Who'd'a thunk it? The Department of Transportation revealed on Monday that Staten Island — which doesn't even have a street with a protected bike lane — will be the first borough to be completely served by bike share. Our own David Meyer posted a story that focused on that irony, while other outlets took a different approach.
Amy Plitt at Curbed suggested that a successful borough-wide program could help Lime and Jump bikes argue that it's time for them to be able to operate more widely across the city where Citi Bike doesn't have a monopoly. Vin Barone at amNY and Paul Berger at the Wall Street Journal played it straight. Meanwhile, Crain's quoted SI Beep Jimmy Oddo saying something anathema to everything we hold dear (no, Mr. Borough President, cycling is not only for the "right" weather — it's a form of transportation). The Times, which rarely covers issues important to people who get around on bikes, obviously skipped the news.
Funny thing is: The Staten Island Advance had actually broken the story weeks ago!
Here's the rest of the news:
- The Daily News's Clayton Guse focused on a piece of non-news: Mayor de Blasio still hasn't said what he plans to do with 14th Street now that the L-train repairs are about to start. The mayor said last week he would announce something soon.
- The Daily News editorial board said what we've been saying for weeks: No congestion pricing exemptions for anyone.
- For the 1,000th time, the NY Post accused Mayor de Blasio of hypocrisy for claiming to be an environmentalist, yet being driven in a big SUV to the gym. (Make it 1,001st — the editorial board also weighed in.)
- Gothamist and Streetsblog covered the police intimidation of young cyclists over the weekend — and the mayor claiming he didn't know anything about it.
- Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams used his annual Earth Day bike ride to highlight dangerous cycling conditions in the borough's poorer neighborhoods. Are you listening, DOT? (The legendary Todd Maisel provided photos and copy for Bklyner)
- And in case you missed it, the State Department of Transportation is finally going to study putting in a barrier to protect cyclists on the notorious murderstrip on the Joseph P. Addabbo Bridge between Howard Beach and Broad Channel (Queens Chronicle). Of course, the years of delay on this simple project received the predictable outrage on Twitter, with at least one cyclist pointing out that the bridge is named after a guy whose son, namesake and doppelgänger could actually do something about it, given that he's a sitting state senator.
