Indulge us as we mourn the loss of a great member of our tribe, reporter and columnist Jim Dwyer, who died on Thursday at just 63. (His Times obit is here. The Daily News offered a photo gallery, the Post an obit, and the Times added a collection of excerpts.)
Anyone who got into this business in the 1980s wanted to be Dwyer, who cut his teeth as a transit reporter at Newsday and as a columnist for the Daily News — a guy who spoke New York so fluently that even the Times couldn't ignore it, plucking him from the tabloid pinnacle to be a general assignment reporter in 2001 (he would soon slide into his logical role: the About New York columnist).
We at Streetsblog will miss him greatly, and offer as our own tribute two must-read pieces: Aaron Naparstek's 2007 story about the lack of bike parking at the Times's new building (now it can be told, Dwyer was a key source), and Dwyer's own 2017 column (in which he stared down demagogue State Senator Simcha Felder, who wanted to raise, not lower, the speed limit on deadly Ocean Parkway — thanks to Dwyer, it never happened).
Rest In Peace.
In other news:
- We hate double-parkers, too, but we don't pull guns on them! (NYDN)
- Many restaurants can't take advantage of city rules allowing for dining space in the curbside lane. (WSJ)
- Amtrak needs federal COVID relief money, too! (NY Post)
- Subways are getting crowded again, the Post reported. (Look on the bright side! New York may slowly return to its horrible old self!)
- And finally, from the assignment desk: Members of Riders4Rights, the First Amendment group that cyclist Sarah Pitts supported, will hold a memorial ride for the killed cyclist on Saturday from 1?4 p.m., including the installation of a ghost bike. The ride will start at the McCarren Park Comfort Station (Red House) at 903 Lorimer St. between Bedford and Driggs avenues in Brooklyn. Gridlock Sam in the Daily News offers other events this weekend that could affect how you get around, including, potentially, rioting Hasidic Jews (not that the NYPD will do anything to stop the violence, of course, as the Post reported).
