Let the Boomtown Rats regret the first day of the week, but this Monday, at least, is going to be great.
It'll start with the Department of Transportation finally beginning to protect the protected bike lane on Grand Street, as Streetsblog's Julianne Cuba reported over the weekend.
Then, the NYPD will begin a short and probably completely underwhelming long-overdue crackdown on its own placard-abusing officers.
But everything you need to know about the cops' attitude towards their own corruption can be found in the Daily News and the Post coverage, which consisted almost entirely of grousing from cops. "Looks like it’s our time again to get beat up in the Papers,” the Daily News reported, quoting an email circulating among cops asking them to at least temporarily make nice.
"The whole thing is ridiculous,” a high-ranking police source told The Tabloid of Record.
There is nothing ridiculous or unreasonable about asking police to follow the same rules that they bust the rest of us for. The only thing that's ridiculous about the crackdown is how lame it is: There will be one sweep per week for six months.
We'll keep you posted. And now, the rest of the weekend news:
- We've respected transit and transportation reporter Aaron Gordon for a long time — tried to hire him a few times, even. But his most recent post on Signal Problems felt a bit like a shot across our particular bow: "People who advocate for banning cars ... often do so from the perspective of the use of street space, efficient transportation, the environment. That’s all well and good," he wrote. "But, rarely, if ever, do these plans wrestle with what that means for the three million people who are employed making and selling these things." Sorry, but we won't apologize for wanting to put millions of people out of work to save the billions of people who are breathing air polluted by the always-ignored byproduct of cars. The moral imperative of eliminating cars clearly outweighs the morally repugnant excuse that car makers have to put food on their tables.
- A former New York City taxi commission staffer urges ride-hailing companies to play nice with cities by not double-parking, right-sizing driver fleets and working with, rather than competing with, public transit. (City Lab)
- We were happy to see the New York Times seriously report on the crime wave against e-bike-riding delivery workers. The story didn't gloss over the fact that the NYPD is playing a two-faced role: helping delivery workers when they are mugged or their bikes are stolen, but also harassing them for using the bikes in the first place.
- We were happy to see tens of thousands of people protesting anti-Semitism on Sunday
- (NYDN, NY Post, NY Times) — but were sad that the marchers were forced to cram into a 10-foot-wide walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge, which has six underused lanes for automobiles.
- More details have come to light about the ongoing decline of local news in New York City with the shuttering of Metro. Naturally, the Schnepses are involved. (NY Post)
- Todd Maisel of amNY did a nice job covering the story of the Florida woman who became a hit-and-run victim when a driver killed her last week.
- Ginia Bellafante gave us another reason to hate Uber and Lyft. (NY Times)
- Don't miss Politico's takedown of how badly de Blasio handled the garbage crisis — today is the first in a week-long series.
- Lincoln Anderson's Village Sun reports that businesses on 14th Street claim (without showing any receipts or documents) that they're suffering because of the busway. Sorry, but we're dubious that a souvenir stand, a mattress showroom (that doesn't even have mattresses) and a store that sells balloons for birthday parties are really feeling the pinch because people aren't driving to 14th Street. And we're guessing that there are other reasons why the travel agency isn't doing so well (the Internet has pretty much wiped out that entire industry).
- Check out this great "get" by Bay Ridge Drivers on Twitter: an illegally parked car with a different license plate in the front and back. Some people will think of everything to avoid parking tickets.
- And this is just horrible news for all lovers of Persian food — and Friend of Streetsblog Noah Budnick. (Gothamist)
- And, finally, a recent study found that the European Union has the safest roads in the world. The U.S. ranked 33rd out of 40. You'd think people would be upset. (Forbes)
