Tuesday was a perplexing day. The NYPD, tasked by the mayor to immediately reduce the carnage against cyclists this year, announced it would write more tickets ... for three weeks. Streetsblog went ballistic, of course, but you have to give a hat-tip to the headline writer at the Daily News, whose tongue, lodged ever so deeply in his or her cheek, crafted this headline, "NYPD announces plan to temporarily improve bike safety after slew of cyclist deaths." Bravo, Daily News. Bravo. Gothamist came close, but its headline, "NYPD Promises To Crack Down On Reckless Drivers For A Few Weeks," could not surpass the tabloid Tennysons at New York's Hometown Paper. (The Wall Street Journal's coverage was tame by comparison.)
There was so much outrage that Transportation Alternatives announced it would stage a massive "die-in" in Washington Square Park on Tuesday.
On July 9, we will mourn, we will remember, and we will make sure that Mayor de Blasio knows that we will not stand for the threat on our lives. pic.twitter.com/OMHe90KlOv
— Transportation Alternatives *Vote on Sammy's Law* (@TransAlt) July 2, 2019
And Council Member Antonio Reynoso will hold a vigil at the scene of Devra Freelander's death under the wheels of a speeding cement truck in Bushwick on Wednesday morning.
As we said, lots of outrage.
Meanwhile, here's the rest of the news:
- Many outlets covered the Upper West Side community board vote in favor of a protected bike lane on Central Park West (Streetsblog), but the mainstream media kept spinning it as a seizure of parking spaces by cyclists (ABC7, NY Post, WPIX11). It all came amid more evidence that parking makes people crazy (NY Post)
- Make sure you watch Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson's short report (photo above) from the long-awaited opening of Shirley Chisholm State Park in Brooklyn.
- The L train has ended up on the list of the world's busiest train lines — but you knew that. (CNN)
- After a horrific crash, Massachusetts combed its records to rescind the licenses of more than 500 reckless drivers. Why can’t we do that? (NY Times)
- And in case you missed it, our editor was again on the Curtis and Juliet show on WABC defending the right of cyclists not to be killed by drivers. (WABC)
