Monday’s Headlines: Happy Jewish New Year Edition

Happy New Year to all our Jewish readers…and writers. Forgive us if we had a little too much apples and honey last night, but we promise we’ll be back up to speed before Shmini Atzeret. In the meantime, why not take a moment to review our Election 2018 coverage? After all, the primaries are on Thursday!

Here’s the news:

  • Multiple outlets “covered” the killing of an elderly pedestrian by a driver on Northern Boulevard on Sunday morning — NYDN and News4 relied only on the police sheet while the NY Post did a tiny bit more — but none pointed out how Northern has been dangerous for so long, which is why you might like this Streetsblog story.
  • The Post, citing some dubious statistics, claimed that the worst double-parking in bike lanes is in Bay Ridge. A better story would be why the 68th Precinct isn’t stopping it. Or why the mayor once said it was OK to double-park for 30 seconds.
  • You don’t work in community newspapers in this town — and I’ve been doing it for 30 years — without meeting, admiring and, most important, publishing letters to the editor from Larry Penner. Here’s his take on the BQX. (He’s against it, obvs!) (Queens Chronicle)
  • Over the weekend, the Daily News offered its primary endorsements, first in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, and then in Brooklyn. Most notably, The News joined StreetsPAC in endorsing Brooklynites Blake Morris over Simcha Felder and Zellnor Myrie over Jessie Hamilton; Bronx Senate candidate Alessandra Biaggi over incumbent Jeff Klein; and Manhattanite Robert Jackson over incumbent Marisol Alcantara.
  • After Streetsblog’s story about how the city may create congestion pricing all by itself, the Times investigated whether such home rule efforts are legal.
  • Sure, I made fun of Governor Andrew #StatusCuomo on Friday for riding his fancy antique car over the new Tappan Zee Bridge…but then it turned out that it really was a cheap, dangerous, political stunt. (NYP, NY1, NYT, WSJ)
  • ICYMI: The DOT is offering a sort-of fix for the end of the East River bike path along the FDR Drive near Waterside Plaza. A better solution, of course, would be a real greenway, but this will help … for now. (Town and Village)
  • ICYMI again: The New York Times reported late last week that Gov. Cuomo flies around on state planes a lot — a lot more than other governors. But then again, we are the Empire State, right?
  • Staten Island Borough President (and excellent media spoof debunker) Jimmy Oddo wants answers on whether the Rock could get some new ferry service or not. (SI Live)
  • Soundview residents told NY1 that their neighborhood is a transit desert. Hey, didn’t they just get a ferry?
  • Ian Turner

    Link about Cuomo flights is broken. Thanks for the compilation!

  • 19cibaoman75

    i like the new format/layout of streetsblog, keep up the good work

  • Norman Edward Brown

    I don’t understand how the Tappan Zee fell apart. I thought it was Design Build. How could this have happened?

  • Gersh Kuntzman
  • Larry Littlefield

    I suspect politics may have played a role.

    Why didn’t they fully tear down the old bridge before building the second span right next to it?

    Perhaps because people would have said (here, for example) you’ve since they had already replaced what was there with the first span, that’s enough thank you, save the money.

    Was the original Tappan Zee design-build? I wouldn’t expect that. But since they were replacing it because it was allegedly ready to fall down, they should have suspected that it might be ready to fall down.

    I hope this whole thing isn’t a contractor looking for a big $ change order. And why did the NYC school buses fail to properly transport kids to school yesterday? They last time they did this it was on purpose – to thwart Bloomberg’s reform of excessive costs. DeBlasio reversed that. Looking for more?

  • AnoNYC

    The new ferry serves Soundview Avenue in Clason Point, not the Soundview neighborhood (the area in question is over a mile and a half north). The neighborhood surrounding the Bx5 is very dense (very large buildings), but is just far enough from the 6 train and the ferry to be a PITA. What could help in the short term are some queue jumps at Bronx River Ave and White Plains Road (the two worst choke points), enforcement of the queue jump on Southern Blvd, and better frequency/less bunching.