22 Years for a Traffic Light

As a follow up to yesterday's post about a 34 year campaign for minor changes to alternate side parking regulations, here is a triumphant story about the mere 22 years it took to get a new traffic light in Brooklyn. From the Brooklyn Paper story:

Williamsburg residents rejoiced when the city installed a traffic light at the intersection of Woodpoint Road and Withers Street this week — 22 years after neighbors first requested it.
“We’re really excited, we’ve been fighting for an extra light,” said Community Board 1 member Tish Cianciotta. “We’re meeting people in the street, and they’re saying ‘Thank god!’ ”

Cianciotta says she finally swayed the city after 2010 Census data proved the area has experienced a population surge and now needs streets that are friendlier for pedestrians.Cianciotta, her husband, Guido, and members of the Withers Street Block Association started pestering the city to slow motorists at the busy corner in 1992 — but officials swatted down their requests, nixing a 2008 push for traffic calming measures even though a police cadet died in a motorcycle at the intersection three years earlier.

 Another data point that suggests it takes a really long time to change policy in many cases. For meaningful reform to transportation and land use planning you have to play a long game.