Wednesday’s Headlines: Frances Furlong Edition

We don't get snail mail very often at our offices at 195 Plymouth Street, Suite 517, Brooklyn, NY 11201 very often. So when we do, it's a doozy.

"Congratulations, Gersh, you are the Kellyann [sic!] Conway Bicycle Blog," read the letter that we received on Tuesday from Frances Furlong (no return address or contact information provided). Furlong was apparently miffed at our 100-percent accurate story that the FDNY blames car congestion and construction projects, not bike lanes, for recent increases in emergency response times. How do we know that's what upset her? Furlong enclosed the NY Post's anti-bike lane version of the story, which quoted an FDNY union leader blaming "Vision Zero" for the rise in response times (the union leader also blamed congestion and construction, by the way).

Nonetheless, Furlong's letter continues: "Alternative facts never sit well with adults. If you and your angry band ever want to be taken seriously, start doing extensive research instead of living in y our own very limited worlds. Guess we all know who you voted for — 'reality is what I say it is,' childish and unprofessional, just like Trump."

In a statement, Kuntzman told Streetsblog, "We stand by our story. On a personal note, I did not vote for Donald Trump."

But it's all good — let's keep those cards and letters coming! For now, here's the news from an exceptionally slow news day:

• The Wall Street Journal did a deep dive on why Americans can't afford their cars.
• Alexandra Lange proved again that she’s a national treasure with a story about how we need to pedestrianize more of our cities (Curbed). Meanwhile, Council Member Margaret Chin of Chinatown called for more pedestrian space on Canal Street. Well, it's a start. (Tribeca Trib)
• The Daily News offered more details about pedestrian Olig Korablev, who was run down and killed in Queens on Tuesday, as Streetsblog reported.
• The Times ran a whole story about its late, great fashion photographer Bill Cunningham — yet never mentioned that he literally biked everywhere...and that the biking was part of what made him so great? Is anyone editing over there? The cover of the man's book features a drawing of him on a bicycle!
• The Manhattan Bridge has lost its globes — but they'll be back (sort of). (Gothamist)
• Here's a cool way to provide bus rapid transit — reuse old railway rights-of-way. The MTA might do it in Staten Island. (The City)
• We've disagreed — a lot! — with Tom Wrobleski over the years, but his column about the benefits of tearing down the BQE showed rare insight for the car-loving Staten Islander. (Advance)
• And, finally, our favorite story of the day was all the Twitter posts about people who hacked DOT signs in Park Slope to read "Ban Cars"! (See examples below).