Friday’s Headlines: Smile for the Speed Cameras Edition

And you thought Mayor de Blasio was only running for president. Well, yes, he’s doing that — but before he travels to Nevada on Friday night, Hizzoner will announce a plan to “rapidly expand the school zone speed camera program,” , according to his press office. The mayor will take questions, too, which means our own Julianne Cuba will be firing off queries left and right (yes, she’ll also want to know about Dyckman Street!).

It’ll have to be Cuba because today is David Meyer’s last day at Streetsblog, and I’m busy planning the much-deserved all-day/all-night tribute. Seriously, Meyer deserves a rousing sendoff from his colleagues and from our readers, who have followed this delightful reporter’s work for more than three years. (Full archive here.) Since the departure of decade-long Streetsblogger Ben Fried in September, Meyer has been our institutional memory — the repository of bizarre mayoral comments, a bona-fide expert on the 14th Street busway, and the keeper of our running list of which pols are enlightened on livable streets issues and which just think they are. Meyer leaves for the New York Post, so our loss is definitely a larger gain.

On a personal level, I will especially miss him, given that he’s destined for greatness and if he stayed longer, I could have claimed some of the credit. It’s what I do.

So farewell, David Meyer, and don’t forget us in your 2028 Pulitzer speech. Now the news:

• It’s a good thing for this lost subway dog that Joe “Let ‘Em Die” Lhota isn’t still in charge of New York City Transit (though neither Guse at the Newsuh nor Sullivan at the Post pointed out that rich history).
• The Post reported on a run-in with the serial subway brake-puller, who is now estimated to have delayed 750 trains (NY Times).
• That City story about the community board that blew taxpayer money on an SUV isn’t going away. (NY Post)
• In case you didn’t know, it is not OK to feed your rat on a subway. (NY Post, Gothamist, which sectioned the story to “food”)
• Anything that fixes the Port Authority Bus Terminal is a good thing (unless, I suppose, it becomes a parking lot). (WSJ, Politico)
• WNYC’s James Ramsay offered some tips for surviving Penn Station.
• Bobby Cuza continues his multi-day look at London’s 16-year-old experiment with congestion pricing. (NY1)
• And, finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that part of the Meyer farewell included Thursday’s teambuilding exercise for the entire Streetsblog newsroom at Citi Field. The Mets won in dramatic fashion, but, more important, we learned valuable lessons in collegiality (by which we mean when Community Editor Eve Kessler bought us all one Bud tallboy to share). Here’s the Streetsblog crew just before the Mets retook the lead for good.