Tuesday is going to be a banner day in the livable streets, transit advocacy world:
First, the MTA (well, its Bowling Green office, technically) will get a visit from transit advocates demanding to know how he'll make the subway and buses "more reliable and accessible in the wake of New York City Transit President Andy Byford’s departure." That's at 11 a.m. in Bowling Green (just across from MTA HQ at 2 Broadway).
Next, the Upper West Side will practically levitate as the neighborhood debates the big "no more free parking" resolution at 6:30 at Rodeph Shalom (7 W. 83rd St.) at 6:30 p.m. Streetsblog's preview is here.
And in other news:
- The Times really hyped its Jim Dwyer-penned post-mortem of the failed Andy Byford-Andrew Cuomo bromance, but as Ben Kabak pointed out, not much was new. Still, a good read because Dwyer is a pro's pro. (Gothamist is still trying to get Byford's original resignation letter — the one he walked back.)
- Meanwhile, Bloomberg/Quint did a post-mortem of Amazon's failed bid to soak New York taxpayers for subsidies to set up an HQ2 in Long Island City. The takeaway? “This entire thing was an ego exercise that blew up in Jeff Bezos’s face,” says one of the people."
- Like Streetsblog, the Daily News reported that a driver who killed a senior in Boro Park had been charged.
- Former MTA honcha Ronnie Hakim just went through the revolving door of government so fast it's amazing she's not too busy to get that cushy vice president job at a company that does business with ... the MTA. (NYDN)
- The City reports that late-shift workers may get Uber or Lyft rides home as part of a new partnership between the MTA and the ride-hail companies. First blush: This is a disaster for public transit, which needs to improve, not capitulate to its enemies. Second blush: Read Streetsblog's analysis later in the day.
- Jersey commuters had a terrible evening rush hour. (NY Times)
- Three pedestrians in Long Island were struck by drivers Monday evening less than three hours apart (Newsday). But what do you expect, as Clarence Eckerson pointed out over the weekend.
- The mayor's pick to head the Taxi and Limousine Commission says she will have "zero tolerance" to cabbies who racially profile (NYDN, NY Post, WSJ). That's great, but perhaps her agency can stop ignoring camera-issued speeding tickets so we can get reckless cabbies off the road? In an unrelated story, former TLC head Meera Joshi just took a job with "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz's New York office. (Crain's)
- Holy Moses! Jimmy Vielkind takes a second-week view of Gov. Cuomo's Penn Station expansion plan. (WSJ)
- The L train documentary — now officially called "End of the Line" — has a Kickstarter page. And you know what? It looks good!
