Today, our editor is going into the belly of the beast: He'll be a guest on lawyer Arthur "Don't Call Me NIMBY" Schwartz's radio show on WBAI. Schwartz reps a coalition of West Village landowners who are demanding the city undo the dedicated bus and bike lanes it installed in anticipation of the now-scrubbed L-train shutdown. Schwartz has claimed he's only seeking to reduce car traffic that would likely end up on Village side streets if 14th Street became a "busway," but his group's anti-bike-lane rhetoric has been alarming (including people leaving dangerous glass and hostile notes).
But all of us in the livable streets community want fewer cars in Manhattan — so that's what we hope to convey to Schwartz's listeners today at 5 p.m. on 99.5 FM. Tune in!
But before then, here's the news:
Soft-spoken humanist Vin Barone at amNY offered a nifty takeout on the battle to keep all the L train improvements against rabid, pro-parking forces in the Village (maybe he should go on Schwartz’s show!)
Taxi drivers rallied against the new congestion fee in front of Gov. Cuomo’s Midtown office on a Sunday when he’s not there. (NY Post) The same paper's coverage of the taxi-only fee was oddly written to suggest all drivers are now subject to the charge.
Dammit: New England wins the Super Bowl again — and Boston gets congestion pricing before New York City? (Boston25)
This transit joyrider's got nothing on Darius McCollum. (NY Post)
Carnage in Queens. This is what happens when drivers drive recklessly. (NYDN)
Staten Island Beep Jimmy Oddo and Rep. Max Rose want their borough to get all the extra buses the MTA ordered for the now-scrubbed L-train shutdown. (NY Post)
The Times took a lot at a new Muslim community police patrol in Brooklyn. If you have a problem with that, you'd better have a problem with Shomrim, too.
And finally, here's the Streetsblog angle on the Super Bowl: Every single car commercial conveyed the notion that automobiles exist to inspire human achievement. Even the two commercials that mentioned how drivers nearly killed a violinist and a football coach were presented not as carnage that should be stopped, but as mere hurdles for the human spirit to leap past. Why does biting into a new and improved Dorito make the snacker suddenly get an upgraded hot rod? Why is Mr. Peanut driving recklessly to make sure A-Rod doesn't eat a kale chip by accident? Why does the owner of a Mercedes get to vaporize parking tickets? Why did Big Boi show up for the halftime show in a Cadillac? (Isn't a football field mapped as green space?) Wake up, America!
Mayor Adams today announced the historic end to one of the city’s most antiquated — and despised — zoning laws requiring the construction of parking with every new development.
Call it Amazon crime: The mammoth online retailer is selling illegal batteries and mopeds to city residents, despite such devices being forbidden from city streets.