Friday’s Headlines: Yes, We Are Finally Counting Ballots Today Edition

Yes, we’ll finally start our day at the Board of Elections, where officials will count the absentee ballots to determine once and for all if Democrat Andrew Gounardes actually beat street safety pariah (and eight-term State Senator) Marty Golden. Gounardes holds a seemingly insurmountable 1,100-vote lead.

And now, the news:

• Did you hear? It snowed. So, naturally, everyone’s commute (except cyclists!) was messed up. (NYDN, NY Post) The Post then had two more articles, first playing it straight, but later focussing on the outrage.
• The MTA was in the news a lot, thanks to its regular board meeting. The Times, amNY, NY1, Politico and the WSJ) focused on the perfect storm of fare hikes and service cuts. The Daily News focused on Andy Byford catching a would-be fare beater. And Streetsblog pointed out that Byford thinks enforcement cameras are better than cops.
• One day after Politico reported that an obscure Albany panel might have a say over Gov. Cuomo’s Amazon deal, the governor said, no, that isn’t going to happen. (NYDN) And the Times’s Ginia Bellafante channeled a tweet I banged out into a great piece about our hypocrisy towards Amazon.
• Meanwhile, Dana Rubinstein of Politico did what she always does: She dug into Andrew Cuomo’s contradictions on the deal.
• We were pleased to see that the Daily News Editorial Board, Vin Barone at amNY and NY1 shared Streetsblog’s complaint about the city’s less-than-fair Fair Fares program.
• Incoming State Senator Alessandra Biaggi doesn’t like the Amazon deal. (NY Post) The Times offered other people who hate the deal.
• A drunk cop ran down and injured a pedestrian, said police, who arrested him. (NY Post) And a few hours later, the NYPD put out a statement (no link) that ANOTHER drunk cop did basically the same thing in the West Village.
• A Brooklyn community board has approved the street co-naming for Biggie Smalls. (News12, Bklyner)
• Citi Bike has begun its pre-L-pocalyse “infill” with 200 more docks coming to affected areas — though only a single new location. (Greenpoint Post)
• At Streetsblog, we’ve long relied enjoyed the tone of New York Magazine — it’s like a Timesian Gothamist: edgy and smart. But for the second day in a row, we’re scratching our collective head about the magazine’s L train coverage. One day after the cartoon coverage (literally!), Granger Wilson offers a video that will help native New Yorkers not even a little bit. (Unmentioned in the video: People can also bike or take a bus into Manhattan — and cabs will be bound by HOV-3 rules.)
• Millennials like cities. And they don’t like cars. Do the math: We need cities that are more dense and less drivable. (City Lab)
• And, finally, it’s not really a livable streets story, but more of a livable fishing story. Watch this hilarious Sports Illustrated video featuring “urban fisherman” Mike Iaconelli picking up bass in the Gowanus Canal.