“Speed Bump” and “Slow Zone” Frenzy
Written by Dorothea Poggi 11/9/2013
Join your neighbors for a presentation meeting Tuesday November 12, 2013 at the Community Board 10 District Office, located at 3165 East Tremont Avenue (cross Street LaSalle). Learn more about some professionally designed “Slow Zones” along the intersections of E. Tremont at Westchester Square, Castlehill and Overing St.
You may face a situation where your neighborhood has applied to your Community board and you were denied consideration for a speed zone. You may have even collected a large list of petitioners from a local church meeting only to be told the signed persons were not living on the block for the requested speed zone. Where do you go after being rejected?
President of the Westchester Square Civic Association, Lou Rocco a 38 year resident of the Westchester Square area just didn’t give up. His first assessment that his area strongly needed a few speed deterrents turns out to be correct. Lou Rocco is a positive person. He knows most things considered impossible actually can be accomplished. His experiences raising his two daughters, running a business, serving as a much decorated FDNY Firefighter and achieved the position of Fire Marshall before his retirement. If this isn’t enough he also endured a rewarding but grueling experience as a 911 first responder. This type of man does not just back down. He studied the problem and hoped to solve it. Lou had to try his best to get this done. While Keith Kalb from DOT met repeatedly with him and Connie Moran spoke with him about the zones, ongoing accidents continued in these various intersections.
NYC Department of Transportation has recently installed many needed speed bumps throughout Community Board 10. Some areas did not have room for more than one on a 20 block stretch due to the interference of driveways, crosswalks etc. Therefore some areas applied for “Speed Zones” along with the limited “Speed Bumps”. Now DOT has given their go ahead on various streets that warrant “Speed Zones” according to their criteria. Slated for 2016, the E. Tremont zone will run from E. Tremont Ave down to the elevated No. 6 line on Westchester Avenue, as far west as Owen F. Dolen Park and east to Castle Hill Avenue. Lou Rocco knows his neighborhood and knows what is has and what it lacks. The zone has two schools and averages 19 traffic injuries per year, according to the DOT
Lou was thrilled to get a phone call from Bill DeBlasio’s office letting him know that combination of documented accidents, recorded accidents, Multiple Hospitals, Senior Centers, Day Care and Parks within this dangerous area warranted consideration for a “Slow Zone”.
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