City Officials, Parents & Others Call For More School Crossing Guards In Lower Manhattan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Elected officials and others gathered on the steps of City Hall Monday calling for more crossing guards at dangerous intersections in Lower Manhattan.
Following multiple requests by five downtown schools, Public Advocate Letitia James, city lawmakers, parents and school officials demanded the city increase security for families.
"We can't wait. We need to be preventative," said Vance Gorke, PTA President at the Peck Slip School. "We can't wait for an accident to occur."
It's a bad combination in the Financial District with a cluster of buses, speeding cars heading to and from the Brooklyn Bridge and small children walking, CBS2's Meg Baker reported.
"You've got a lot of busy and unpatrolled streets in close proximity to schools and it this unsafe situation puts our children and pedestrians at great risk," James told 1010 WINS.
Many parents are concerned and say it's an accident waiting to happen.
"I hold on to my kids really tight," said mom Jackie Quan.
"There's been fatalities, cars jumping curbs, really scared parents," said dad Adam Cohen.
"Traffic congestion has really grown down here, so we are worried," said dad Willim Rogers.
According to James, a pedestrian was struck and killed across from the Spruce Street School in 2012 and another woman was hit by a car earlier this year near the school during the morning drop-off period.
Public representatives want to change the recruitment plan for crossing guards. Right now, those interested have to walk into their local police precinct to apply for a crossing guard position and some say that can be intimidating.
James said the City Council allocated $1.15 million this year to hire 80 additional crossing guards, but requests to the NYPD for guards to be placed at the five downtown schools have gone unanswered.
The NYPD said there is money in the budget to add crossing guards to the area, but said they're are still working on finding qualified applicants to fill the positions.
