Mass Gathering in Union Square Demands #SafeStreets4Strollers and Immediate Action From the Mayor to Save Lives On #deBlasiosStreets
NEW YORK — Tonight, surrounding white ghost strollers, Families for Safe Streets members who have lost loved ones to traffic violence and New Yorkers from across the five boroughs gathered in Union Square to demand action from Mayor de Blasio to restore the promise of Vision Zero and save lives on the streets. This protest comes after a weekend of bloodshed, where preventable traffic violence killed at least six New Yorkers, including a 3-month-old baby girl in a stroller on a Clinton Hill sidewalk. Tonight’s event also took place next to the site where the driver of a tow truck killed 85-year-old Antoinette Turrigiano in July.
“Tonight, New Yorkers joined together to say enough is enough. Enough dead children. Enough excuses from our mayor. Enough vigils where Families for Safe Streets members have to beg the City of New York to prevent traffic violence from tearing apart yet another family,” said Danny Harris, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. “After this weekend’s crash that killed three-month-old Apolline Mong-Guillemin, and another 1,800 other lives lost to traffic violence during his tenure, Mayor de Blasio is trying to shift attention to what Albany can do, instead of what he — the person who controls our streets — will do immediately to save lives. We demand solutions that fast-track redesigns of our streets for safety, not for drivers’ convenience or the preservation of free parking. No more statements. No more task forces to nowhere. We demand immediate action now.”
“My precious son Cooper was killed in 2014 and it infuriates me that once again, I'm showing up to a rally, memorializing children whose lives were stolen because of traffic violence,” said Dana Lerner, mother of Cooper Stock, killed in 2014 at age nine by a taxi driver on the Upper West Side. “For years I've been hearing empty promises of Vision Zero from Mayor de Blasio. We hear sympathy and slogans but what we need is for the known solutions to be actually implemented. Our response to Covid shows what this city is capable of on a dime. It pains me to no end to see traffic violence, an epidemic of massive proportions, pushed aside and not prioritized.”
“I am so angry to know that all this is happening in the week in which my son would be celebrating his 20th birthday. I thought that with the years the pain would be less but it is not so, the pain continues constantly and the trauma revives every time I find out on the news that parents are living the same pain of losing their children because of traffic violence. We need our mayor and our leaders to stop making promises and giving us slogans. We need action and we can not wait,” said Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, Families for Safe Streets Member and mother of Brian, killed at age five by a reckless driver.
“What does it take to make change, does another child need to die? Did my sons Jean or Andre need to die in their crash for their stories to make a difference? Does an elderly person need to die? What about a family? What does it take for change to occur? Can it be as simple as seeing the problem and fixing it before more people get hurt? What is the value of human life? These are my questions for our mayor and our leaders,” said Stephanie Mansfield, Families for Safe Streets member and mother of two children injured by a reckless driver in 2019 in Brooklyn.
Stephanie Mansfield, at tonight’s rally, alongside Danny Harris and additional Families for Safe Streets members.
