New Rye Mayor Doug French is having a busy and dramatic first week in office.
In a comment released to MyRye.com in regards to yesterday's accident on Midland Avenue where a child was struck by a car, French is calling for stop signs on the corner of Midland and Palisade.
He told MyRye.com: "After my call to the family tonight we are all relieved to hear the child is ok. Having said that, my position now is the same as what I stated during my run for this office — having lived off the corner of Palisade Road for 7 years with my children attending Midland School, I have always believed that there needed to be stop signs on the corners of Midland and Palisade. Now in office, I will review the policies and procedures with the appropriate officials and will call on the council to review those at our next Council meeting Jan 20th."
Thank you Mr. French. It’s really too bad you and the new team has to confront this kind of legacy incident less than 24 hours into your administration.
I’m confident your team will put citizen’s interest’s front and center. How old fashionedly refreshing.
What a blessing it is that the boy is alive.
Doug,
I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT THE MIDLAND AVE. NEIGBORHOOD AND THE RYE COMMUNITY BE HEARD AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING ON THIS SUBJECT!!!
I just realized after re-reading this article that NEW MAYOR Doug French called the family on the same day as the accident!!!
WOW…That is more respect than the Otis Administration EVER gave the family of the little boy that was struck and killed at THAT SAME VERY INTERSECTION!!!
As a matter of fact, my family, after 3 3/4 years is STILL WAITING for STEVE OTIS to pay his respect!!!
Jim, if Otis called you tonight to say he was sorry, would you be respectful to him on the phone?
Avg.Citizen,
YES I WOULD! And when I always saw him on the street I respected him as well!
Everyone makes mistakes, it is what we take from them that counts! So far Steve has not shown me that!
I am not perfect, but I am a man and when I am wrong I will always step to the plate!
There is always room for FORGIVENESS, Forgetting, well that is a different story!
I never asked for any of this!!!
Were you wrong yesterday?
Was Jimmy wrong yesterday – I think not AC.
I think the police top management acted out their frustrations about his constant and sound critiques of their lack of response to multiple issues and dangers we face here. There’s a fairly wide range of administrative shortfalls that have been evident during the years after our previous “fixed” non-election and none that I can think of were caused by failings of the rank and file. Maybe you know some?
So when “Great, we finally got him” was allegedly overheard from a RPD administrative level employee after Jimmy was arrested, I think absolutely no should be surprised. The actual formal charges were unnecessary as was the cuffed up “perp shot” they allowed for Channel 12. Do you think Jimmy was wrong to ventilate yesterday? Do you believe the so called charges were leveled fairly? What do you think about the current management of the Rye police? And did you know any of the police leadership teams here prior to this group?
I am a parent of 2 Midland school children. There but for the Grace of God, my children are healthy and safe today. You never want to blame the victim but lets put everything into perspective. The child on Thursday ran in front of a moving vehicle which was not speeding. He didn’t look both ways before he crossed the street. He just went in front of a moving vehicle. He is extremely lucky to be alive but before we start blaming the accident on stop signs or lack of one, the car wasn’t speeding. The child did what so many children do – he was careless and did not take into account the dangers of crossing the street. The accident also happened at the time when in front of the school there was a crossing guard. Why didn’t the child cross where there was someone who could have safely gotten him across the street? Put a stop sign on Midland Avenue – fine. But both accidents were not either drivers fault. It was not the city of Rye’s fault. The accidents were the result of two children being children and not being careful. Rye is in such a “safe roads/safe children” mode. There isn’t anything that could have prevented this accident from happening. The driver wasn’t speeding and there was a crossing guard. Aside from having every parent never leaving their children’s side and getting them from point A to B the only thing left to do is pray that your children will be safe.
Honest Citizen,
Do you speak with the dead?
Did you speak with the little boy that was hit on Thursday?
How do you know if Jarrid Amico was trying to cross the street? Maybe he lost control of his bicycle. Maybe the sun blinded him and he couldn’t see where he was going. Maybe he was trying to cross the street.
No one knows the answer to this and no one will ever know!
How do you know the little boy from Thursday didn’t look both ways? How do you know the little boy was careless while crossing the street?
Until you or any other “know it all” speaks to Jarrid Amico or the boy that was hit on Thursday maybe you should stop assuming you know everything!
Both accidents could have been prevented and it is ABSOLUTELY 100% the fault of the City of Rye!
As Mr.Amico has stated several times, Midland Ave. has been a dangerous street for many many years! No family has lived on Midland longer than the Amico’s.
They have been there since 1901!
Who is more educated on Midland Ave. than them???
You want the children who exit the North Playground to walk to the Crossing Guard in the OPPOSITE direction to get to the other side of Midland?
Good Luck With That!
I happen to agree with Mr.Amico, if there are Stop Signs in place in both directions on Midland @ Palisade Rd. both vehicles would have been at a complete STOP or approaching very slow to come to a COMPLETE STOP and in both accidents there would not have been one!
Further more, no one ever blamed either driver. And if my memory serves me correctly one of the very first things Mr.Amico said was “the driver of the van that hit my son was not speeding”.
That does not mean that speeding is not a MAJOR problem on Midland Ave.
Put yourself in that little boys frame of mind and lets say he lives on Palisade instead of Grapal… you would walk from the North Playground in the opposite direction to cross in front of the school? You can pound that thought into any 10 yr.old all you want…it is not going to happen!
It is the responsibility of our officials to make our streets safer, we do not vote them into office to IGNORE all the obvious dangers!
Mayor French is already doing more than Steve Otis ever did in the past almost 4 years since the Amico’s lost their son!!!
Avg.Citizen,
What is your opinion…Do you think Jim Amico was wrong?
When I walked my young children to school on their first day at Midland in 2001, I was shocked at how fast the cars and buses sped down the street. On my daily walks, I frequently saw near misses, especially as drivers rushed through the turn at Midland and Palisade. Fearful for the safety of the children who walk down Midland to get to the school and park, I e-mailed a letter to the city manager, who forwarded my concerns to the police commissioner nine years ago. I also shared my concern with the mayor. Crosswalks also are dangerous: Even when a car stops to let children cross in the crosswalk, I have witnessed impatient drivers, pass the stopped car and nearly hit the children. Nine years later, with one boy dead and another injured, the city still pretends there’s not a problem. There is. I challenge anyone to stand on Midland Avenue on a busy weekday and see for themselves how dangerous the street can be.
Midland Resident,
There is a small problem with your letter;
YOU SENT IT TO INCOMPETENT FOOLS!
City Managers; Culross/Shew
Mayor; Steve Otis
Commissioner; William Connors
As you can already see,there is forward and positive action coming from the French Administration!
2 of the above 4 BAFOONS are gone,1 is on his way out and the other (Connors) is sure to be not far behind!!!
RESEND IT!!!
AboveAverage Citizen, I have no idea if Jim was right or wrong. That’s why I asked! I looked on News12 but couldn’t find the video everyone is talking about.
And all those examples that you gave as to why the boys may have entered into traffic are all valid BUT each one of your examples was still the fault of the child, not the driver. These incidents could have happened 100 feet before the stop sign. Then what? Another stop sign? I give Jim credit. In both incidences he doesn’t even hint that the driver might have been at fault. I applaud him for that.
As for Midland Resident’s comments. I haven’t been on Midland to witness the speed, but I take you at your word. However, do you think that this is the only street where there is speeding? I bet there are a dozen “hot spots” in Rye. While speed enforcement will stop it that day, I’m not sure that putting a cop with radar there on Monday will stop speeders on Tuesday. I think (but will leave it to the experts) that you need to saturate the streets with speed enforcement units until Rye gets the reputation of “you speed — we’ll get you!” To accomplish this, you are going to have to (literally) hire more cops and dedicate them just to this. Remember, Midland by Jim’s house is not the only place something could happen.
P.S. Would I be wrong to say we all speed? Tomorrow morning (monday) try going 20mph on BPR or Midland. You wouldn’t believe how slow that is!
Interesting facts:
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:bquqHPIQTssJ:www.theautochannel.com/news/2002/10/01/148330.html+how+many+children+are+struck+by+cars+in+US+annually&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Avg.Citizen,
You can’t find any shots of him on video because there are none!
Those are comments from his Nay Sayers and the RPD making up stories!
I was present on the scene!
As far as I know, the only blame the Amico’s put on the driver that struck Jarrid is his age at the time of 82!
I agree with Mr.Amico, the blame lies squarely on the City of Rye and all the previous Mayors! As Mr.Amico has stated on more than one occassion MIDLAND AVE. has been IGNORED for years upon years!
Did you know his Mom hit a little boy at that same very intersection about 20 years ago?
We can not expect a child to make Adult decisions, therefore we can not FAULT a child – we must do everything within our powers to protect them until they grow into an adult.
Jim has always blamed the street and the people responsible for the street, and I agree 1,000%!
Yes, there are dozens of Hot Spots in Rye when it comes to Speeding…Forest,Milton,BPR,Midland,etc.
Why do you think he has such a problem with Connors?
The man spends $500,000 per year on overtime, how much of that do you think is allocated to RADAR and a car paid for and dedicated for radar for Officer Cancel???
Did you know Connors instructed Officer Joe Cancel and the rest of the Dept.to do Radar on Midland only to “prove Jim Amico wrong”?
As for doing 20MPH, yes that is extremely slow and I have done it and do it everytime I’m in the School Zones. The City of Rye only asks motorists to do 20MPH in the School Zones, which in my opinion are too short of a distance! Are you in that much of a rush that you can’t do 20MPH for a whole 1/4 of a mile for the sake of the safety of ALL the CHILDREN?
You are right, it is time to SATURATE!! Mr.Amico has asked the RPD several times to go on Midland and do diligent and agressive radar.
THEY OBVIOUSLY REFUSE TO DO SO!!!
Imagine that child on Thursday or your child on any day being hit by a SPEEDING 3,000LB BULLET!!!
What chance would that child have of surviving?
Why can’t everyone see the results that little Jarrid suffered from a 7,000lb vehicle ONLY going 25-30MPH???
It is time the citizens of Rye stand behind this man(Mr.Amico) and demand something be done!