Thursday’s Headlines: Boxing Day Edition

Today is the fourth full day of winter, yet there’s no sign yet of what would have been the ultimate Christmas present to New York City — the return of the pedal-assist electric Citi Bikes, which will return “this winter,” according to Lyft.

We’ll be counting the days (clearly, we already are) until these game-changing bikes return for good … by March 21.

Until then, we’ll just delight in our good fortune — a day off with friends and families (and new thermals from our sweetie!) — and more gorgeous weather today.

So enjoy Boxing Day… with today’s news roundup:

• In case you missed it, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will leave the board of the money-losing company, days after he sold almost all of his stock in a major cash-out. Hmm, wonder what investors think of that? (Forbes)
• BuzzFeed and ProPublica are still hammering Amazon for unsafe delivery practices. The latest story reveals that six years ago, the company’s CFO was killed by a delivery van while biking — yet the company did not alter its strategy.
• We’re not as pro-cop as Nicole Gelinas, but we like how she put the truck death of Katherine Miller into the proper perspective: poor enforcement by the NYPD plays a role in the spate of pedestrian deaths this year. (NY Post)
• Those massive subway delays on Christmas Day were caused by a pencil, prompting a great lede by Ben Yakas. (Gothamist)
• Midtown pedicab drivers like the car restrictions near Rockefeller Center. (NYDN)
• Six people were injured in a collision between a bus and a car. (NY Post)
• Gothamist celebrated the fact that Carlos Menchaca’s bill allowing cyclists to start going on pedestrian “Walk” signals is finally in effect.
• ENOUGH! We simply don’t understand why Times Metro Section Editor Cliff Levy keeps deploying a great writer, James Barron, to continually write fetishistic, pro-car porn for the Metro section of a newspaper in a city where a minority of residents own cars.
• Yet this story is Levy’s Metro section at its best, showing how cruise ship companies (and their enablers in city government) are choking us to death. Would that Levy cared more about the same toxins spewed by cars.
• In case you missed it (part II): Friend of Streetsblog John Massengale co-wrote a Daily News op-ed about why we should not replace a key stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway because we need to finally discourage car use.