Cuomo Demands New York State Senate Pass Speed Camera Bill

NEW YORK CITY — Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered New York State Senators to reconvene and renew a speed camera bill that’s about to expire, and that the legislators failed to pass during their last session.

The governor told State Senators return to Albany after the deaths of three children — Joshua Lew and Abigail Blumenstein in Park Slope and Luz Gonzalez in Bushwick — sparked outrage from community members who demanded that speed cameras remain in city school zones.

"It is unconscionable that the Senate put politics over protecting our children," Cuomo said in a statement, released Friday. "I call on the Senate to return to Albany and pass this common sense bill to prevent tragedies and heartbreak.”

Cuomo promised to sign the bill — which would double the number of cameras and renew the current program before it expires on July 25 — into law as soon as the State Senate voted to approve it.

New Yorkers have been putting pressure on local representatives to return to Albany since the Republican-controlled state Senate failed to vote on the speed camera bill before its session ended on June 20.

City Councilman Brad Lander and protesters were arrested in a sit-in outside State Senator Marty Golden's office and nine people were arrested in a protest march through midtown Manhattan.

If the state senators pass the bill, the Department of Transportation will be asked to install cameras in each of the city’s 290 school zones by the end of July 2022.

But if state Senators do not vote to approve the bill, cameras that analyze crash and speed date in 140 of the city’s 2,300 school zones will be turned off.

Amy Cohen, the transportation activist and mother of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by a van speeding through Park Slope, joined Cuomo in demanding the state Senate pass the speed camera bill.

"It is simply outrageous that a few elected officials are playing politics with New Yorker's lives,” said Cohen. “Human life is too precious to be a bargaining chip.”

Photo courtesy City Councilman Brad Lander