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Friday’s Headlines: The Real Agenda Edition

12:05 AM EDT on May 22, 2020

A newbie on a bike.

Our old man editor was happy that NY1 called him to talk about the ongoing bike shortage, but was disappointed that reporter Angi Gonzalez didn't pursue the real story that he pitched her — namely, that the shortage of bikes means that there are a lot of bikes being sold, which means there are a lot of newbie cyclists on the road, which means there will be a lot of dead and injured cyclists if Mayor de Blasio doesn't do something to improve road safety before we get back to "normal." (Take a breath.)

So maybe NY1 wasn't interested in following its story to its logical end, but we intend to keep highlighting the broad implications on safety for the most vulnerable road users, especially those who live in neighborhoods where roadways are far more dangerous.

Meanwhile, here's the rest of yesterday's news:

    • Speaking of equity issues, Alissa Walker's Curbed piece about, well, equity issues, is a must-read. Please stop what you're doing to read it.
    • In case you missed it, Bloomberg had a story about famed restaurant architect David Rockwell jumping into the effort to create open streets for eateries — the effort that Mayor de Blasio keeps resisting.
    • Like Streetsblog, Guse of the Newsuh covered a new report from the Trust for Public Land that shows the mayor's open streets plan isn't good enough yet.
    • Gothamist offered second-day coverage of the slight uptick in subway ridership.
    • ...And for those of you without cars, it's Netflix and chill. (Gothamist)
    • The Daily News covered the killing of an up-and-coming lawyer on the Upper East Side on Wednesday, but left out key details from a ScooterCaster video of the aftermath, which you'll have to get from Streetsblog.
    • The MTA is begging people not to take the train or the bus to the beach this weekend, which is fine for people with cars. (NY Post)
    • Better service is returning to the Staten Island Ferry. (NYDN)
    • It appears Mayor de Blasio has finally gotten the message about the NYPD's abysmal policing of open space. (WSJ)
    • The Post reported that Council Member Chaim Deutsch is calling for the city to reopen to help small businesses — but didn't mention in its triple-byline story that Deutsch made the request a day earlier in a Tweet with a location stamp showing the NYC lawmaker was in Long Island at the time, as pointed out by Aaron Eisenberg on Twitter.
    • And, finally, every word of this Megan Abbott tribute to bars is accurate, according to our old man editor, who learned to read from sounding out the words on the cocktail menu at the Monkey Bar. (NY Times)

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