Residents Join Lander To Demand Improvements To Prospect Expwy Intersection

Concerned neighbors joined Council Member Brad Lander at the corner of Ocean Parkway/Prospect Expressway and Church Avenue this morning to call for changes to the dangerous intersection where Ditmas Park resident Ngozi Agbim was killed while crossing the street on Monday. Though a winning project in the Participatory Budgeting process last year, plans for improvements to the intersection were rejected by the New York State Department of Transportation just two days after this tragic death.

“We have been working to fix that intersection — which we all know is dangerous — for years,” said Council Member Lander. “The community felt so strongly that this was voted a top priority in last year’s budget. We are heartbroken about Monday’s tragedy, which took the life of our neighbor, Ngozi Agbim. We must act now to do all we can to prevent future tragedies. We are calling on New York State DOT to approve our plan.”

With the funding available, New York City DOT proposed building a pedestrian refuge island between northbound and southbound traffic at the intersection, to give pedestrians a safe space when crossing the nine-lane street. New York State DOT rejected the proposal, saying that it would cause the traffic lanes to be too narrow, and instead proposed eliminating the crosswalk entirely, even though it is an important connection between bus lines, schools, and neighborhoods. Without the crosswalk, residents would have to walk a block out of their way and wait for three crossing signals instead of one — and people might still try to cross the blocked intersection, anyway.

“Our neighborhood is not a highway,” Lander repeated several times throughout the morning.

“From 2008-2011, six pedestrians were killed along Ocean Parkway, making it the most deadly road for pedestrians in Brooklyn,” said Ryan Lynch, Windsor Terrace resident and associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

He expressed his condolences to Eugene Agbimson, Ngozi’s brother-in-law, who was there this morning to make a statement as well. “We’re going to work really hard to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Ryan said.

Eugene said he was there on behalf of his brother and Ngozi’s husband, Silas, and his children, who he said are just devastated by the loss.

“This is very difficult, but it is also very rewarding,” he said. “It allows me to reflect on her life, her dedication to the service of God, and her lifelong commitment to the less privileged.”

After retiring from the LaGuardia Community College library in 2005, Ngozi worked as the president of the Harambee USA Foundation, an international foundation that supports training and empowerment through sustainable educational and developmental initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in the United States, helping to educate people of all ages about African culture.

“I always wanted to be like her when I grow up, and I still do,” Ngozi’s niece Victoria said the other day in the comments. “She is missed, dearly!”

“Her death, like her life, is now a beacon — a rallying point for change,” he said, expressing hope that this moment would help change the intersection, government regulation of traffic in neighborhoods, and traffic configurations in other places like this.

After the speeches were done, as the group began to disperse, Eugene thanked those who stopped to wish he and his family well, and then he crossed the dangerous intersection, stopping for a brief period between the stop light cycles to stand at the memorial that’s been set up for Ngozi, his head bowed, before continuing on across the street.

Lander has set up a petition to gather signatures and press the New York State DOT for a safety solution. You can learn more and sign here.