Washington Heights School Gets $300K For Street Safety Improvements

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — An Upper Manhattan elected official recently presented a Washington Heights school with $300,000 to improve street safety around the campus.

During the first week of February, Council Member Carmen De La Rosa visited P.S. 128 near West 169th Street and Broadway to present the check, and also lead a walkthrough of the surrounding area to highlight spots where the funding could be used.

“Car crashes and pedestrian collisions have deeply impacted our community Uptown,” De La Rosa said in a news release. "This allocation and walkthrough is only a fraction of the measures we are taking to change the precarious traffic culture, and we are ready to push these priorities forward."

The $300,000 allocation was designated by De La Rosa to the school in the 2022 New York City budget.

P.S. 128 sits in a busy section of the uptown neighborhood, with Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to its east, and the Luis Belliard School, the Mirabal Sisters Campus, and the Audubon Playground all within a short walk , which makes it "prone to heavy school traffic and higher risks for young students," De La Rosa said.

The walkthrough and funding allocation was also catalyzed by a 12-year-old girl being critically injured after she was hit by a car in March 2022 at West 170th Street and Audubon.

The walkthrough, which included representatives from the Department of Transportation and administrative staff of the previously mentioned schools, covered intersections from 165th to 170th streets.