7 simple steps to safer city streets. De Blasio must be guided by the evidence -- not by what sounds good politically

7 simple steps to safer city streets  - NY Daily News

BY SAM SCHWARTZ / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2014, 4:30 AM

Lower the speech limit? Maybe. But that's one small piece of the puzzle at best.
There have been way too many pedestrian deaths in New York City in the past few months. January’s 18 deaths so far have gotten a lot of attention — possibly because they are on new Mayor de Blasio’s watch .I welcome the outcry for action — but let’s get the remedies right. We know from experience that some measures work. Others, including some crowd-pleasing ideas, have little or no evidence to support them — and may cause more harm than good.

I saw this years ago, as the city’s traffic commissioner, when traffic signals that didn’t meet engineering requirements were installed in response to political pressure. Crashes and injuries went up at these locations, while they declined at locations where we installed them for the right reasons.

Today, there’s an outcry to lower speed limits to combat pedestrian fatalities. Wouldn’t it be great if just putting up signs worked? But it probably won’t.

I agree that New York City, not the state, should dictate local speed limits, but I have found no evidence that a blanket change in the city limit from 30 mph to 25 mph or even 20 mph would work.

You may say there’s no harm in just slowing all cars down. But some studies, mostly on highways, have found that this can actually increase crashes. Some drivers lower their speeds; others keep driving as they did. The speed differential between cars increases, and that increases crash potential.

So what should de Blasio do to push us toward a fatality-free Vision Zero?

Targeted reductions. A 20-mph speed limit adjacent to schools and other sensitive areas, like senior citizen homes and playgrounds, can make sense, provided it’s accompanied by measures such as flashing signboards that tell you your speed and camera or police enforcement.

Speed cameras. Appropriately deployed speed cameras to enforce current regulations are proven to be very effective. Studies have found dramatic reductions in speeding violations of more than 70% at camera locations.

Crunching the numbers. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who likes using data to make decisions, seeded the creation of TrafficStat the last time he was at the NYPD. He should breathe new life into it — and enlist the city Department of Transportation as a full and equal partner.

Analyze every crash. I’ve seen firsthand how sending a traffic engineer to a fatal crash scene can reduce future casualties. We should reinstitute DOT’s forensic engineering investigation unit for all fatal and severe traffic crashes. After all, we lose about a 747 jet’s worth of people on our streets every year. We should have National Transportation Safety Board-equivalent investigations for fatal and severe traffic crashes.

Scarlett gives a damn - Johansson takes a bold stand against the anti-Israel BDS movement

Scarlett gives a damn  - NY Daily News
Johansson takes a bold stand against the anti-Israel BDS movement

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2014, 4:05 AM

Actress Scarlett Johansson should need no introduction. She’s glamorous and much in demand as a personality who can lend star power to commercial projects and charitable causes.

One of the latter has been Oxfam, a not-for-profit organization that “works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive.” So says its annual report.

Now, though, Oxfam has forced Johansson to quit as one of its global ambassadors after she refused to adhere to the rabid, anti-Israel malice of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. In stepping down, she sets a powerful moral example.

Associated with Oxfam since 2007, Johansson more recently became a paid spokesperson for SodaStream, the makers of a device that lets you make your own seltzer, cola, ginger ale, whatever. You have likely seen the company’s commercials.

Oxfam went off the dial because SodaStream happens to be an Israeli business — and, worse, because the company has a factory in an industrial park near a West Bank settlement. That makes SodaStream a pariah to Oxfam, which subcribes to the borderline anti-Semitic movement that is seeking to undermine the very existence of the Jewish state by calling for a trade boycott.

Oxfam opposes all trade from Israeli settlements. In its zealotry, the group dismisses the fact that this factory — one of 25 run by SodaStream worldwide — employs more than 1,300 people, including about 500 Palestinians. Those Palestians would bear the brunt if a boycott suceeded.

“Before boycotting, they should think of the workers who are going to suffer,” a young man told the Christian Science Monitor. He had gone from earning $6 a day plucking chickens to making almost 10 times as much at SodaStream.

Blinded by the BDS crusade, Oxfam sacrificed an ally devoted to helping starving children to a litmus test that it applies to no other nation.

Companies do business in China, which imprisons dissidents by the thousands. Companies trade with Bangladesh, where workers in dangerous factories have died by the hundreds. Only Israel, which protects basic human and civil and economic rights, is forbidden territory.

With a strong, clear stand — calmly citing “fundamental difference of opinion” — Johansson becomes the highest-profile celebrity to buck the load of BDS bull. Ever more power to her, and to those who may follow her example.

Brooklyn school cutting gifted program to boost diversity

Brooklyn school cutting gifted program to boost diversity  - NY Daily News

Ditmas Park's P.S. 139 Principal Mary McDonald told parents the elementary school would no longer accept kindergartners applications for the SOAR program. Future classes will be 'heterogeneously grouped.'

Click the link above to read the full story.

Flood Insurance Bill clears Senate but House is a tougher sell

Flood Insurance Bill Clears Senate - WNYC

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to delay planned increases in flood insurance rates that many homeowners along the coasts of New Jersey and New York have said would price them out of their homes.
The Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act passed the Senate 67 to 32, but it faces substantial opposition from the the House of Representatives and the White House.

The rate increases were part of reforms passed in 2012 when Congress worried about the financial stability of the National Flood Insurance Program, a system that is run through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insures 5.5 million homeowners. FEMA says roughly 20 percent of policyholders pay below-market rates that do not reflect their true risk of flooding. They either have seen their premiums go up already or will face hikes soon unless the law is rolled back.

The Senate bill would:

• impose a moratorium on rate increase on certain categories of properties until FEMA finishes an affordability study;
• permit the rate increases to go into effect after four years, even if the affordability study is not completed by then;
• and create an ombudsman within FEMA to help policyholders with disputes about their flood risk.

Menendez's bill would not affect second homes or properties that have seen repetitive flooding. Rates for those policies would go up according to the 2012 legislation.

EDITORS: Matthew Schuerman

Mayor de Blasio On Wife Chirlane McCray: "She's The Most Important Voice In My Life"

Michael Nagle for the New York Times

Mayor de Blasio On Wife Chirlane McCray: "She's The Most Important Voice In My Life" | New York Daily News

(Excerpt)
A recent Quinnipiac University poll asked voters whether a mayor’s spouse should have a policy making role at City Hall. Only 27% said the spouse should play that role.De Blasio, however, remained unphased about New Yorkers questioning the arrangement.
"I think most people in New York City get that [she's my partner] and appreciate that and are going to find out it's very productive to getting things done in this city,” he said.

#UPK is trending

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Mary Travers sings a Pete Seeger classic like only she can

Allan Shweky's pin on Pinterest.

After a Son’s Death, Parents Channel Their Grief Into Activism - NYTimes.com

After a Son’s Death, Parents Channel Their Grief Into Activism - NYTimes.com
(click link above for the full article)