DE–Criminalizing Marty Golden ! — Or what could State Senator Martin Golden have been thinking ?

Was this just Marty being a super-cynical buffoon ?   Or did somebody on his State Senate staff tell him it might be a good idea to joust with Mayor Bill de Blasio over his ordinance yrying to prevent killing or maiming people in NYC crosswalks

You See  —   A State Senator, who has a history of a vehicular incident that eventuated in the death of a pedestrian, should not be criticizing anybody that advocates making such an incident, or "accident," a crime

But, you say, Marty might truly think that such a thing should not be a crime  —   Right !  Of course he would.  That’s why it’s called self-justification and self-serving....

Once again, Bay Ridge Democrat commentator Kip has another gotcha story about State Senator Martin Golden. This time it was about Marty Golden's questions put to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio during Wednesday's  Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2015-2016 Executive Budget Proposal, dealing with the topic of "Local Government."

GOLDEN CONFRONTS DE BLASIO OVER CROSS-WALK LAW

According to her most recent Bay Ridge Journal article about Marty,  “... Golden, citing the recent high-profile arrests of bus drivers who have struck pedestrians in crosswalks, questioned the necessity for the "Right-of-Way Law" and whether a bus driver should be arrested and face jail for what may have been an accident. ***   DeBlasio responded that under the new local law, when a driver who fails to yield seriously injures or kills a pedestrian who is walking legally, the investigating officers, if they find the death or injury was avoidable, must arrest.  But they could likewise determine that the strike was unforeseeable or unavoidable, in which case they would only issue a summons. ***   The new law, deBlasio said, established a clear standard where there was none. Drivers who injured and killed pedestrians by failing to yield previously faced no consequences, [the mayor] said ....” (See “Golden, deBlasio Spar Over New "Right of Way" Law” by Kip, 2/26/15, Bay Ridge Journal [http://bayridgejournal.blogspot.com/2015/02/golden-deblasio-spar-over-new-right-of.html]). Kip’s article was based upon and linked to a post on a transit watchdog blog called “streetsblog.”

GOLDEN THINKS THAT PUBLIC SERVANTS DESERVE RESPECT AND APPRECIATION, NOT PROSECUTION

Marty Golden seems to believe that being a “Public Servant” conveys a special status, by which some laws that apply to plain old citizens should not apply to certain categories of public servants. That’s what’s behind Golden’s questioning the necessity for NYC’s "Right-of-Way Law," and whether certain public employees should be arrested and face jail time for a particular category of vehicular homicide.

According to Stephen Miller writing for Streetsblog.org,  “State Senator Marty Golden, who represents Bay Ridge, focused on the high-profile arrests of bus drivers who have killed or injured pedestrians in crosswalks. Golden asked if the Right-of-Way Law is even necessary. ‘If it’s an accident, it’s an accident. Do we need to arrest these people, and is that necessary?’ Golden asked. ‘Should we be locking up bus drivers?’...” (See  “De Blasio Defends Right-of-Way Law to Dimwits in Albany” by Stephen Miller, 2/25/15, STREETSBLOG/ NYC
 [http://www.streetsblog.org/2015/02/25/de-blasio-defends-right-of-way-law-to-dimwits-in-albany/][Update 2/26/15: The quote from the mayor has been updated to include his full response]).

Needless to say, State Senator Marty Golden has been especially solicitous to public employees and their unions over the years.   However, there is probably something more involved in Golden’s outspoken criticism of the "Right-of-Way Law."

MARTY GOLDEN’S CONFRONTATION OF MAYOR DE BLASIO IS ESPECIALLY IRONIC AND SELF-SERVING 

What makes this all particularly ironic, is that Marty Golden is secretly being quite self-justifying and self-serving by the question that he put to the NYC mayor and his professed concern for NYCTA bus drivers and other “public servants.”

Given Marty Golden’s own driving history, with his own unfortunate “accident” in a cross-walk with a pedestrian, which eventually led to the death of the victim; it seems almost incredible that State Senator Golden would bring this up so publicly. Actually, it’s darn near foolhardy. What could he have been thinking ?

At around 11:42 AM on August 6, 2005, State Senator Marty Golden had an “accident” of his own when his black 2005 Chevrolet SUV struck a 74 year old woman pedestrian, Hariklia Zafiropoulos [also reported as: Harkli Zafiroulos], at the corner of 84th Street and Third Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Sometime thereafter, she succumbed to her injuries.

Given all of that, what possibly could have motivated Golden to confront Mayor de Blasio the way he did, knowing that it would only revive all the questions that had arisen back when Golden had this accident in 2005 ?   Right now, one can only guess.