Members of Families for Safe Streets and Bronx residents rallied last night in the Boogie Down to protest how badly Mayor de Blasio's vaunted-but-unfunded Vision Zero program is handling the cyclist death crisis in the city's only mainland borough.
Gathering on the Grand Concourse, the activists pointed out the horrific numbers:
- Six cycling deaths in The Bronx so far this year, up from zero in 2019.
- Nine pedestrian deaths in The Bronx so far this year, up from 12 all of last year.
- The Bronx has 3 percent of the city's protected bike lane miles. Manhattan has 50 percent.
Clarita from @NYC_SafeStreets shares that people assume she has been in a wheelchair her whole life, but that’s not true. She used to love dancing salsa and was strong and independent.
— Transportation Alternatives *Vote on Sammy's Law* (@TransAlt) September 15, 2020
In 2003, she was hit by a taxi driver going full speed and spent three months in a coma. pic.twitter.com/oHHBKS8Gup
Will the mayor do anything? Tune in at 10 a.m. to his morning presser.
In other news:
- The mayor mentioned it on Monday, but the Brooklyn Eagle wrote up the full obit for Carroll Gardens legend Buddy Scotto on Tuesday. (Fun fact: Scotto, who championed cleaning up the Gowanus Canal, once promised our grizzled editor and NY Times reporter Dana Rubinstein that he would swim the fetid waterway once day — alas, the canal's putrescence outlasted him).
- There was coverage of Queens Council Member Costa Constantinides's bid to decriminalize "jaywalking." We posted a slapdash story first (natch), but the Daily News provided more details.
- Still need a primer on the Industry City rezoning? Gotham Gazette punctured a lot of pro-Industry City arguments. (Earlier, Streetsblog presented dueling, point-counterpoint op-eds from an opponent and the Industry City CEO.)
- The Post and the News followed our weekend story about reckless driving with coverage of a Brad Hoylman bill to expand speed cameras. Thanks, tabs!
- Want to tamp the dirt down on Mayor de Blasio's BQX streetcar? Read Larry Penner's post-mortem. (This Island Now)
- Lyft announced on Tuesday that it will give half-priced rides in cabs and Citi Bikes on Nov. 3 to encourage people to vote. Just use the code "2020vote" in the Lyft app. Uber's effort goes a bit further (USA Today).
- Mayor de Blasio promises to do his job (re: sanitation). (NY Post, WSJ) Reminder: He was the one who cut the garbage collection in the first place, as we reported back in April.
- Finally, both the News and the Post jumped all over the "Russian dog" story, but neither had pictures of the dogs themselves (although both papers wanted you to think they did — bogus!). Shutterstock? Really?
