MIDLAND BEACH — Staten Island elected officials criticized the city for rejecting their request for stop signs along the crash-prone Greeley Avenue earlier this month — and are asking officials to reconsider.
Borough President James Oddo and Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo said the Department of Transportation's decision to not add stop signs to Greeley Avenue was inappropriate, given that the city last year planned to turn the neighborhood into a slow zone.
"Anyone can tell you that stop signs are needed on this thoroughfare to slow down existing traffic," Matteo said in a statement.
The section of Greeley Avenue, between Hylan Boulevard and Father Capodanno Boulevard, currently has no stop signs and has been the spot of several crashes and complaints from residents throughout the years.
The DOT had proposed turning the area into a slow zone — lowering the speed limit to 20 mph and adding speed bumps to Greeley Avenue — but the project was scrapped in 2015 after opposition from Oddo, Matteo and residents.
Days after those plans were dropped, a pedestrian was seriously injured trying to cross the street.
Instead of the speed limit change, Oddo and Matteo suggested the agency add stop signs to several intersections to limit speeders. They sent several letters to the agency requesting the stop signs, most recently in November.
"Too often, DOT has a ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ approach to solving traffic problems. Frequently, they recognize that an area needs traffic solutions but will reject virtually any suggestion that could resolve the difficulties because it does not fit into their vision for the block or neighborhood. The answer is simple — install much-needed stop signs."
In a letter sent to Oddo and Matteo on April 4, the agency wrote that it had studied the section and found the portion didn't warrant stop signs based on pedestrian volume, previous crashes and other factors.
"Greeley Avenue is a 25 MPH corridor and people should drive carefully around schools, and adhere to the speed limit and obey stop signs in the area," a spokesman for the DOT said. "DOT is coordinating with NYPD regarding enforcement along this corridor."
Oddo said in a statement that the DOT should consider alternatives to fines-based speed reduction.
"Somewhere in between speed cameras, which many Staten Islanders see as simply a revenue scheme, and nearly two and a half decades of DOT rejecting the requests by the 50th District Council member for a traffic control device along the Greeley Avenue corridor is a large swath of options that have not been employed," Oddo said.
"It is hard to imagine that the city of New York can simultaneously want to make this corridor a ridiculous 20 mph, yet continue to reject every single plea for stop signs."
