Today’s Headlines

  • Sales Nosedive for Toyota, GM, Ford (Bloomberg)
  • Pedro Espada: Mounting a Campaign Against Me “Is the Very Essence of Colonialism” (NYT)
  • Espada Challenger Gustavo Rivera Gets the Nod From Colonialists at El Diario (Observer)
  • News Hammers Espada and Runs Through All the Bronx Primary Races
  • Nicole Paultre Bell — Sean Bell’s Fiancee — Is Mulling a Run for Tom White’s City Council Seat (News)
  • Drunk Queens Dad Takes Six Kids for Joyride on Rockaway Boardwalk (Gothamist)
  • Frustrated Red Hook Trolley Booster Bob Diamond Is Moving Outta Town (Bklyn Eagle)
  • Will NYC Ever Muscle Through More Subway Expansions? (2nd Ave Sagas)
  • Apparently Some Cops Just Can’t Stand the Thought of Cops Having to Obey the Law (News)
  • Man Bites Car (Post)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Larry Littlefield

    People have already spent a huge share of their future income during the housing bubble and consumer spending binge.

    So they decided to spend their children’s money to keep the party going, having the federal government borrow for cash for clunkers and the first time homebuyer tax credit. All that did was steal demand for the future. And unlike infrastructure investment, all younger generations will have to show for it is the debt, which will make the future even worse.

    The old economy isn’t coming back. We can’t keep redoubling our economy-wide debts until the payments absorb more than 100 percent of our income.

  • Can you imagine a streetcar/trolly line down the middle of 5th ave in Park Slope/Sunset Park? The hop on- hop off nature would be a amazing for m every business I can think of along that stretch.

  • Moocow, the B63 which runs up and down Fifth Avenue is the slowest bus in Brooklyn. A “hop-on, hop-off” streetcar doesn’t sound like much of an improvement.

  • Danny G

    Oh economy, schmeconomy. Quetzalcoatl is totally getting us off the hook for any payments beyond the year 2012. It’s gonna be awesome. And happy Friday everyone!

  • If, if, you could dedicate the street space to the trolly, one track for stretches, make the mode of transpo stand out and be novel, it could move faster than that bus line. A la Market at in SF, which I know is wider. Make moving on 5th quicker and easier, and you won’t need parking.

  • Fifth Avenue trolley: If the trolley stops every couple blocks like the bus it’s not going to travel that much faster. Plus how does the trolley (or the bus) help people who live several blocks east of Fifth Avenue get to businesses there?

    Seems to me that Fifth Ave suffers from being relatively near New York Bay on the west and blocked from the rest of Brooklyn by Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery, not to mention the BQE cut and Verrazano approach south of 60th St. I’m not sure how a north-south trolley would help that.

  • In a smaller sense, it’s not for moving commuters. The idea would be just for moving along that corridor.
    It a dream, it’s just a response to the pathetic conditions brought about by the run in run out double parked morons on 5th.
    If you have ever seen Market in SF, the streetcars move faster than buses. There are lanes devoted to them. It could work, there is just isn’t the will. Cars parked in bus stops, and double parked from 21st street to Flatbush seems to be acceptable.