New York to install 1,500 more sidewalk barriers after vehicle attacks
New York to install 1,500 more sidewalk barriers after vehicle attacks
© REUTERS/Mike Segar "REUTERS/Mike Segar New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill and U.S. Congressman Adriano Espaillat
Reuters, January 2 2018
New York City will install more than 1,500 new barrier posts on sidewalks and plazas to protect pedestrians from vehicles after at least two instances last year of drivers killing people after mounting the curb, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
The thin, cylindrical, waist-height metal bollards are intended to be a more attractive alternative to the hulking concrete blocks the New York Police Department had deposited in busier areas around the city following the vehicle attacks, de Blasio said.
"We understand what's happening around the world and we even saw some tragedies here," the mayor said at a Times Square announcement in front of a line of the posts. Similar bollards were installed in Times Square in 2016.
© REUTERS/Mike Segar Additional bollards are seen on sidewalks and plazas to protect pedestrians in Times Square, New York City
There has been a spate of attacks on pedestrians in European and U.S. cities by people using cars or trucks, a tactic that the Islamic State militant group encourages its supporters to use. In July 2016, a driver used a truck to kill 86 people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. Similar carnage unfolded at a Christmas market in Berlin a few months later.
De Blasio spoke within sight of the place where an intoxicated man in May steered a car along sidewalks for three city blocks, killing a young woman and injuring at least 22 people.
Last November, a man was charged with murder and providing support to Islamic State after he plowed down people on a Manhattan bike lane the previous month, killing eight.
"We know we have to do even more to keep people safe," de Blasio said on Tuesday. The city will spend an additional $50 million on installing the new bollards in busy, high-profile areas and other efforts to protect public spaces, the mayor said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Okay, let's hear from the deniers now.
I guess the deniers realize that have no honest response.
I guess the deniers realize that have no honest response.
Are there no New Yorkers who are willing to comment about this new need?
Here’s how it works. The guy who sells these things talks the politicians into buying them and then gives the politicians a kickback or campaign contribution. The politicians tell the public they are doing something good for the people with their money and the expense is good for them.