New York, NY – Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, is hopping mad that the city began installing pedestrian islands on his district's streets without prior notice.
"This is not the first time that [the DOT] proceeded to make major changes to important thoroughfares in my district without any consultation, and I had thought this would no longer be the case," Silver said in a letter to Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
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Silver "strongly urged" the city to postpone plans to erect the pedestrian "refuge islands" on Grand Street, which officials say are intended to give seniors extra time to cross the wide roadway.
"I would like for someone to explain the need," he said. "I do not understand the need."
But Sadik-Khan said she never received the speaker's letter and was proceeding on schedule because seniors are at risk. "Safety is my No. 1 priority," she said.
She conceded the community was notified only last week – after the project was already under way. "It began earlier than anticipated because of good weather," she explained. [nypost]
Seems like Silver is strutting his stuff. I doubt that any other state legislator is notified when minor traffic changes are made in his district. I mean, I didn’t ask my assemblyman if he knew in advance that a “no right turn on red” sign was going up at a certain corner, but I doubt that he did.
Ask the residents of Hallandale Florida why there is an island (with a cow fence) along Hallandale Beach Blvd. There are enough accidents with it. There would be bodies strewn left and right without it.
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dot are experts. the same group that puts a sidewalk in middle of a tree, or who paves a known water leak only to have it fall apart and so on. if you havent figured it out a synonym for government is irresponsibility. pick a service and tell us one that is responsible. at best ill give you sanitation.
The islands will prevent emergency vehicle such ambulances from easily accessing buildings in which seniors in need of medical care reside. e.g. inability to make a u-turn…
As someone that lives on the street in question, all this project has done in the past (there is one island on the corner of the FDR and Grand St) is cause accidents and exstensive delays on the street. Shelly is 100% right on the one.
The proper way is that the DOT who are the experts and whose job it is to make these decisions is in charge, not some publicity-seeking politician with no skills in these matters.
What Shelly is upset about is that he didn’t get to take credit for it….
I don’t think that he is against the islands. Its just that there is a proper way to proceed with these type of improvments. You can’t just decide to do something because you think its right. What may seem right to you could be seen as totaly wrong by your collegues.
Lets see her paper trail and see where the request came from and how they went about filling that request.