Tuesday’s Headlines: Protesting Whoopi Edition
A group of Families for Safe Streets members will be picketing outside the ABC studios on W. 66th Street where "The View" is broadcast today at 8 a.m. The members — all of whom have lost loved ones to road violence — were motivated after co-host Whoopi Goldberg berated Mayor de Blasio on the show last week with inaccurate comments about bike lanes and road safety.
The group will hand out flyers reminding Goldberg fans that "traffic violence is a preventable public health crisis."
Over the weekend, Goldberg issued a tepid apology for her misinformation, but the group said it was too little, too late. Goldberg should tread lightly — Families for Safe Streets is the same group that took down State Senator Marty Golden.
For now, here's the news:
- The MTA board will vote on a fare hike on Thursday, but the Daily News reminds us that Gov. Cuomo is opposed to a fare hike — and we all remember what happened when Cuomo didn't like something the MTA board wanted to do. Without a fare hike, the MTA will be facing a $244-million budget hole this year.
- Meanwhile, the MTA board will bring in an independent consultant to review the Cuomo-backed L-train fix. (NYDN)
- War on Cars, the podcast hosted by motor minimizers Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek, is back with a new episode. This week, the transit-loving trio uses Whoopi Goldberg's mind-blowingly wrong comments about bike lanes last week into a deep look at why even liberal people have a blind spot about the problems wrought by automobiles. Looking at you, Mayor de Blasio.
- Trains will be running faster underground as the MTA raises some speed limits. (NY Post)
- It was a bad year for suburban commuters, too, as Paul Berger in the Wall Street Journal reports.
- WNBC News had the photo of the day: A tractor-trailer truck causing mayhem on W. 23rd Street in Manhattan. The Post covered it, too, but the picture wasn't as good.
- And, finally, it's official: There are 23 candidates for Public Advocate. (NY Times)
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
SEE IT: Cops Nearly Kill Teen on Moped on Brooklyn Greenway
The NYPD has a history of officers recklessly using their vehicles in chases. On Wednesday, its officers almost killed a moped rider.
Bus Advocates Target Anti-Busway ‘Hypocrites’ at Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden
A petition drive by Bronx bus riders calls out the institutions for boosting transit on their websites, but then trying to undermine it in the real world.
‘Duped’: A Harlem 20-Something Blows the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business
Kareem found out the hard way that his Craigslist gig delivering temp tags was illegal. Now he's exposing the operation that employed him, revealing clues about his anonymous bosses that all trace back to the same place.
Day 3: These Hunger Strikers aren’t Paid Lobbyists — But Albany Can’t Tell the Difference
ALBANY — “They are putting every barrier in our way to not have to face us directly and look us in the eye and then make an unconscionable decision. This is Albany at its worst,” said Amy Cohen.
