PHOTO: Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder announced to fourth graders at PS/MS 207 last week that they’d been chosen to participate in a DOT design program. Principal Eileen Davies (back, r.) was also present. Photo Courtesy of Assemblyman Goldfeder’s office.
By Forum Staff
Fourth graders at PS/MS 207 have been chosen to participate in a City Department of Transportation program to design a new pedestrian safety and education sign outside the school.
“What better way for our children to learn about traffic safety than to design their own street sign,” said Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach), who nominated the students for the project. “These fourth graders at PS 207 have already proven their passion for making the community a better, safer place for all our families, so it’s a well-deserved honor for them to be included in this program.”
During a visit last week to the Howard Beach school, Goldfeder announced that the fourth graders there had been chosen to participate in a city program to design a custom traffic safety sign to be placed outside the school. The program, run by DOT and Groundswell, a non-profit, under the City’s “We’re Walking Here NYC” public awareness campaign, will bring DOT traffic safety staff and artists to the school to work with students on the sign’s design.
Goldfeder nominated the students for the project after the then-third graders sent a petition to his office last June calling for traffic safety upgrades around the school. At the time, students gathered more than 500 signatures from area residents calling for the installation of “state law: yield to pedestrians” signs at 159th and 160th avenues, and 88th and 89th streets. While DOT informed Goldfeder’s office that it could not install the requested signs, the agency did offer to consider the school for the “We’re Walking Here NYC” program. This makes 207 the second area school nominated by Goldfeder, after PS 232 in Lindenwood, which unveiled its own student-designed sign in 2014.
“We are delighted for the children to see their voices were heard. The students will be able to be a part of something that will touch the lives of everyone in our community. These signs will be representing their voices in a very powerful way. What a great way to show the children that they are important and they can speak up and see results,” said 207 Principal Eileen Davies.
No set timeline is available for the design and installation of the new sign, though it is expected to be completed before the end of the school year.
