Today’s Headlines

  • Yankee Stadium Parking Near Default: Only One-Third Full on Game Days (Transpo Nation)
  • Journal News: Cuomo’s Tappan Zee Talk Uses Christie-Like “Fuzzy Math, Scant Data”
  • Krugman: Chris Christie “Least Responsible Governor the State Has Ever Had” (NYT)
  • NYT: Blame Christie For Your Bad Commute, New Jerseyites
  • NYT Author’s Tip to Readers: Got a Ferrari? Gun It From 0-60 on SoHo Street
  • Harlem Buses Driving Onto Sidewalk Due to Depot Construction (DNAinfo)
  • Reminder: G Train Originally Ran on Current “Extension” (Bklyn Paper)
  • Bronx Bus Extension, Won By Vacca and Klein, Starts Service (BxTimes)
  • No Need to Go to Gym For Many of New York City’s Walkers (NYT)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Larry Littlefield

    Krugman: Chris Christie “Least Responsible Governor the State Has Ever Had”

    I guess Krugman was not paying attention in the Christie Whitman, Donald DiFrancesco and Jim McGreevey administrations.  ARC or no ARC, Christie will have to keep working to sell out the future of the state as much as they did (or Pataki did).

  • former New Jerseyan

    I believe the established phrase is “New Jerseyan,” not “New Jerseyite.”

  • carma

    The most important piece of the extension of the G to Church Ave is the one additional stop to 4th Ave.  Smith 9th makes the G a stubway, but allowing it to go further south, gives riders a vital transfer point to the underground BMT station.

    Unfortunately the MTA cant accept middleground and make 4th Ave the terminus of the G as there is no turnaround point until Church Ave.  So its either Smith 9th or Church.

    Extending the G all the way to Church should be preserved as the northern terminus has already been cut to Court Square.

  • Anonymous

    Lafayette Street, north of Houston (and south) needs a parking protected bike lane to calm traffic. It has so much excess capacity, even with the current buffered bike lane, that it is surprising more people aren’t using it as a drag strip. Better yet, make it a two-way parking protected bike lane to fill in a much needed north-south route connecting the Lower Manhattan/Brooklyn Bridge/Civic Center to the Village and Union Square.

  • krstrois

    The sense of wonder people betray when they discover that regular activity does as much or more than exercise in a gym is so weird to me. 

  • John

    we don’t need more tunnels so that NYC can be overrun with more cars. What we need is more public transit and   tunnels and bridges that are for public transit systems. 

  • Anonymous

    @0f203447f0fb8377eaa27f1f4a9d6246:disqus  The tunnels *were* for mass transit. That’s why a Republican governor was against them. To have once facilitated investment in mass transit would damn him eternally among his kind.

    From the Times editorial:

    With projections that transit demands in this area will increase 38
    percent by 2030, the new tunnels would have allowed twice as many trains
    during rush hour, 48 per hour instead of 23.

  • kevd

    That Krugman article is infuriating…. Because comments are closed and there are so many cross inaccuracies (in other people’s comments, not the article) that need correcting.

    Those who argue most of NJ is NOT part of greater NY or greater Philadelphia (of course it is, those are metropolitan areas and the cover a majority of the state and a super majority of its population), those who say trains are a “liberal talking point” but electric cars are more environmental (thanks, NC, but where do you want to put all those electric cars in Manhattan, and how are they going to get there), or those who want to blame the MTA for “canceling” the 7 train extension to NJ, which was only a media talking point, not an actual plan that had gone through years of engineering.

    The is also Krugman’s one factual error:
    NJ is connected to NYC by 6 rail tracks, all of which are in tunnels – not 2.
    4 of them are for the PATH train and only serve relatively poorer, more urban areas of NJ, so I guess they don’t count…. Only commuter/long distance rail to places like Princeton, Montclair and DC count as rail tunnels.

    Et tu Krugman?

  • Larry Littlefield

    “With projections that transit demands in this area will increase 38 percent by 2030, the new tunnels would have allowed twice as many trains during rush hour, 48 per hour instead of 23.”Perhaps that increase will occur on Long Island instead.If Long Island pols were forward thinking, they’d be trumpeting ESA.  As in “if you want to be part of Manhattan, for work or culture, but also want a suburban life, move to Long Island not New Jersey.  Their commute keeps getting worse, but ours will be getting better.”Perhaps they are hoping Nassau and Suffolk will be gradually abandoned, rather than have some people who are shrewed enough to vote against them move in to replace those moving out or dying off. “NJ is connected to NYC by 6 rail tracks, all of which are in tunnels – not 2.  4 of them are for the PATH train and only serve relatively poorer, more urban areas of NJ, so I guess they don’t count.”Based on the PATH headways, I’ll bet there is room for more New Jersey commuters from these areas if more trains could be bought.

  • Stacy

    “You don’t have to break the speed limit to have fun. The car will do over 200 miles per hour, but even at 90 on a highway it’s so smooth it’s a little boring. The real thrill is how quickly it will go from zero to 60, say, and here’s a tip: Lafayette Street, north of Houston. Go for it.”

    Satire or has the NY Times totally lost it for a few advertising bucks? Jersey drivers are bad enough without the so called “paper of record” glamorizing lawlessness.

  • carma

    @f8a3c153e184bb0b9bb9d6e02ba08591:disqus 
    To include even more satire to the article.  Do you get bonus points for hitting pedestrian’s, children and old ladies while doing that 0-60?  and if you do hit somebody, you can always tell the NYPD “I didnt see them”

  • kevd

    It drives me nuts that the PATH is so infrequent and so crowded.
    Mainly, because I often have a bike on it (off-hours).

  • Anonymous

    I’m surprised there hasn’t been even more outcry in these comments about the Ferrari article.  I just wrote a furious article to the editor about the outrages and dangers of doing 60 on any city street, and of encouraging others to do so.

    I ask you all to submit similar letters.  This guy and his editors need to hear from people who value fucking human life.

    See this info if you hope to get your letter published:  http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/site/editorial/letters/letters.html 

  • fj

    Seems what we’re doing in NYC is miniscule compared to Southern California:

    SoCal’s New Sustainability Strategy Is An Impressive Step Forward
    ”
    http://thinkprogress.org/2012/04/14/463702/socals-new-sustainability-strategy-is-an-impressive-step-forward/
    ”
    @climateprogress

  • fj

    From the military, insight into the dopey way transportation is done:

    “. . . huge fleets of colossal ships are not only prohibitively expensive but also undesirable

    Unmanned nanomaterial Piranha
    http://www.gizmag.com/zyvex-piranha-usv/22078/
    “

  • fj

    Streetsblog mentioned @climateprogress:disqus 

    There’s No Such Thing As Free Parking

    ”
    http:/thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/15/463718/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-parking/
    “

  • fj

    Activism on transportation without addressing climate change is absurd and net zero mobility is a major whole system solution

    ”
    climatedefeatistpaulKingsnorth
    http://grist.org/climate-energy/i-withdraw-a-talk-with-climate-defeatist-paul-kingsnorth/
    @grist:disqus 
    “

  • fj

    By these same arguments car use is immoral . . .

    ” . . .  sometimes having a backbone can be a good political strategy

    Must-Read Caldeira: ‘The Only Ethical Path Is To Stop Using the Atmosphere As A Waste Dump For Greenhouse Gas Pollution’

    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/15/462803/caldeira-only-ethical-path-is-to-stop-using-the-atmosphere-as-a-waste-dump-for-greenhouse-gas-pollution/
    ”
    @climateprogress