Safe Streets JC has issued a 10-point plan to Jersey Mayor James Solomon for his first 100 days, including fully staffing the Department of Infrastructure, ramping up parking enforcement, and creating a safe routes to school coordinator.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The new administration has a mandate to make our streets safer. We are encouraged by the reinstatement of a traffic division and recommitment to Vision Zero,” Safe Streets JC President Talya Schwartz said in a statement.
“Six people were killed on Jersey City streets by vehicles last year, and many more were injured. No one should have to fear for their life when crossing a street, catching a bus, or riding a bike. Our plan offers a blueprint for immediate action on the most important safety issues that will save lives.”
She also applauded Solomon for signing an executive order reinstating a police traffic division and appointing his Chief of Staff Laura Bustamante to lead the Vision Zero Task Force.
The plan also calls for funding infrastructure improvements and parking availability by updating the commercial parking tax, getting parking enforcement to generate revenue at pre-pandemic levels (roughly $16.8 million annually), and emulating Hoboken’s Camera-based License plate Enforcement for Access and Response (CLEAR) program.
“Start an automated parking enforcement pilot on our busiest corridors. Hoboken’s recent pilot kept loading zones, bus stops, and bike lanes clear while generating substantial revenue to continue to make the city’s streets safer,” the group suggested.
“This is a scalable way to deter illegal parking and will further fund the city.”
Additionally, they are seeking hardened safety infrastructure at every intersection where a pedestrian was killed or badly injured, commit to a 20 mile per hour speed limit on local streets, a zero tolerance policy for city employees who use their cell phone while driving, reduce NJ Turnpike cut through, and announced a new street safety playbook.
“All roadway resurfacing should incorporate the new safety playbook with hardened daylighting, leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs), left-turn calming and left-turn restrictions. These are known treatments that save lives,” Safe Streets JC asserts
“They should not require additional community input and should become the default on all new construction.”
Furthermore, they’d like to see efforts to mange illegal truck parking, paint missing crosswalks, and move forward with projects such as the protected bike lane on Franklin Streets.
Safe Streets JC explained why a safe routes to school coordinator would be helpful in Jersey City.
“This new role would work with schools on creating safe conditions around the schools, identify improvements to drop off and pickups, recommend school streets, and provide support and education to the school community, especially about the benefits of walking and biking to school,” they wrote.
“The coordinator would also work with collecting and addressing community input on dangers that families are facing on their journeys to school and that crossing guards are observing on a daily basis.”
If you want safer streets, work with the Feds. In a year with federal law enforcement focusing on taking criminals off the streets, there’s a dramatic drop in murders – back to 1900 rates!
That’s not an accident. That came about with a focus on going after crime not spying on American citizens and targeting anyone viewed as a political opponent.
Serious criminals have been taken off the streets. All NJ and Hudson needs to do is cooperate with federal law enforcement and turn them over where applicable like most US states.
Do that and there will be more improvement in the safety and lives of New Jersey residents.
Do you have the nerve to stand up to the Democrat Party and do what’s best for NJ citizens, Solomon?
Prove it.