Mayor de Blasio will hold a Green New Deal rally at Trump Tower at noon today, but last week was a complete disaster for the supposedly environmentalist mayor. In the space of a few days, he a) again justified his anecdote-based crackdown on e-bike riders, b) offered Bay Ridge a Vision Zero-less plan for painted, not protected, bike lanes, and c) deployed the NYPD to give cars a barricade-protected driveway on land long ago earmarked as a public park.
So we applaud Mayor de Blasio for rallying to save the planet, but would still like to point out that he loses credibility when he can't find a way to save a few hundreds square feet in Jackson Heights.
In any event, here's the weekend's news digest:
Credit where due department: On Sunday, Gov. Cuomo signed the Gounardes-Glick bill to expand New York City's speed camera program. The Post mentioned that the first cameras will be installed in school zones with identified safety issues. The Daily News and amNY played it straight. Friend of Streetsblog Melodie Bryant captured all the action. DOT did not respond to our Sunday email about when the cameras will start being deployed.
Thanks to continued good digging by Stephen Rex Brown and Graham Rayman, we now know why Mayor de Blasio's security team covered up a minor fender-bender: Hizzoner was being driven the wrong way down the street! (NYDN)
Here's a very good story by Clayton Guse at the Daily Newsuh about the racial bias in fare evasion arrests and summonses. Fare-beating while white — it's a thing!
A cyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a driver on Dean Street near Brooklyn Avenue on Saturday — but if you look at photos from the scene, police seemed only interested in the type of bike that the nearly killed person was riding when he was hit. (Marco Conner via Twitter)
Friday afternoon's "emergency" meeting about LIRR overtime was, as the Bard once said, sound and fury (and Larry Schwartz) signifying nothing (NYDN). Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo was all over the place, blaming workers and management for the overtime "theft." Make up your mind, please, but try not to demonize your own workers for their bosses' overtime approval (NY Post).
We have been loving the Daily News's ongoing pursuit of placard abusers, but Sunday's editorial was a classic: Josh Greenman's editorial page caught $222,000-a-year judge Barbara Kapnick red-handed parking in a commercial-vehicle-only zone outside of Bloomingdale's. (There was no credit on the photos, but we're guessing it was legend Michael Aronson.)
Some people can't just be content to try to fix the subway system, no, they have to push futuristic gondolas on us! (1010WINS)
Carnage in Queens on the "New Boulevard of Death." (NYDN)
Here's a must-see vehicle that we're sure the New York State DMV will find a way to allow on the roads of New York City as a regular passenger car.
And, in case you missed it, Peter Walker's video for the Guardian about the myths of "dangerous" cyclists is a must-watch — and not just for Streetsblog readers, but for Mayor de Blasio, the city's car-bound radio and TV reporters, and every NIMBY from 14th Street to Sunnyside. In just seven minutes, Walker destroys the argument that people who get around on bikes are a public health threat and reminds us who is: drivers. Dashiell Eaves added a nice thread on Twitter.
Sixty people died in the first three months of the year, 50 percent more than the first quarter of 2018, which was the safest opening three months of any Vision Zero year.
