We must be getting older because it took all the way to Sunday to get over the inebriation and indigestion of Thursday's national feast. But our recovery is complete — starting today at 10 a.m. when our old man editor appears on Bike Snob Eben Weiss's radio show on WBAI 99.5 FM. Stream the all-powerful bike lobby lovefest here.
Until then, we present a slate of weekend headlines on which you can gorge:
- First, a reminder: If the calendar says "December," it's time for Streetsblog's annual donation drive. So many of our readers have been exceptionally generous so far this year, but we want to close out the season of giving with a bang, so for the rest of the month, we'll be posting this handy reminder on all our stories. Just click on it and give if you can (thanks in advance!):
- While we're on the topic of indigestion, car-loving Marcia Kramer hosted DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg on her new show, "The Point," and barraged Trottenberg with the usual complaints about how bad the city has become because drivers feel so endangered by cyclists. Trottenberg consistently responded with facts, and Kramer consistently responded with random anecdotes about the occasional cyclist who passes through a red light endangering virtually no one. It's must-flee TV. (WCBS2)
- Dermot Shea opened his tenure as Police Commissioner calling for professionalism and respect (NYDN), so Streetsblog welcomed him in the only way we know how: By commissioning an op-ed from @placardabuse demanding Shea do the job that his predecessors failed to do.
- Boy did everyone over-react to the rain on Sunday, even though it was way too warm to snow! (NY Post, NY Times)
- How about that? A coalition of Brooklyn community groups want the city to reimagine not merely replace the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway trench and triple cantilever between Cobble Hill and DUMBO (Brooklyn Eagle). The city's expert panel report is expected later this month.
- The better-and-better Brooklyn Eagle (thank you, Ned Berke!) also did a great service by analyzing the demographics of Brooklyn community boards — discovering that they are mostly out of step with the communities they supposedly represent. (Even the graphics on the story were great.)
- Paris is considering a tax on FedEx and other deliveries (CityLab), but here's a reminder: Bobby Carroll has been talking about that for months!
- The usual pro-car fanaticist Steve Cuozzo used his column in the New York Post to suggest that the city should have done more to protect pedestrians in Rockefeller Center this year — and to point out that cops don't know what they're doing. The Tabloid of Record's news pages struggled to find opponents to "balance" the story. Streetsblog's Julianne Cuba will be covering this story in earnest — once the tree is set alight on Dec. 4.
- A woman was run over and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Cypress Hills. (NY Post, NYDN)
- Stop driving your kids everywhere — it is not only making them lazy, but also undermining their ability to navigate their own neighborhoods (CityLab).
- And, finally, our favorite roadside electronic sign hacker was back over the weekend, remind car drivers that they are the problem. (Casey Farmer, via Twitter. The Post covered it, too.)
