Local pols, street safety advocates, and community groups rallied at the intersection of 60th Street and 3rd Avenue in Sunset Park on July 23, demanding the Adams administration implement traffic safety measures on Third Avenue after a hit-and-run claimed the lives of two pedestrians, 59-year-old Faqui Lin and 80-year-old Kex Un Chen.
Lin and Un Chen were crossing the intersection at 52nd Street and 3rd Avenue around 4:30 a.m. on July 1 when 23-year-old driver Juventino Anastacio Florentino, who was headed southbound on Third Avenue struck the two men after allegedly running a red light. Florentino fled the scene but was later arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, among others.
According to data from Crash Mapper, 80 people have been killed or injured on the two-mile stretch of Third Avenue between the Prospect and Gowanus expressways since 2018. In 2021, over 5,500 speed camera tickets were issued along the avenue between 50th and 60th streets. The urgent call to reinstate traffic safety improvements on the two-mile stretch comes on the heels of new data from Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets, which shows that traffic fatalities in Brooklyn are on the rise, even though traffic fatalities are declining citywide.
Advocates said many intersections on Third Avenue aren’t ADA accessible because of cobblestone and missing curb cuts. Parts of the sidewalks are inaccessible and discontinuous, they added, and a lack of streetlights or protected bike lanes paired with double-parked trucks and poor visibility endanger the lives of pedestrians and cyclists.
Safety improvement designs for the dangerous thoroughfare been floated for years. In 2023, the New York City Department of Transportation proposed a safety overhaul of the avenue, and the project was approved by Community Board 7. However, last April, the DOT delayed the plan, which includes safer pedestrian crossings, parking-protected bike lanes, a traffic-calming road diet, and additional infrastructure upgrades.
At the corner of 60th Street and Third Avenue, street safety advocates and local pols slammed the Adams administration for delaying the life-saving infrastructure.
Council Member Alexa Avilés, whose district includes Sunset Park, emphasized that investing in “real public safety infrastructure” along Third Avenue is critical for residents, businesses, and visitors alike.
“I am here to stand with our community again, to call for real investment, to call for real earnest movement forward, and to really address some of the challenges, because there are real tensions with what this corridor is used for,” she said. “What it takes is real political will and real capital investment.”
Elizabeth Adams, Deputy Executive Director for Public Affairs at Transportation Alternatives, said it was “unconscionable” to delay street safety measures that have proven effective.
“Sunset Park, for years, has demanded change, but continues to be met with stalled projects by this mayor,” she said. “This will only mean more crashes, more injuries, more fatalities on this street until something changes.”
During the rally, a loaded car carrier trailer attempted to turn onto Third Avenue from 60th Street, and the driver to back up a few times to make the turn.
“How many of you all saw that truck trying to turn over here and having to back up and keep turning?” said state Sen Andrew Gounardes. “This is not meant to be a highway. This is where people walk. This is where people live. This is where kids go to school.”
He pointed to an NYPD digital message board on the corner of 60th Street and 3rd Avenue, telling drivers to stop for pedestrians. The sign was put up just a week ago, Gounardes said.
“We should all be offended, offended, angry, insulted that the response from our city to two deaths blocks away from here is a sign that says, ‘Be careful.’ This is the mentality that we all too often take when it comes to keeping people safe on our streets,” Gounardes said. “We wait until someone dies, we wait until a tragedy. We wait until we say, ‘Oh my gosh.’ How could this possibly have happened? We let this happen time and time again.”
Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes said the Sunset Park community has been raising the alarm bells about the unsafe road conditions for years.
“Seniors, children, and community members are expected to cross six lanes of traffic in order to access essential services like public transportation and food pantries. This is unacceptable,” Mitaynes said. “We’ve seen how data-driven street redesign saves lives. It’s time to bring those investments to Brooklyn, not in a few years, not eventually, but now. Safer streets are not a privilege, they are a right.”
Matilda, a Sunset Park resident and mother of two, lives near the corner of 60th Street and Third Avenue. Her two daughters attend the public schools located at the corner of the intersection, P.S. 939 and M.S. 936, and she is concerned about their safety.
“No one should worry that their children are going to die crossing the street just to get to school. So we need this street to be safer for all of our children,” Matilda said.
When reached for comment, the Department of Transportation referred Brooklyn Paper to City Hall, which did not immediately respond.
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