NYC Mayoral Primary Debate: Traffic and Pedestrian Safety

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. We are re-airing most of the Democratic mayoral primary debate that I co-moderated last night with Errol Louis from NY1 and Katie Honan from the news organization THE CITY. The audience members you've heard reacting during the debate were people invited by the candidates and the sponsors. We have one more section to go. Then we'll take calls and texts with first priority for anyone who wants to name something new that you learned in the debate or if it changed your mind on any issue or any candidate. You can start calling now. 212-433-WNYC. Again, first priority to anyone who wants to name something new that you learned in the debate or if it changed your mind on any issue or any candidate. Hopefully, not just calling to continue to promote your favorite. 212-433-9692, call or text. Again, especially for those of you just joining us, the seven candidates in alphabetical order were Adrienne Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, Zellnor Myrie, Scott Stringer, and Whitney Tilson. We have one more section of the debate to go. It's one that I moderated on the topic of traffic and pedestrian safety.

I want to ask a different kind of public safety question. Mr. Stringer, you go first in this round. The city says there were 252 traffic deaths last year. That's a far cry from zero, as in the name Vision Zero that Mayor de Blasio gave to the city's initiative on this. What would you do then? We'll go down the row to get us much closer to zero traffic fatalities.

Scott Stringer: Well, look, I think that we have to own up to the fact that Vision Zero needs a lot more vision and a lot more safety protocols in place. We need to have dedicated bike lanes, but we also have to have zero tolerance for people who are abusing this privilege and using bikes and e-bikes on the sidewalks. You can be pro-transit, pro-bike lane, but also pro-safety. We put kids lives in danger and seniors. I would certainly revisit education and making sure we have zero tolerance for that interference to reduce deaths.

The other thing I want to just say as an elected official, we have a lot of elected officials. My friend Brad is one of them that goes to every Vision Zero press conference and then talks about the tragedies that befall these kids, but yet racks up speeding tickets and then says, "I'm sorry." We have got to, as mayor, say to the politicians who get the placards, "I will pull those placards if you show up at a Vision Zero press Conference and you violate [unintelligible 00:02:55] bikes.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Lander, your response to that and your answer to the question.

Brad Lander: Yesterday, I was proud to be endorsed by Streets Pack, which is the set of people who have been fighting against traffic violence for decades. I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in four years, so Scott Stringer can talk all he wants. What I will do-- [crosstalk] This is my time, Scott. What I will do is re-implement. I passed, as a city council member, the Reckless Driver Accountability act, which looked at those folks who are the most reckless drivers, the most speed violations, the most red light violations-

Scott Stringer: You're on the list.

Brad Lander: -and would impound their car unless they actually started to improve. Eric Adams let it expire, even though there's good evidence it was working. I'll expand it to make sure it's in all of our traffic courts, get it back in place. Vision Zero, we can have in New York City zero traffic deaths. That's infrastructure improvements on our streets, and that's holding reckless drivers accountable.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Mamdani, I'll add another wrinkle from a listener to my show who submitted this question on pedestrian safety. Mopeds, e-bikes, and scooters are out of control and pose a danger, but what specifically can be done to get them to obey traffic laws? What would your response to the original question and that listener be?

Zohran Mamdani: All in one minute?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, sir.

Zohran Mamdani: Okay. Well, first of all, thank you, Elizabeth, for the question if you are listening right now. I'll take that first. The key thing here is we have to understand that so many of the violations of our laws as pertaining to our streetscape are also violations that are the natural result of an economic model of these food delivery apps. When we're talking about so many of the delivery workers, the orders that they have to deliver within a timeframe, there is no way for them to be able to obey the laws of the road., and one of those apps is DoorDash.

DoorDash has given Andrew Cuomo Super PAC $1 million. That is why when you get those mailers that are lying about me, you see the top three donors at the bottom, one of them is DoorDash. The reason they give that money is because they want to influence labor and street safety regulations. They want to ensure they can continue to operate with impunity. I'm going to ensure we come back to a streetscape that is actually one of coherence and order, and we're going to do that by taking on those apps.

To your original question, what we need to do is finally fulfill the street's master plan. We are so many miles behind the building of bus lanes and protected bike lanes. Those are critical, not just for safety, but also to ensure that we are finally following the law, which is something that Andrew Cuomo would find to be just guidance, not a requirement.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Cuomo, your turn.

Andrew Cuomo: I think Mr. Mamdani starts with the assumption that if you receive money from someone, then you will do what they want. That may work for him, but I'm not for rent and I'm not for sale, so we wonder who's funding DSA and who's funding his BDS movement. On the specific question-

Zohran Mamdani: Campaign Finance Board, and you can see all the donations.

Andrew Cuomo: Yes. On the specific question, if I could do it again, I'd pass the law on e-bikes. In Albany, legislature passed it also, but I signed it. We left it up to local regulation. That was a mistake because here in New York City, the local regulation has been slow. The bikes are moving too quickly. It's mayhem. Too many people are getting hurt. I would have the apps responsible to license the bike, and they have the responsibility for tickets that are issued to that bike. It's their financial liability. They police it. I would reduce the speed limit down to 15 miles per hour, period. Because if you're riding a city bike, you are as much a subject of the speeding e-bike as anybody else.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Ms. Adams.

Adrienne Adams: Yes. The thing that no one is speaking about, when you're looking at planning, there is a city agency that is responsible for that. They are called the DOT. As leader of the city council, we have been in oversight with the DOT many, many, many times, and as one of my colleagues mentioned, they are not in compliance with the streets master plan. The agency entrusted by the mayor of the city of New York is compliance. We have had hearing after hearing after hearing.

The bottom line is that DOT needs some tweaking in order for us to get this right. My commissioner as mayor would be one that is able to handle the work put before him or her to do the work that the Department of Transportation is mandated to do for the people of the city of New York. They wanted the responsibility to keep New Yorkers safe, and as mayor, it would be my responsibility to make sure that they are in compliance.

Brian Lehrer: We have Mr. Myrie and Mr. Tilson yet to go in this round. Mr. Myrie.

Zellnor Myrie: Thank you. Look, I am in relatively good shape. I'm on my feet a lot. I'm a pedestrian, but I have had to dodge out of the way of an e-bike or moped. If you are an older adult, that is a really scary prospect. Without question, there has to be regulation, but the demand is created by us, and the apps that are making many, many, many times over on that demand should have some responsibility and accountability to ensure that things are safe.

As you have heard, we are out of compliance with the law. There are new categories of vehicles on our streets that need to be regulated, and our streets master plan must be implemented. I want to ensure that we have protected bike lanes and that we have more bus lanes, but I was proud in Albany to vote for a super speeder bill because we have too many reckless drivers on the road who have demonstrated that they don't belong on the road.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. We're coming to the end of the debate. Mr. Tilson, briefly.

Whitney Tilson: Yes, I was almost death number 253 last year. I was hit on my bike crossing Park Avenue. I ride my bike almost every day in the city. I agree completely with Zellnor about these super speeders. As far as I'm concerned, there cannot be enough of these cameras that automatically catch and ticket people who run red lights and who are speeders, and I think we can use technology both for e-bikes and for cars that speed gate.

I actually am glad to see that Mayor Adams recently adopted something I've been calling for for months, that e-bikes cannot go faster. It has to be built into the bike. Cannot go faster than 15 miles an hour. Anyone who's a chronic speeder, you can revoke their license, of course, but an alternative middle path is you can install technology on the car that does not allow them to break the speed limit.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much.

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