Old guys like our editor still like to get out and rock — so tonight, he and other members of the anti-car/pro-guitar crowd will head to Arlene's Grocery on the Lower East Side to hear "War on Cars" co-host Sarah Goodyear's band, Suffragette Kitty. The fun starts at 8. Details here. (Bonus points: The Allen Street bike lane can get you to the club from the north or south — keep a sharp eye out for fellow car-battlers Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek on a tandem from Brooklyn.)
And now here's yesterday's news in easy digest form:
The Wall Street Journal took a look at MTA labor costs — as the MTA itself starts probing all the "excessive" overtime approved by managers. (amNY)
A judge upheld the city's minimum wage for Lyft and Uber drivers. (NY Post)
People are getting excited about the Wegman's that will open in the Brooklyn Navy Yard this fall (amNY, Gothamist), but no one has explained to us how the almost-completed Flushing Avenue bike lane — a key east-west route — won't turn into a disaster from all those SUV drivers stocking up.
And, finally, top players in the livable streets community toasted each other on this year's long-awaited passage of congestion pricing. The Riders Alliance-hosted event drew virtually all of the bold-faced names that played a role in the historic measure, including, but not limited to, "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Riders Alliance Executive Director John Raskin and group spokesman Danny Pearlstein, a quorum from Transportation Alternatives, former Streetsblog Editor Ben Fried, StreetsPac leaders Peter Frishauf and Eric McClure, Clayton Guse of the Daily Newsuh, and so many others. The place got so thick with activists that people started joking that if a bomb went off on Walker Street, there wouldn't be anyone from the livable streets community to actually implement the policy. Our editor snapped the party pics like he was Patrick McMullen or something, so enjoy the happy festivities below:
StreetsPac leaders Peter Frishauf (left) and Eric McClure played an outsized role in the passage of congestion pricing.State Senator Andrew Gounardes was part of an insurgent wave that flipped the upper chamber.The legendary congestion pricing proponent Sam Schwartz talked to Streetfilms auteur Clarence Eckerson Jr.(from left) Daily News reporter Clayton Guse, TransAlt spokesman Joe Cutrufo and Brooklyn activist David Herman.Streetsblog writer (and so much more) Charles Komanoff and Melodie Bryant, a member of the Streetsblog Carolers.Streetsblog's Activist of the Year 2018 Brian Howald (left) and Streetsblog Editor in Chief 2018-??? Gersh Kuntzman