Cuomo is siding with Chris Christie against the people of New York City. We have only to gain from a higher toll, and New Jersey doesn’t exactly lose either.

The teenager who had his leg broken by the hit-and-run driver had “left the Windy City because he had been mugged at gunpoint recently and wanted to escape youth violence,” according to DNAinfo.  I guess no one warned him about NYC’s vehicular violence.

About the DNAinfo article: it is terrible that a hit and run driver of a SUV hit a 16yr old boy breaking his right femur thus requiring a rod surgically implanted into his leg, and causing him to need stitches in his hip and four staples to in his head.

About that stretch of West 125th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Avenue:  That is a long block.  It’s 25% longer than most blocks between avenues because it is on a diagonal.  It has no mid-block crosswalk and desperately needs one.  The apartment complex on the south side of 125th Street has several convenient north-south foot paths that lead to 125th Street, but once at 125th Street, not a single one of those foot paths is continued with a crosswalk across the street.  The north side of the street is where all the merchants are that pedestrians want to reach.  This street gets heavy pedestrian use.

How can one go about getting a mid-block crosswalk installed?

About proposed toll hike on the Hudson River crossings that would raise the toll, which is only for cars entering NYC, by $4 from $8 to $12.

NJ Transit riders in the last fare hike had off-peak fares go up 50% and peak fares go up 25%.  An off-peak rider who paid $8 before, now pays $12, and that rider pays that $4 increase in BOTH directions.  Peak NJ Transit riders, with their 25% increase in and out of NYC, are paying a similar percentage increase in fare to the toll proposed for drivers.  Off-peak NJ Transit riders are currently paying a fare increase that is DOUBLE what the proposed toll increase is for drivers.

These extremely high (much higher percentage-wise than the proposed toll hikes) NJ Transit fare hikes went through with little fanfare, media or political attention.  The media and politicians cry foul if a driver will have to pay more, but are willing to sacrifice transit riders with little objection.  Drivers, who have a high cost on society in terms of pollution, injury, inefficient usage of public space, etc should be discouraged and riding transit should be encouraged.  The outcry over the NJ Transit fare hike versus the toll hikes should have been in reverse proportions.

The corner of Amsterdam and 125th is a nightmare for pedestrians because 125th is the only arterial street that spans Manhattan for a mile and a half (125 to 96th.) 125 carries most of the Eastbound/crosstown traffic from the Triboro/RFK Bridge (airports, Grand Central etc.) The cars, trucks, buses and express buses coming from Queens and airports turn left on Amsterdam and Broadway directly into crossing pedestrians. It sucks for everyone.

That is the thing about negative generalizations. Their only point is self-gratification.