We begin the week where we seem to end every week: With mayhem and carnage caused by drivers. This weekend's mess comes to us courtesy of Transportation Alternatives' Co-Deputy Director Marco Conner, who witnessed this disaster on his block on Saturday:
Mayhem on the sidewalk this AM. Driver drove in wrong direction, then on sidewalk, knocked over signs, trees. My 20-yr old bike totalled. Driver gone. Seemingly no others injured. On Pacific St near Kingston in Brooklyn. @StreetsblogNYC @bklyner @dahvnyc @BklynEagle @RCornegyJr pic.twitter.com/JrUNaGCqe8
— Marco Conner DiAquoi (@marco_conner) June 15, 2019
Conner also told us over the weekend that he will join scores of delivery workers who will rally in Albany in support of Senator Jessica Ramos's bill to legalize e-bikes. That's at 1 p.m. at the Million Dollar Staircase.
It's going to be a busy Monday, so let's get you up to speed fast (but not exceeding 25 miles per hour, ever):
- Clayton Guse at the Daily Newsuh had the best crappy story ever — a deep dive into the ever-clogged subway sewer system.
- Double-duty Guse also had a story about a Brooklyn teen who took the subway to his prom. In a city with such low car ownership, this isn't really a story, but the kid makes it worth reading. He wants to run the MTA someday! (NYDN)
- The MTA now appears to want to do something about its generic newsstands and other underground retail tenants after years of watching Grand Central and other commercial spaces do a far better job. The effort will begin with three major hubs. (WSJ)
- It's bad enough that cops confiscate delivery workers' e-bikes, but a thief did just that over the weekend in Harlem, cops said. (NY Post)
- A Bronx man was killed by a hit-and-run driver after a Father's Day party in the Bronx (NYDN). The Post had the story, too, but didn't add much.
- Gov. Cuomo is seriously intent on installing his budget director to the MTA board, even though it violates a residency requirement. (NY Post)
- In case you missed it on Friday, Gothamist had a great story about how Friend of Streetsblog Shmuli Evers was squeezed by an apparently drunk driver — one who happened to be an MTA bus driver! We'll be looking for Jake Offenhartz's follow today!
- Interesting story in The City about a highly subsidized Academy bus line in Staten Island. Local pols seem to be asking the right question: Why isn't this line run by the MTA?
- And we've said it before and we'll say it again: No one covers the floating ad boat story like Gothamist.
- Happy belated Father's Day! Bike Snob Eben Weiss, writing in Outside, talks about how he sometimes rides his bike on the sidewalk. Next year, instead of a tie, how about better bike infrastructure?
- And, finally, if you want today's dose of bike porn, check out what they're discussing at the Bicycle Architecture Biennale in Amsterdam! (Arch Daily)
- And Doug Gordon sent us photos from his block party:
