>> this is... >> a sudden surge of pedestrian deaths in new york city. at least 13 people have died in the last two weeks, including three on halloween. so, what's behind the recent increase? is this just a statistical blip, or does mayor de blasio's traffic safety campaign, known as vision zero, suddenly seem a bit blurred and maybe in need of some tweaks? this morning we put that question and get some answers from new york city's transportation commissioner. good morning, everyone. i'm bill ritter in for diana williams. a spree of pedestrian deaths in new york city, and now the nypd stepping up traffic enforcement, trying to reduce traffic deaths. they are really trying everything, from cracking down on dangerous drivers to keeping pedestrians from jaywalking into harm's way. now, before we talk to the commissioner, we're gonna get

reporter stacey sager. >> south street here on the lower east side -- one of many places across the boroughs where additional police are now out on the streets -- more than 1,700 of them working more than 12,000 hours, a crackdown on bad drivers. and given the number of pedestrian fatalities in new york city in recent weeks, enforcement is badly needed. it has been horrific -- more than a dozen pedestrians now killed since halloween, three at once here in the bronx, among them a 10-year-old girl and her grandfather. and here on the upper west side last sunday, 88-year-old luisa rosario was killed by a taxi driver so tired, he didn't notice her in the crosswalk. today luisa's grandson just hoping the new initiative can make a difference. >> help us, you know, prevent -- prevent these tragedies from occurring in such a unique and wonderful city that we all live and work in.

initiative here in flushing, jaywalkers are now being warned, then cited, if they don't follow the rules, but some suggest it's taking the focus off the real problem. >> what we need the nypd to do is to focus on the violations that are causing the deaths and injuries, and that is speeding and failure to yield. >> they say in some precincts, speeding enforcement is actually down compared to last year, but given the scope of all the recent fatalities, authorities are clearly attacking the problem on all fronts. stacey sager, channel 7, eyewitness news. >> i want to take a look at some numbers -- show you the numbers of pedestrian fatalities. last year, new york city had 139 pedestrian fatalities. that's the lowest since 1910. through november 11th of this year, 109 pedestrians were killed as compared to 120 last year for the same time period. so, despite the rash of deaths in the last two weeks -- and we have covered them, and they got a lot of media attention -- the total is still lower than last year.

joining us this morning to talk about all this and more, new york city's transportation commissioner, polly trottenberg. before we get to those numbers, you hear the people talk about their dead family members, and that's really the ultimate story here, and that's what, you know, breaks your heart. one traffic death is too much. >> absolutely. it's heartbreaking. look, i want to say, on behalf of myself and the de blasio administration, we are really grieving right now for the terrible spate of tragic crashes and fatalities we've had on our roadways. as you've just been reporting, it's made us want to redouble our efforts on vision zero. nypd is mounting an aggressive new enforcement campaign. d.o.t. and nypd are out with our street education teams, talking to motorists and folks on the roadways, and we're continuing with our work in terms of speed cameras, speed enforcement, and re-engineering our streets to make them safer. >> you just went through a litany of things that we can do. why is there a deadline? one of the things that surprised me when the nypd announced this stepped-up enforcement -- 12,000 hours a day extra -- only until november 22nd. why don't we just have that all the time?

>> well, i would say that, in general, the nypd has really picked up their enforcement citywide. it isn't just a one-time blitz. but i think they've announced -- particularly in light of all the terrible crashes we've seen lately, they wanted to have a really targeted, highlighted effort, which is really all hands on deck. as you reported, they're having a lot of officers out all over the city. >> and the thought is that, like having some sort of personal trainer at the gym, once you get started on that path, it'll be in our heads and we'll start behaving and driving better. >> absolutely. that is the hope -- to really, one, crack down on motorists that are engaging in dangerous behavior -- speeding, failure to yield -- but also just remind everyone else, please, we're gonna be out. you're gonna see us. drive safely. >> we do that, of course, every holiday with the drunk-driving checkpoints out there. they do the same kind of thing -- same theory, i suppose. >> that's correct, and one thing, look, we have observed is it does seem like this terrible spate of crashes has happened just as we've switched over to daylight savings, and so, just, i want to remind those that are behind the wheel, particularly as the sun starts to go down, pay extra attention.

i think, unfortunately, the early darkness might be a factor here. >> let's dig in to the weeds a little bit about this, because i know that people like to assign blame, and i know that's not what you're doing. you want to figure out how to prevent that. what are the things that drivers have to do? let's start with 25 miles an hour. you all switched over to 25 mile an hour. it sounds great. people slow down. but it hasn't really -- as we showed in stacey sager's story, hasn't really been enforced. do you want to see more enforcement? >> i really do, and i will say that is the number-one thing that i think we really want drivers to do -- slow down. everything else that's happening on the new york city streets -- things that are unexpected, whatever it might be -- if you're going at a safe speed and you do unfortunately have some kind of a crash, that crash is much less likely to be fatal. so, that's the number-one thing. i said this at the time we lowered the speed limit. slow down. drive at a safe speed. be calm and relaxed behind the wheel. you're gonna get where you need to go. >> you want the nypd to crack down a little more? they have not really done that. last week.

i wish i could have had you guys on together. they have their own issues about law enforcement. >> no, no, and, listen, i think the nypd actually has stepped up quite a bit. don't get me wrong. but i'm very glad they're doing this enforcement blitz. i think it'll be a big help. >> you think that they need to ticket more? a few tickets for people driving 35 miles an hour might slow them down, right? >> well, the blitz involves a bunch of things. i mean, partially, it does involve giving tickets, but it also just involves talking to motorists and reminding them about safe behavior and also being visible for everybody who's out on the streets to see that enforcement actions are happening. >> again, not assigning blame to anybody, but you can't be an aware citizen and not understand that pedestrians in new york are -- you know, why they get victimized in an accident with a car. they are often to blame in these situations. >> well, i think -- look -- your footage put it well. i mean, the people that ultimately have the responsibility are gonna be those that are behind that 4- or 5-ton vehicle, and, again, if they can drive at a safe speed, that can really make a huge difference. >> understand, but, you know, these things -- these smartphones -- you see them all the time. i do it walking down the

sidewalk. there's a lot of people going across the crosswalk, looking at their smartphones. how big a problem is that? are pedestrians gonna start getting tickets for this stuff? >> i don't think the focus of this is gonna be on pedestrians getting tickets. look, we all live in a very distracted age now. we all do have our smartphones and a lot of distractions around us, and, you know, part of what we need to do to make our system safer is we need to be alert, collectively, when we're out on the streets. >> what about jaywalking? you know, one woman who was killed by a bus last week was, in fact, jaywalking. now, the bus had the last say over this, but she was jaywalking. >> she actually was not jaywalking. she was actually crossing on a street where there wasn't a crosswalk. that is not jaywalking. and, look, in that one, clearly, the bus should have seen her. she was clearly in the visibility of the bus, and, you know, tragically, the bus hit her, so i think in that one -- look, the investigation's still happening, so i can't determine ultimately what the investigation's gonna show, but just looking at the footage, that's what it looked like. >> i guess what i'm trying to

do pedestrians have any responsibility? they have a responsibility to be aware of the situations when they cross the streets. >> we all have a responsibility to be aware, for sure, but, again, i think in this one, there's a strong feeling that the people who have the ultimate responsibility are gonna be the >> okay. car. the cars these days -- i mean, texting is one thing, but the car situation now, when you go inside a modern-day car, it is one distracted amusement park inside. >> i think that is very true. cars do have a lot of very high-tech features in them now, and it's funny. i was just watching an ad on tv a couple nights ago about how now you can get your texts read aloud to you while you're driving. and, look, that's something i know that the automakers and, actually, u.s. d.o.t. are looking at, which is making sure that we can embrace this new technology, some of which actually can greatly improve safety in vehicles and detect pedestrians and things like that but, at the same time, does not become such a distraction, and that balance. >> it's not just about taking your eyes off the wheel. it's taking your mind off driving. >> right. i mean, we talk about

when you're driving safely behind the wheel, you're physically engaged -- you're holding on to the wheel. you're mentally engaged -- you're alert. and you're visually engaged -- you're looking. you're scanning for other vehicles, for pedestrians, for cyclists, for any type of obstacles. that's what you want to do behind the wheel. >> as long as i have you here, let me -- let me throw out a wild idea. why not have -- we have computer things for everything. why not have a driver's license with a little chip in it? if it's expired, if it's suspended, you have to put that in the ignition to actually be able to start a car. too far-fetched? >> well, no, and, you know, in fact, there's a sort of a variation on that technology, which is called the interlock, which is -- there was some news about it recently in new york. judges are ruling that people -- if they have a couple of, let's say, d.u.i. convictions, they have to have a device where they have to blow into a breathalyzer, and they can't turn on the engine to their car unless they can, you know, pass the breathalyzer test. so, i don't -- you know, potentially, we'll have other technologies like that in the future. >> i don't want to be too big brothery here, but why not have that for everybody, whether

or not? why not blow in to some sort of breathalyzer before you start the car? >> well, look, you have to find the sweet spot of how much technology and enforcement you want to do, but, you know, i would just say this again, you know, given, particularly, this tragic spate of crashes. you know, the de blasio administration -- we are redoubling our efforts on vision zero, and, in fact, i wanted to mention we'll be -- the mayor and i will be -- participating in a march with transportation advocates this weekend. on sunday, we're gonna march at noon from city hall up to the u.n. >> right after the show, so you can join them. >> that's right, and we're gonna be, you know, continuing to look at all possible solutions -- education, enforcement, technology, engineering, you name it. >> transportation commissioner polly trottenberg, it is never easy in the streets of new york with cars and pedestrians and bicycles and more bike lanes to have everyone coexist with any kind of d\tente, but you're trying, and we appreciate it. >> we are trying. thank you, bill. >> thank you, polly. when we come back, we're gonna switch topics. former manhattan borough president and one-time mayoral candidate for new york city ruth messinger joins us.

remember her? oh, she's still quite active. she talks about her career to help others after leaving politics, and, oh, yeah, we'll

>> welcome back to "upclose." our next guest once ran for the highest political office in new york city. former manhattan borough president ruth messinger, trying to become mayor in 1997, losing to rudy giuliani, as he won a second term. she has been, since then, in the trenches and at the forefront, fighting for civil rights and human rights in countries around the world, and now ruth messinger is retiring as the president of the nonprofit american jewish world service,

conduct her exit interview, and i'm pretty excited for that. >> me, too. >> i didn't even tell you it was an exit interview, but that's what it is -- at least for the public. >> fair enough. >> and so many new yorkers remember you fondly and think of you fondly and now... >> thank you. >> ...are gonna wish you well on your next part of your journey here. you just turned 75. happy birthday. >> thank you very much. >> what is your next chapter? what's your next act? >> well, i've been very lucky, because in the city, of course, i cared about people. i cared about improving systems and services to people, and i got a job doing that internationally. i got a job fighting for human rights. i had worked on the gay rights bill here. i've been working against an anti-homosexuality bill in uganda for the last six years. i'm working with an organization that mobilizes the american jewish community to work in the non-jewish developing world. so, 17 years doing that. the executive vice president, robert bank, will become the president on july 1st, and i will become the organization's

global ambassador. >> there you go. it's not a bad title, right? >> it's a great title. >> you are just oozing with energy and passion for what you do. why are you stepping down? >> i'm stepping down because 17 1/2 years -- 18 years it'll be -- in one job is wonderful for the person who holds it, but there comes a point where the organization needs to define its next steps and, most importantly, where the next generation of leaders needs to step up. so i wanted to be sure that robert bank's skill and talent was put to work in our organization and, no secret -- exit interview, 75th birthday -- it will be fun to be doing some of the same work but with a slightly lowered amount of responsibility and with a chance to explore all the other things in my life, from family to photography... >> there you go. >> ...to new york city. >> there's no golf in your future, i guess, right? >> there's no golf, but i still ride my bike. >> there you go. >> so, i was glad to hear your interview with the transportation commissioner. >> and there are more bike lanes than there were when you were

president of the borough of manhattan. >> and there's citi bike, which, for those of us who have to dash around the city, is a wonderful invention and convenience. >> do you wear your helmet? >> always. >> good, 'cause a lot of people don't on the citi bikes, and we take pictures of them all the time, and i'm shocked when they don't do it. let's talk about your organization. when you took over in 1998, there was less than $3 million a year you were raising. that was your budget. now it's upwards of $60 million. that is quite an accomplishment. how did you do it? >> well, i think the times have changed. i think that was -- the organization's 30 years old, literally this week. we're having a gala event on tuesday. but when i came in in 1998, there was generally less awareness about the rest of the world. people were worried more close to home about what they needed to fix, pay attention to, improve, certainly in new york city and in the united states. but almost immediately after i came, there started to be more of a global awareness, and we just capitalized on it.

south asia, we were able to say to our growing community of supporters, "we can ensure that money you contribute will be spent in a good way on the ground. it will be spent not only for immediate relief but to build people's human rights," and, frankly, as the interest in that has grown, we, with a wonderful staff, a wonderful board, have done everything we could to grow our budget, precisely because, bill, as you know, there are very serious problems in the world. >> it wasn't just a sort of do-gooder notion. you actually did walk the walk. >> right, and it's walking the walk -- and it's walking the walk -- this is my most critical point, really -- not to do for others but to find their energies and their desires to change. there are women in india organizing to keep their daughters in school to avoid some of the critical problems of early and child marriage. those women need to know about other people who are making the

support for their efforts, need to get some help in building their organizations. that's what we do. >> in the next two minutes we have with you, i would be remiss if i didn't ask you some politics. >> please. >> there have been three mayors since -- three people in the office since you ran. rudy giuliani had an okay term the first term. his second term -- not so good. looking back, is the city better off now than it was then? are we in better shape economically? are we in better shape socially, politically? what do you think? >> look, the amazing thing about new york is it finds ways to keep being in new and better keep being in new and better shape. it's increasingly a diverse city trying to invest in all of its communities. i didn't agree with rudy giuliani, and i felt like he missed an opportunity in his second term to focus on education. mike bloomberg corrected a lot of issues in and of the city, and the current mayor is right to say that we have to address some of these problems of income inequality. so, i want to shout out his amazing investment in pre-k services. i think we're now up to 70,000 kids, maybe more.

there were 19,000 two years ago. >> okay. well, that's just unbelievable, and it's helping every community, and i know from my overseas work that when you have a plan for a child, you have a mother and a father who can each go to work, who can be more comfortable in their parenting and in their own family economic development, then that's good. >> it might be, whether he seeks another term or gets a second term, whatever -- this may be his crowning achievement, right? >> it might be, but he is certainly now tackling the very much more complicated problem of affordable housing, of larger issues of income inequality. i do remember how hard it is, and i wish him well in mobilizing communities to work with him. >> it seems to a lot of people -- and they may be naive, it might be the answer. we need more jobs in new york city, and that's a harder nut to crack. >> of course, and that's a question of how the city brings in job opportunities, what we do, and what we learn from other places about "what are the jobs that people can get without an advanced degree?"

how do we put all the people who come to new york city for its great promise or who grow up here -- how do we get them properly educated and employed? >> ruth messinger, you could have, after your political career, gone to be a political science professor somewhere or political -- director emeritus somewhere, but instead you became an activist again, and you continue to do that. good luck to you. >> thank you very, very much, bill. appreciate it. >> safe travels. >> thank you. >> just ahead, we're gonna talk about politics -- presidential politics. the winners and losers in the latest presidential debate, and where do we go from here? plus, can governor christie make it back to the big stage with the adults? political analyst jeanne zaino

>> welcome back to "upclose." the fourth republican presidential candidates' debate this past week -- the frontrunners, donald trump and ben carson, first, not wanting to make any huge blunders. one of them did that later. more on that in a minute. but other candidates, like, marco rubio, tried to score some points and connect with undecided republicans. >> we all know you can't pick them up and ship them back across the border. >> you're lucky in ohio that you struck oil. that's the one thing. >> false little things, sir -- they really don't work when it comes to the truth. >> i don't have to hear from this man. believe me. [ audience groans ] >> it's just not -- not possible. and it's not embracing american values, and it would tear communities apart, and it would send a signal that we're not... [ cheers and applause ] ...the kind of country that i know america is. >> every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. >> i hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. people have to go out. they have to work really hard. >> if i thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to

help people increase their pay, i would be all for it, but it isn't. >> there are more words in the irs code than there are in the bible, and not a one of them is as good. >> joining us now to talk about this and so much more, analyst jeanne zaino, professor at iona college who also teaches at nyu. there are like 2 1/2 months left before the iowa caucuses and the new hampshire primary. is this the longest campaign in history? >> [ chuckles ] it might be. we're less than 90 days out from iowa, and it seems to some people like this campaign has been going forever. >> but this is a process, and in some ways, while it seems a little wacky sometimes, there is a winnowing effect that has to go on, and that is sort of happening. >> yeah. i think we're seeing that. >> we saw that with the republican debate. we had two fewer people on the stage, which made the debate a little bit more manageable, although eight is still a big number. and we're seeing that on the democratic side, as we're down to three major candidates on the democratic side, still with hillary clinton way out in front in that case. >> we saw some wackiness just now. we picked some of those bites out. but they were talking about issues -- immigration,

minimum wage. it seemed a little more substantive than the other ones. >> it was, i think in part because there were only eight candidates and also in part because the candidates chose and the moderators ensured that they weren't going back and forth and fighting with each other, so it was a lot less back-and-forth. and it was a little bit more substantive, and we saw some really important fissures in the republican party. you mentioned the issue of immigration. you see a huge divide between somebody like a, you know, marco rubio, a ted cruz, jeb bush, certainly, john kasich, versus a donald trump, and so much of the discussion since then has been on what's gonna happen about immigration, and you have some very nervous establishment republicans saying that the kind of vitriol that's coming out of the trump campaign is going to doom them in the general election. >> but, jeanne, he's been doing this since early summer. it's what catapulted him into the lead immediately. people said, "yes! that's what we have to do!" and now, finally, people are saying, "you know what? first of all, we're alienating a huge chunk of voters that we're not gonna get to vote republican, but how can we do

communities?" as jeb bush said. >> yeah, i mean, and, in part, this is because, of course, they're playing to the primary base, and that's a very different voter bloc than we're gonna see in the general election, so usually what happens is they run to the right or they run to the left, if you're the democrats. when you come to the generals, they're gonna have to moderate. but this becomes increasingly hard for the republicans because the language has gotten so over-the-top. i mean, you have donald trump hearkening back to the wetbacks. you have him talking about deporting 11 million to 15 million people. and we saw president obama come out for the first time and say -- talk about how un-american, in fact, some of these policy proposals are, let alone how difficult they would be to implement and how much they would cost. so, this is a big concern for the republicans if they want to win in the general, but it certainly helps donald trump and other people who are making these cases if you look at where voters in iowa stand. >> oh, would that we would only talk about issues, because so much of the headlines this past week involved donald trump v. ben carson, and it just got kind of childish. one of them -- we have a clip i'm gonna play right now.

reacting to a childhood story that kind of got mangled in the carson narrative, but it was about him getting angry, stabbing or trying to stab one of his friends, and then a belt broke the knife. >> [ chuckles ] this! and he plunged it into the belt! and, amazingly, the belt stayed totally flat and the knife broke. how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country to believe this? >> you're a political-science professor. analyze that less-than-smart clip we just showed. >> well, you know, it was 96 minutes of ranting by donald trump, and it was -- you know, for people who were there and people who have watched the clips, it was utterly astounding, but it was, you know, donald trump -- you know, pure donald trump. you know, one of the questions that people have asked is, "can anybody run for president of the united states and criticize voters in the way that he just did?" >> calling people "stupid." >> calling people in iowa "stupid" and people in the country "stupid" for supporting

but i think the real issue here is that he feels that ben carson is a real threat to him in iowa and he wants to make sure that if there's gonna be, you know, an outsider-versus-establishment race, he's the outsider for the republican party, so i think he's decided after the debate, when he famously didn't attack carson, he's decided he's gonna need to go on the attack here. but the question is, is this gonna hurt carson? because carson has been able to kind of skate through all of this so far. >> yeah. i want to ask you about chris christie. it seems like we ask you a christie question every time you're on. he's still on, though he was at the little kids' table. we saw him. he was trying to still be very serious, talked about hillary clinton, didn't really trash any other republicans. how long can christie maintain this? he's got miniscule poll numbers. >> he's got miniscule poll numbers. i think he's really banking everything at this point on new hampshire, as are many of these candidates. i don't think he's gonna play very well in iowa. certainly, nationally, he's not playing. but we have to say he's had three really strong debate performances, and even though he was at the junior table this time, he did a good job, and

you're right -- he decided not to attack the other candidates. he was under a little bit of attack during the debate. and he said he's gonna focus all his animus on the democrats, on barack obama and hillary clinton. and that's what was winning him all those cheers during the debate. >> we have about 15 seconds left. marco rubio, possible candidate -- does that worry the clinton campaign the most? >> you know, i think marco rubio's a big challenge for the clinton campaign, and it very well may be because he's so much more forward-looking and new and she would much rather, i think, run against a jeb bush. >> or a donald trump. >> or a donald trump. >> jeanne zaino, thanks. >> thank you. >> we'll see you next time. and on that note, that'll do it for this edition of "upclose." if you happen to have missed any of today's program, don't worry. you can catch it again on our website, abc7ny. thank you all for watching. i'm bill ritter, and for all of