18
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 10, 2019
SAFETY
the group’s fi rst meeting at
Dyker Heights’ Norwegian
Christian Home, where the
force’s 15–20 members —
whom leaders of local community
boards and other
organizations nominated
for their posts, according
to the pol, who declined to
give the members’ names
— discussed how to “enhance
and elevate the value
of street safety” in their
communities.
And going forward,
task-force offi cers will
host open meetings every
other month to brainstorm
street-safety ideas within
four categories — enforcement,
education, advocacy,
and legislation — because
no one initiative will make
streets safer on its own,
Gounardes said.
“We’re not going to
solve the street-safety
problem by putting a cop
on every corner,” he said.
”These are all things that
need to be done in tandem
to change the culture that
we live in where we’re not
prioritizing safety in our
streets.”
To date in 2019, the
number of fatal collisions,
and injures caused by cars
smashing into cyclists and
pedestrians, increased in
the Bensonhurst and Bath
Beach portions of Gounardes’s
district — neither
of which has any bike
lanes — when compared to
the number of similar incidents
within the same time
span last year, according to
city data .
Motorists killed three
people, injured seven cyclists,
and hurt 37 pedestrians
on streets in those
parts of the pol’s district
this year, according to
the statistics, which reported
drivers killed no
one, injured four cyclists,
and hurt 36 pedestrians in
the same time period last
year.
Elsewhere in Gounardes’s
district, data
shows that the number of
motorist-caused deaths or
injuries to cyclists and pedestrians
has mostly remained
the same or decreased
year over year.
But locals still confront
distracted and speeding
drivers on a regular basis:
in Bay Ridge and Dyker
Heights, for instance, drivers
already killed one, injured
fi ve cyclists, and hurt
30 more pedestrians this
year so far.
The task force’s chief
priority is to pressure local
lawmakers to improve
street safety on roads
around schools, parks, and
senior centers, by calling
on the electeds to implement
even more infrastructure
fi xes in their ongoing
effort to eliminate traffi c
deaths as part of the city’s
so-called Vision Zero initiative,
according to Gounardes.
Such improvements
would include adding more
signage, so-called bulb-outs
to narrow intersections,
and speed bumps within
the district, as well as giving
pedestrians more time
to cross certain streets —
including Cropsey Avenue
in Bath Beach, where motorists
killed one person
and injured three more
within the past year, data
shows.
Task-force members
also plan to start conversations
with local community
board leaders
about expanding bike
lanes throughout Gounardes’s
district, where
only five of the 11 neighborhoods
within it now
feature some sort of official
bike paths.
But the freshman lawmaker
— who last November
turned his district
blue for the fi rst time in
decades when he unseated
known speeder and longtime
Republican state
Sen. Marty Golden — isn’t
putting his entire streetsafety
agenda in the hands
of locals.
He plans to introduce
legislation in Albany to
preserve and “dramatically
expand” the city’s
tenuous speed-camera program,
which currently includes
140 cameras that
ticket speeding drivers in
school zones across the
fi ve boroughs. Gounardes’s
bill would bring even more
cameras than the total 290
that Gov. Cuomo called for
in the latest draft of his executive
budget , which are
simply not enough, according
to the pol.
“We need to get to a
place where we are protecting
as many schools as possible,”
Gounardes said.
Continued from page 1
stalled safety nets to prevent
a repeat event, and
brought in structural engineers
to assess the damage,
according to Zigun. The
work going on now will repair
damage from ancient
leaks in the roof, and relieve
stress on the building
from the installation of the
heating and air-conditioning
system, he said.
Zigun said he is determined
to re-open on March
31, with a “Magic at Coney”
show at noon and a performance
by the Bindlestiff
Cavalcade of Youth at 4 pm.
“Regular programming
will pick up right when it
left off,” said Zigun.
In the meantime, a
concert performance of
songs from Zigun’s upcoming
rock opera “Bloody
Brains in a Jukebox” will
take place at secret location
a few blocks from the
venue, on Friday and Saturday
nights from March
8 to March 22, with the address
revealed to anyone
who buys a $5 ticket in advance.
Fans of the seaside
amusement spot can lend
their support by attending
the Coney Island USA
Spring Gala on March 23,
held at the nearby New
York Aquarium. Visitors to
the fund-raising event will
be able to wander through
an exhibit of sharks while
nibbling on snacks and
sipping on drinks from an
open bar. Burlesque legend
Dirty Martini will
perform at the show, along
with strolling magicians,
musical acts, stilt walkers,
fortune tellers, and much
more.
Coney Island USA’s
Spring Gala at New York
Aquarium 602 Surf Ave.
between W. Eighth and W.
Fifth streets in Coney Island,
(718) 265–3448, www.
coneyisland.com. March
23; 7:30–11:30 pm. $100 ($250
VIP).
Magic at Coney at Coney
Island USA (1208 Surf
Ave. at W. 12th St. in Coney
Island, www.coneyisland.
com). March 31 at noon. $10
($5 kids).
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Continued from page 1
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