Photo Courtesy of Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor
Cuomo on Monday signed an emergency executive order that will allow appropriate City agencies to access DMV license records, a crucial component of the speed camera system.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Thwarted by the inaction of the State Senate, and with the first day of the city school year looming, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the City Council this week successfully pulled off a political Hail Mary to renew and expand the school zone speed camera program.
All summer long, elected officials and street safety advocates have been pleading with Senate leadership to reconvene a special session and vote to reauthorize the 2013 pilot program that placed 140 cameras around city schools across the five boroughs. Senate Republicans wouldn’t budge. The recording devices were shut off on July 25.
Cuomo on Monday signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in New York City and reinstating the speed camera program. The order temporarily suspends the sunset provisions in the program legislation, providing the City with the authority it needs to implement it ahead of the school year.
The executive order also directs the State Department of Motor Vehicles to help the City implement the program in time for the 2018 school year. The DMV will grant the City Police Department access license records, a crucial component of the speed camera system.
And on Wednesday, the Council voted, 41-3, to create a local speed camera program that would allow the City to impose liability on vehicle owners for failure to comply with maximum speed limits in school speed zones. The program would not have a cap on the number of cameras that could be operated and would allow the City flexibility in hours of operation to address safety concerns near schools. Vehicle owners would be liable for an operator of that vehicle exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour in a school speed zone. Such vehicle owners would be liable for a $50 penalty.
“I refuse to sit idly by as Republican State senators put politics over the lives of our children and jeopardize public safety,” Cuomo said. “In the face of the Senate Republicans’ shameful inaction and with the school year set to begin, we are taking emergency action to reinstate the speed cameras program and protect our children. I thank Mayor de Blasio and [Council] Speaker [Corey] Johnson for their cooperation and commitment to keeping our children safe. This is extraordinary action for an extraordinary situation—but I continue to call on the Senate Republicans to do their job and pass lifesaving speed camera legislation once and for all.”
De Blasio commended all branches of government—yes, even Cuomo—for collaborating on such an important matter of public safety.
“Everyone started talking in the last week or 10 days, and we came to the realization at the city level that there was a legal pathway to pass legislation that would give ourselves the ability to put cameras up and to provide a penalty for people who are speeding through a different process than what the State legislation did, but one that we found absolutely appropriate and legally strong. It was not an idea that really had fully been recognized previously,” the mayor said. “We’re thrilled to be moving forward with that legislation. I’m going to do a message of necessity to get it done in time for the opening day of school.”
