Today’s Headlines

  • What to Expect From Noted Car Enthusiast Andrew Cuomo in His State-of-the-State Address (T-U)
  • Tappan Zee Bridge Transit Task Force Is Starting From Scratch (Journal News)
  • Western Queens Leaders Feel Left Behind By MTA’s New Waterfront Bus Route (DNA)
  • Grand Jury Won’t Apply Attempted Murder Charge to Man Who Dragged Cops With SUV (Post)
  • MTR Looks Back on the Year in Transpo Policy for New York State
  • Cy Vance Perfectly Capable of Advocating for Albany Agenda, When It Comes to Guns (T-U)
  • NYT Mag Illustrator Lumps Congestion Pricing in With a “Singing in the Shower” Tax
  • Ben Kabak: Restore the Rockaway Beach Branch Rail Line, Don’t Turn It to a Park
  • DNA Has a Fundraising Update on the Dyer Avenue Park Plan for Hell’s Kitchen
  • Cuomo Ignoring TZB Transit, Focusing Intensely on Buying His Daughter an SUV (Daily Freeman)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • jrab

    Ben, that’s Dyer Ave you mean.

  • Jesse Greene

    good news out of CB7 last night I’ve heard.  Looking forward to the write-up.

  • MrMook

    I’d like to point out that I’m a car enthusiast as well. I own a car, as well as a second project car that I autocross in the summer. I love wrenching on them and driving them. That doesn’t mean I’m not pro transit. I’d much rather see increased light rail, more bike lanes, and the implementation of congestion taxes and other policies that limit car use, especially within the city. I also believe cars as personal transport to be a wildly unsustainable idea. I put considerably more miles on my bikes than my cars last year.

    I’m not sure Cuomo and I share the same ideas, but just because somebody is passionate about automobiles doesn’t mean they believe in cars as the best means to get around. 

  • Larry Littlefield

    Cars are fine for cruising around the upstate countryside in summer.  Otherwise?  Not great for you, and your car is worse for others.

  • confusedinRC

    Why doesn’t Jon Drapkin from Pattern for Progress (lohud article) and the other Transit Task Force members understand that transit improvement catalyze population growth? If you don’t make these investments, you will see “moderate to no population growth.” It’s not the other way around. You don’t project no population growth and do nothing to improve the situation. You combat the problem! Obviously, growth is centered entirely around transit access – by introducing increased transit access, you foster growth. Isn’t this obvious? Who are these people? 

  • carma

    mrmook,  i too share the same passion from cars.  i also own 2 cars, but my main mode of transportation has always been the subway.  why?  b/c its a lot more efficient in getting around.  no traffic to deal with and no parking worries.

    too many folks here think anything car is a sin and thats a shame.

  • Motorhead

    I think it’s okay to hold the governor of a state with the biggest public transit system in the country to a different standard than the average car owner.

  • MrMook

    Motorhead, I agree, but it’s unfair to assume that anyone interested in cars is also not a transit supporter. It also does not mean that said enthusiast drives their car every day. It’s a little  judgmental. 

    Cuomo’s record says more about his stance on transit than his hobby does.

  • Anonymous

    I have a passion for medieval arms and armor, but that doesn’t mean I wear them every day on my way to work. I imagine someone can have a similar passion for cars, even if I don’t.

  • Well, I think it’s notable that the governor has cultivated his image as a car guy to the extent that the Times-Union leads their preview of the State-of-the-State address with it. As it happens, they’re not expecting him to say anything major about transit despite the massive wake-up call from Sandy.

  • Jjmacjohnson

    It’s not the illustrator but th eterrible writer and corporate stooge that wrote the article that lumped pricing with singing in the shower.

    Illustrators get little choice.

  • Bolwerk

    Sheesh. If TZB doesn’t have rail service, it should be obstructed. The original idea laid the framework for a good future: commuter rail tracks to Manhattan and some light rail service locally. It may cost more upfront, but it pays off in the future over the commuter bus option. Cuomo should never have been allowed to try to scale back.

    The difference between medieval armor fandom and car fandom is the former doesn’t really involve decisions that meaningfully effect other people.  The choice Cuomo made to hand an unusually dangerous vehicle over to an inexperienced driver is stupid and irresponsible, even if you like cars and think they’re a good thing. And it goes without saying all the little choices people make to drive add up to a big problem with emissions.

  • krstrois

    I think when Cuomo describes himself as “car guy” he is actually trying to present himself as working class Italian-American instead of the privileged son of an extremely famous NY governor whose memory could easily overshadow him. And of course, this kind of “car guy” posturing is a code that generally plays very well with pseudo-populism in NY culture, generally and in political and media culture, specifically. So the press repeat it again and again excitedly in the “do we want to have a beer with him??” way. The photo op with the daughter getting the “reasonably priced” yet still red-blooded American car is the same thing. 
    He is anti-transit, but institutionally so. This is not a person who understands transit at all. 

  • Andrew

    The congestion pricing article is pretty good. The headline and illustration are idiotic.