October 29 Newsletter: Car-free Halloween, Vision Zero hearing, Election Day
Happy Halloween weekend! No matter how you’re celebrating the spooky holiday, we want you to get to your destination safely. As kids hit the streets to trick or treat, they deserve safe, car-free spaces to do so.
Nationwide, children are three times more likely to be killed by a car on Halloween than any other day. We can prevent this by closing streets to cars. In our recent Open Streets Forever report, we call on the City to use the Open Streets program dynamically to provide trick-or-treating thoroughfares for our kids — safe from cars.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1️⃣ ICYMI: The City Council’s Transportation and Oversight Committees discussed Vision Zero improvements. For six hours on Tuesday, City Council members heard from Families for Safe Streets members, the public, DOT officials, and NYPD about Vision Zero. Streetsblog shares the 10 best ideas from the hearing to get Vision Zero working again.
2️⃣ Thank you for joining us for the Vision Zero Cities Conference! You helped make Vision Zero Cities a success — from the virtual conference to the in-person field tours. Keep the Vision Zero conversation coming in our LinkedIn group.
3️⃣ Here’s what we’re reading this week. In the news:
TALE OF TWO CITIES: The Fifth Avenue busway and protected bike lane should be finished. Instead, The New York Times reports that wealthy real estate interests got Mayor de Blasio to kill the project for now. This is an outrageous decision as our city faces the dual crises of climate change and traffic violence, and we’re outraged that the “Tale of Two Cities” mayor has sided against the needs of everyday bus and bike riders in the city.
NYC 25x25: Gothamist has the story on SoHo’s business improvement district’s plan to revive the area: Remove cars. And over in CityLab, read about Downtown Brooklyn’s plan to create streets for people by creating slow and shared streets, providing pedestrian amenities, and reducing traffic.
TWO THINGS TO DO
Join Bridges4People for a Halloween ride. New Yorkers need a safe ride to the west side, but there is currently no safe connection between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Hudson River Greenway. Join @Bridges4People for a spooktacular, costumed, socially-distanced ride between the greenway and bridge on Sunday, October 31, at 1 p.m. at City Hall Park.
Join Families for Safe Streets for a Safe Streets sermon training. This event will feature a special faith leader training for participation in Sermons for Safe Streets, an opportunity to use pulpits, prayers, and spiritual programming to remind communities that we are all responsible for each other on the roads and must slow down, pay attention, and support solutions that save lives. RSVP for the Tuesday, November 16, event.
ONE ACTION TO TAKE NOW
Election Day is Tuesday – Go vote! Early voting is underway now through Sunday and polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Your vote in this year’s election can be a vote for safe roads, less congestion, and better connectivity in our city. Find your polling place here and check out this great guide from THE CITY on the five ballot questions you also get to vote for this year.
Thanks for reading, and have a safe and fun Halloween weekend!
Jacob and the TA Staff
P.S. TA’s Staten Island and South Brooklyn Organizer, Rose Uscianowski, is fundraising for TA in this year’s NYRR TCS Marathon because they believe in safe streets for all New Yorkers. Rose is HALFWAY to their goal and the marathon is approaching fast. If you believe in #Bridges4People and #BikeShare4All, and want to support more campaigns like Rose’s across all five boroughs, there’s still time to donate to Rose’s fundraising campaign.
