CROWN HEIGHTS — Safety for floats in the West Indian Day Parade “had not been taken fully into account” when two pedestrian islands — now ripped up by the city ahead of the parade — were built on Eastern Parkway last year, the mayor said.
The two concrete structures at Brooklyn and Kingston avenues had been installed last December by the city, only to be removed this week in preparation for the Caribbean celebration that takes place on the parkway every Labor Day.
Residents had pushed for the islands to protect pedestrians crossing the large thoroughfare, named a “slow zone” by the city as part of the mayor’s Vision Zero safety initiative.
But on Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the decision was made to remove them after local elected officials raised concerns that floats from the parade would be forced to “navigate in a very tight space,” he said a press conference regarding Labor Day safety preparations.
“We realized there was an unintended consequence,” he said. “To me, this is a case where the city was trying to do something good for the overall safety of the community 365 days a year, but on that one day there was a different problem ... that had not been taken fully into account.”
The mayor and Department of Transportation say the agency will work to find a long term solution at the intersections, but no plan to replace the islands is currently in place.
“The idea of having that pedestrian island was a good one. We have to find a happy medium,” the mayor said.
