Streetsblog

Tuesday’s Headlines: What He Should Have Said Edition

We told you so — we told you that Mayor de Blasio would drive to his Green New Deal press conference at Trump Tower. We wish he hadn't. But then, we also wish he'd put some city money into Citi Bike or build protected bike lanes in Bay Ridge, but he won't do that, either. Click the headline above for the rest of the day's news.

By Streetsblog

12:01 AM EDT on May 14, 2019

Tuesday’s Headlines: What He <I>Should Have</I> Said Edition

Mayor de Blasio tries to hear — then ultimately didn't really answer — a question from Streetsblog's Julianne Cuba at his presser at Trump Tower on Monday: Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography

Mayor de Blasio’s Green New Deal press conference inside Trump Tower was a bit of a circus, as reported by all the locals (NY Post, Times, amNY), but none of the reporters focused on the key detail: the supposedly green mayor drove to the Fifth Avenue tower to tout his green credentials. Now, in the past, when reporters have called out de Blasio for driving to the gym, he’s rightly said he gets a lot of work done, checking email and making calls, as he’s in transit — something he certainly couldn’t do on the subway or bike.

But this was a Green New Deal event. And it was held inside a building owned by the guy who pulled us out of the Paris Accords in part because he doesn’t want to ask Americans to trouble themselves with the sacrifices we must make to save civilization from certain ruin.

So that’s why we’re riding the mayor — again! — for driving to Monday’s press conference. Combating climate change — which is an existential issue in sea-level New York City — is going to require us to do stuff we don’t want to do, like stop driving everywhere. So the mayor, knowing fully well he’d be asked how he got to the event, should have taken the subway and simply said, “It will be inconvenient for all of us, but I’m doing my part by reducing my driving, starting today.” It certainly wouldn’t have won over Trump’s hecklers, who won’t listen to any environmental policy, but it would at least be the first time the mayor didn’t furnish his enemies with ammunition.

OK, off the soapbox. Now, here’s the rest of the news from a very slow transportation day:

Mayor de Blasio said he doesn’t remember the wrong-way crash that his security detail apparently covered up. (NYDN)
The Daily News offered nice details about cyclist Robert Sommer, who was killed by a driver in Mill Basin.
President Trump has set back the Gateway Tunnel project again. (Bloomberg)
It’s official: New York State is “a new vision for Buffalo’s Skyway.” How about tearing it down? (Spectrum News)
And finally, the Mets did something dumber than trading Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi: They’ve banned backpacks at Citi Field. (Gothamist)