Today’s Headlines

  • With Bike Access Bill a Done Deal, Yassky and Liu Bury the Hatchet, at Least in Public (News, NYFI)
  • Post Gets the Basics of Bike Access Bill Wrong
  • A Fuel Efficient Fleet of American Cars: Not Happening Without Higher Gas Prices (NYT)
  • Speeding FedEx Driver Kills Pedestrian in Long Beach (Post)
  • Being the "Anti-Elitist" Candidate for Mayor Means Driving Your Own Car (NYT)
  • Lots of Stories Today About MTA’s Progress Toward Total Train Surveillance (NYT, NY1, Post)
  • Online Bike Trip Planning: It’s Kind of Like the Manhattan Project (Bike Portland via Streetsblog.net)
  • Now You Can Check Subway Sked Tweets Before You Go Underground (Post)
  • TSTC and LSE Team Up for a Lesson on Ped Safety and Community Organizing in Newark (MTR)
  • Sweet Before-and-After Pics of Shared Space Streets in Ashford, UK (How We Drive) 

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • “He is steadfastly anti-elitist,” says the Times‘ Chen of Avella. We could have used him over the past couple of years when the elites from Eastern Queens prevented us from putting tolls on the Queensboro Bridge. Oh wait, he’s part of that elite? Guess he’s not so steadfast after all.

  • Standing up for moderately wealthy people in the outer boroughs at the expense of billionaires should hardly qualify someone as a populist.

    In Avella’s defense, 85% of the households in his district own cars so it’s not inconceivable that most of the people he meets drive frequently, even if they don’t drive to he CBD every day.

  • oscarfrye

    wow from that whole article about Avella, all you could comment on was that he drove a car? really? i guess you wanted him to ride a bike…but then he would be pandering…sigh

    your extreme anti-car attitudes really give you tunnel vision sometimes

  • Josh

    Not necessarily, but it’d be nice if the Times and Avella recognized that the real working class of this city don’t drive to work, they use public transit. And “anti-elitist” is as stupid now as it was when Bush used it to beat Kerry.

  • RE: Being the “Anti-Elitist” Candidate for Mayor Means Driving Your Own Car

    I don’t agree with a lot of his views stated in the article but his attitude is certainly refreshing. We need more of him and fewer “machine” candidates.

  • I applaud Tony Avella for turning down an official parking pass.

    I don’t expect him to get around on a bike, but I do think it’s worth noting how easy it is to have your “anti-elitist” creds vouched for by the Times. Do you need a platform or track record that demonstrates consistent support for New York’s transit-dependent majority? No. Just don’t have someone else drive you around.

  • Really interesting Q poll – 58% of New Yorkers like car-free Times Square, compared to 34% who don’t. Also plenty of info on the MTA.

    We covered it here: http://blog.tstc.org/2009/07/29/q-poll-new-yorkers-support-car-free-times-square-still-distrust-mta/

    Q poll is here: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1302.xml?ReleaseID=1355

  • I don’t think it’s the Times calling him anti-elitist–it’s Avella’s own opinion of himself. The article is not an opinion piece. Let’s be honest: driving a car may not be our chosen mode of travel, but it does NOT make one an “elitist”. You might notice that every street in the city–EVERY street–is lined bumper-to-bumper with vehicles.

  • Distracted-driving headline of the day: Aloha man reaching for coffee cup drives pickup into pool. It’s the elitist in me that enjoys this kind of thing.

  • Another piece of news for the day, which seems important to me:

    The United States can cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in half by 2050 with strategies ranging from cutting speed limits to imposing road pricing, according to a report released today by federal agencies and environmental and industry groups.
    http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/28/28greenwire-us-can-cut-half-its-carbon-emissions-from-tran-16812.html

  • I don’t think it’s the Times calling him anti-elitist–it’s Avella’s own opinion of himself.

    Journalists have ways of making that clear; for example, Chen could have said, “He describes himself as steadfastly elitist.” But he didn’t. He was ratifying and amplifying Avella’s presentation of himself.