Sunday was about as fun a day as we ink-stained pixel-pushing reporters get. Two Assembly Members, plus four other drivers, decided to stand in public to decry congestion pricing. Except scores of congestion pricing supporters found out, and staged their own counter-protest. Not that we're picking sides, but it is absolutely thrilling to hear members of the public scream expletives in the face of elected officials, who aren't used to being confronted so vigorously.
The main target of the protesters' ire was Brooklyn Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte (left), who has now earned two straight days of "Did Rodneyse Bichotte really say that?" coverage in Streetsblog. Yes, people, she did.
Other outlets also covered the press conference, which was hosted by David Weprin:
- Like Streetsblog, the Daily News's Clayton Guse also focused on Bichotte's denial of Census data showing 1.9 percent of her constituents even drive into Manhattan. And Guse added a nice detail: "Both Weprin and Bichotte left the heated press conference by cars that appeared to be parked illegally."
- Vin Barone at amNY played it straight.
Here's the rest of the news:
- There was a lot of coverage of the death of pedestrian Erica Imbasciani, who was run down by a hit-and-run driver on Friday night on Amsterdam Avenue in Upper Manhattan. Streetsblog focused on the fact that Community Board 9 has long resisted a city plan to reduce speeding on the wide roadway. Meanwhile, the Daily News mentioned street safety, but focused mostly on Imbasciani's hopes of becoming an actress. The Post also did the standard "she was an aspiring actress" thing.
- Another cabbie has committed suicide. (NY Post, NYDN)
- DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg told Gotham Gazette that we should be building three subways stations per year because of rising population. Too bad she doesn't control the MTA!
- Kara Swisher sees the demise of private car ownership thanks to the rise of car-sharing, bike-sharing and even scooter-sharing. It's a good piece, but we wish she had done the whole column on this one little aside: "Why this is a revolution led by private companies instead of public transportation is an important topic for another day." (NY Times)
- Friend of Streetsblog John Donohue got a write-up in the Times for his restaurant art.
- Bklyner had an interesting story about a toddler run over in Brooklyn.
- And, finally, there are all sorts of legitimate reasons that there is traffic in the city. This is not one of them. (NY Post)
