Today’s Headlines

  • NYT: Cuomo Has to Fix the Subways, and It Starts With Picking a “Capable and Credible” MTA Chief
  • Pat Foye Not Interested in Splitting Power at the MTA With Cuomo Enforcer Larry Schwartz (News)
  • Must-Read Interview With the Anonymous Crusader Behind @PlacardAbuse in Tribeca Citizen 
  • Gridlock Sam: De Blasio’s School Placard Surge Makes It “More Likely We’ll Have Children Hit By Cars” (NYT)
  • Daily News: Discipline in Minting New Placards Beats a Crackdown After the Fact
  • Drugged SUV Driver Kills Pedestrian Jinhe Niu, 67, in Flushing Monday Night (News)
  • Multiple Drivers Strike and Kill Man Near Cross-Bronx Expressway Ramp, None Stop (Post, News)
  • More Carnage: 17 Injured in Bus-Truck Collision (ABC7); Fatal 2-Car Crash (News); Van Driver Injures Motorcyclist (News); S.I. Hit-and-Run (Post)
  • Eric Adams: East New York Deserves a Better LIRR Station Than What the MTA Provides (AMNY)
  • De Blasio Waits for Cuomo to Answer for the MTA’s Struggles (Politico)
  • What Would Harlem Be Without Its… Gas Stations? (NYT)
  • Pity Poor Steve Cuozzo and His Desperate Bid for Clicks (TransAlt)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • Larry Littlefield

    “Bicycle riders in New York City, you have no idea how much you are despised, hated, and detested and loathed by everybody who is not on the same bike with you.”

    Typical. Your generation is leaving those to follow with all kinds of burdens, and yet when they ride a bike as you ride around in your motor vehicle, you hate them. If people only put two and two together, the dislike would be going in a different direction.

    https://larrylittlefield.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/generation-greed-they-arent-using-those-words-but-some-folks-are-starting-to-connect-the-dots/

    Cuozzo’s readers are riding on the backs of those bicycle riders.

  • Kevin Love

    From the linked News article:

    “The NYPD, awkwardly both the main enforcer and widespread abuser of private vehicle placards, commits to cracking down on its own ranks.”

    So, how well do we think that commitment is going to be honored?

  • Kevin Love

    I feel very little pity for Steve Cuozzo and anyone else who openly incites hatred. Against what other group of people is it acceptable to say something like, “NYC bike riders, I hate you (in full color video)”.

    Try doing this: For “bike riders” in the above quote, substitute any other minority group and ask yourself “would even the Post print this?”

  • Reader

    I wonder if New York Post columnists have any idea how much they are despised, hated, and detested and loathed by everybody.

  • Jesse

    Gotta stick up for Nicole Gelinas here.

  • a black male cyclist

    There’s a difference between hating people for things they do (say, riding bikes, or being a banker, or panhandling) and hating people for how they are born (say, gay, or black, or very tall).

  • Reader

    #withfewexceptions

  • bolwerk

    TBF, Steve Cuozzo is almost like a local Glenn Beck. He’s kooky. His ramblings are daft enough that they can’t be helping his cause, and it’s unlikely he serves any purpose other than generating bad content.

    I’d be much more concerned about all the people with actual power who have that attitude. Many don’t say it, but quietly think it. Or they couch it in pro-cop rhetoric (slamming a pedestrian or cyclist for “disobeying lawful orders” is A-OK if you have a badge).

  • Larry Littlefield

    Not from a Christian point of view. You can hate what the do, but not them.

    And in any event, what’s the excuse for hating bicyclists just because they on bicycles?

  • a black male cyclist

    I’m not going to answer your question since I haven’t made any excuses such as you describe, but rather point out that as a black person I find it at the very least annoying, and sometimes offensive, when people make anti-behavior hate out to be equivalent to racist hate.

    The people making anti-bike hate out to be similar to racist head tend to be white people. I suggest people doing that check themselves.

  • JudenChino

    Thanks Captain Pendant. I’ll remember the next time I get buzzed by a truck.

  • Kevin Love

    I chose my religion. Does that mean religious hatred is OK?

    Anti-cyclist hate results in a lot of dead people. Is that OK?

  • To the commenters replying to this perfectly clear-cut distinction, which in no way, shape, or form excuses anti-bike bias: If you can’t engage without namecalling and mischaracterizing what other people say here, your commenting privileges will be revoked.

  • a black male cyclist

    “Does that mean religious hatred is OK?”

    WTF is wrong with you?

    I do know racist hate is different in nature from hate over cycling.

    “Anti-cyclist hate results in a lot of dead people. Is that OK?”

    WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? Is that how you argue with a black person telling you to be more thoughtful with analogies between racism and anti-cycling hate?

    OK, you win!

    You’re so smart. Good rhetoric. Thanks for setting this black man straight!! Thanks bro.

  • AMH

    Interesting observation in the NYT article: NYC buys subway cars with doors that are contained inside the walls rather than attached to tracks on the outside. Is this just the way it’s always been done or is there a good reason for it?

  • When you or I have a bad week riding our bikes — whether through threats of violence or harassment by the cops — we can, if we so choose, take a break. I can stop riding for a bit and switch to any of a number of other modes of transportation.

    A person who is harassed because of the color of his or her skin can not switch bodies.

    I really wish bike advocates would not make these comparisons to being a persecuted minority. As Ben said, that’s not to diminish the very real threat of injury and death people experience, but it’s simply the wrong comparison for about a million reasons.

  • Kevin Love

    I believe that all hate is wrong. When the hate results in a lot of people winding up dead it is very, very wrong.

    If you agree with this, then we really should be allies.

  • a black male cyclist

    Thanks for lumping together racism and anti-cycling hate again and telling me what I should do with that nice rhetorical set-up. Well played.

  • JudenChino

    I’m a “person of color” too who will have to give his son “the talk” once he reaches a certain age. I take no issue with Kevin’s comment, nor do I see the clear-cut distinction that Ben and ABMC seem to believe exists. If you’re a PoC you’ll have it worse than the white lady in a dress on a bike. People who are “anti-” will tell you they believe what they do based on the “actions” of people, not the immutable innate characteristics of someone.

    Where Kevin’s comment spoke to me, is using the acts of a few to demonize the whole. It does suck to be dehumanized on the basis of your skin tone/race, accent, religion, class, ethnicity, mother tongue, country of origin, etc . . . . No doubt. It also just sucks to be dehumanized, regardless of reason.

    And you dehumanize people by taking the acts of a few and attributing to the whole and that’s why I agree with Kevin’s comment.

    Do Muslims commit a disproportionate amount of terrorism violence relative to their population? Yes. Is it ok to attribute the actions of ISIS to all Muslim people? No!

    Are Jewish people disproportionately represented in media and economic fields relative to their population (Mormons might soon lead Jewish people on this score)? Yes. Are you just making an honest observation if you note that “Jews run Hollywood and Wall St”? No!

    Do people on bikes hold up traffic, ride the wrong way, blow through red lights, buzz pedestrians on a daily basis. Yes. Is ok to hate all people on bikes! No.

    One of the most blatantly racist acts of persecution I’ve ever seen have been these e-bike stings. And that was enacted by “pro-immigrant ‘Love Trump Hates'” UES Liberals. My point is, racism is here and it sucks. And in many ways, the hate towards people on bikes, mimics the irrational way that people are racist, sexist, xenophobic etc . . . .

    That observation doesn’t diminish the awfulness of racism, sexism, homophobia etc . . . This isn’t the oppression sweepstakes. And it shouldn’t be prohibited on this site to remark on the similarities in the manner in which people/systems/institutions profess, act and/or impose their hate of others/more vulnerable.

  • Kevin Love

    I believe that all hate is wrong. Hate that results in lots of people being dead is very, very wrong.

    I believe that those who are the victims of hate and violence should stand in solidarity with one another against the people doing the hating. For example, the experience of me being beaten bloody by the police means that I stand in solidarity with an 80-year-old man being beaten bloody by the police and support police reform so that these things do not happen again.

    That is why I am prepared to be the ally and supporter of anyone who stands against hate and violence. When it comes to hate and violence, I do not discriminate. All forms of hate and violence are wrong, and I am prepared to stand in solidarity with all other victims of hate and violence.

  • a black male cyclist

    If you actually want to build alliances with people affected by racism, I think you would do well to talk less and listen more when someone directly affected by it says something about it. Just a suggestion.

  • Kevin Love

    I have been paying close attention and carefully reading everything that you have written. However, I disagree with some of it. In particular, I disagree with the idea of discriminating between different forms of hate and violence.

    It is true that people can evade some forms of hate by changing their behavior. An example is religious hatred. Someone can choose to convert to a different religion.

    But for me to be forced to renounce my religion by the duress and coercion of hate and violence would be a profound violation of my fundamental identity. Indeed, the reason why much of my transportation is by bicycle is because of my religious beliefs.

    I disagree with discriminating between different forms of hate and violence because I see all hate as a violation of the respect for the dignity that is owed to each human being. I see all violence as a violation of the security and integrity of the human person. This is all of a profound and fundamental wrongness. And I believe that all victims should stand in solidarity in opposition to this fundamental wrongness and violation of human dignity, security and identity.

  • a black male cyclist

    “If you’re a PoC you’ll have it worse than the white lady in a dress on a bike.”

    This pretty much proves what I said.

  • Simon Phearson

    I suppose the retort to Cuozzo could be: Drivers, you have no idea how much cyclists and pedestrians hate you!

  • a black male cyclist

    “I disagree with discriminating between different forms of hate and violence because I see all hate as a violation of the respect for the dignity that is owed to each human being”

    #alllivesmatter