Friday’s Headlines: Cuomo’s Tunnel Vision Edition

SB Donation NYC header 2When we went to bed early this morning, Gov. Cuomo was in the L-train tunnel under the East River on a personal fact-finding mission/photo-op with a hand-picked team of supposed engineers.

As you might guess, Cuomo’s decision to inconvenience thousands of people trying to get home just so he could second-guess a repair that the MTA has been planning for three years was a big story — but one that took place too late for even New York’s hard-working press corps. [Update: The stories have started coming in]:

  • The Post played it straight.
  • Second Avenue Sagas reminded us that Cuomo’s “inspection” of the L-train tunnel is a stunt — especially given how hands-off he has been as the subway system itself has crumbled. The money quote: “Imagine being the people at the MTA who have slaved over these plans for years … just to Cuomo step in with a bunch of folks at the last minute to second-guess your work for a photo op.”

Meanwhile, there was other news:

  • East Village residents are already complaining about the L shutdown. (NY1)
  • We were happy to see Aaron Gordon’s piece in CityLab echoing our coverage about Mayor de Blasio’s incoherence, hypocrisy and narrowmindedness on e-bikes. Gordon wisely put the mayor’s untenable position in the context of the city’s transportation crisis.
  • It’s widely known that the NYPD has quotas for issuing tickets. The Appeal got a hold of one lieutenant’s text messages for a takedown on numbers-driven policing. That said, we certainly want precinct officials to ride their officers to write more summonses to bad drivers, don’t we?
  • You gotta love Platano Man! Watch as one subway rider makes a citizen’s arrest of a racist woman. (NYDN, NY Post)
  • The Times’ Ginia Bellafante picked up a thread we pulled last month and wrote that New York City’s big problem is not high corporate taxes, but poor transit for corporate workers. It’s time for Big Business to demand better.
  • Only Gridlock Sam is paying attention to the Jets right now. (NYDN)
  • More and more cities are de-emphasizing fare evasion arrests out of concern about racial disparity — but are also worried about lost revenue for transit. Governing took a deep dive on the issue.
  • Oops, it turns out that legalized marijuana isn’t going to save the subway system. (NYDN)
  • Cops are hunting for a rapist who attacked a sleeping woman on the subway. (NY Post)
  • We’re glad the NYPD is touting another historic drop in crime, but it’s time the agency sits down with Streetsblog to talk about the far more impressive drop in road fatalities this year. Chief Chan, how about you take a victory lap with Streetsblog? (NYDN)
  • As an aside, if you own any stock in Absolut, Jack Daniels, Jose Cuervo or Beefeater, now may be the time to sell. (NYDN)