Comptroller Levine presses DOT for 20 mph speed limits across the 17 community districts that asked for them

City Comptroller Mark Levine and several borough presidents want the Department of Transportation to stop going school zone by school zone and start lowering speed limits to 20 mph across whole community districts that have already asked for it.

In a letter dated Monday, Oct. 19, to DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, Levine urged "district-wide implementation" of Sammy's Law, which gives the city power to lower speed limits, on eligible streets in the 17 community districts whose boards have passed resolutions in favor, and asked the agency to prioritize the districts with the most deadly crashes, amNY first reported. The signers include Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Brooklyn's Antonio Reynoso, Queens' Donovan Richards and Council Transportation Committee Chair Shaun Abreu, according to amNY. They asked DOT for a written response laying out its strategy.

The 17 districts that asked for 20 mph

The comptroller's letter and analysis lists them:

• Manhattan: Community Boards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9
• Brooklyn: Community Boards 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7
• Queens: Community Boards 1, 2 and 6
• Bronx: Community Board 6

Those districts recorded 22,490 collisions, 60 deaths and 11,644 serious injuries in 2025, and 14 people have been killed in crashes there since the boards passed their resolutions, the analysis says, based on NYPD crash data on NYC Open Data. Separately, 23 community boards have backed district-wide daylighting, which removes parking spots next to corners so drivers and pedestrians can see each other.

What DOT says

The city has had the power to lower limits for more than a year. The safe-streets group Transportation Alternatives says 20 mph limits cover just 2% of eligible streets so far, amNY reported. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed DOT to use the law for 15 mph limits on streets next to schools.

DOT spokesperson Mona Bruno told amNY the agency is reviewing the letter and is "committed to reducing speed limits within entire neighborhoods or other defined zones," on top of the school-zone work, which she said has hundreds of locations installed with a goal of 800 by the end of the year. amNY notes the mayor's Vision Zero plan does not say where or when those neighborhood-wide reductions will happen.

How fast it could happen

Under the law, DOT has to notify a community board, by email is enough, 60 days before a speed limit change takes effect, the comptroller's analysis notes. After that, the remaining steps are new signs, retimed traffic signals and new settings for speed cameras. The letter points to the city's earlier drop from 30 to 25 mph, which it says cut total crashes by 39% on streets with posted signs, and says cars have killed four children in the city this year.