NYC NOW - April 19, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

Seven members of the New York City Council have formed a group called the New Parents Caucus, urging Mayor Eric Adams to fully fund universal childcare for children under 5, among other legislative priorities. Meanwhile, the Knicks and Rangers each begin their playoff runs this weekend. Plus, Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a provision in the upcoming state budget deal that grants the city the authority to lower speed limits to 20 mph on most streets. Amy Cohen, an advocate for street safety, speaks with Michael Hill about the news. Finally, to mark National Poetry Month, we’re featuring poems from our listeners.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, April 19th. Here's the midday news from David Furst. They pass bills, meet with top City Hall officials, and know how to change a diaper. Seven members of the City Council have formed a new group for lawmakers in City Hall called the New Parents Caucus. All current members are parents of children five years. younger. The caucus sent a letter to Mayor Adams yesterday, pushing for him to fully fund universal child care for children under five, among other legislative priorities. One member, Representative

Jennifer Gutierrez, says her own experience trying to find child care helped shape the policies. The caucus is demanding. She says she was sworn into office just one month after her baby was born. Big weekend at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Rangers starting their playoff runs at home. The Nicks host the Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow night at six. The Rangers host the Washington Capitol Sunday at 3 in the afternoon. Right now, 56 degrees going up to a high near 60 today. Stay close. There's more after the break. After more than a decade of effort, New York City will get the authority to lower speed limits on most of its streets as part of the coming state budget deal. Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hokel announced a version of the bill known as Sammy's law,

would move forward. Amy Cohen is the mother of Sammy Cohen-Extime, who the bill is named after. Her son Sammy was killed by a vehicle in 2013. She's also a co-founder of the Road Safety Organization Families for Safe Streets, and she joins us now. Amy, congratulations on this achievement. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And, wow, what a moment it is. It's taken four years to get to this point to pass the bill. Well, you've been working towards passing this law for more than a decade, really. Can you talk a little about what it took to get you here and how you're feeling today? Sure. Well, what it took to get me here is not something I wish on anyone, you know, just over 10 years ago. I kissed Sammy goodbye. He was, you know, a bright, self-assured eighth grader, and he only had to go to a few

blocks to middle school, after school, he would come home, have a snack, and he was just crossing the street in front of our apartment building to get to soccer practice. You know, the last words I heard from him were, I love you, Mommy, that morning. And, you know, it is a horror nobody should ever have to endure. And after he died, I learned that, you know, traffic violence is preventable. There are systematic solutions that can be put in place to prevent this horror from happening to other families. And a key one is to have safe speed limits to make sure that, you know, drivers have enough time to stop if something does happen. And if they do hit someone, that person is much more likely to survive for every mile per hour that, you know, someone goes slower.

The person they hit has a 17% more likelihood to survive. And I, you know, I found that out the hard way. a year after Sammy died, a five-year-old boy was crossing the street in the exact same location. And we had at that point successfully advocated for New York City to be able to lower its speed limit to 25 miles per hour. And that boy left, and mine did not. Well, Amy, this change won't apply to some of the city's busiest roads. Roads with three or more lanes of traffic heading in one direction are exempt. How big of a concession do you think that is? That concession is only in rows with three or more lanes outside of Manhattan.

So all of Manhattan is eligible. It is just the outer boroughs. And by calming the residential streets, you know, it will have a spillover effect even to the major arterials. And it's a, you know, it's a huge step forward. We're not done with this fight. You know, we need to also be designing our roads and making sure our vehicles are safe. this is a crisis that requires many solutions, but this is a big step forward. You mentioned this fight is not finished. This decision from Albany clears the way for a version

of Sammy's law to move forward, but the New York City Council must still pass the legislation itself. Have you spoken to anyone from the City Council since yesterday about what comes next? We have been in close touch through the whole fight with Sammy's Law with the City Council and the Mayor and the Department of Transportation. You know, this bill did require a home rule message from the city council last year when it was very close to passage. And so, you know, we're grateful to have the support at the city level. And, you know, we look forward to standing with the mayor,

the city council speaker when it does happen at that level. And we can't wait to stand with the governor, the bill sponsors Linda Rosenthal, Senator Hoyleman Siegel, and the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the Senate majority leader, were just so grateful to everyone to make this happen. And we also made this happen because we built a coalition of 130 organizations, unions, hospitals, civic groups. It took a team effort, and including all the members of families for Safe Streets, who spent many hours going to Albany, rallies, vigils, a children's march in Queens just two weeks ago after a child was killed there.

Well, just in the last few seconds we have, Amy, you've been working on this. You talk about the days, weeks, months, years of effort here. What comes next for you? Well, first, we look forward to celebrating this victory, and, you know, then we get back to work to keep up the fight, to make sure that our roads are safe for everyone. I mean, everyone deserves to get to their destination safely. No other parents should get the call that I got 10 years ago. Sammy would be turning 24 this year.

And we still miss them every day. Amy Cohen, the mother of Sammy Cohen-Exton, the namesake for Sammy's Law, and a co-founder of Families for Safe Streets. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you. It's Poetry Month on WNYC, and we're playing your poems on the air. the theme this year is local. We asked you to write about the nearby places that matter to you.

Listener C.O. Moed from the East Village sent us this poem before grassroots closed about a bar in their neighborhood. The bar, still empty enough for a weekday afternoon. John kept pouring me free drinks. He said it was because I'd been around so long. At least he could do for another old-timer. But I think it was because I remembered Karen. the only woman bartender from miles around back then, the one who died of breast cancer before anyone talked of such things.

We both recalled her mob boyfriend, a maid man, who baby talked when he was drunk. And I pointed to the beat-up photo of Frazier beaming from behind the bar, the only black bartender from miles around back then, the one who died of AIDS before anyone talked of such things. We both recalled him in wrinkles every Saturday night dancing on the bar to New York, New York as we all sang along. And John poured me another drink.

And the rare light from St. Mark's filtered through windows that hadn't been washed since before anyone died. And for a couple of minutes, life wasn't missing all the people we loved. Thanks for listening. from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.