier for the TLC to suspend and revoke licenses of drivers involved in a crash resulting in critical injury, and who receive a summons as a result of that crash. Now, these new laws will make it easier for the TLC to take dangerous drivers off the streets, and that is something fundamental to the safety of this city. And we’ve done something about the streets themselves. We’ve begun reshaping our streets to make them safer for pedestrians. We did that. I want to thank Polly Trottenberg and the DOT for the extraordinary work they did right here at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and 61st Street, you saw with your own eyes the difference that their actions have made. Very simply, and I think we have a graphic over here—is that right?—you can see the before and after. The DOT put in pedestrian islands to shorten the pedestrian crossing distances across Northern Boulevard. The traffic signals have been timed so there’s a pedestrian-only crossing time, to make sure there’s a time where only pedestrians move and all vehicles stay still. And there’s enhanced crosswalks and parking regulations to provide greater visibility. And you’re going to see upgrades like this at intersections all over the city. Commissioner Trottenberg will go into more detail, so I can tell you this is a crucial piece of what we need to do to protect our people.

Two other programs I want to mention are Big Apps – NYC competition to build tools for Vision Zero, and the developers have been very busy. We have five teams that have taken on this challenge with a lot of energy. And finally, I want to mention our Vision Zero workshops and town halls. This is where we go out into communities, help answer questions people have about how we are acting to keep them safe, a chance for communities to raise input about what they need, helping us to identify dangerous intersections, helping us to set priorities and have a regular dialogue with the DOT about what’s working and how we can make it better. We are fundamentally committed to Vision Zero, and we are doing more every day. The vision is to end traffic fatalities in this city. It’s not easy. No one said it’s easy. Everyone likes to prognosticate—let me say that a goal that moves you forward, it pulls you forward. This is a goal that’s forcing a lot of action and it’s the right goal. In a city as big and complicated as this, it’s not easy, but we did not come here, any of us, to do easy things, we came here to do things that would actually help people. And we can’t keep losing New Yorkers because we haven’t done all in our power to protect them. So these new tools, both the laws and the infrastructure changes, will make a huge an tangible difference, but we won’t stop until we’ve done everything in our power, because everyone has a right to be safe on our streets and on the sidewalks of our city.

Let me just do a moment in Spanish, and then I want to bring up some of my colleagues to talk about what this means today, and then we’re going to do a signing ceremony and then I’ll come back up here, we’re going to do questions on topic and then off topic. 

No podémos aceptár tántos muértos y herídos por accidéntes de tránsito. Por éso estámos aquí hoy pára firmár várias léyes de nuéstro plán de seguridád en las cálles “Visión Céro”. Y pára informárlos sóbre las medídas que hémos tomádo pára reducír los accidéntes de tránsito.

[BREAK]

Mayor: We are going to take on topic questions first. Yes?

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Before I bring up Chief Chan, just to remember, first the governor has to sign the legislation, which we know he will do but we don’t know exactly when. And second the City Council has to pass enabling legislation, which again we obviously anticipate in short order. But that has to happen in sequence. Then in the fall, the signs will actually start to go up. And then of course enforcement will happen – they’ll be an education campaign leading up to that, but enforcement will happen as the signs start to go up. So we’re very adamant that once the signs go up, enforcement will be adjusted accordingly. But let me have Chief Chan speak to that.

Chief of Transportation Thomas Chan, NYPD: In reference to the enforcement levels, again, we will be coordinating very closely with the Department of Transportation, taking a look at the collision statistics and things of that nature. But also, what we’ve done differently is that previously highway units have been doing both of the enforcements on the roadways themselves, on the highways themselves. At this point, we have 77 precincts involved in doing speeding enforcements, and I’m fortunate to say that the enforcement on the local streets has actually increased by 29 percent throughout the year. We also concentrated our hazardous violations – the violations that we feel are going to specifically impact speed, failure to yield to pedestrians, disobeying signal lights, disobeying turns, improper turns, signing, and also cellphones and texts. So that enforcement is up 14 percent for the year. So we are going to continue our efforts, but we again will wait for the law to be passed, and then we will work with our counterparts at all of the city agencies in coordinating the education portion and then follow with enforcement.

Mayor: Any other questions for Chief Chan, to begin? Any other questions on enforcement?

Question: [Inaudible]

Chief Chan: The highway units are more geared towards the highway. And what happens is that the change has been the 77 precincts that are actually training more personnel and also having the right equipment, the [inaudible] equipment and the radar equipment to utilize on the local city streets. And that increase, 65 percent, is from the Patrol Service Bureau precincts doing enforcement on the city streets themselves. It’s a 65 percent increase in that number.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: We put forward the Vision Zero plan [inaudible] – and Mira and Polly can speak to this as well – we put together a very comprehensive plan. As we’ve said many times, the jaywalking piece is at the discretion of local precinct commanders. And they will make moves accordingly, but there is a larger public education effort underway to discourage people from the kind of jaywalking that could cause danger. Of course, bicyclists going the wrong way down a street can pose a real danger to everyone involved, so yes, you’ve seen enforcement on that, and you’ll continue to. But again, we emphasize the blueprint of the Vision Zero plan is quite clear. Some elements are citywide and consistent, other elements are left more to the discretion of local precincts depending on local conditions. Do you want to add to it?

Chief Chan: We’ve had meetings with the Department of Transportation, and we are also gearing up to sit down with our community and also our advocacy groups on an education campaign, to reach out to the bicycle public, and then again, we will probably follow up that with enforcement down the road.

Mayor: Same thing, local precinct – education and local precinct discretion.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: We think in the ordering of things, that the changes in the speed limit, the school slow zones, the greater enforcement of the actions we’re taking with the TLC, that these are the essential actions that we have to take. Yes?

Question: Now, moving forward, talking about bills [inaudible]

Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, DOT: Yes, absolutely, we  have a – one thing is we’ve been conducting town hall  meetings and workshops all over the city in all five boroughs. We have set up a website where you can actually go on and pinpoint locations and put in – we have a kind of a menu of things you can say – like there should be longer time for pedestrians to cross or you want to ban a left turn, or whatever it is, you can go through 311. You can contact any of our agencies. For us, it is absolutely fundamental that we hear from local residents in communities all over the city – you live in the neighborhoods, you have the best sense of all of what we should be doing, so absolutely.

Mayor: On topic, on topic. Anyone who hasn’t gone? First on topic once – yes?

Question:  [Inaudible]

Commissioner Trottenberg: You know, we have our engineering and planning team, who basically are surveying the entire city, looking at all the school zones around the city and determining, you know, what treatments to do. And, you know, we’ve been talking today about the 25 mile an hour bill that was just passed up in Albany, but a couple months ago  the legislature also passed a bill enabling us to deploy more speed cameras in school zones. We’re waiting for the governor to sign that one as well, but we’re also looking at where the best locations are going to be to install those speed cameras.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner Trottenberg: Well this location already has a slow zone. One issue, just with the legislation for the speed cameras, is the cameras have to be deployed on a roadway within a half mile that is adjacent to the entrance of the school. So, for example, for this intersection, we wouldn’t put them on Northern Boulevard. We wouldn’t be authorized to unfortunately.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Okay, I’m going to see if my colleagues here know the nuances of that, or I’ll also call Jon Paul Lupo to the front. So while Jon Paul Lupo gets into position, I just want to say one other thing.  The – on the question for example of locating the specific zone [inaudible].  I just want to emphasize there’s a constant dialogue between NYPD, DOT, TLC on all of these issues. You remember when we were out here in January, Commissioner Bratton made very personal his commitment to this. So the three agencies are working in a way, I don’t think I’ve seen before, constantly helping each other figure out what will be the most effective measures, which is something I appreciate deeply. Jon Paul, are you going to give us the answer? Or is someone else going to give us the answer?

I am translating for Jon Paul Lupo. ‘It’s a bill, by bill issue, so we will get the specifics on each bill to our colleagues in the media’ – okay.

On topic. Last call – Okay, one then two.

Question: [Inaudible]

Chief Chan: We – Meeting with The Department of Transportation, they currently do have material that they pass out to the bicyclists. We are looking at that, working with the advocacy groups, looking to go to locations like bridges, where the bicyclists are commuting to the city, and we’re going to look to hand out information about tips on the particular laws and also safety tips for the bicyclists, possibly also attaching material that we can hang on their bicycles, and so that when they can come across it and read it. And again, this is to all our bicyclists. We’re going to be also targeting the promenades where we have bicyclists along the west side and other locations. So, I would venture to say that the education portion of it is going to be robust and the advocacy groups are actually going to see us out there and assist us – our auxiliaries  will also help us and other – the NYPD explorers, and other groups. 

Question: [Inaudible]

Chief Chan: That’s going to be set up – I would venture to say that that’s going to roll out within the next two weeks.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: You know, I think right now, our central focus is where we think the greatest set of problems is, by definition. And, I agree with Chair Joshi that the vast majority of our drivers who are TLC licensed are safe, but clearly we have a problem with a small subset of drivers and that’s been a focal point for activity. And again, you look at what we are going to be able to do with a lower speed limit, with the speed cameras. These are really the high impact actions. I think if we determine that there are other areas where we need to put out more information, than they [inaudible] will do that.  But right now, the plan we put forward – which is exceedingly extensive, the Vision Zero blueprint is what we’re focused on. All right, off topic.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Nothing’s changed my mind about endorsing. I’m not going to endorse in that primary and I will support the eventual winner. Obviously I again remind candidates that they have to respect all the peoples of their district and avoid any language that suggests otherwise.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I’ve had the opportunity in the last few days to see the information that’s been accumulated in the Rent Guidelines Board hearing process. And the research that’s been done by the Rent Guidelines Board has been summarized to me, and it’s quite striking that we’ve had a pattern in recent years of tenants being charged substantial increases while the actual costs to landlords did not increase anywhere near the same amount. So in fact there’s been a pattern of unfairness in the last few years. Unfortunately, on top of that we are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. So in fact not only do we have a larger crisis of affordability, which I’ve said I very much want the members of the Rent Guidelines Board to keep in mind when they act. But now we’ve seen additional information that makes clear that there’s been an unfair pattern. Landlords have not been asked for the kind of increases – they should’ve given what their actual costs were. Tenants have been asked to pay too much in recent years. For that reason I’m encouraging all the members of the Rent Guidelines Board to vote for a freeze. We need a course correction, a one-time action to clearly rectify the mistakes of the past. And a course correction that will actually provide fairness to tenants who have been charged more than they should’ve. So I hope the members of the RGB will do that. As you know, the RGB explicitly is made up of a diverse set of constituencies, some members newly appointed some members carryovers. But my strong belief is that the facts – the numbers – justify a rent freeze, and I hope the members of the Rent Guidelines Board will follow suit.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Everything was done, one-year – you know there’s a one-year and a two-year plan put forward. I certainly think that for the one-year there should be a freeze.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I don’t know enough about him. I can only say yesterday I was at the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Dallas, working with a number of my fellow mayors on trying to build our way towards a real urban agenda that will be felt in Washington. I certainly hope that Congressman McCarthy will be receptive to that. It's about time that members of Congress of both parties, regardless of ideology, recognize that our cities are not getting proper support, and we are obviously the economic engines of this nation, more than ever. So, I can't read the tea leaves too much. I can certainly say that we'll reach out to him with an open hand and hope that he's ready to help cities all over the country.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: I have a different situation by law, and by the nature of the building. So I'm not covered – small buildings like mine are not covered by that. We've done it differently every year. It depends on – we literally do it based on cost, and depending on what we have in the way of cost, we adjust accordingly. Sometimes there's no increase, sometimes there is.

Question: Mr. Mayor, two more questions. One, when you declared last year that the Central Park jogger case should be settled, do you think that was what was the basis for your information about the case, and two, what is your response to criticism from some [inaudible] this amount [inaudible]?

Mayor: I'll just say broadly, because as you know, the settlement discussions are ongoing and this process has not been completed, so I'm going to speak broadly on purpose. I looked into this matter over the last year. I talked to a number of people I thought had a real perspective on it. Obviously, I particularly leaned on my Corporation Counsel Zach Carter, who as you know is a former U.S. attorney, and I think, incredibly respected in the law enforcement community of this town, and the legal community of this town. And I think that the moral issue is quite clear, and obviously was made very real by the court decisions in recent years, and an injustice was done. And we have a moral obligation to respond to that injustice. And I think that the way we've proceeded was an understanding that that had to be rectified, in a way that made sense and a way that was mindful and careful, but I think we're on the right track.

Question: [Inaudible] medical professional's perspective, the prosecution [inaudible] –

Mayor: It's not place to try to go into every detail of a case or talk to everyone involved. It's my place to talk to people, I think give a bigger perspective, and again, in particular, my corporation counsel. But I think the question here – the history is quite plain, what the legal outcome was for these young men and the fact that they spent a lot of their lives in jail, imprisoned wrongly, and we have an obligation to turn the page. We have an obligation to do something fair for them, but for the whole city to turn the page and move forward.

Question: [inaudible] better served in public housing?

Mayor: I don't know about that specific site.

Question: [inaudible] send more homeless families [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, I'll say simply, we've said that we have to address the homelessness crisis with a variety of tools – rental subsidies, anti-eviction legal services, section 8 vouchers, and certain select spaces in public housing. That's for families that have been on the NYCHA waitlist, families that have been in shelter for a year or more. So we have a very particular approach we're using, that certainly will lead hundreds of families to end up with spaces in public housing. But we're using all these tools, and then, in the near term, our affordable housing plan writ large will start to kick in with both affordable housing in general, and supportive housing. We want to use all those tools and then determine from there how to, you know, mix the numbers we use for each and see what makes the most sense.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Well, I would be careful with the statistics. The fact is, if you look at the overall dynamics in this city, thank god, crime is down overall, thank god murders are down. We have had a problem with shootings in certain neighborhoods, and in certain public housing developments. A lot has been done, just in the last few weeks, to reinforce, especially going into the summer. As you know, Commissioner Bratton has reallocated hundreds of officers towards some of the precincts having the most trouble, and towards some of the housing developments having the most trouble. The agreement with the City Council will result in 200 officers additionally being applied to some of the areas in greatest need, immediately. On top of that, next month, we will have a graduating class at the police academy, and 100 of those class members will be applied to, in particular, some key precincts and some key public housing developments. All of these pieces are going to add up very, very quickly. So we believe we have a rigorous plan in place to address the issue. Thanks, everyone.