Today’s Headlines

  • A Year After Mathieu Lefevre’s Death, Has Anything Changed? (Bklyn Paper)
  • The Math Will Never Add Up for Yankee Stadium Garages (NYT)
  • Queens Tribune Editorial Endorses Tolls for East River Bridges
  • Victor Florio, 76, Walking on Kissena Park Sidewalk, Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver (News)
  • Andrew Schoonover, 31, Killed by Garbage Truck Driver on Upper East Side; No Charges (Post)
  • Livery Cab Driver Kills Unidentified Pedestrian in Highland Park; No Arrests Yet (Post)
  • Brother of Bronx Dooring Victim Blasts NYPD, Which Didn’t Notify AIS for More Than a Month (DNA)
  • Sharrows on Fifth Avenue Too Much for Brooklyn Community Board 7 (DNA)
  • Why Are TWU Contract Talks Proceeding So Slowly? (WSJ, SAS)
  • Columnist: Right-on-Red Would Definitely Solve Traffic on Staten Island, Right? (Advance)
  • Tomorrow’s the Big Day for TA Advocate to Break Subway-Riding World Record (Post)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Bolwerk

    Re Brian J. Laline’s complaints about about nightmarish daytime traffic: the solution is higher-capacity transit on Staten Island. But, people complain when you offer them solutions, so nevermind.

  • Voter

    Regarding the man killed on East 84th Street:

    Any comment from Jess Lappin’s office?  If you call, maybe play a funny joke on her and tell her the guy was almost hit by a delivery cyclist.  See how quickly she springs to action.  Try it again with Vacca and Quinn when you’re finished.

  • Larry Littlefield

    So I did the right thing and paid out of my own pocket to repair a piece of city infrastructure used by the whole neighborhood — the sidewalk in front of my home.  Despite a state and local tax burden that is more than 50 percent above the U.S. average, as a percentage of its residents’ income, the City of New York is unable to pay to maintain its pedestrian infrastructure with tax dollars.  Adjacent property owners have to do it instead.  We also have to clear the snow.

    Ironically, until we sent our car upstate in September we had been able to use part of the transportation infrastructure that is maintained with tax dollars — the street — to store our own motor vehicle for free.  Now we are no longer using the street for our private storage, but still have to pay the taxes for the maintenance of the entire street, including the part used for parking.

    So I looked at the permit for sidewalk repair.  The contractor was charged $70 for the permit, which was passed on to me.  I was actually charged a fee to maintain a piece of city infrastructure for the benefit of all neighborhood pedestrians. 

  • Anonymous

    If you don’t like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk.
    “Walking on Kissena Park Sidewalk, Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver”

  • Guest

    The vote by Brooklyn CB7 shouldn’t prevent upgrading the bike system:

    “On Wednesday night, a plurality of 15 board members actually voted to approve the proposal, but they failed to achieve a majority: nine board members opposed the measure, and 10 abstained.”Since Community Board votes are only advisory, and since there was a greater expression of support than opposition, there is no reason that the DOT shouldn’s default to its own professional judgement and install the sharrows.

  • Driver

    I happened to drive past the scene of the Kissena park crash several hours after it occurred.  It’s very interesting (but not surprising) that the News did not show a picture of the car, which was SEVERELY damaged.  I suspect that the car crashed into a tree after hitting the pedestrian.  The damage to the front of the car was so severe, that I assumed the driver had hit another car, which had already been removed from the scene.  Anyone who saw this car would be convinced that excessive speed played a part in this accident. If I had realized that this accident involved a pedestrian, I would have gone back to take my own pictures.
     Of course the it was reported that the driver was only charged with leaving the scene.  I would bet that alcohol also played a role in this crash, I wonder how long it took police to track down the suspect and if an alcohol and drug test was administered.  This appears to be another case of a fatality caused by excessive recklessness, but sadly that aspect of it is ignored by both the police and the media.