Editorial

Justice for Rylee

Posted

Losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare. Failing to learn any lessons when the cause is known is a community’s. Yet that is exactly what is happening in Kingsbridge Heights, where authorities have not implemented any known safety measures over a month after the tragic death of 8-year-old Rylee Ramos, who was struck by a car while waiting outside the Luisa Pineiro Fuentes School of Science and Discovery (P.S. 307).

Rylee was among a group of students and parents gathered near the school after dismissal when a woman parked on Claflin Avenue reversed her Honda Accord down the one-way street onto Eames Place, jumped the curb and struck a group of 10 women and children, including the third-grade girl. Rylee soon succumbed to injuries from the crash.

Since then, parents of P.S. 307 students and residents who live nearby have launched a valiant effort to improve protections for children coming to and from school.

As motorists continue to observe reckless driving behavior near the school, volunteers have set up barricades to keep cars out of students’ way. One Webb Avenue resident even works as a crossing guard, although he has no training for the job.

Yet Rylee’s aunt is left feeling, “It’s not fair that my niece’s death is going to be in vain because no one is doing anything.”

The city’s Department of Transportation has promised some new measures, such as speed bumps near the school, though the agency did not provide a timeline. DOT has also set up “No Standing” signs near the school.

The poverty of the city’s response is in fact a disgrace when authorities from the mayor on down regularly tout measures like lowering the speed limit as part of their Vision Zero initiative.

For starters, the city should immediately appoint crossing guards for P.S. 307 to make sure students are safe and relieve volunteer Roberto Northover of his burden. Elected officials including state Senator Gustavo Rivera, Assembly Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Fernando Cabrera should use their leverage for this and other measures.

Authorites should also expedite the investigation into Rylee’s death. Not only does the girl’s family deserve justice; the community needs to know what measures can be taken to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

Lastly, DOT should speed up installing speed bumps near P.S. 307 as well as the department’s study of whether stop signs are needed nearby; it is hard to see how they would not be.

Rylee’s aunts feel the city has done little because their niece died in a relatively low-income neighborhood. It is now up to our elected officials and othe city authorities to prove otherwise. 

Rylee Ramos, traffic, P.S. 307, Gustavo Rivera, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Fernando Cabrera, Vision Zero

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