By Jefferson Siegel
Chelsea residents rallied Monday to protest the death of an 8-year-old child pedestrian — the latest victim of Ninth Ave. traffic.
“Kumo’s death is not an accident, it’s part of a deadly pattern,” Christine Berthet said of Prince “Kumo” Harris, Jr., the child who was struck at the corner of Ninth Ave. and 17th St. on Oct 5. He died the next day. “This residential corridor is used as a highway and is getting more dangerous for seniors and children with every passing year…. We are appalled that this disastrous health pattern is not being recognized.”
Kumo’s death is the fifth on Ninth Ave. within the last year.
Berthet and other members of Community Board 4’s Transportation Committee are calling on Janette Sadik-Kahn, the city’s transportation commissioner, to expedite the installation of speed bumps on W. 17th St.
The block is virtually a neighborhood unto itself, home to the densely-populated Robert Fulton Houses, several small middle schools, a senior center and three nearby playgrounds.
“Ninth Ave. residents are sick of reading their neighbor’s names in the headlines,” said Brooke DuBose of Transportation Alternatives, one of the rally’s organizers.
In September, Transportation Alternatives mounted four plaques marking the spots where pedestrians were killed in Chelsea and Clinton, including at 16th St. and 9th Ave, where 82-year-old Amelia Chimienti was killed by a truck last February. DuBose hung another plaque honoring Harris on a nearby gate during the rally.
Miguel Acevedo, director of Fulton Youth for the Future, also called for speed bumps. He waved his arm towards the crowd of children gathered nearby and said, “I promise you I’m going to protect you for all my living days.”
Samantha Fernandez, 16, a distant relative to Kumo said “I was very close to him,” after lighting a candle on the street where Harris’ name had been stenciled. “Nobody will ever forget him.”
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who lives in a Ninth Ave. building, Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Tom Duane, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried have also called for traffic calming measures on Ninth.
T.A. noted that over 1,000 pedestrians have been injured and 15 killed by cars along the avenue in the ten years from 1995 to 2005.
Harris’ father, Prince Harris, Sr., criticized the city’s priorities. “Every day I ride down the higher-class neighborhoods, there’s no kids out and there are three to four speed bumps,” he said, noting his block of W. 17th St. was always filled with children. “You come here and you have nothing.
“My son was the joy of this block. I don’t want to see this happen to any other kids.”
thevillager.com
