Start your week off right by picking among multiple important events tonight! First, there will be a big anti-Amazon rally in Court Square in Long Island City at 5 p.m. (but construction workers say they're all in for Bezos's boondoggle, according to Crain's). Whatever side you're on, only stay for an hour so you can head to one of two important workshops at 6:30 p.m.: On W. 26th St., Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Bike NY are sponsoring a primer on how to bicycle through the winter. Details are here. At the same time in Williamsburg, Courtney Williams, aka The Brown Bike Girl, will hold a workshop on how much money you can save by cycling.
Sidenote: The weather isn't supposed to be so grand on Monday, so make sure to grab your People's Poncho.
And now, the news:
- Queens Community Board 2 really let the city Economic Development Corporation have it over the Amazon deal. (LIC Post)
- In case you missed it, the Times continued its odd, primer-style approach to the coming L-train shutdown with a look at the Williamsburg Bridge. It included this head-scratcher: "There is no room on the bridge itself for dedicated bus lanes." (Um, sure there is: Just close the bridge to cars.)
- Just in time for the MTA's public hearings on fare hikes (amNY), Dan Rivoli of the Daily News reports that the proposed fare hike on Acces-a-Ride customers is more than double that of other commuters.
- Those paired bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets in Manhattan still aren't done. (The Villager)
- The Times had a great story about a new delivery tricycle that has the potential to change the world. But the Paper of Record glosses over city law and the ongoing harassment of delivery workers. One paragraph said the T3 from Brooklyn-based Upcycles is legal, but another graph explains, “To go uphill, a single click on the handlebar unleashes a power-boost from an electric-hub in the rear wheel.” The NYPD has been busting deliverymen and women who use throttle-controlled e-bikes — so how is the new vehicle legal?
- Ride a really old subway car every Sunday from now until New Year's Day (these aren't the normal old trains; these are the old trains that you are excited to ride). (amNY)
- Gotham Gazette published part II of Allan Rosen's three-part prescription for fixing the bus system.
- In case you missed it, Gothamist's fun "Ask a Reporter" segment focused on street safety.
- In the 1960s and '70s — with gas prices high and cities decaying and choked with smog — the federal government invested in mass transit big time. But it wasn't enough to reverse decades of decline at the hands of the automobile. (Curbed)
- And, finally, who doesn't love a picture of a turkey eating turkey on the subway? (Gothamist)
Our tweet of the day is from Peter Chowla:
