OpEd: Pass Intro 1138
Now for 7Yr Old Kamari

I remember the first time I was able to walk to school by myself. I was in the fourth grade, and my little sister was just starting pre-k, meaning my Grandmother wouldn’t be able to walk the two of us to school together. So there I was, 9 years old, and successfully traversing the 8 city blocks from my house to my school. It was a badge of honor that I will never forget, and it is something Kamari Hughes will never get to experience.

On October 26, 2023, 7-year-old Kamari Hughes was murdered less than two miles from my home, carelessly struck down by a reckless NYPD tow truck driver on his way to school while crossing the street. I remember that day, hearing about the child murdered on the way to school, fearing it could be any one of the many children in my life. Luckily for me, it wasn’t, but I can’t imagine the pain his family felt following this easily preventable tragedy.

Kamari’s death renewed a push towards ‘Daylighting’, a practice in which intersections are made safer by clearing the curb space next to a crosswalk and upgrading that space with infrastructure that benefits the community. Clearing the curb adjacent to intersections ensures that drivers can see people in the crosswalk and that people waiting to cross the street can make eye contact with drivers. Reclaiming that one parking spot adjacent to crosswalks is a simple and effective treatment that makes streets safer. Whether you’re walking your kids to school, biking to work, or driving to the store, daylighting makes navigating city streets easier.

Universal Daylighting is currently required by law throughout New York State, but New York City currently exempts itself from it. Currently, a bill sits on the desk of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams that would bring Universal Daylighting to NYC. Intro 1138 has the support of 27 Councilmembers, 23 community boards, and the Public Advocate. Despite this, Speaker Adams refuses to bring it to a vote, and is actively working to water it down to preserve parking spots throughout the city. We can’t let that happen. Universal Daylighting has proven to work in cities like San Francisco, where crashes fell 14%, and Hoboken, where daylighting resulted in a 30% reduction in pedestrian injuries, and is credited as the chief intervention responsible for eliminating all traffic deaths for over eight years.

Universal daylighting works because it is a systemic solution to a systemic problem. Pledging to require hardened infrastructure at 1000 intersections a year would mean that ALL of New York City would feel the impact: from the privileged neighborhoods that have already seen implementation that works, to the poorer neighborhoods routinely left behind when it comes to safe streets.

For too long, street safety infrastructure has been implemented only AFTER a tragedy has occurred, and even so, it’s usually an uphill battle waged by people who have the time and energy to fight opponents who feel they “may” be impacted by the loss of a single parking space. I don’t know how people could look the family of a victim in the eye and say, “Sorry, we couldn’t do anything about this problem until after blood was shed.” “Sorry, I know they were your child, but think of all the parking that could have been lost.”

This is why I join my fellow safe streets advocates in calling on Speaker Adams to bring Intro 1138 to a vote to secure a veto-proof majority before the end of her term at the end of the year and secure a future of safe streets for all in New York City.