Well, that was fast!
One day after declaring Gov. Andrew StatusCuomo the savior of Brooklyn and Manhattan commuters, the Post pulled its head back out of its assurance to finally start reporting out the story that has dominated the headlines since: Why was everyone suddenly trusting the late-arriving Cuomo over MTA engineers, who have been studying the L-train shutdown for three years?
The weekend provided a broad range of opinions on both sides of that question, so let's do a quick recap before getting to the news of the day:
- The Post's coverage has been excellent, featuring a skeptical take on Cuomo's Friday morning conference call with reporters, a skeptical take on Cuomo's call for "Tesla-like" technology, a skeptical editorial that likened Cuomo's decision making process to that of President Trump's, and a very skeptical take on Cuomo's supposed engineering experts — who aren't engineering experts at all. And that was just Saturday's paper!
- The Daily News has been invisible, offering only a Bramhall cartoon. (And while we're on the subject: what's with the paper's print layout? It is high school-level bad.)
- The Times put some serious reporter-power on its takeout on how the three-year L train plans crumbled in just three weeks. The key takeaway: "The new repair plan relies on an unproven technology that has never been used in the United States, raising questions about whether it can work without causing major disruptions." (That's a four-letter word in Times-speak.)
- After the Times published its story, klieg-light-worthy columnist Jim Dwyer put out an epic Twitter thread that basically sided with the "late to the party" Cuomo over the "broken" MTA. Epic!
- Streetsblog continued to hammer home that Mayor de Blasio must keep the L-train bike and bus improvements, despite pressure from the car-owning minority.
- Borough Presidents Eric Adams (Brooklyn) and Gale Brewer (Manhattan) had a press conference on Sunday to complain that no one is answering their L-train questions (join the club!). The omnipresent Rep. Nydia Velazquez was also on hand. (amNY)
And the other news:
- Despite our broadside on the Daily News's tabloid layout above, the paper's Stephen Rex Brown took a great angle on the just-concluded corruption trial of Jeremy Reichberg and ex-NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant, focusing on the high-level crimes started with the entry-level graft: parking placards. The article wisely quoted Friend of Streetsblog @placardabuse, who said, "Parking placards are an advertisement that New York City is for sale."
- Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi has resigned. She did a good job, but (like our own Charles Komanoff) disagreed with Mayor de Blasio over the taxi congestion pricing fee. (WSJ, though Dana Rubinstein broke the news in a tweet) Vin Barone at amNY spun the news forward with a look at what the next commish should bring to the table.
- Add pickpockets to the list of subway crises. (WSJ)
- Amazon printed an open letter to New Yorkers in the Post and the Daily News over the weekend. And guess what? It's all going to be fine (the company says).
- The Post claimed (implausibly, if you ask us) that 100 car crashes on Staten Island were caused by deer last year.
- And, in case you missed it, there was car-caused carnage in Flushing and Flatbush over the weekend that resulted in injuries. A cyclist was also killed in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. (Streetsblog)
