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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kevin LaCherra, Member of the Public from Greenpoint
3:38:13
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137 sec
Kevin LaCherra, a fourth-generation Greenpoint resident, testifies in strong support of Universal Daylighting (Intro 1138). He emphasizes the widespread support for the bill across community boards, neighborhood groups, and elected officials, and shares personal stories to highlight the importance of intersection safety.
- LaCherra mentions specific individuals who have lost their lives due to unsafe intersections in Greenpoint, including Lucy McElhern, whose story has deeply impacted his community.
- He criticizes the Adams administration for making excuses and highlights the difficulty in implementing safety measures, citing a three-year campaign to redesign McGinnis Boulevard.
- LaCherra urges the passage of Intro 1138, arguing that intersection safety should be a matter of policy and law, not dependent on lengthy community campaigns.
Kevin LaCherra
3:38:13
Hi.
3:38:14
My name is Kevin Lachera.
3:38:15
I'm a fourth generation Green Pointer, and I've been involved in the advocacy campaign for Universal Daylighting for the last year and a half.
3:38:22
I wanna thank council member Brooks Powers and council member Wan for their support on this bill and for staying with us to hear our testimony today.
3:38:30
We know how difficult these conversations can be district by district, and I just wanna really say how appreciated your leadership is.
3:38:37
I wanna talk about why daylighting matters and why it has such strong support across our city.
3:38:41
22 community boards have passed resolutions in clear support.
3:38:45
A 31 neighborhood groups have signed on.
3:38:47
A whopping 85 elected officials, that's half of all elected officials that represent the City Of New York at every level of government, have stated their support for this policy.
3:38:57
And it's because they can see this crisis up close.
3:39:00
They can see it on the street that they live, in their own neighborhoods.
3:39:03
As we talk about how we mark dangerous intersections and we hear excuses and evasion from the Adams administration, over hardened daylighting or signage or neck downs, I can tell you how a lot of dangerous intersections in Greenpoint are marked, and that's with a ghost spike or a photo, or flowers, a memorial to a neighbor that we've lost.
3:39:24
We're here today because we know their names, Jimmy Battaglia, Matthew Jensen, Nicole Detweiler, Lucy McElhern.
3:39:31
In the late nineteen seventies, Lucy McElhorn was killed at the corner of Meserell Avenue and McGinnis Boulevard when she was hit in the crosswalk by a speeding driver.
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She died within sight of her home.
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I know her name because she was my father's next door neighbor.
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She was the first person he ever knew who died.
3:39:47
And when I was growing up crossing that street, I heard her story over and over again.
3:39:52
That intersection is daylit today as a part of the Make Me Get a Safe Road diet, a redesign in which our community was told over and over and over again over the course of three very difficult years by DOT how hard a redesign would be to implement on McGinniss Boulevard.
3:40:09
But we kept at it.
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We knew the stakes were nothing were nothing less than our own lives, and we got it done.
3:40:15
But it shouldn't have taken a massive three year campaign to have made that intersection safe.
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It should have been safe as a matter of policy and law.
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It should have been safe for Lucy, and with intro eleven thirty eight, we can make our intersection safe for all of us.
3:40:27
Please pass this bill.
3:40:29
We can do it.