Today’s Headlines

  • People Will Die Because Senate GOP Insists on Shielding PBA From Speeding Fines (Post, Advance, T-U)
  • Cuomo: Fine With Me (Politico)
  • De Blasio Demands Senate Reconvene to Pass Speed Cam Bill (Post, CBS2)
  • Driver Backs Over and Kills 4-Year-Old Girl in Bushwick, Flees Scene (News)
  • Karen Koslowitz Would Have Rallied Against Bike Lanes If It Weren’t for Those Lousy Cyclists (QChron)
  • Two Refurbished Astoria Subway Stations Open — Without Elevators (AMNY, NY1)
  • MTA: Moving Walkways at Court Square Station Weren’t Worth the Trouble (News)
  • A Second Act for Robert Levine, the Original Ninth Street Road Diet NIMBY (Bklyn Paper)
  • It’s Official: Park Row Opens to Walking and Biking for First Time Since 9/11 (Post, Patch)
  • Better Late Than Never, Myrtle Avenue Plaza Finally Debuts (Bklyner)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • crazytrainmatt

    Even doubling the number of cameras would have been glacial progress, and while I understand the political expediency of tying them to school hours, it reinforces the notion that adult crash victims get what they deserve. The loss of the cameras is a step backwards, but some good would come out of it if it prompts the city to act further within its own domain. Maybe De Blasio can be convinced that this is an easy way to score some points against Cuomo and Albany.

    Re: the Queens Boulevard bike lanes and a drop in business:
    The opening of the Croton aqueduct in the 1840s coincided with the arrival of the cockroach, so they got called the Croton bug as people assumed the new aqueduct brought the infestation.

  • Larry Littlefield

    “I’m saying to localities, do the stop signs, do the lights,” Cuomo said.

    How about closing the streets for an hour before school and after school. Nope, might cause a problem for placard holders.

  • Joe R.

    Very apt comparison as unfortunately a fair number of people have about the same amount of esteem for cyclists as they do for cockroaches.

    As for Queens Boulevard, it’s important to bring up these other factors:

    1) The outer service road “parking lane” was a travel lane until the early 2000s. The parking which people are complaining will disappear didn’t exist for much of the lifetime of many long-time businesses.

    2) There was a major economic downturn in 2008 which by many metrics we never recovered from. The fact the stock market and housing prices are up doesn’t equate with “recovery”. Many good-paying jobs were lost. They were either never replaced, or replaced with low-wage jobs. People can’t buy stuff if they have no money.

    3) Online shopping is increasingly making many types of brick-and-mortar stores obsolete. Are bike lanes to blame for the fact many suburban malls are shutting down, also? It’s part of a trend, and there’s really nothing to be done to reverse it. People have voted with their money that they prefer shopping online. I recently bought a new A/C online instead of going to stores like PC Richard. Why? Much easier than going through the hassle of physically going there, and probably paying a delivery charge as I have no way to carry such a bulky, heavy item home. Also, the online store offered free delivery while charging the same price as PC Richard. I had the A/C in my possession 2 days after ordering it. No contest as far as I’m concerned.

  • AMH

    Not only do the re-opened stations not have elevators, but they do not have properly installed cables or tightened bolts!

  • Joe R.

    My jaw dropped to the ground watching that. If they forgot to tighten bolts in such an obvious, visible area, I dread to think how much is overlooked in areas the public can’t see. Unbelievable how incompetent the people who do work for the MTA are.

  • AMH

    Exactly! That appears to be a critical structural load point too.

  • sbauman

    “Nothing will slow a driver down more than a stop sign or a red light,” Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) said in a statement.

    I would think a moat would be more effective in slowing down drivers.

    If stop signs and red lights are really effective, Sen. Lanza should have no objections to measuring how effective these devices are. How about automatic cameras that would document which drivers fail to slow down at any of these devices. For good measure, let’s fine the car owner $50+ each time the driver fails to slow down.

  • AMH

    Maybe we can learn from the subway slowdown, and install raised barriers that lower only if the driver is going <25mph. Exceed the limit, and the barrier will stop the vehicle cold.

  • MWaring
  • Joe R.

    Have those at red lights also. Drivers won’t try to beat the light if there’s a chance they’ll get their timing wrong at crash into barriers like that at 45 mph.

  • AMH

    From the country that invented Vision Zero!

  • cjstephens

    Upvote for being way more entertaining than just saying “correlation is not causation.” Thanks!