Parents, pols rally for safer streets

They did it for Bayron Palomino Arroyo, 8; for Giovanni Ampuero, 9; Dolma Naadhun, 7; Quintus Chen, 3; Doniqueca Cooke, 21; and for those they left behind, hoping no other parents will lose their children because of a bad or inattentive driver.

More than 200 people gathered at PS 110 in Corona last Friday for a press conference and march aimed at passing state legislation to improve traffic safety in the city.

“We are here because some adults have failed you,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Jackson Heights) said to the scores of children who were in attendance.

Ramos and other members of the Queens delegation to Albany for years have supported Sammy’s Law, which would allow the city to reduce its speed limits, which now are set at 25 miles per hour unless signs indicate otherwise.

Legislators and parents speaking Friday also want scrambled crosswalks, the nickname for those that have periods of red lights in all directions simultaneously to allow pedestrians to cross in safety.

Raul Ampuero’s son, Giovanni, was killed crossing Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights while with his mother in 2018. Ampuero held up pictures of Giovanni and Bayron, who died under similar circumstances on March 13 at 31st Avenue and 100th Street in East Elmhurst.

Ampuero was one of multiple people who said the pedestrians did the right things both times — crossing at a corner, waiting for the light and holding hands.

“Look at this picture. This was my Giovanni. Look at the smile he wore; how devastated the family is because our boy isn’t here anymore. Look at Bayron. This is a beautiful kid. He should be playing in the park with his friends. That is why I’m asking people to help us ... How much? How many? This needs to stop.”

Ampuero told the Chronicle it still is hard to keep coming out to support families suffering as his has, and to fight for changes.

“It takes spiritual strength,” he said. “If your spirit and your heart are strong, you can do anything.”

Ramos said backers of both measures hope that they can be added to the state budget, now under negotiation with a deadline of April 1; and also called for budget adjustments from Mayor Adams.

“This is every parent’s nightmare,” said the mother of two boys. “We are here to send a message to our governor and our mayor. We demand that Sammy’s Law be included in the state budget ... with scrambled crosswalks ... diagonal crosswalks outside our schools so children can cross without any cars during arrival and dismissal. We demand that 500 crossing guards are restored to the city budget, and that more are hired.”

Donald Nesbit of Local 372, the union that represents crossing guards and cafeteria workers, also spoke of budgets. His workers lost posthumously promoted community coordinator Krystyna Naprawa, 63, when she was struck by a car while on duty as a crossing guard in Woodhaven last October.

“They say a budget is a reflection of our morals and our values,” Nesbit said. “And so our electeds here are showing their morals and values are in the right place. But it isn’t enough.”

Ramos said lawmakers still have an opportunity to pass the bills on their own before the June recess if they are not part of the budget agreement.

Also in attendance were Borough President Donovan Richards; state Sens. John Liu (D-Bayside) and Catalina Cruz (D-Corona); and Assemblymembers Ron Kim (D-Flushing), Jessica González-Rojas (D-East Elmhurst) and Steven Raga (D-Maspeth).

Following the press conference the group marched almost a mile while carrying signs and banners to Junction Playground in Jackson Heights.

Richards, at the press conference, invoked Bayron, Giovanni, Dolma and Quintus, to call for the legislation and the necessary funding.

“They could have gone anywhere. They could have done anything,” Richards said. “Their dreams were shattered by reckless driving. Instead, we’re here talking about them in the past tense; talking about who they were instead of who they are and who they could be. As the father of an 8-year-old, I cannot fathom losing my son to traffic violence. And we know these deaths were preventable.”

“This is about the lives of our children, too many of which have been lost to drivers who do not do the right thing,” Liu said. “We don’t call them accidents — none of these are accidents. They’re crashes. They are traffic violence. And they have caused devastation to too many families.”

González-Rojas had a close call of her own when she was struck by a car back in January, coming away with a broken arm.

“I stand here as a mother. I stand here as a victim of traffic violence,” she said. “... I cannot bear to think about the pain Bayron’s parents are feeling right now.”

The assemblywoman spent weeks in a cast and is undergoing 12 weeks of physical therapy.

“But I’m here to tell the story,” she said. “Bayron’s not.”

Ramos introduced Kim by saying Flushing is statistically the most dangerous neighborhood in Queens. He recalled thinking of his daughters as he walked along the streets in the hours after Quintus’ death.

“And I recognized how dangerous the crosswalks are, how the designs are,” Kim said. “Now is the time to think of every single corner, every single sidewalk with the lens of a child. With the lens of an older adult. The lens of every vulnerable person walking these sidewalks.”