QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, November 30, 2023 Page 24
C M SQ page 24 Y K
West pols unveil street safety plan With traffic fatalities up, blueprint calls for universal daylighting by Sophie Krichevsky Associate Editor
Western Queens elected officials on Tuesday unveiled their blueprint for improving street safety in the region. The plan — put together by Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (D-East Elmhurst), Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria), state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Long Island City) and Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria) — outlines the politicians’ infrastructural and legislative recommendations to make Western Queens streets safer for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists alike. The blueprint focuses on seven tactics to make streets safer, including the addition of universal daylighting, improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure, reimagined traffic enforcement, safe and sustainable micromobility, as well as making public transit more reliable and disincentivizing heavy vehicles. The elected officials’ vision comes in light of the borough’s 43 percent increase in traffic fatalities between this year and last year. As of Nov. 21, the report on the plan says, 13 people have been killed in Western Queens accidents involving a pedestrian or cyclists; 939 have been injured. “Too many New Yorkers have lost loved ones because of our inaction on street safety,”
Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, above, on Tuesday presented the plan she and her PHOTO COURTESY NYS ASSEMBLY colleagues designed to make Western Queens streets safer. González-Rojas said in a statement. “I’m proud to have collaborated with my fellow Western Queens representatives ... on this comprehensive street safety plan that recommends common-sense, evidence-based policy solutions to the ongoing crisis in our communities.” Among the policy changes discussed in the 20-page report is to make all city intersections daylit, or to remove parking spaces just before
crosswalks to make pedestrians crossing and oncoming traffic more visible. Hoboken, the report notes, has had much success with daylighting (though New York has this, it’s much more widespread in Hoboken.) In the year after the New Jersey city installed daylighting measures — combined with installing leading pedestrian intervals, or when the crossing light precedes a green light — Hoboken saw a 35
percent drop in pedestrians struck by vehicles, an 11 percent reduction in cyclists hit by vehicles and 27 percent fewer vehicle collisions. The blueprint also calls for many more protected bike lanes to be built in Western Queens. It notes that the city is required under the NYC Streets Plan to install at least 50 miles of protected bike lanes in 2023 and 250 miles total between 2022 and 2026, however, fewer than 15 miles have been installed as of last month. Relatedly, the plan calls for the installation of more bike boulevards, which are extensions of the Open Streets program that allow for bikes, pedestrians and cars to use the street but significantly calm the flow of traffic through oneway diversion, chicanes (curves in the road that encourage slower speeds) and more. Given the prevalence of micromobility vehicles, like e-bikes and scooters, the elected officials call for incentives for people who rely on them, such as delivery workers, to purchase safe, UL-certified ones rather than cheaper, uncertified vehicles with faulty lithium-ion batteries. That includes grant and rebate programs, spaces to safely charge and repair bikes and more. The report specifically says that mopeds are considered motorcycles by the state, and can be dangerous (especially in bike lanes) due to their weight and ability to reach higher speeds. Those programs would also Q serve to disincentivize mopeds.
Delendick, FDNY chaplain, dies at 74 by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor
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PHOTO COURTESY TMLA
TMLA donates for Thanksgiving The Mary Louis Academy prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving by giving back to the broader community with a food drive, donating canned goods and nonperishables to Faith Mission in Mineola, LI, so that others will be able to share a meal together this holiday season. In total, Mary Louis received 1,100 donations from students, faculty and other community members. The venerable Jamaica Estates high
school for young women thanked donors and its Pax Christi chapter for their generosity in a statement. “This outpouring of support will directly benefit those in need, ensuring that many families facing food insecurity will have access to nourishing meals,” the statement reads. “The success of this food drive exemplifies the strength and compassion of the TMLA community united for a common cause.”
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Monsignor John Delendick, a Queens native and 28-year FDNY chaplain, died on Nov. 23 from cancer caused by his work at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He was 74. “Monsignor Delendick was a spiritual constant and staple in our Department, in good times and in bad,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh in a statement from her office. “Immediately after the immeasurable losses of September 11th, he stepped up to provide guidance and comfort to FDNY members and other first responders.” She called him a pillar at department funerals, graduations, promotions and memorials. “[W]e are heartbroken over his passing,” the commissioner said. Delendick was ordained in 1977 at St. Sebastian Church in Woodside. He went on to serve in numerous parishes in Brooklyn. In the eight months after the World Trade Center attack, he brought families of those killed to the site and conducted countless memorial services. In 2003, St. Pope John Paul II appointed
Monsignor John Delendick PHOTO COURTESY FDNY
Delendick a chaplain to His Holiness, bestowing the title of Reverend Monsignor and making him a member of the papal Q household.
