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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Samir Lavingia, Vice Chair of the Transportation and Environment Committee from Manhattan Community Board 5
5:10:21
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97 sec
Samir Lavingia, representing Manhattan Community Board 5, testified in support of universal daylighting in New York City. He emphasized the importance of improving visibility at intersections to enhance safety for pedestrians, especially seniors and children.
- Manhattan Community Board 5 passed a resolution in June of the previous year supporting daylighting measures.
- Lavingia cited statistics showing that a high percentage of pedestrian injuries and fatalities occur at intersections due to visibility issues.
- He suggested that daylighted spaces could be used for bike racks, planters, and seating to create welcoming public spaces.
Samir Lavingia
5:10:21
Perfect.
5:10:22
Hello.
5:10:22
My name is Samir Lavinia.
5:10:24
I'm speaking on behalf of Manhattan Community Board five.
5:10:28
I'm the vice chair of the Transportation and Environment Committee.
5:10:31
And, you know, Manhattan Community Board five covers, you know, a large area of Midtown Manhattan, including Penn Station, Grand Central Park or sorry, Grand Central Station, and many parks.
5:10:42
We created a task force last year and had experts and community board members and members of the public testify around daylighting and distilled that into a resolution and passed a resolution in June of last year, and I wanted to summarize some of the points made.
5:10:56
You know, despite the city's intention to eliminate traffic violence, we have a huge threat and which diminishes the ability of our community members, including seniors and children, to move around the neighborhood freely and independently, and we need to start by improving safety, by increasing visibility intersections.
5:11:15
The New York state law recognizes this and prohibits parking within 20 feet of an intersection, and there's clear evidence that visibility impairments cause injury and death with seventy nine percent of pedestrian injuries and fifty four five percent of fatalities happening at these intersections.
5:11:31
While we believe that daylighting is most successful when a spot is hardened, we also believe that the DOT should follow New York state law and daylight all intersections.
5:11:41
As we've seen in the past, sometimes this requires the council to force their hand, which is what intro November would do.
5:11:47
This isn't just about safety.
5:11:49
We can use these spaces for daylighting to install bike racks, planters, and maybe even some seating to create a welcoming and safe space for all New Yorkers.
5:11:58
Thank you.