Today’s Headlines

  • City to Cut Down on Teacher Placards, But Not Parking Spots (NYT, News, Post)
  • Bloomberg Looking Into Car-Free Prospect Park (Sun)
  • Privatization Catching On as Answer to Sagging US Infrastructure (NYT)
  • SF Bike Blog: Cyclists Must Organize to Overcome Gadfly Obstructionist
  • Highbridge Trail Revamped, Though Park Maintenance Lags (Metro)
  • Paul Steely White Talks to The Observer
  • Man Sues City After Alleged Road Rage Beating by Off-Duty Cops (Post)
  • Denver Pedicabbies Look to Boost Industry Image (WSJ)
  • Miami Cab Driver Hits Eleven Cyclists (Miami Herald, WPLG, WFOR, Transit Miami)
  • New York One of Few States to Challenge Auto Insurance Rate Hikes (NYT)

  • So the road rage lawsuit is costing the city a lot of money, even if the guy doesn’t win.

    Hey, NYPD: find a way to stop hiring antisocial violent scum, because it’s costing all of us.

  • Ms. Weingarten said that until a few years ago, the number of permits issued corresponded fairly closely to the amount of space available. When the process was centralized at the Education Department, the number of permits issued ballooned, she said.

    “Anybody who wanted a parking permit got a parking permit, and it didn’t mean there was a spot to go with it, and there was huge frustration,” Ms. Weingarten said.

    More evidence of the disconnect between planning and policy in the Bloomberg administration.

  • Larry Littlefield

    “A few weeks ago we wrote about the unmitigated disaster that is the San Francisco Bike Plan.”

    This is a bit of inside humor, but I enjoy seeing the term “unmitigated” used to describe the disastrous effect of the EIS process on the environment.

    “Hey, NYPD: find a way to stop hiring antisocial violent scum, because it’s costing all of us.”

    That’s who is available when the cost of rich pensions after early careers and retiree health care exceeds the money left to actually spend on police, and starting pay gets as low as it has been. Public employment — lousy pay for working, but a great deal for those not working.

  • When I was teaching so much time in faculty meets was wasted arguing about parking spots. Could a parking cash-out or free transit program help? Or just charge teachers for the spots? Give city teachers metro-cards and metro north passes? ANYTHING! This “cut” is meaningless since permits have never constrained the parking– the constraint has always been the parking spots. Arguments about these spots waste time that would be better spent talking about students. The only teachers who need parking are those who do therapy and gym teachers who might have a van for sports equipment or something.

  • Shemp

  • “People don’t drive to school unless they have to,” [Ms. Weingarten] said. “Teachers have not been abusers of this practice. In fact, there’s never been enough spots.”

    What bunk. Many drive because they have free quasi-reserved parking. Give teachers free transit instead.

  • Spud Spudly

    I’d be happy to give even more parking to teachers if there was a rule that they couldn’t park on school grounds, like in schoolyards that should be used by the kids but instead are often just parking lots.

  • Did any one else appreciate that both the Sadik-Kahn and Steely White articles were sponsored by Lexus?

  • Don’t let the private sector own any public transport infrastructure. With public transport investment you get what you pay for and private companies want to pay as little as possible.