Monday’s Headlines: Watch NY1 at 7:30 This Morning Edition

Streetsblog editor Gersh Kuntzman will be on NY1 this morning, chatting with Pat Kiernan about the mayor’s handling of the snowstorm last week. Watch for Kuntzman to redirect the conversation towards Hizzoner’s ill-guided expansion of the city’s car fleet, his non-existent crackdown on placard abuse and his waffling on congestion pricing. Also look for Kuntzman to criticize the mayor for his Trumpian attacks on the local press corps. It’ll be a fun seven minutes on Kiernan’s couch!

Now the news:

• A group of pro-parking NIMBYs rallied under the banner of Queens Streets For All when, in fact, they really advocate only for the return of the handful of parking spaces lost when the city installed protected bike lanes in Sunnyside (Queens Parking for All or Queens Streets for Some are better names for the group). These people were literally spouting gibberish — at one point, one member of the group said that the city must remove the lanes “before someone gets killed.” Point of information: The protected lanes were installed because someone got killed. Members of the group also continue to claim that FDNY ladders can no longer reach the tops of some buildings, a claim rebutted by the FDNY itself. (Our favorite sign in the crowd was held by an old lady. It read, inexplicably, “Kids before bikes.”)
• The irony? The rally occurred at around the same time as many ceremonies marking World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. At Brooklyn Borough Hall, it took a lot of people to read all the names, as Hilda Cohen of Make Brooklyn Safer pointed out. No one had mentioned traffic victims at the “Queens Streets for All” rally — just parking and how their roadway is now allegedly less safe when, in fact, it is more safe. (News12)
• Our editor has been a fan of Council Member Rafael Espinal ever since he once nominated him to be nightlife mayor of the city. So it was fun to see how the would-be Public Advocate (and scooter bill author) spends his Sundays. (NY Times)
• As we think about Amazon moving to Queens, it’s time to once again think about why there is so little affordable housing in cities (hint: people who already own have a financial disincentive to support more construction). (Curbed)
• The Daily News editorial board has touched the third rail of New York politics — the third rail. On Sunday, the paper editorialized in favor of a fare hike (tell that to Sweeney!). It’s easy to say the MTA needs our fares to pay for better service. But the paper could have called on Gov. Cuomo to make this vital piece of infrastructure a higher budget priority, or for taxes to be raised on the wealthy — which would be less regressive than trying to balance the MTA budget on the backs of the riders.
• Here’s some must-see car mayhem in Midtown. (NY Post)
• Always prolific Nicole Gelinas said that Thursday’s snowstorm offers another argument in favor of congestion pricing. (City Journal)
• Stop dumping on the Bronx! (NY Post)
• Here’s more evidence why you shouldn’t have a car. (Metro)
• We’ve been asking the Department of Transportation why it bailed on its bike lane plan for Morris Park Avenue. Well, we think we’ll finally get an answer on Nov. 28, when the Morris Park Community Association holds a town hall on the issue. (Bx Times)
• And, finally, here’s another take on cops in bike lanes: