Today’s Headlines

This Account of an NYPD Bike Stop Will Make Your Blood Boil: Brooklyn Spoke
Crain’s: Sadik-Khan and Burden Rumored as Future Business Partners
MTA Outlines Subway and Bus Service Improvements, and Cuomo Grabs Credit (News)
Naming Rights Policy Set (2nd Ave Sagas); MTA Board May Resume Monthly Meetings (NYT)
Schumer Wants Railways Protected From Heat (NY1); Hudson Line Back After Derailment (NYT, News)
City Council to Vote Wednesday on Proposed USTA Flushing Meadows Expansion (CapNY)
Teen Loses Leg to Hit-and-Run Driver in the Bronx (Post)
Repairs Underway at Upper Manhattan 1 Train Stations (DNA)
Pedestrians Take the High Line for a Car-Free Walk to Work (NYT)
Transportation Nation Examines Penn Station Bike-Share Usage
NYT Says Extraction of EDR Data Is Controversial, But Doesn’t Really Say Why It Should Be
How — and Why — Is Citi Bike Like a Moose? (NY Mag)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Kevin Love

Streetsblog is right. The vicious harassment of which Hilda Cohen is the innocent victim is making my blood boil.

That NYPD officer needs to be subjected to serious disciplinary action. Immediate termination of his employment with the City of New York seems appropriate to me.

Unfortunately, this is only one incident of an ongoing pattern of discrimination and harassment on the part of the NYPD. This must stop.
Ridgewoodian

You can probably guess from my name where I’m from so the news about the M train is especially welcome to me. I remember when it would become a shuttle from 10:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon every day, and when it uselessly doubled the J in Manhattan. Slowly, slowly the service has improved for this booming neighborhood. Next, hopefully, we’ll get overnight service to Essex-Delancey, Then weekend/overnight service to 57th Street. Then -one glorious day – 24/7 along the full line. If Cuomo’s behind this, well, good for him for once. Progress!
Peter

GoPro camera on the helmet, recording all the time. It’s the only defense. In other cases I’d say file a CCRB complaint, but in this case it’s a he-said/she-said – there’s nothing the cop wrote that’s demonstrably wrong in the eyes of the law.
Ridgewoodian

Re: Hilda Cohen. Blood boiling. You know, my beater bike was stolen last week. I went to the police station two blocks away to report it and was looked at as if I had multiple heads. The first (civilian) employee I spoke to told me straight out, “We’re not going to do anything about it.” Not that I was expecting anything else but come on…it was stolen from in front of a subway station (security cameras?) on a residential street with witnesses (an old lady on her porch had told me that it had happened ten minutes before I had shown up). Maybe if they had put even an iota of effort into it they would have found my property and, you know, sometimes criminals are guilty of more than one time. I guess they were out busting bikers. Protect and serve. Pfffffft.
KeNYC2030

Blood boiling over. This kind of harassment and bullying is taking place because the cops think they can get away with it. We need to make sure there are consequences other than being complained about in Streetsblog’s comments section. What if this precinct faced a roomful of outraged cyclists at its next
Community Council meeting? 6th Precinct meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month at 25 Carmine Street, at 7:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the next meeting is not until Sept. 25. In the meantime, here’s the precinct’s community affairs phone number: (212)741-4826
Ridgewoodian

Made it very clear to the family that Christmas is coming and a GoPro Hero 3 Black would like REAL nice under the tree.
Alex Knight

Gee, I wonder if the fact that the NYPD is known by virtually everyone (bike thieves obviously included) not to do a damn thing about bike theft is the reason it is so rampant? Thanks, NYPD. Another way you’re screwing cyclists.
Anonymous

I have CopRecorder installed on my smartphone. I don’t really need it where I live, as the Boston police and the surrounding forces are not big on harassing cyclists, but man, for any conversation I might have to have with an NYPD officer, CopRecorder comes on.
Reader

I don’t want to live in a city where mounting a video camera on my head is necessary.

We need politicians to take the lead and demand change from the NYPD.
Ian Turner

It’s not just NYPD. Bike theft is generally a nearly risk-free crime nationwide.
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9frrjNMiF1r1p25e.png

http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/08/31/stealing-a-bike-is-risk-free-crime/
Anonymous

How’s that work? Is there an app? Or you just turn on the record function?
Jonathan R

Seems unlikely to me that a helmet cam would help here. The cop wasn’t rude or abusive, and the ticket just means he didn’t like the way Hilda was riding. Good luck in court!
Anonymous

What do you think of the GoPro? I’ve seen and it looks really large and bulky. Is it uncomfortable during long rides? OR cumbersome when your carrying your helmet?

Has anyone used the ContourROAM or the MUVI HD?
Anonymous

Would help her in court and with publicly shaming the officer. Sadly the NYPD doesn’t care what their officers do. They care what the cops get caught doing.
Anonymous

It’s an app for iPhone and Androids. You touch the app icon, and it starts recording and transmitting to an archive, while pretending not to be on. And it stays on until the battery dies.
Bolwerk

The justice system is so authoritarian that almost everything is weighted toward the cops. The testimony of a citizen shouldn’t have less weight than the testimony of a police officer period.
Bolwerk

Zero risk? Come on, that sounds a little silly to me. Nobody is ever prosecuted for stealing bicycles? Nobody ever gets the snot beaten out of them being caught in the act?
Anonymous

Writing bogus tickets because someone “won’t shut up” is most certainly abusive.
Bolwerk

And…something so-called “conservatives” just love. The more thuggish, the better for them.

It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that red light cams would protect people, drivers and cyclists alike, from this kind of dishonesty. Maybe the real reason there is such establishment opposition to them is it would drive revenue down, at least from People Who Don’t Matter (non-drivers). Not to mention police don’t want more opportunities to be caught lying.
Anonymous

Not to take away from the ridiculousness of that bike stop, but: there isn’t anybody better than Schumer at waiting until something happens and then complaining about it, is there?
Kevin Love

Thank you for the information. I am going to look into getting this.
Kevin Love

It may be a he-said/she-said thing, but a formal written complaint has the effect of deterring future harassment. Suppose people make formal, written harassment complaints every time that they are harassed by this cop. If nothing else, his boss will be annoyed by having to do the paperwork to respond to every complaint.
Andrew

I’ve (fortunately) never had to file an insurance claim for stolen property, but don’t the insurance companies typically require a police report?
Guest

This is typical. They will do everything possible to avoid taking a report in order to keep their stats down.

Yet Ray Kelly continues to lie with a straight face that they’re not policing honestly, nobody is gaming the stats (and if they are it’s a “bad apple”…)
Ridgewoodian

Yeah, I’ve never had to either. I’m still waiting on a complaint number (will call tomorrow – hopefully they’ll finally have generated one). After that I’ll contact my insurer. Not that I’m going to get anything – the deductable is greater than the value of the bike which, Iike I said, was a beater. (If it had been my GOOD bike, I’d be out there Pee-Wee Herman style, until I found it and brought the thief to justice.)
Ian Turner

I’d discourage you from filing a claim unless you expect a payout, the claim will increase your future premiums.