Today’s Headlines

  • City Council Votes on Term Limits Today (News, Post)
  • Tom Friedman on the Hazards of Cheaper Oil (NYT)
  • High-Speed Rail Could Spur California Towns to Become More Urban, Transit-Oriented (SF Chron)
  • Tom Vanderbilt Explains Why 30-40 MPH Design Speeds Are Ridiculous for Residential Streets
  • Brooklyn Paper Covers DOT’s Ped Safety Project for Flatbush and Fourth Ave
  • State DOT: BQE Reconstruction Won’t Affect Development of Brooklyn Bridge Park (Bklyn Paper)
  • Vid Screens at One L Station Will Show Riders Where the Next Train Is (NY1, NYT)
  • Cap’n Transit Has Some More Ideas About How to Get the Most Out of Real-Time Subway Data
  • Corporate Space: GM Plaza a Better Place Now That GM Isn’t Managing It (NYT)
  • Study Finds Flaws in MTA Service for the Disabled (NY1)
  • Larry Littlefield

    Friedman: “Yet, it is impossible for me to ignore the fact that when gasoline hit $4.11 a gallon we changed — a lot.”

    Yes, it’s obvious this time. Let’s see if Congress can ignore it, particularly once the federal government ends up owing the auto industry and guaranteeing the pensions of auto workers while cutting Social Security.

    Remember, the only “environmental” fossil fuel issue is coal. Natural gas is an environmental and economic issue, the latter because of scarcity. Oil is an environmental, economic AND national security issue.

    How pathetic are the generations now in charge? Do they really want to subject their children and the future of their country to another 35 wasted years?

    http://www.r8ny.com/blog/larry_littlefield/oil_sugar_and_35_wasted_years.html

  • john

    Federal and state tax laws need to be enacted to insure that gas at the pump stays at least $4 or higher so the positive trends continue. Friedman fails to suggest this important solution, among many others.

  • J. Mork

    http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=23954

    New Bike Lanes: Cars Love Them a Bit Too Much
    by Mary Frost, published online 10-22-2008

  • With regard to the services for the disabled: I have recently had a very minor, very temporary disability: sciatica which can be aggravated by carrying heavy loads. Because of this, I’ve been dragging my laptop along in a wheelie bag.

    I’ve tried to use the elevators, but it’s just too frustrating. When they’re working, they’re very slow and often filled with people with no visible disability or heavy loads, or with overloaded strollers.

    On top of that, the MTA’s fare control system requires two elevators to get to most subway platforms. To transfer from the elevated #7 to or from the outbound EFRV subway at 74th/Broadway/Roosevelt in Queens requires three separate elevator rides.

  • Larry Littlefield

    I avoid Jay Street like the plague. It is one place where you find people driving as if they had a 007 license to kill. The one block south of Tillary is the scariest part of my whole ride on the way home. As soon as I can I cut over to Metrotech.

    Unfortunately on Bridge Street there used to be a bunch of planters a bike could squeeze through but not a motor vehicle. They replaced that with a solid barrier and an opening guarded by a pick-up truck that moves aside for other motor vehicles but not bicycles. I guess if people can bike through Metrotech without getting off their bicycle to get on the sidewalk, the terrorists have one.

  • chris

    john, friedman has actually made that suggestion in previous columns. i am too lazy to find the links for you, but you should be able to just look in columns from teh past year or so.

  • Niccolo Machiavelli

    Lets wait until the election is over before we bring up the obvious on energy taxation. Who else can you tax? No other industry is making money, they are going to subsidize the auto industry.

  • Check out a discussion of the potential of an Obama presidency on transit at the transport politic.

  • Larry, as I understand it, that stretch of MetroTech isn’t “no bicycles, motor vehicles only,” it’s “city employees only”. Which doesn’t make it OK, of course.

    That stretch of Jay Street is pretty bad though. There are always people parked in the bike lanes, and traffic is bad because of how many people drive through the area to the free bridges. Maybe they’d have an easier time enforcing the bike lanes if there weren’t always so many cops sitting around doing nothing in that area.

  • “They replaced that with a solid barrier and an opening guarded by a pick-up truck that moves aside for other motor vehicles but not bicycles. I guess if people can bike through Metrotech without getting off their bicycle to get on the sidewalk, the terrorists have won.”

    The same as the counter-terrorism blockades in the financial district. It’s an opportunity to improve of streets for pedestrians and cyclists, but instead authorities have opted for militaristic barriers that harken to Berlin wall checkpoints. On the bright side, public discourse on terrorism and street use has finally become sane enough that we can talk about less imposing (and far less expensive) ways to keep potentially explosive-laden automobiles away from vulnerable buildings and infrastructure.

  • Ian Turner

    Hmm, Angus, your plight raises an interesting question: Is the current situation (several independently installed and maintained elevators) cheaper than having a single street-to-track elevator with an operator? The operator would ensure fare compliance as people enter and exit. He or she could teleconference in to the elevator and thus control several at once.

  • Max Rockatansky

    “Completion of the city’s 1,800-mile bicycle master plan is scheduled by 2030”

    I’m a fan of the improvements to bike infrastructure but
    22 years to implement the plan…. let’s not get too ambitious. This is one thing that worries me about a new administration. Will they get the significance of these changes or will we backslide?