Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

After Toddler Killed By Van, City Moves To Slow Traffic On NW Side Street

By  Heather Cherone and Alex Nitkin | December 8, 2016 2:35pm 

 Noah Katz, 2, died after being struck by a van in the 4700 block of North Central Avenue Sunday.
Noah Katz, 2, died after being struck by a van in the 4700 block of North Central Avenue Sunday.
View Full Caption
YouCaring/Alex Nitkin

CITY HALL — A measure designed to slow traffic along a stretch of Central Avenue in Jefferson Park where a toddler was struck and killed by a man driving a van on Nov. 13 advanced Thursday.

The City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety approved a measure crafted by Ald. John Arena (45th) to remove parking restrictions along Central Avenue between Higgins and Eastwood avenues during rush hour, which would turn the avenue into a permanent one-lane street.

Just after 4 p.m. Nov. 13, Noah Katz, 2, and his mother were crossing Central Avenue at a crosswalk when Alexander Vasquez, 48, made a left turn from Giddings Street and struck both of them, according to police.

Vasquez was issued five citations, including one for disregarding a stop sign and another for failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, police said.

The measure is expected to be approved by the full Council Dec. 14.

Arena has also pledged to revive a proposal to extend sidewalks out into Central Avenue, a strip residents have long decried as a dangerous thoroughfare in a residential neighborhood.

Those extensions — known as "bump outs" — could be built in the spring, although the Chicago Department of Transportation rejected the effort last year.

A fundraising page for Noah's family collected more than $32,200.

Noah's parents, Rachel and Myron, are "some of the kindest, most loving people I know, and they had a beautiful son who they loved very much," said Mark Psilos, a longtime friend of the couple. "For people who know them, it's obvious why we'd all want to come together and support them. This loss has been felt by a lot of people."

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: