NOT SO FAST: State senate slams brake on speed cameras
Councilman Stephen Levin’s effort to get the city to install more cameras on traffic lights to catch speed demons has hit a bump in the road. The State Senate refused to put funds toward it when the state budget was in the process of being finalized in Albany. The State Assembly had already dedicated funds to the goal of installing more cameras. But without senate support, the cameras won’t be installed. The city needs state legislation and state money to make the speed camera project a reality.
Levin (D-Brooklyn Heights) said he was disappointed at the senate’s inaction. “Speeding was the leading factor in fatal New York City crashes last year. We know speeding kills, and we know speed cameras save lives. Despite the devastation that speeding has caused families across New York, the State Senate still decided to prevent speed cameras from being installed here in New York City,” he said.
Levin wasn’t the only city official upset at the turn of events. Mayor Bloomberg offered a blistering attack on the state senate. In unusually strong language, the mayor singled out for blame state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-southern Brooklyn) and state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Midwood-Flatbush) for killing the speed camera bill. He also offered to give out the legislators’ phone numbers. “Maybe you want to give those phone numbers to the parents of the child when a child is killed. It would be useful so that the parents can know exactly who’s to blame,” the Times quoted Bloomberg as saying.