As Promised, City Stations 2 Traffic Agents at Problematic Grand Street Intersection

7th Pct CO Steve Hellman discussing Grand St. traffic issue, June 2017

Here’s some election year politics at its best. Host a mayoral town hall (for District 1), then satisfy a few voters in the immediate aftermath.

One Grand Street resident, frustrated with the lack of attention to the traffic bottlenecks on Grand Street, demanded that the administration act to change the status quo. He asked Mayor de Blasio during the town hall last week to have the city conduct an immediate study, but in the interim, if a traffic agent could be dispatched to the intersection to calm the flow.

Mayor de Blasio, 7th Precinct Commanding Officer Steve Hellman, and Transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg all pledged to station an officer. And the next morning – last Thursday – it happened. Two traffic cops are now handling matters in this problematic intersection.

The extra personnel is certainly a band-aid until the bigger issues can be addressed. The “cauldron of honking horns,” as one Boogie guest writer called it, is nothing new. When the decision was made by Department of Transportation to open a new entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge via Clinton Street four years ago – it was in response to the tragic death of Dashane Santana on Delancey in 2012 – bottlenecks began instantly, and backed up to the FDR. Despite the fact that there is alternative bridge access via Norfolk Street a couple blocks up.

“This commitment to deploy a traffic safety agent on this congested intersection is an important step to increase safety for everyone sharing our streets,” said Councilwoman Margaret Chin. “I thank the NYPD, particularly Deputy Inspector Hellman of the 7th Precinct, for their decisive response to the community’s urgent call for enforcement of our traffic laws to protect neighborhood residents of all ages.”