Today’s Headlines

  • The Times Says de Blasio Will Talk About Vision Zero With Brian Lehrer This Morning
  • Chan on Why NYPD Doesn’t Always Enforce Traffic Laws: People Lose Interest (News)
  • More Coverage of Current Dangerous Driving Crackdown: AMNY, DNA, Post
  • Prendergast Promises to Speed Up SAS Phase 2, Rangel Promises to Help (2AS)
  • How Will Cuomo and Christie Divvy Up NY and NJ Gateway Contributions? (Politico)
  • Community Board 4 Protests Proposed Site of New Port Authority Bus Terminal (Politico)
  • Sane People Agree: Housing for Seniors More Important Than Preserving Parking (Politico)
  • Constantinides and DenDekker to Host DOT Workshop on Astoria Boulevard Fixes (JHP)
  • De Blasio Will Use Budget Surplus to Pay for Truck Side Guards (Crain’s)
  • NJ DOT Ready to Build More Roads NJ Can’t Afford (MTR)
  • Alternate Side Parking Is a Product of Motorists’ Own Making (WNYC)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • BBnet3000

    Brian Lehrer has proven to be woefully ignorant and silly about street safety in the past so I don’t have particularly high hopes for that segment.

    I saw a digital road sign yesterday that said something like “NYPD Safety Enforcement Action Period”. A tacit admission that the rest of the time is an inaction period?

  • bolwerk

    That’s perfect. Bill de Blasio can’t deal with scrutiny. He holds the line on nearly every intractable problem with New York City government. Can we either admit he’s not progressive or just admit “progressive” means what conservative meant before Reagan? Considering de Blasio’s policing is little distinguishable from Bloomberg’s, and Bloomberg’s success fighting poverty and inequality is little worse (maybe better) than de Blasio’s, I have trouble seeing how we can make the case that we traded up.

  • Reader

    People should call in and ask tough questions.

  • Reader

    (212) 433-WNYC (9692)

  • J_12

    I completely agree. I wish people would stop backing politicians (like DeBlasio!) just because they have the right label, regardless of their actions and policies.
    I hear people all the time claiming that we should back a shitty democrat because, despite his flaws, a republican would be so much worse. But really, it would be almost exactly the same.

  • bolwerk

    It can be worse sometimes. Democrats get cowed into doing things Republikans won’t do on their own.

    It makes me sad that, I think, Bill de Blasio is actually a well-meaning person. Road to hell, good intentions, blah blah.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    The Good – BdB says speeding and failure to yield are key to Vision Zero.

    The Bad – BdB says Bratton singled handily saved NYC. Bratton can do no wrong.

  • Jonathan R

    Compared to Giuliani, the last honest-to-goodness Republican we elected, BDB is everything we could ask for on the livable streets platform.

  • Maggie

    does anyone understand Chan’s “people lose interest” comment in a way that makes sense, for law enforcement? I’m totally lost.

  • Joe R.

    In this case, I think a lousy democrat like DeBlasio is worse than a Republican. The major problems the city faces are not being addressed. On top of that, he supports the brutal police tactics of Bratton. The one thing touted so far as his major success, namely universal pre-K, will end up saddling the city with yet more educational costs indefinitely into the future, while providing few or no long term benefits to students. You can also add as a liberal union supporter DeBlasio won’t make any headway obtaining any kind of sorely needed contract reform or cost cutting from the UFT or TWU. Really, he’s the worst of both worlds—the authoritarianism of Republicans like Guiliani, but without any common sense or fiscal discipline. I may have been tired of Bloomberg after 12 years, but given a choice I would rather have had 4 more years of him.

  • Joe R.

    I’m reading this as “people in general favor crackdowns on dangerous driving, so long as it’s somebody else who gets the tickets, not them.” Sustained crackdowns obviously result in more drivers getting tickets, and that’s what causes people to lose interest.

    I’ll grant my interpretation could be wrong, but Chan is being needlessly indecipherable here.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    Hilarious WSJ article about congestion in LA following a $1billion freeway Expansion. Filled with gems

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-l-a-one-way-to-beat-traffic-runs-into-backlash-1447469058

  • ZB

    When BdB speaks, he is only selling himself and the administration. Offers zero leadership qualities as far as I can see, only CYA tactics.

  • bolwerk

    I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Republikan executive with fiscal discipline even as good as de Blasio’s, and can really only think of historical examples. Certainly not George Pataki or Rudy Giuliani.

    Re de Blasio, managerially he’s not that terrible. He actually knows how the city government works and runs it fairly effectively. His problem is his worst policies are effectively about as poisonous as Giuliani’s or Bloomberg’s. Bloomberg even had good qualities that de Blasio doesn’t have, like openness to reforming street uses.

    Maybe I wouldn’t argue Bill de Blasio is better than Bloomberg fiscally, but I’m not sure he’s much worse. You can blame the union contract thing on Bloomberg at least as much as you can de Blasio. Bloomberg should have given the unions contracts during his last term. He left it to the next administration to fight out contracts plus retroactive wage increases from contracts that should have happen.

    People like to credit Bloomberg for the city’s coffers bulging, but that’s probably something that would have happened anyway. Why? We’ve been seeing urban revival since at least Dinkins, and it’s scarcely limited to New York.