Our editor's return from his street-safety dream vacation in Germany was anything but auspicious. On his first commute to our DUMBO offices, he wiped out on a metal-covered, quarter-inch high curb on Flushing Avenue, the long-delayed construction project that turns a major east-west Brooklyn bike route into a daily shitshow.
He reached out to the Department of Design and Construction, which is overseeing the reconstruction, but the agency didn't immediately get back to us on the cause of the ongoing delays. The agency also did not address Kuntzman's demand for a new pair of pants to replace the Donna Karan factory seconds he got at Costco.
We'll be following this story wherever it leads. For now, here's the daily news digest:
The MTA's proposed $51-billion capital plan is out. Streetsblog focused on the financing of it. Double-duty Guse at the Newsuh focused on the promise of far more station accessibility and on how the MTA may close whole lines during critical repairs (it was such a big story that the paper made it the wood, right). The Post played it straight, but in a second story, David Meyer, like Streetsblog, pointed out the absurd answer an MTA official gave for why the Second Avenue subway expansion is so expensive. The Times also played it straight, though reported that the plan is actually $54 billion. The WSJ went with $55 billion. Vin Barone at amNY used the correct figure: $51.5 billion.
- Gothamist was the only major outlet to follow Streetsblog's exclusive story about the new protections for cyclists during the United Nations General Assembly next week, focusing its headline on the police bike checkpoint, though the article offered no new details.
- An off-duty NYPD inspector was killed by the driver of a garbage truck on Monday — and still the driver wasn't charged. (NY Post, NYDN)
- The family of a Crown Heights man who was mowed down by a hit-and-run driver on Sunday believes the crash might have been intentional. (NYDN)
- The Department of Education completely screwed up its tracking of school buses. (NY Post, WSJ)
- The Post editorial board found yet another way of turning the fight against climate change into a class issue — with the city apparently on the side of the elite because it wants to encourage the use of electric cars. (Full disclosure: We're not big fans of electric cars because they're still cars, whose drivers take up way too much public space, kill a disproportionate number of pedestrians and cyclists, get in the way of public transit.)
- Bike share is finally coming to Long Island — and local officials believe it could reduce all those unnecessary car trips to the beach and train stations. (Newsday)
- Here's an epic Twitter thread from E. Jaffe for all those pastrami lovers who claim bike lanes are bad for business (hint: they're not).
- The Los Angeles Times reported that pedestrians die every 90 minutes on roads in the U.S. — and even shamed people for not noticing this epidemic. Hello! Streetsblog's Angie Schmitt has been covering this for years (and is, in fact, writing a book on it!)
The MTA's proposed $51-billion capital plan is out. And from the assignment desk: At 9:45 this morning, TransAlt and Speaker Corey Johnson will rally at 250 Broadway in support of Johnson's "Streets Master Plan" bill. And at 6 p.m., those anti-bike seniors will hold their "War on Cars" town hall meeting in Fort Greene. Julianne Cuba will be on hand for Streetsblog.
