Wednesday’s Headlines: NYPD Lighting Fixture in Bike Lanes Edition

Tuesday was a momentous day in Prospect Heights because the NYPD finally removed the lighting tower that it had parked in the Vanderbilt Avenue bike lane for five days. Hat tip to @D00RZ0NE for bringing this to my attention last week — but sure enough, when I biked past on Monday night, the damn thing was still there. Like @D00RZ0NE, I reported it to 311, but I also asked the NYPD why it was there at all. A police spokesman declined to answer that, but said the problem had been taken care of. Well, you know what they say in journalism — if your mother says she loves NYPD street obstructions, you check it out. So I immediately biked over. Sure enough, it was gone. No explanation was provided for why it took five days.

Beyond that, yesterday was a very slow news day on the transportation beat:

• Do you really need another story about the struggles of dockless bike share in New York? City & State thinks you do.
• People — and when I say "people," I mean illegal parkers — are loving the new bike lanes on 12th and 13th Streets in Manhattan. (@mossgazer)
• The three or four people who thought the New York Wheel was actually going to happen will be sad about the official demise. (NY Post, NYT, WSJ)
• We all agree how much we hate Uber and Lyft for adding more congestion to the roadways — so let's try the same thing with our kids! (CityLab)
• We've written about State Senator Marty Golden's poor record on street safety issues, but Bklyner published an opinion piece that went to DefCon4, accusing the eight-term incumbent of giving aid and comfort to Nazis.
• Twenty-eight people have died on Washington, D.C. streets so far this year, making a mockery of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Vision Zero goal of no deaths by 2024. (WaPo) The latest safety measure being considered by D.C. officials is banning right turns on red. (NBC 4)
• If you think Democrats might work with President Trump to revive his $1-trillion infrastructure plan if they win control of Congress, think again. There’s no way they’ll ever be able to agree on how to fund it. (Politico)
• And in case you missed it, bike hater Steve Cuozzo appears to subscribe to the notion that bike infrastructure hurts property values. What happened to the argument that bike lanes cause gentrification, Steve? (NY Post)