20 MPH Bills Gain Support in Albany, But Will Need Help From Key Senators

State bills to set the default speed limit in NYC at 20 miles per hour picked up several cosponsors Tuesday, including a Senate Republican, but key Senate leaders have not signed on.

As of this morning, bills from Assembly Member Dan O’Donnell and State Senator Martin Malave Dilan have at least 20 and 11 cosponsors, respectively. Those totals include some whose names were added yesterday, when Families for Safe Streets traveled to Albany to meet legislators face to face. At the end of the day, the group said, 15 lawmakers who were not cosponsors agreed to back the bills.

One of them was safe streets champion Joe Lentol, who spoke with grieving family members in his office Tuesday. Assembly Member Lentol was not aware he was not a cosponsor, but attached his name to the bill after the meeting. Speaking of his campaign to make deadly McGuinness Boulevard an arterial slow zone, Lentol said, “That’s just the beginning. We need to do more.”

In the Senate, city Democrats Michael Gianaris, Bill Perkins, and Jose Serrano signed on, as did Nassau Republican Carl Marcellino. Marcellino belongs to the Senate majority, but to clear the chamber the bill will probably need to pick up the support of either Marty Golden or Jeff Klein. Klein, of the Bronx, is Senate co-majority leader and heads the Independent Democratic Conference, and Golden is the leader of NYC’s Republican delegation.

At other meetings I attended, Assembly Member Barbara Clark, Democrat from Queens, and Republican David McDonough of Nassau County committed their support, but are not yet listed as cosponsors.

Members of Families for Safe Streets stressed yesterday the importance of getting the life-saving 20 mph bills passed this year. We will follow developments as the legislative session draws to a close in the coming weeks.