Holiday Headlines

Happy New Year and welcome back. Here is a whole pile of stories you may have missed if you were out of town or, like us, taking a break for the holidays. Lots of these items are worthy of their own blog post, so enjoy and get ready for a big year:

Parking:

• Taxpayer Funded Yankee Stadium Parking, a "Startling Revelation" to the (News)
• ...And Don't Expect the Builder to Repay $237M in City-Backed Bonds (News)
• But What's Going to Really Tee Off the Press? Parking is Pricey (NY1, News)
• Amanda Burden, Wake Up!: Stop Requiring Developers to Build Parking (NYT)
• City Schedules a Second Round of Neighborhood Parking Workshops (DOT)
• City Considers $15/Hour Curbside Parking Rate (Post)
• Bayonne Meter Maid Arrested for Ticketing Undercover Cops (NYPD Rant)
• 2008 NYPD Parking Placard Crackdown May be Underway (NYPD Rant)

Congestion Pricing:

• Weprin Spins IBO: Pricing "Discriminates Against People From Queens" (News)
• ...And This is Why We Could Care Less (Flickr)
• This Too: The American Middle Class is "Causing Global Warming" (Planetizen)
• And This: Heroes Chase Down Hit-and-Run Killer Driver in Brooklyn (Newsday)
• Sheldon Silver Seems to be "More Open" To Congestion Pricing (News)
• Bad Ideas: Make Pricing More Complex and Use the Money for Roads (Sun)
• Good Idea: It's Time for East River Tolls (Observer)
• Driving Over East River Bridges? Arguments for Tolls Are Growing (Bklyn Eagle)
• ...Unless You Are Marty Markowitz (Bklyn Paper)
• British Motorists Are Burning Traffic Enforcement Cams (Wired)
• State Senate Pitches New Pricing Bill Ahead of 12/31 Federal Deadline (AMNY)

Alternative Modes:

• Congressman's "Obsession With Bicycling Borders on the Interesting" (WSJ)
• NY Water Taxi Shuts Down for the Winter (Cap'n Transit)
• Walkability = Livability = Billions (Neal Peirce)

If He Had Died in a Car Crash, No Problem:

• Man Dies on NJ Transit, 3 Lose Their Job and Feds Levy a $27K Fine (NYT)

International:

• Oil War Isn't Leaving Enough Money for NY State Road Building (Planetizen)
• Hello Kitty! Bangkok Solves Its Police Parking Placard Abuse Problem (BBC)
• Beijing Air Pollution: "This is as Bad as it Can Get" (AFP)
• Jared Diamond: What's Your Consumption Factor? (NYT)

Clever Product Placement?:

• Car Crashes Into Chicago Channel 7 Studio During Evening Newscast (Reppublica)

Miscellaneous:

• Amanda Burden, Wake Up!: Look at Bklyn's Future "Park Ave" (Gowanus Lounge)
• Subway Riders Give the G Line a D+ (MTA)
• Jim Leyritz, Ex-Yankee, Kills a Woman With His SUV (Smoking Gun)

Obit:

• George Warrington, 55, Forward-Thinking Leader of Amtrak and NJ Transit (NYT)