Today’s Headlines

  • Cuomo on the Defensive About Moynihan Construction Crowding Out Amtrak Repairs (News)
  • Vice: It Should Be Prohibitively Expensive to Drive Into the Manhattan CBD
  • RPA: When the Robot Cars Come, Claim More Street Space for Buses, Bikes, and Pedestrians (AMNY)
  • Nicole Gelinas Scored an Exit Interview With Outgoing TWU 100 Chief John Samuelsen (C&S)
  • How Brad Hoylman Got State DOT to Study Safety Fixes for West Side Highway (DNA)
  • 79-Year-Old Woman Drives Hyundai Through 7-11 Storefront in Forest Hills (DNA)
  • Placard Abuse Does the Impossible and Injects Some Clarity Into a Tom Wrobleski Column (Advance)
  • Tony Avella Wants to Protect Undercarriages, Not Human Life (Queens Trib)
  • The Brooklyn Paper Covered Yesterday’s Car-Free Prospect Park Action
  • MetroCard Vending Machines Beamed Sunshine Into the Monday Morning Commute (Gothamist)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • JarekFA

    It’s a shame that any 79 year old person has to drive to 7-11 for whatever purpose. All our neighborhood streets should feel like a retirement community courtyard. Then she could just hop on a little scooter without fear and not worry about parking a big ass car.

  • Joe R.

    It’s also a shame we don’t do periodic driver retesting, particularly for older drivers. I have to love how we so casually accept “accidentally stepping on the gas pedal” as an excuse for something like this. If I was a judge and the driver offered that excuse, my response would be “Bingo! You just admitted you’re incompetent. License permanently revoked!”

  • AMH

    “According to prosecutors and the city Department of Investigation, the placards are going for as much as $2,600 on the street.”

    Which is why it’s utter insanity to give that street space away for free.

  • Joe R.

    Or better yet open up that curbside space to competing uses. One idea I’ve floated here occasionally is to let people put storage containers in the curbside space. Maybe you can prohibit them within 20 feet of a crosswalk for visibility reasons but otherwise any legal parking space is fair game. The containers can also be exempt from alternate side rules given that no garbage or debris can accumulate under them as with cars, and hence no need to sweep the part of the street they’re on. Let the market decide which is more important to people—cars or extra storage. My guess is given the small size of most NYC residences within a year nearly every legal parking spot will be occupied by a container. Car owners will have to park off-street, assuming garages can charge enough to be profitable. If not, they’ll have literally no place to park but outside city limits. Homeowners would be affected less. They’ll still have their driveways, but will have to reduce their car ownership to however many vehicles fit in their driveway.

  • AMH

    Or better yet, turn that space into a protected bike or pedestrian lane.