Today’s Headlines

  • Sources: Cuomo Will Raid Transit Funding, Yet Somehow Avoid Fare Hikes and Service Cuts (News)
  • The MTA’s 2011 Agenda: Real-Time Bus Info for Staten Island, Progress on Next-Gen Fares (Ben Kabak)
  • Skelos: Transpo Means Jobs; MTA and Roads Need “Balanced Multi-Year Capital Plan” (Transpo Nation)
  • Late For Meeting, Skelos Jokes That Congestion Pricing Would Have Helped (Observer)
  • City Council’s Non-Stop Snow Agenda Finally Turns to Bus Shelters (News)
  • Drunk Driver Hits Delivery Cyclist, Flees Scene As Victim Pinned Beneath Second Car (News, Post 1, 2)
  • Nick Kristof Seems to Think America’s Traffic Death Epidemic Has Already Been Cured (NYT)
  • Ordinary Bikeway Story Turns Hellish in Hands of Post Headline Writers
  • Taxi Driver Hits and Injures 85-Year-Old Woman in Chinatown (DNAinfo)
  • Cuomo Likes His Muscle Cars and RV, Hasn’t Taken The Subway Since Last Year (News)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Pete Donohue’s piece about Cuomo taking money from transit is a good one, but he doesn’t say that Cuomo will avoid service cuts, and neither does Cuomo. The only one saying that is Gene Russianoff, and I think he’s mistaken.

  • Larry Littlefield

    Mistaken is not the word. Meanwhile, back to the only form of transportation that is not in a fiscal crisis leading to a downward spiral –bicycles.

    My daugther wanted to ride her bike from Windsor Terrace to a friend’s house and back yesterday. Naturally I told her to use the PPW bike path and then go across, avoiding the dangerous avenues. And of course she had to walk her bike into the street to get around the massive snow barrier that was erected at 7th Street.

    She asked me what was going on, and I said that people opposed to the bike lanes had put it there to try to force people to bike on the avenues, in the expectation that some of them might be hit and injured and people would be afraid to ride bicycles anymore, and then they could take the bike lane away.

    Now I don’t have any proof that is why the snow barricade is there, but its as plausible an explanation as any, and since the discussion of this bike lane has become a fact free zone for opponents, I figured I might as well speculate.

    In any event, for the first time I observed nobody else traveling by bicycle other than myself on PPW north of 9th Street this morning.

  • NattyB

    @Cap’n’Transit,

    Yah, that was a surprisingly good article indeed.

    THE MTA NEEDS TO CUT ALL THE WASTE!!!! RABBLE RABBLE

    MTA executives cut $500 million in spending last year. About 3,500 positions were eliminated, many through painful layoffs.

    oh.

    Well, the MTA needs to get

    There never was an illegal “two sets of books,” . . . [t]he real shell game takes place in Albany.

    Much of the MTA’s funding comes from a series of taxes the state Legislature enacted over time specifically to help pay the cost of transporting millions of people to their jobs every day – a public service one has a right to expect is both safe and affordable.

    The state collects the dough – but doesn’t always pass along the full amount to the MTA. It quietly skims off the top and uses it for other purposes.

    Gov. Paterson and the state Legislature played that game and the MTA lost $160 million, causing last year’s sweeping service cuts.

    Most people just blame the MTA. But, it’s good to see NYDN, while still a little bit of a cyclist muckracker, has some good reporting on the MTA/Albany relationship.

    I just hate how people love to rail (pun intended) about the MTA, and all this energy and frustration is just wasted by blaming the MTA for what are really Albany’s faults. And I suspect, that, part of the ire at cyclists stems from the crappy state of the trains in this city. “Why do they get fancy new lanes and our trains suck! That money should go for trains!” And you see that sentiment echoed in ridiculous comments that complain about the (i) spending on bike infrastructure; and (ii) requiring cyclists to pay more taxes or registration to compensate for the wear and tear we cause.

    (even though half our bike lanes aren’t that great. I took the vaunted 2nd ave lane home last night, or, tried, to, but, huge snow piles and one segment of black ice, which, i like fishtailed on but somehow kept my balance, got my riding back in the avenue)

  • Niccolo Macchiavelli

    The real question Larry, is why we haven’t rallied a snow removal-publicity stunt?

  • Larry Littlefield

    Perhaps next weekend, if it isn’t gone by then. You have to give them a chance.

  • Chris

    @Larry

    More snow coming tomorrow…

  • K

    Pretty disappointed in Kristoff. I just wrote a polite, brief letter pointing out deaths per 100,000 for firearms and auto accidents are almost identical (depending on which year you compare), directing him to check out what Streetsblog is doing, and suggesting that he write a column addressing same, correcting the misperception.

  • Moocow

    You guys want to meet today to clear it? I would go make a dent myself, but I had 2 pounds of metal removed from my femur (hit by a car riding home in May) last Wednesday. I can supply support, beer, photos…

  • Larry Littlefield

    I’d be better able to stop by on the weekend to clear snow, if they haven’t done it by then. But the real question is who made the pile, and why? And what is the spring and summer equivalent, broken glass?

  • eveostay

    Larry– why couldn’t your daughter use the sidewalk to go around the snow pile?

    I would have ridden today, but my bike is broken.

  • Peter Engel

    K – I really think you missed the point of Kristof’s column.

    Please compare where we are now to 50 years ago regarding automobiles. The difference is quite drastic and remarkable in vehicle design for emissions, safety and fuel economy. Much of that progress was once inconceivable; the machines themselves are better to operate and less likely to cause harm.

    The problem is the same one that guns have — they are used by human beings whose emotions aren’t nearly as mature as the electronic ones controlling their cars. How do we manage that part? Banning stuff is not the answer.

  • Bolwerk

    Kristoff would love where I keep my gun rack: in the back of my pickup truck!

  • JamesR

    Is there anyone here who has heard anything about this? This is from a comment posted on the NYC bike racing website NY Velocity:

    “Word on the street is some stooge roadie blazed through a red light and ran square into Candace Bergen and her dog. She is tight with Bloomberg, and is also a big donor to CP. Now, they’re acting on her complaint as it coincides with all the “little peoples” complaints over the years with regard to cyclists”

    It was the first I’ve heard of this – I figured the crackdown was the result of the recent media frenzy whipped up by Marcia Kramer and company.

  • rhubarbpie

    For the first time in memory, a local news outlet has covered the horrendous job the city and MTA (and, apparently, its contractors) do in clearing bus stops. The News also had a weaker piece on Saturday on the poor job the city has done in clearing crosswalks.

    I’ve been surprised to see no independent coverage on Streetsblog about this over the past few weeks, since the lousy job the city, the MTA and building owners do makes walking after a snowfall treacherous, often for days or weeks. A huge number of New Yorkers are affected by this: older people, people who have a walking problem, people in wheelchairs, people who just aren’t as steady on their feet as some of us.

    And I wonder how complicated this would be to solve, if the city actually was interested in doing something. It may take a combination of altered resources, public education of building owners (who often will clear everything BUT the crosswalk) and some perhaps better oversight. I hope the DOT, MTA and others take up the job, and that this gets closer coverage from Streetsblog (and, if not, the Daily News).

  • Andrew

    rsubarbpie:

    I think it would be easy to solve by diverting 5-10% of what the city spends on snow removal for the streets.