Day: June 17, 2025

State Senator Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) and street safety advocates celebrated the passage of the Stop Super Speeders Act (S.4045C/A.2299C) in the state Senate at a rally in downtown Brooklyn on June 17, urging the state Assembly to follow suit and pass the bill in the next legislative session.

The bill passed the state Senate with a 44 to 15 vote on June 12. The law would require the installation of speed-limiting devices – or intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology- in the cars of reckless drivers who accumulated 11 or more points on their license over 18 months or received 16+ speed camera tickets in a year. The device would prevent reckless speeders from traveling more than five mph over the speed limit in a specific zone- similar to existing state law that requires an “ignition interlock device” in the vehicle of anyone convicted of drunk driving.

Standing on the corner of Flatbush Ext. and Tillary Street, Gounardes, who co-sponsored the bill with Assembly Member Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), pointed out that one of New York City’s worst speed offenders was caught racing five times on the very same block.

The reckless driver received more than 470 speed camera tickets last year, totaling more than $47,000 in traffic violations.

“You might be scratching your head and say, ‘How is this possible? How can we let this happen?'” Gounardes said. “It happens because we do not have a single tool in our toolkit at either the state or local level to crack down and hold accountable repeat reckless drivers, repeat super speeders.”

Gounardes emphasized that passing the bill in the Assembly and getting it on Gov. Hochul’s desk for signature was imperative to save lives.

“This bill, when enacted, will save lives,” the Brooklyn pol said. “This bill, when enacted, will hold reckless drivers accountable. This bill, when enacted, will keep our streets safe for everyone. And so the job is half done. We need our partner in Albany, the state Assembly, to pass this bill and make sure that we can hold these reckless drivers accountable.”

According to NYCDOT data, drivers who have racked up 16 speed camera violations in a year are twice as likely to be involved in a crash causing serious injury or death. The implementation of the law will prevent future tragedies like the horrific crash that claimed the lives of 34-year-old Natasha Saada and her two daughters, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5, earlier this year when 35-year-old Miriam Yarmini, plowed into a group of pedestrians after speeding through a red light. Yarimi was driving with a suspended license and had racked up 99 traffic violations, including 21 speeding tickets, in the past two years.

Family members and friends who lost their loved ones to traffic violence also addressed the urgency to get the bill passed in the state Assembly.

Darnell Sealy-McCrorey, father of high school freshman Niyell McCrorey, who was struck by an SUV while she was crossing the intersection in uptown Manhattan in Nov. 2024 and succumbed to her injuries seven days later, turned his pain into power spending time in Albany, advocating for the passage of the bill.

“Unfortunately, the device wasn’t installed at the time during my daughter’s death, which could have probably prevented her from dying seven days later,” said Sealy-McCrorey, who described the tragedy as one of the most traumatic experiences of his and his family’s lives.

36-year-old Amanda Servedio was hit and killed by a speeding Doge Ram as she was cycling in Astoria in Oct. 2024. Her friend Joseph Jankoski shared that the driver had racked up 90 speed camera and red light camera tickets in two years.

“I’m here on her behalf because she wouldn’t want this to be about her. She’d want to get this bill passed for the countless others that have been taken from us too soon,” Jankoski said. “Nothing we do now can bring back Amanda or anyone else who has been so cruelly and senselessly taken from us, but passing this bill will help keep others from feeling what we who lost people feel, that emptiness, that sense of loss.”

Juliane Williams lost her daughter Doniqueca Cooke in 2016 when the 21-year-old college student was hit and killed by a speeding Porsche that jumped the curb at the intersection of Junction Boulevard and the Horace Harding Expressway service road in Queens.

Williams shared losing her daughter was a constant nightmare and called on the state Assembly to pass the bill.

“We need you to pass this bill,” Williams urged. “Because this is not about us alone. It’s about every living human being. Because at no time can you tell what’s gonna happen next by the speeding motor vehicles. I’m calling on all Assembly Members, please pass this bill because you could be saving your own life.”

For many in Coney Island, the Parkview Diner isn’t just a place to grab pancakes or a burger — it’s home. 

The 24-hour diner has become an institution, serving good food and community to generations of Brooklynites. And according to co-owner Adam Fathelbab, that legacy runs deeper than many may realize. 

“We’re the neighborhood diner,” he said. “It’s really a home away from home.” 

Its roots stretch back decades, even before it became a diner. Fathelbab, who grew up in Brooklyn and took over the business with his family in 2013, recalls stories told by longtime customers about the lot’s original purpose: two rival watermelon stands, run by brothers, who sold in competition. 

The space evolved to the Vegas Diner, then into the Nebraska Diner in the 1970s, Fathelbab said, part of a short-lived dream by the original owner to create diners named after all 50 states. The space later became Retro 50 before undergoing several closures and re-openings, eventually reemerging in 2010 as the Parkview Diner. Fathelbab and his family stepped in just a few years later, determined to keep it thriving. 

Since then, Parkview solidified its role as a local staple, where longtime staff greet returning customers like old friends, and a first visit often doesn’t stay the last. Fathelbab credits the diner’s low staff turnover rate, saying “if you came here 10 years ago, 70 percent of the people would still be the same”— as part of a commitment to togetherness. 

“We take care in every detail,” he said. “Whether it’s a customer or an employee, we want everyone to feel like they belong.”

That spirit even caught the attention of Hollywood. The diner was a filming location for “Anora,” the 2025 Oscar Best Picture winner set in southern Brooklyn.

“It was a great representation of the diner and the community,” Fathelbab said. “The film wasn’t supposed to win anything, but it did. It’s an underdog story, just like Coney Island.”

“We’re the underdogs, kind of forgotten about. We’re here for each other and we’re a great community,” he continued. “We keep fighting.”

Fathelbab takes pride in the diners diverse menu, saying they stick to the classics but make everything well. 

“No one should ever leave dissatisfied,” he said.

He also values attention to detail — whether it’s greeting every customer or keeping longtime staff. 

“From the customers to the employees, and anyone in between, it’s home,” he said. 

That bond runs deep: one table at his wedding was reserved for diner regulars. As a born and raised Brooklynite, Fathelbab finds fulfilment in Parkview’s place in the community. 

“Being part of this community and being known as the neighborhood diner is an honor and a privilege,” he said. “We’re a home away from home.”

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