Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces 15 MPH Slow Zones at All Eligible NYC Schools by End of First Term in Largest Sammy’s Law Expansion
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Thank you, everyone. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining me here at the home of Flushing International High School and J.H.S. 189 as we announce a major step to protect children across the five boroughs. I'm grateful to my partners in government, the dedicated advocates and the parents who have carried this effort forward. Those who have never stopped fighting for the safe streets that New Yorkers deserve. I want to say thank you to our commissioner, Mike Flynn, who we just heard from. Thank you to a former colleague and now the Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who was the senate sponsor of this legislation. A special shout-out to another former colleague who is doing the good work in Albany, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who carried it in the People's House. We have our public advocate here, Jumaane Williams, and we also have advocates here with us. I want to acknowledge Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, from Families for Safe Streets. I want to acknowledge Sammy's cousin, Jeremy Freedman. I want to acknowledge Transportation Alternatives and Elizabeth Adams, who is here with us, as well as our hosts. We have our principal of Flushing International High School, Kevin Hesseltine, [whom] I just had the pleasure of meeting. Our J.H.S.189 principal that I also had the pleasure of meeting, Brian Bradley. We have Donald Nesbit from Local 372, and all of the students and the children and the families that are here with us, many of them holding the photos of those that they lost in years prior, whose memories and the pain of which has animated them as they fought for the safety of every single child across this city. I have had the pleasure of getting to know many of them, both as an Assembly member in Astoria in Long Island City, as well as someone who had the privilege of voting on this legislation in support of it when I was serving in Albany. Now, 13 years ago, Sammy Cohen Eckstein was chasing a runaway ball when he was hit and killed by a van outside his home in Parks Slope. He was 12 years old. He was just a kid. His death should never have happened. And yet we know that Sammy’s death is a tragedy familiar to too many New Yorkers. NYPD data shows us that speeding causes 25 percent of all traffic fatalities. It is one of the primary causes of pedestrian death in New York City. In the years since Sammy was killed, almost 2,900 New Yorkers have been killed by dangerous driving on our streets. More than 100 of them children. Those here today know better than anyone else that these numbers are not just statistics. They represent families shattered, communities traumatized [and] lives cut short by crashes and accidents that could have been prevented. Children who should have been able to grow up and lead full lives, now memorialized as street names across our city. Amy Cohen, Sammy’s mother, recognized an immediate need for change. Since Sammy died, she has fought tirelessly at Community Board meetings, in City Hall [and] in Albany to ensure that no child, no parent, no other family has to experience that kind of unimaginable loss. It is thanks to her persistence and the persistence of so many others, some of whom, as I said, who are here with us today, that Sammy’s Law was passed in 2024, affording City Hall the power to set our own speed limits on eligible roadways. I was proud, as I said, as an assembly member, to vote for Sammy’s Law, when I served in the People’s House. However, a law is only as effective as the will to implement it. We have seen the absence of that will reflected in the fact that only 100 locations across the city have seen their speed limits reduced in the months following the legislation’s passage. I want to ensure that our City Hall is using every tool at our disposal to protect New Yorkers on our streets and our sidewalks. That is why today I am proud to announce that we are going to reduce the speed limit to 15 MPH outside all eligible 2,300 school zones. This encompasses every one of the 3,200 schools citywide across the five boroughs. This year, speed limits will be lowered at an additional 800 locations, bringing the total number of school zones with a 15 MPH speed limit to 1,300 by the end of 2026. While reducing citywide speed limits in one fell swoop would require a local legislative change to the city's administrative code, we are utilizing every tool we have through this immediate and sweeping executive action. In addition to speed limit reduction, our DOT is working to slow vehicles and improve pedestrian safety around the most dangerous locations near schools by upgrading intersection design and incorporating speed bumps so every child can get to class safely. No longer will the lives of pedestrians and children playing outside be treated as an afterthought. As we serve the people of this city, we will keep them safe by implementing the laws designed to protect them. That is the kind of city that Amy Cohen and so many others have fought for. It is the kind of city that Sammy deserved, and it is the New York City we are building for every child and family that calls it home. And before I close, I just want to say thank you again to all of the family members of New Yorkers who have been stolen from us. I know the times that we have met have often been at the intersections where those children were stolen from you. I know that you have been forced to tell the stories of the worst days in your life again and again and again in the hopes that it could open the hearts and minds of those who had the power to change these laws. And I want you to know that you have. It was because of your testimony, because of your work, [and] because of your willingness to share that pain with so many others that we not only voted on this legislation, but [also] that today we are able to implement this legislation. And what you have done and what you are doing is saving the lives of children whose names you will never even learn. And it is thanks to your courage, your bravery, and your dedication to this city that so many more will be able to grow up with the childhoods that every single child deserves to have. So, thank you so much to the Families for Safe Streets and to everyone who is here with us. Thank you.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I appreciate the question and also the emphasis on the urgency. I would say that today is a significant step forward in us ensuring that we are extending this safety to far more school children across our city, and that we will extend it to every single eligible school zone by the end of 2029. And we will do so in addition — in addressing [the] public advocate’s comments — not just in terms of a policy change, but also in terms of the installation of signage to ensure that every single New Yorker knows about this. Because our intent in this is not an intent to collect more fines from New Yorkers, it's an intent to see more compliance from New Yorkers. The ultimate goal here is to keep New Yorkers safe. Now, as I said in my remarks, it is from our Law Department's assessment that in order to change the citywide speed limit in one fell swoop, that requires a local administrative change to the city administrative code. And that is a change that I would support. It is, however, a change that goes beyond what City Hall can do in and of itself. And I will continue to hold firm to our vision of making our streetscape the envy of the world, and the ways that we start doing that is by first catching up to the rest of the world, and then starting to show what it is that can ensure that safety is no longer experienced in a hierarchy, depending on what mode of transit you use in this city. It is one that is a reality for each and every New Yorker. And I think — just to go back to something that Fabiola had actually said earlier — this is about ensuring that children can play in this city. They can grow up in this city. They can be as children are and as children should be. Because right now, what we have is so many of our closest memories of childhood, of being able to wander with abandon, of being able to simply be, are in jeopardy by the reality of speeding across the city. I mean, I look here at — we just had a photo that was here of Jaden McLaurin. Jaden was an Astorian who was just biking home one night when he was hit by a car. These are the experiences of so many children. We're speaking about Sammy. Sammy was running after a runaway ball. This is what it should look like in a city where children can do that and be safe and never have to question that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThat's why we would support the [City] Council taking this action.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, it'll be 800 by the end of this year. In addition to the 500 we have, that'll bring us to 1,300 by the end of 2026 and then all eligible school zones by the end of 2029. And I just want to expand a little bit before passing it over to the commissioner. When I talk about eligibility, that is a reference to the fact that within Sammy's Law, as it was passed in the state legislature, there are exceptions for multi-lane travel ways outside of Manhattan. So, DOT will have to now do an intensive research into every single school siting across the city to see where each of them line up, as well as the fact that there are a small number of schools that are located on private roads, where DOT does not have the capacity to set the speed limits of that. However, the overwhelming majority of schools across the city are within the frame of eligibility, and that is what we will be seeing over this year in the next few.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll say that we support any measure that can reduce speeding across the city. And we support it because, as so many others have said, this is about people's lives. There should be nothing more important than keeping New Yorkers safe. And we know that lowering the speed limit is one critical tool, but there are other tools to utilize. And we support those efforts in Albany to actually implement them. I'll pass it to the commissioner.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceIt is a goal of our administration to lower the speed limit across the city to 20 miles an hour. That, however, is something that can only be done with a local law change to the City Administrative Code. And we do support the City Council taking those efforts.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI am looking forward to not only our breakfast at Gracie Mansion for St. Patrick's Day, also attending mass, also marching in the parade [and] doing so alongside Commissioner Tisch. And really, it is a day that so many New Yorkers look forward to. And it is one that I share in that excitement because I know that it represents not just a celebration of the incredible contributions of Irish Americans to this city, but also one that celebrates so many of the different ethos that are core to the Irish spirit, including that of solidarity.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThere's nothing to iron out. This was one of the easiest decisions I've had to make as the mayor. It's something I'm really looking forward to. And I look forward to seeing the archbishop again.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYes, I'm going to Rikers Island this evening to break my fast alongside Department of Corrections staff, as well as incarcerated New Yorkers. This will be my first visit to Rikers Island as the mayor of our city. However, not my first visit as an elected official. When I was an Assembly member, I visited Rikers a few times. And the last time that I visited Rikers, it showed me, as well as many other elected officials, the level of despair that has become endemic to that island. There was an incarcerated New Yorker who attempted to take their own life in front of my former colleague, Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas. And we are committed as an administration to closing Rikers Island and part of that commitment is also illustrated in the hiring of a position that will be focused on ensuring that the city can actually start to live up to the construction of the four borough-based jails that allow for the closure of Rikers Island. And the way of living up to it is to not only ensure that it moves forward, but also does so on a timetable and on a budget that is actually in line with what the expectations are.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI’ve got to be honest, I haven't thought enough on that question. I have to say, though, that I am incredibly appreciative of the privilege to lead a city where Irish Americans have played such a critical role in the city. We know that when it comes to the building of this city, the skyscrapers that pierce the clouds, the tunnels that carve through bedrock, so much of that was built by Irish hands. And when we celebrate Irish Americans, we also celebrate the solidarity that they have brought as well as the people of Ireland have brought to the world. And it's a solidarity that means a lot to people in this city and I also know it means a lot to people across the world.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think today shows that sometimes the issue isn't as much legislation as it is the will to implement that legislation. We are looking at every single tool we have to not only keep New Yorker safe, but also to extend dignity to each and every New Yorker. I had the privilege alongside our now borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, of serving in Albany and there were a number of pieces of legislation that I continue to believe are critical. You know, Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest carries legislation that was previously titled “Treatment Not Jails,” which spoke about the importance of that kind of an approach when it comes to a number of different parts of our criminal legal system. I think that that is one part of what it can look like to ensure that we are closing Rikers Island, we are keeping New Yorker safe, and we are actually living up to the spirit of so much of what should animate our politics.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe are going to be taking an all-of-the-above approach when it comes to not only fixing bathrooms, but also creating new public bathrooms in this city. And the budget that we have put forward is our preliminary budget. We will also be putting forward a executive budget and then finally an adopted budget in negotiations with the Council. And we know that parks play an incredible role in our city. We also know that New Yorkers very much need more public bathrooms. I can tell you the moment when I understood the need myself was when I was at Times Square and I didn't know that there was a public bathroom at the subway station and thank God that there was. And I think that many New Yorkers have found that same feeling. Thank you guys. Okay, I'll just do one final question to Morgan. Yes, it is a meeting that we had set up weeks ago as part of a commitment that I made over the course of the campaign to meet with Orthodox leaders across our city. It's a meeting I'm looking forward to. It's a meeting where we will discuss a wide variety of issues including childcare, affordable housing, whatever is of concern. And it is part and parcel of leading a city of 8.5 million people and ensuring that we can move this city forward so that it's one that each and every New Yorker can afford. Thank you all so much. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Announces 15 MPH Slow Zones at All Eligible NYC Schools by End of First Term in Largest Sammy’s Law Expansion.