Mayor To Albany: Don't End School Zone Speed Camera Program
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Mayor Bill de Blasio led a rally in Union Square Park Sunday against a Republican proposal to require stop signs or red lights at every intersection next to a school instead of the current requirement for speed cameras, a program set to expire next month.
State Senate Republicans say their bill would require the city's Department of Transportation to install stop signs or red lights at every intersection where there's a school.
The measure extending the four-year-old school zone camera program past its July 25 expiration stalled in the Senate as lawmakers ended their six-month 2018 session early Thursday morning.
"People we elect to protect us are putting politics before the safety of our children," said de Blasio on Sunday. "A simple message to these GOP state senators, go back to Albany and do your job."
The Democrat-controlled Assembly passed legislation that would extend the program as well as expand the number of cameras located around schools, something de Blasio also supports. But the safety measure didn't come up for a vote in the Senate, where Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder, of Brooklyn, sides with Republicans to give each party 31 votes in the 63-seat chamber.
The Senate GOP held a one-vote edge until last month, when Sen. Tom Croci, a Long Island Republican, left Albany for active duty service in the Navy and didn't return to Albany.
"We need these cameras on all summer to protect so many kids who go to summer school, and we need them back on for the school year when literally 10,000s of lives are on the line," de Blasio said. "The only people who should fear speed cameras are people who are speeding."
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
