Out of all of Mayor Tall’s cockamamie ideas that he swept into office on, the craziest-sounding one might be Vision Zero, his insistence that the city can reduce traffic deaths to zero. Of course we’d all like that, but in this city of jaywalkers, red-light running cyclists and drivers that drive like going under 45mph will cause them to have a fatal brain hemorrhage, it seems unrealistic. Still, the mayor’s committed to it, so the Department of Transportation is holding a number of public meetings on Vision Zero, starting with this week and next week in Brooklyn. Because we’re the best.
The Vision Zero meetings, this Thursday April 24 and next Tuesday April 29, are being held in order to both educate the public about how the plan is more than just giving out jaywalking tickets to everyone, and to ask people to chime in with traffic conditions in their neighborhoods. You’ll even be invited to give specific suggestions on how the city can make the streets safer, but maybe be nicer than we’ve previously been when discussing traffic safety. Or get a little punchy. If we’ve learned anything from reading about New York City history, you’re not really a New Yorker until you’ve had to be physically separated from your neighbor at a contentious public meeting.
The meeting schedule is as follows:
Thursday, April 24
Plymouth Church (Hillis Hall)
75 Hicks Street
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 29
Brooklyn College
(Student Center, 2nd Floor)
Campus Road & E 27th Street
6:30-8:30 p.m.