Just months after a terrorist killed eight and injured eleven in an attack using a rented pick-up truck in New York City, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to install European-style barriers across the city to protect pedestrians from attacks.
In a statement on Tuesday, de Blasio discussed his plan to make New York City safe. Speaking of the temporary barriers that were recently erected throughout New York City, de Blasio said they were “necessary to immediately secure those areas in light of these new trends we’ve seen.” Given their alleged success, de Blasio announced the plan to make the bollards permanent, stating the city would be spending $50 million to put up 1,500 permanent bollards.
“These bollards will make sure that vehicles can never come into the places that pedestrians are,” he said.
De Blasio called vehicle attacks the “most cowardly kind of attacks” and “disgusting.”
There will be pedestrian barriers installed in key places throughout NYC to keep people safe. pic.twitter.com/OmdrvUyloO
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 2, 2018
“These additional safety bollards will allow us to better protect many of our landmark locations and many of the areas most frequently used for recreation,” @NYPDONeill in #TimesSquare now. pic.twitter.com/oLf0i5LOq4
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 2, 2018
While cities across Europe have also installed bollards in order to prevent terrorist attacks, de Blasio made sure to note that the bollards will not just protect against terrorist attacks, but from people who get sick behind the wheel and accidentally hit pedestrians.
The investment comes weeks after de Blasio said terrorists target New York City because of its diversity:
The choice of New York is always for a reason, because we are a beacon to the world, and we actually show that a society of many faiths and backgrounds can work. And we show that democracy can work. And our enemies want to undermine that, the terrorists want to undermine that, so they yearn to attack New York City.
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