Kudos to our friends at Gothamist. Like us, reporter Christopher Robbins was so enraged by the NYPD crackdown on kids without bike bells — but Robbins went one further: he scoured NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill's Twitter account, and other social media posts, to reveal – hold onto your helmets! — that New York's top cop is just as guilty as those kids of riding around without proper ting-making equipment!
Of course, no one ever confiscated his bike or handed him a ticket — the so-called "No Bell Prize." As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the king."
Kidding aside, neither the NYPD nor Mayor de Blasio has commented fully on why kids' bikes were confiscated on Saturday, or why the NYPD targeted them in the first place. We'll stay on it.
For now, here's today's headlines:
- Hat tip to Vin Barone at amNY for scooping us on Mayor de Blasio's plans to keep cars off 14th Street to create a busway during the nights-and-weekends repairs of the L train, which start on Friday. The best part? "There doesn’t appear to be any space dedicated for parking in the plan," Barone reported.
- Barnstormin' Barone also offered a preview of the coming project. The main takeaway? Trains are going to be crowded! To read the MTA's epic Twitter thread that has all the details, click here.
- After the police crackdown on bell-less cyclists, Council Member Justin Brannan asked for the same attention to reckless drivers in Bay Ridge. Well, WPIX11 took him up on it, and filed this story about hot-rodding hotheads on Shore Road. Kudos to Brannan for reminding viewers that good street design would help, too.
- MTA overtime is soaring as the agency tries to improve service (NYDN). The Post focused on chief measurement operator Thomas Caputo who made the most — raking in $344,000 in overtime on top of his $117,499 salary. (Do the math — the guy may have been logging more hours than humanly possible.)
- Gov. Cuomo kinda put down NYC Transit President Andy Byford, which seems a bit petty. (NY Post)
- NY1 rounded up all the exemptions some lawmakers got for their congestion pricing vote.
- The city has settled on a monument to Shirley Chisholm — and thank goodness it's not the one of her sitting on a car! (NY Times)
- The eagle eyes at Bike NY spotted the makings of a new bike counter on the Queensboro Bridge. It doesn't look like it's ready yet, but when it is, its readout will make a compelling case for DOT to open up the south outer roadway to pedestrians and set aside the existing walk-bike path for cyclists only.
- The Post followed our scoop about Council Speaker Corey Johnson falling off a scooter on vacation in Mexico City.
- Here's a gorgeous video about the ugly, flooded future ahead, thanks to climate change. (The Verve)
- This video by the Improv Everywhere troupe — featuring identical twins in a subway time-travel twist — will make your day. (Gizmodo)
- And, finally, where are we on the whole "miniature horse service animal" thing? (Buzzfeed News)
