Meeker Avenue Is A Death Trap That Needs To Be Fixed: Residents And Activists

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — After an elderly man was struck and killed on Meeker Avenue in Greenpoint on Tuesday morning, activists renewed calls for safety improvements along the roadway.

Queens man Joseph Ranieri, 71, was crossing Meeker Avenue southbound between Bridgewater Street and Gardner Avenue at around 6 a.m. when a Jeep traveling east on Meeker struck him, police said. Ranieri later died in the hospital from his injuries, cops said.

"We have seen a rash of injuries and fatalities on meeker avenue and surrounding streets," said Luke Ohlson, a senior organizer at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that has been fighting for years for Meeker to receive safety improvements along all of its intersections. "It's very dark, which leads to a lot of difficult conditions. There's lots of wide open space, and when drivers see wide open space they speed."

Transportation Alternatives created an online petition in January that demands Williamsburg and Greenpoint's community board request a comprehensive redesign of Meeker. The purpose of the petition is to put pressure on the de Blasio administration to spend more money on what many community members consider to be an urgent safety issue.

Transportation Alternatives has received money from City Council district's participatory budgeting process that went toward fixing up certain intersections along Meeker, Ohlson said.

"What we're hoping for in the long term is that all of Meeker Avenue gets the kinds of street safety improvements that we've seen throughout the city like pedestrian improvements, protected bike lanes and bus infrastructure if it makes sense for a particular intersection."

Photo via Google Maps