New funding for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan to end traffic-related deaths citywide will allow for 300 additional crossing guards at school intersections, officials announced late last month.
The additional funds will ensure that all of the city’s posts are covered, officials said, and, according to Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann, her district will see the addition of at least five new crossing guards.
“There is some good news about crossing guards, which is an issue that we brought up last year,” Beckmann told the board at its January general meeting. “We had a cap of 30. That cap has been increased to 35.
“Even though we’re still asking for 40, we did get some new school crossing guards,” she continued, noting that, at this time, one has already been assigned to the corner of 12th Avenue and 65th Street (the home of I.S. 187).
In November, 2015, on an evening when CB 10 – whose catchment area includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton — had planned to vote to put a request for more crossing guards near local schools in writing, NYPD Assistant Chief Steven Powers was on hand to announce that he had given then-68th Precinct Captain Ray Festino the go-ahead to recruit some more crossing guards. At that time, Board 10 — which encompasses parts of School District 20 — had been down about 10 guards.
More than $25 million of the allocated $400 million in Vision Zero funding will go towards hiring 200 part-time crossing guards and 100 full-time crossing guard supervisors over the next four years, the mayor’s office said.
It will also help create a mobile replacement team to cover absences at posts across the five boroughs.
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