The majority of the 22 cyclists deaths this year have been in Brooklyn, but over the weekend, Queens was the bloodiest borough, with reports of two senior pedestrians and one teen cyclist being killed. The Daily News and the Post offered coverage of cyclist Mario Valenzuela's family's desperate call for justice.
It's enough to make you want to write a story with the headline, "Why Is Bill De Blasio Trying to Kill Me?" — which is what war correspondent Peter Maass — you know, someone who has been under fire — did for The Intercept.
“I was kind of crazy to do the things I did back in my war reporter days, and I am kind of crazy to ride a bike in New York City,” Maass writes. It's a must-read for anyone who feels that Mayor de Blasio is not keeping us safe because, you know, cars. Here's hoping it's in Hizzoner's press packet today.
And now the news:
- There's a rumor going around that electric Citi Bikes will return today. But we can't confirm it with the requisite two sources, so when David Meyer at the Post breaks it later today, our screams will be heard from the Battery to Bushwick. One thing that is true is that the blue bike system had its busiest day ever on Saturday, with 100,000 rides.
- Like Streetsblog last week, Guse at the Newsuh covered a Queens judge's walking tour of a city bus lane on Fresh Pond Road. Meanwhile, the same basic dynamic — business owners supporting car owners above transit users — is playing out in Riverdale (The Riverdale Press). Arthur Schwartz will be filing his lawsuit in three, two, one...
- The Times’s Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Rebecca Liebson did a service piece on subway signal problems.
- Cops are hunting for a hit-and-run driver who critically injured a man in Brooklyn. (NY Post)
- Guse also had a good story about apparent asbestos at an MTA bus depot in East New York. The story reads like "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.
And in the "In Case You Missed It" file:
- You say you want a revolution? Curbed architecture critic Alexandra Lange has an idea: Every politician should be required to work car-free one day a week, she wrote in Politico Magazine.
- Both The City and the New York Times offered Mayor de Blasio a "to-do" list now that he's back from his failed presidential bid. But the City's laundry list left out street safety. Emma Fitzsimmons in the Times made the year's carnage one of the top six items on Hizzoner's agenda. A vox pop version in amNY focused on fixing the subways.
- Subway map creator John Tauranac doesn't like ... the subway map. (NY Post)
- Uber has sued the city over its empty-cruising cap. (NYDN, Streetsblog)
