Drivers Out of Control Near Your Local School? Thank Simcha Felder and Senate Republicans

Today was the first day of class for public school kids in NYC. The above photo, posted on the Make Queens Safer Twitter feed, shows kids and parents crammed onto the sidewalk outside P.S. 89 in Elmhurst.

P.S. 89 is just a few blocks from Elmhurst Hospital, whose catchment area includes some of the most dangerous streets for walking and biking in the city. The streets around P.S. 89 and other schools would be safer today if not for State Senate Republicans and Democrat Simcha Felder, who rejected legislation that would have doubled the number of school zones where Albany allows the city to place speed enforcement cameras.

The Assembly passed a speed camera bill, but the Senate did not hold a vote. Instead, Majority Leader John Flanagan, who was elected by voters in Suffolk County, allowed senators to kill the measure in secret, with no roll call. But no Senate Republicans put their names on the bill to expand the speed camera program. Streetsblog was made aware of Felder’s role by a Senate source with firsthand knowledge of how the bill died.

So streets around New York City schools will be a lot more dangerous than they should be this school year, and New Yorkers have Felder, Marty Golden, Andrew Lanza, and suburban and upstate Republicans to thank for it.