Vision Zero: DOT Announces Plan for Older Adult Pedestrian Safety

NEW YORK: NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on June 14, announced that the NYC Department of Transportation has released the Pedestrian Safety and Older New Yorkers Study, as well as a series of initiatives that are part of a larger investment to improve overall pedestrian safety at intersections. The study analyzes key factors contributing to crashes amongst older New Yorkers and put forth commitments to Vision Zero treatments like turn calming, which lower senior pedestrian deaths and serious injuries by up to 60%. The report also identified new Senior Pedestrian Zones to guide future engineering, enforcement and education. DOT will install turn calming treatments at 50 intersections annually and drastically expand pedestrian head-starts (known as Leading Pedestrian Intervals — or LPIs) installations by 2024 within those same zones, along with a host of other commitments to keep older pedestrians safe. “We recently convinced Albany to allow us to operate our speed cameras 24/7, but we have even more work to do,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “Because the lives of the oldest New Yorkers are so precious, we are going to also work around the clock to protect them — being relentless in our pursuit of street safety — including safer designs.” “Crashes do not necessarily occur more often to older pedestrians, but we have found that when they do happen, the crashes are far deadlier,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “That is why we must make the areas around senior centers even safer, building safer streets that are inclusive to all New Yorkers -- but especially those who are most vulnerable. Data is always at the forefront of our work, and this study allows us to make targeted investments that will save the lives of seniors citywide.” “As an age-inclusive city that is committed to providing community care for older New Yorkers, protecting our older adults from traffic injuries and traffic deaths is imperative. I would like to thank the Department of Transportation’s leadership for highlighting this important issue and for the target goals outlined in the study that will help improve pedestrian safety,” said Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine CortésVázquez. Senior Pedestrian Zones identified in the study will guide future engineering, enforcement and education. They cover the locations of approximately 30% of citywide older adult fatalities and severe injuries but only 13% of the city’s square mileage. DOT’s data driven commitments include: ·Extending LPI crossing times during mid-day in Senior Pedestrian Zones and at new LPI locations by the end of 2024 · Adding LPIs at all feasible intersections on Priority Corridors in Senior Pedestrian Zones by the end of 2024 ·Creating Senior Turn Calming initiative and installing treatments at 50 Older Adult targeted intersections annually ·Implementing ten or more Senior Street Improvement Projects annually ·Targeting Raised Crosswalks to older pedestrians and safety improvements near and at bus stop locations ·Targeting safety improvements to bus stop locations under elevated trains ·Targeting Older Adult Education and Outreach to Senior Pedestrian Zones l

DOT Commissioner, other officials and community members at the press conference. Editorial credit: PP/IQINC

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What Services Can a Paralegal Provide?

BY THE CHAMBER COALITION

The legal profession includes many individuals who are not actually lawyers. This, however, doesn't mean that they cannot do any legal work. There are plenty of services that can be provided by a paralegal, and these services can make all the difference in your case. Paralegals can perform substantive legal work that has been delegated to them by a lawyer. They often have a mix of work experience, education, and professional training that qualifies them for this job. Below are some of the services that you can request from a paralegal.

Preparation of Documents Have you ever wondered how a lawyer is able to show up to different court cases on the same day and still have all the documents they need? This is usually because they have a team of paralegals to whom they delegate this work. Individuals in this profession are very good at preparing legal documents. From briefs and contracts to agreements, paralegals have the knowledge and experience to get these documents ready in a short amount of time. Providing Legal Information to a General Audience Paralegals can't offer legal advice to someone. However, they can provide legal information to a general audience. There are many individuals around the country who are unaware of their legal rights in various situations. Employees, tenants, and other parties might be forced to endure certain conditions simply because they are unaware that the law is on their side. A paralegal can be brought in to provide some legal information to such an audience so they are more aware of where the law stands when it comes to certain issues or how they can go about getting legal aid if they need it.

Explaining Procedural Issues of Law Many people who have never been to court before will be surprised at how certain things are handled. You could spend a day getting ready to argue your case only for proceedings to be postponed. One reason for this is court procedures. There are many procedures that courts are required to follow and paralegals can explain these to you.

Representing Parties in Administrative Law Hearings An administrative agency can allow a paralegal to represent you at an administrative hearing. However, if the case is appealed to a court, you'll have to find a lawyer to represent you.

Rising Prestige As paralegals perform more complex and challenging work, paralegal prestige is rising. Paralegals are no longer simply lawyer's assistants; they assume corporate management roles, leadership roles in law firms, and entrepreneurial roles in independent paralegal businesses. Over the years, paralegals have transcended the image of glorified legal secretaries to become respected legal team members.

Ready to Take the Leap? A career as a paralegal can be rewarding professionally and personally and offers a unique opportunity to help others; options vary, depending on the paralegal's practice area. Paralegals in the public interest sector help poor and disadvantaged segments of the population with legal issues ranging from protection from domestic abuse to assistance preparing wills. Ready to take the leap, the next step? Call us at 718-722-9217 or visit www.freeparalegal.org to complete your registration which includes payment.l

Orientation is Monday, July 18, 2022

Join us via Zoom at 6pm

Commissioner Manuel Castro/ continued from page 1

other undocumented youth activists who helped lay the foundation for DREAMers. After years of advocating change for immigrants, he's now in charge of making those changes.

City Services New York City provides essential services to all its residents regardless of their immigration status. In a recent interview with The Immigrants Journal, Castro told us, "One of the most important focuses of our office is to ensure that all government services are available for immigrant communities." The list is endless, split between legal services and city services: there are resources for NYCitizenship, COVID-19, housing, and Action NYC, to highlight a few. Still, Castro spotlights that all these services can be found in scores of different languages. "The Mayor is very supportive of making sure this is not an English [speaking] only city," Castro said. In order of Local Law 30, MOIA and the Mayor's Office of Operations use Census data to determine the top languages New Yorkers speak and ensure that all services receive that necessary translation appropriate for each community.

Immigration Fraud Prevention All over the country, immigrants are targets of immigration fraud. Though accurate statistics of the number and frequency of these schemes happen are limited, it is known that immigrants fall for these evil schemes in many ways. Imposters make threatening phone calls imitating Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents demanding payments and phishing emails claiming the victim has landed a Green Card and must provide private information to collect it. Also, fake websites are emulating U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The first nationwide study of immigrants falling prey to immigration fraud was conducted by Assistant Professor of Sociology Juan Manuel Pedroza from the University of California Santa Cruz earlier this year. Despite his report, the number shown could be only but a fraction. Experts believe many of these scams go unreported because the victims either do not know their rights or are afraid to come forward due to their immigration status and fear of deportation. "We want to make sure to find those bad actors as soon as possible," Castro said. "We're happy to support anyone if they think they are in the middle of a scam or have any suspicions." It's important to ask questions, ask for proof, get different opinions, avoid overthe-phone transactions, visit physical locations, and get copies and written receipts of all transactions. Castro urges immigrant New Yorkers that if they get even a speck of suspicion that they're being exploited, not to be afraid to reach out to MOIA for assistance.

Health Care Alternatives for Immigrants Another concern that immigrants are afraid to address is health. Fear of deportation because of their current immigration status leads to immigrants avoiding doctor or hospital visits when needed. NYC Care is a program that combats severe health risks in immigrant communities. Not quite health insurance but more of a health care access program, it is offered to New Yorkers who do not meet requirements for insurance or cannot afford it. "NYC Cares is a program… designed with immigrants in mind," said Castro. With NYC Care, patients pay what they can afford. Depending on the patient's family and income, they can qualify to start at zero dollars. Locations are available in all five boroughs, including plenty of community-based health centers and 11 hospitals. Additionally, Castro announced that these services, which would typically have a 6-month waiting period before immigrants could qualify, will now be available immediately to all newly arrived immigrants omitting the waiting period. "Whether you're coming from you from the Ukrainian region fleeing that violence or Central America or the Caribbean," said Castro. "[Immigrants] can go to the hospital and make sure you get the support they need."

A Message of Hope and Inspiration During what feels like unending times of adversity with COVID, war around the world, and the rise of racially motivated attacks in this country, a quote by Berny Sanders comes to mind, "For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare." But Commissioner Castro and the countless immigrants who overcame all obstacles would bet against that remark. It is not a nightmare, and it is not lost. "Embrace your story [and] share your story with others," said Castro. "We want to make sure this is not just a city of immigrants but a country of immigrants." And this is a country of immigrants. The American Dream exists because of immigrants.l

The Los Angeles Declaration/ continued from page 1 for more cooperatively managing migration movements across the Americas, a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years. Latin American and Caribbean countries have a long history of cooperation around migration and protection. This history includes several mobility agreements that allow people to move within specific subregions (including Mercosur, the Andean Community, CARICOM, and a group of Central America countries). There have also been attempts to synchronize humanitarian protection policies both through the Cartagena Declaration in 1984 and, most recently, the Quito Process, which has helped governments coordinate their response to the Venezuelan displacement crisis. However, none of these agreements have involved such a hemispheric-wide group of countries as the Los Angeles Declaration does and, perhaps even more importantly, none have as directly involved the United States and Canada until now. The Los Angeles Declaration was signed June 10 by the following 21 countries: Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. What made the Los Angeles Declaration possible is that, for the first time in modern history, almost all the countries in the hemisphere are now host countries for significant migrant and refugee populations. Just a few years ago, the United States and Canada were the primary destinations for most migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, while most other countries in the region had significant numbers of emigrants. When people in the Americas gathered to talk about migration, it was almost always a conversation between immigration and emigration societies. Of course, there was always some migration among countries in the region, but nothing on the scale of what exists today. Since 2014, 6 million Venezuelans have left their country, with more than 5 million moving to other countries in the Americas—the largest numbers in South America and significant numbers in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. Since a catastrophic earthquake in 2010 and ongoing political and economic crisis, several hundred thousand Haitians have left their homes for not only the traditional destinations of the Dominican Republic, the United States, and Canada, but also other countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. And northern Central Americans have been leaving in especially large numbers, mostly to the United States, but with several hundred thousand settling down in Costa Rica and Mexico too. In fact, there are few countries in the region that have not received large numbers of migrants and displaced people, and many have also become countries of transit for those heading elsewhere. Today, when the countries in the hemisphere discuss migration, it is a dialogue about shared challenges in managing large movements that affect almost every country in the region from the southern tip of Chile northward to Canada in surprisingly similar ways. It is significant that the Los Angeles Declaration was first proposed by the United States, a country that has generally been the most reluctant to discuss international cooperation around immigration management and policies. But it is a recognition of the increasingly hemispheric and truly regional nature and scale of migration movements that can no longer be managed in isolation, even by the hemisphere’s largest country. And the commitments put forward in the Los Angeles Declaration echo sensible ideas that have been on the table in other regional fora for years. The Declaration gained traction in earlier meetings among foreign ministers in Bogota, Colombia and Panama City, and several key countries in the region helped provide the core ideas that are in the final document, which lays out a set of four commitments for the future. First, the countries agreed to try to stabilize migration movements by investing in the root causes that lead people to leave their countries and by supporting

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The Los Angeles Declaration/ continued from page 13 those countries that have already received large migrant and refugee populations. It makes sense to give people alternatives to migration, when possible, to reduce migration pressures, even if some of these efforts are likely to take significant time to succeed. And supporting countries that already host large migrant and refugee populations, such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, will help them integrate the new arrivals successfully into their societies, which will help these countries prosper while also preventing further onward migration. In one tangible commitment announced in Los Angeles, the U.S. government unveiled several new options for development financing geared to supporting these host countries, an important downpayment on the pledge to help these countries succeed. Second, the countries agreed to expand legal pathways as an alternative to irregular migration. There is a gathering body of evidence that legal pathways can help deter irregular migration by channeling those who want to migrate into safer and more sustainable options, something that deterrence-only strategies have failed to accomplish. The Declaration calls for expanding temporary labor pathways, finding options for family reunification, and increasing efforts to provide humanitarian protection. While each country will have to decide what to do within its own national legislation and based on its own priorities, the commitment to expanding lawful options for mobility at a time of significant irregular migration and displacement in the hemisphere is a welcome direction to pursue. At the Summit, the U.S. government announced important ways of expanding labor pathways for Central Americans. Other countries, including Canada, Mexico, and Spain, did so as well, a topic that a forthcoming Migration Policy Institute report and webinar next week will address. Third, the countries agreed to enhance their individual migration management capabilities and increase information sharing and coordination across borders to address smuggling networks, combat human trafficking, and conduct returns in ways that respect the dignity of those returned and avoid deporting those with valid protection claims. Until recently, most countries in the region had little reason to invest in their migration institutions, since there was comparatively little movement towards most countries, but that has changed quickly over the last five or six years. And there is still much that can be done to create communication and cooperation in managing basic migration processes across borders, especially among neighboring countries. And finally, the countries agreed to create an early-warning system to alert each other to large cross-border movements, such as the Venezuelan displacement crisis or the large migration of Cuban nationals currently taking place. At present there is little systematic way of sharing this information or coordinating responses across several countries, so this is usually left to ad hoc measures that fall far short of meeting the challenge. It is, of course, hard to know how the Los Angeles agreement will be implemented in practice. Like many other international declarations, it creates a set of shared proposals that governments agree they would like to pursue but leaves the actual details to later negotiations. However, this agreement is unique for the Americas in that it is the first attempt to create a common set of ideas about an issue that has risen to the top of policy concerns in many countries but, until now, had never generated a hemispheric conversation. And the early commitments from governments to specific deliverables suggests that there is momentum to do more that is actionable in the coming months to give form to the nonbinding commitments laid out in the agreement. The Los Angeles Declaration will be successful if it is the first, not the final, word on migration cooperation in the Americas, and the spark for efforts yet to come.l

What made the Los Angeles Declaration possible is that, for the first time in modern history, almost all the countries in the hemisphere are now host countries for significant migrant and refugee populations.

Andrew Selee is president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, DC. This commentary was first published by the Migration Policy Institute at at www.migrationpolicy.org/news/losangeles-declaration-migration-cooperation.

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