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Q&A
Council Member Brewer questions DOT on daylighting and pedestrian safety
1:14:45
ยท
3 min
Council Member Gale A. Brewer engages in a Q&A session with Eric Beaton from the NYC Department of Transportation, focusing on issues of daylighting, pedestrian safety, and coordination between city agencies. Brewer expresses concern about the DOT's stance against universal daylighting and questions their proactive measures for improving intersection safety.
- Brewer inquires about delivery spots on the Upper West Side and the effectiveness of current measures
- Discussion on coordination between DOT, NYPD, and schools regarding crossing guards and traffic issues
- Debate on the merits of universal daylighting and alternative safety measures at intersections
Gale A. Brewer
1:14:45
Thank you very much.
1:14:46
I should know this, but the two spots that you have on the Upper West Side for delivery, are they working?
1:14:51
Because I have to say trucks are double parked everywhere.
Eric Beaton
1:14:55
The the the new micro hub hub zone's coming very soon.
Gale A. Brewer
1:14:59
Okay.
1:14:59
That's why the trucks are still parked everywhere.
1:15:02
My question is the concern about daylighting.
1:15:09
The issue for us is just like how we don't work in a silo.
1:15:13
For instance, with the schools, that's a priority for
Raul Rivera
1:15:17
you
Gale A. Brewer
1:15:17
and for us.
1:15:17
It is so hard to get a crossing guard.
1:15:20
You almost cannot get one.
1:15:22
So then would you be in touch with the schools that have requested or the areas that have requested?
1:15:27
Because if you are requesting a guard and you can't get one, then that would indicate to me that there are traffic issues that should be addressed perhaps by daylighting.
1:15:36
Is that something that you would normally do, coordinate proactively?
Eric Beaton
1:15:41
So we do coordinate very closely with with NYPD who runs the crossing guard program.
1:15:47
And locations where they tell us that they feel like there's an issue, which could be because of any number of reasons, we focus on those locations in addition to what we get from the data.
1:15:58
Because we do acknowledge that sometimes there's something on the ground that has to be looked into.
1:16:05
So we meet with NYPD on a very regular basis to go over issues.
Gale A. Brewer
1:16:10
Do they give you the list of the request for the crossing guard?
Eric Beaton
1:16:14
They do not give us the exact list of crossing guards.
1:16:18
Do tell us They do not give us the list of requests.
1:16:23
They do tell us when they feel like there's a location that they're not feeling is adequately addressed.
Gale A. Brewer
1:16:28
I love the cops, but I do think that they don't always have the whole picture in sight.
1:16:33
So again, I'm always concerned when agencies work a little bit in silos.
1:16:37
I hope that you would get that in the future.
1:16:39
The other question I have is, I mean I do think that I know that we're down on people getting injured or dying, but I don't think it's down enough.
1:16:49
So my question would be, if you're not doing and you're not supportive of the daylighting in every location, which is something that I think there's a lot of hope for because of the, risk of pedestrian safety, do you look at other location other places or other ideas, signage, better lighting, and then increase enforcement of traffic laws, which is almost an impossibility because we have so few staff to do this.
1:17:16
But are there like, every every single intersection should have some way of being safer.
1:17:21
Is that something that you look at or is it all reactive and not proactive?
Eric Beaton
1:17:26
No.
1:17:26
Absolutely.
1:17:27
We we agree.
1:17:28
And even though we feel like we've done a lot, there is absolutely a lot more to do.
1:17:32
What we try to do is we start with the places that have the most crashes, the most injuries.
Gale A. Brewer
1:17:36
I understand that.
1:17:37
But
Eric Beaton
1:17:37
And and, you know, within within a our set of resources, we we work in that direction.
1:17:43
We we agree.
1:17:44
Like, if if we could snap our fingers and make, improvements at every location at the same time, we would do that.
Gale A. Brewer
1:17:49
Because you're hearing today from my colleagues that there are locations that have not been addressed.
1:17:53
So then that says to me that, with all due respect, there really is a crisis and that other locations need to be, dealt with in a proactive way.
1:18:03
So you don't have enough staff.
1:18:04
Nobody has enough staff, but this is life and death.
Eric Beaton
1:18:07
Yeah.
1:18:07
We're we're happy to work with you and the other members, at any place that may be missing throughout
Gale A. Brewer
1:18:11
But you don't wanna have daylighting universal?
Eric Beaton
1:18:14
We we think that universal daylighting would not be in the direction of improved safety.
1:18:18
Right.
Gale A. Brewer
1:18:18
I don't agree.
1:18:19
Thank you.