Vote today as if your life depended on it because, you never know, it may. Like, say your life depends on congestion pricing becoming a reality, you probably shouldn't vote for Eric Ulrich, who declined through a spokesperson to even fill out Streetsblog's candidate questionnaire ("Councilman Ulrich has been clear throughout this campaign that he is against congestion pricing because it would be a backdoor commuter tax on outer borough residents," the spokesperson said.)
We did get responses from 10 street safety and congestion pricing supporters, so read them all to see their subtle differences (and read this Times piece if you want a broader — and not particularly flattering — picture of Jumaane Williams's candidacy). And then go vote!
Before that, here's the news:
- The Post had some additional details about the Queens woman who was killed by a hit-and-run cabbie on Sunday. As Streetsblog reported, the driver, identified by the Taxi and Limousine Commission as Lakhvinder Singh, was not charged. Gothamist also provided coverage.
- Nicole Gelinas savaged the mayor for his continued war on the horse carriage trade — this time trying to starve the industry with illegal roadwork on the south side of Central Park. (NY Post)
- The Daily News has been living up to its hometown newspaper credo a bit more over the last few days, most recently with Monday's story reminding readers (and maybe even the mayor!) that congestion pricing is the progressive solution to a crumbling subway.
- Good news for Staten Island express bus commuters, according to SI Live — but you already knew that because you read Streetsblog.
- The L train pain is just the beginning, reports the Times's Emma Fitzsimmons.
- The family of Alberto Leal will file a wrongful death suit against the city and the Sanitation Department driver who killed him last year when he drove the wrong way up a Crown Heights street. (NY Post)
- Meet the subway escalator from hell. (NY Post)
- The public comment session at Monday's MTA committee meeting was dominated by a call to improve accessibility of the subway and to not raise Access-a-Ride fees. (NYDN)
- We've been loving the tales of the barnacle-covered Citi Bike on the Upper West Side, which all started with a tweet from Ted Geoghegan and led to lots of puns and SpongeBob memes. (NY Post, Gothamist)
- Council Member Ben Kallos is right. You should stop when school buses flash their red lights and put out that "Stop" sign. (NY Post)
- Those new subway ad screens are going to be even more annoying than Taxi TV. (NYDN, amNY)
- Very few outlets covered last week's OMNY card announcement. Take a moment to read Gothamist's take.
- Friend of Streetsblog Jon Orcutt, now of Bike New York, talked urban cycling on the Luft podcast.
- The fight for speed cameras continues. Earlier this month, Families for Safe Streets went to Albany to lobby for more school zones and more enforcement hours, and got plenty of support (and plenty of non-support — what's up with that, Nick Perry?). This three-minute video from Melodie Bryant is worth your time.
- We just love this NY City Lens story for the Post-worthy headline.
- And, finally, former Brooklyn Paper reporter Julianne Cuba joins Streetsblog today, joining a staff that includes senior reporter David Meyer, national editor Angie Schmitt and editor Gersh Kuntzman. Cuba can be reached at julianne@streetsblog.org. During her time at the Brooklyn Paper, Cuba covered politics — and one story in particular led to the demise of former State Senator Marty Golden. She also aggressively covered the private carting industry.
