UES Reps Give A New Speed Limit The Green Light

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side’s Community Board 8 will formally ask the city to lower speed limits across the neighborhood after members voted this week to approve a resolution calling for a district-wide 20 mph cap.

The slowdown passed by a divided vote, with 20 members in favor, 15 opposed and five abstaining. Currently, the neighborhood-wide speed limit is 25 miles per hour, not including school zones.

"I don't like the constant push to decrease speed limits without putting the onus on pedestrians," board member Ed Hartzog said.

However, supporters of the Community Board 8 resolution, like board member Craig Lader, cited a sharp rise in the severity of traffic crashes in the neighborhood, even as the total number of crashes has declined in recent years.

"The injury rate has not fallen along with the crash rate, and that's one of the motivating factors of Sammy's law," Lader said at the full board meeting on Wednesday night at Marymount Manhattan College.

Lader was referencing a law named for a 12-year-old who was killed by a speeding van near Prospect Park in 2013. Under the law, New York City can now reduce speed limits to 20 mph on most streets and allow 15 mph zones near schools.

Three new 15 mph speed limit zones were also approved by the board on Wednesday night, at St. David’s School on East 89th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues, The Dalton School on East 89th Street between Lexington and Park avenues, and The Hewitt School Lower School on East 76th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues.

The mayor has announced a plan to install 15 mph school slow zones at all 2,300 eligible school locations by the end of his current term in 2029, Rafael Escano, a community coordinator at the Department of Transportation, previously told Community Board 8.

The resolution is advisory only, meaning the final decision rests with the New York City Department of Transportation.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.