Shoes Lined Outside Mayor's YMCA To Protest 22 Traffic Deaths

Park Slope NY

02 March, 2020

10:35 AM

Description

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Twenty-two pairs of shoes lined the sidewalk outside Park Slope YMCA with a message for its most famous visitor: "22 killed by cars in 2020 (so far)." Mayor Bill de Blasio likely didn't see the protest Monday morning — someone removed it within "minutes," Streetsblog New York reported — but the group behind it quickly spread photos on Twitter. This morning we placed 22 pairs of white shoes at the Park Slope YMCA, one for each of the people killed in the first two months of this year. #visionzero pic.twitter.com/wjS0nSN1Cb— Take the Streets (@takestreetsnyc) March 2, 2020 Take the Streets NYC took credit for the protest, which occurred after two traffic deaths in Brooklyn last week took the lives of children. The group declined a request for an interview, but their website simply sums up their stance: "The cars are killing us." De Blasio has championed "Vision Zero," a spate of measures designed to reduce traffic deaths to nil. Take the Streets NYC affixed "#visionzero" to signs displayed alongside the shoes. "Not one more," stated one sign. Take the Streets NYC, a safety advocacy group, placed a line of shoes representing the year's traffic deaths outside Park Slope YMCA on Monday. (Courtesy of Take the Streets NYC)Another sign at the protest used de Blasio's own words to make a point. "Our society can't prioritize its cars over its children," it stated, quoting the mayor. Take the Streets NYC, a safety advocacy group, placed a line of shoes representing the year's traffic deaths outside Park Slope YMCA on Monday. (Courtesy of Take the Streets NYC)