Today’s Headlines

  • Coalition Led by Times Sq Alliance Releases Report: Keep the Plazas, Curb the Street Performers (NYT)
  • TWU Pays for Ads Backing Team Cuomo’s Line on Capital Program Funding (News)
  • Voters Don’t Like Cuomo-De Blasio Wars, But Cuomo Comes Out Ahead of Mayor (Politico, News)
  • What Truce? Uber Hires More Political Operatives, Prepares Its Own Report to Rebut City Hall (WSJ)
  • If NJ Transit Keeps Quietly Cutting Service, We Won’t Need New Hudson Tunnel (NJ.com, Bloomberg)
  • Two Officers Under Investigation for Violating NYPD Pursuit Protocol After Motorcyclist Dies (WCBS, Post)
  • Wrong-Way Driver Arrested for Drunk Driving at Holland Tunnel Approach (Gothamist, News, Post, DNA)
  • Cuomo’s Willets Point AirTrain Is More of a Wish Than an Actual Plan (Gotham Gazette)
  • New Hudson Yards Subway Station Experiences Its First Delay From Signal Problems (Post)
  • Citi Bike Hitting New Records as System Expands, Approaching 50,000 Trips Daily (News)
  • Monday: Help Plan Better Public Spaces Beneath the BQE and the Brooklyn Bridge (DNA)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • The proposal for the Times Square plazas is almost boarding a solution without a problem. Must a public plaza be so regimented with various “zones” in order to curb a handful of overly aggressive street performers?

  • BBnet3000

    Is the current space actually so large that the police (esp plainclothes) can’t see if people are aggressively panhandling or not? I don’t see why herding people into these zones would even make a difference other than preventing the police from having to walk at all, which we know they hate to do.

  • Joe R.

    Yes, for the same reason NYC closes the parks after dark. The police hate to get out of their patrol cars and actually, well, do the job they’re being paid to do. By having a “zone” for performers they never have to walk all that far from their cars.

    This also seems to be why the parks close here at nights. Instead of the police actually patrolling to, you know, catch anyone who might be doing something illegal, why not throw the baby out with the bathwater by closing the parks altogether? That way if a citizen gets hurt or killed in the park, the police can blame the victim for being in the park after closing hours.

  • Joe R.

    This piece in the NY Post from Steve Cuozzo seems uncharacteristic:

    http://nypost.com/2015/09/13/the-7-train-extension-is-finally-here-and-i-couldnt-be-happier/

    At first I thought it might be satire but he seems genuinely thrilled about the new Hudson Yards station. Surprising to me since one can get the impression from his other articles that he never travels in NYC except by car.

  • It’s tough to keep up with the Staten Island Advance on this page, it’s stories often come out late in the day. But regarding the death of 21 year old cyclist Alexa Cioffi who was killed by a detached trailer on Hylan Blvd, the Advance has so far referred to it as a “boat accident” in no less than three news stories.

    http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/sources_1_cyclist_dead_another.html

    http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/mother_of_22-year-old_cyclist.html

    http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/im_just_numb_said_mother_of_cy.html

    Rather spectacular obtuseness, says this observer.

  • Reader

    Cuozzo has always been a big cheerleader for NYC’s real estate industry, which clearly stands to benefit from the extension. It’s not that surprising. Also, subways are old-school — manna for “real” New Yorkers — and don’t take things like precious parking or car lanes, so this development is easy for guys like the Cuozz to digest.

  • bolwerk

    It’s not that surprising. Most of those dumb motorsexual types love subways because they think subways get people off the roads and out of their way. Not true, of course, even if a subway is very successful.

    Look at the Queens Public Transit Committee (or whatever they call themselves). They actually oppose public transit when it gets in the way of (gasp!) cars, and in doing so ostracize many potential allies.

  • com63

    Citibike is going be huge as it expands into more residential neighborhoods and people gain the ability to use the bikes both where they live and where they work (in Manhattan CBD). This was a big barrier before if people only worked in the service area, but didn’t live in that area. I really hope they can accelerate the rollout to upper Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn if the membership numbers continue to rise.

  • urbanresidue

    It seems like the underlying point is allowing those sensitive people who can’t bare to see women’s bare breasts to avoid the sight.

  • Matthias

    The article said that the plaza is being reclassified as “public space”, which as far as I can tell, it already is. I’m not sure how “zones” will help; the space isn’t that large to begin with.