Wednesday’s Headlines: ‘The End of the MTA?’ Edition

Well, today’s MTA Board meeting should be fun.

Not only is the board going to confront whether to borrow $3 billion from the feds, as Streetsblog reported this week, the Daily News reported on Tuesday that the agency’s proposed 40-percent cut in weekday subway service and layoffs of more than 9,000 transit workers are “on the table” — with board member Andrew Albert calling it “an end to the New York way of life.”

Meanwhile, MTA CEO Pat Foye is concerned that his agency’s path to a $12-billion recovery package has to go through two very-much-in-doubt Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, the Post reported.

Yeesh, just when you win an election, you have to go out and win another two elections.

In other news:

• Thanks to a truly insane video, Gothamist, the Post and the Daily News got a second day out of Monday’s road-rage crash (mentioned by Streetsblog here) on what should already be the Main Street busway, except that local NIMBYs are opposing the transit project because…cars.
• Check out Bullethead’s defense for a bad stop: “It wasn’t me, it was another cop.” Believe that? If so, the Daily News has a bridge to sell you.
• Here’s a timely reminder for all journalists: If you want to get the measure of a candidate, always ask about parking. In this insightful interview, Bklyner’s Zainab Iqbal gets Fort Greene candidate Curtis Harris to basically argue that he wants more street parking because roadways aren’t safe. Earth to Harris: Roadways aren’t safe because there’s too much street parking! He also likely lost the cyclist vote by calling crashes “accidents.”
• Here’s the reason the MTA is writing so few mask tickets — people are wearing masks! (NY Post)
• People often ask us, “Is the NYPD a good Vision Zero partner”? And we answer, “No!” Here’s today’s example. (@PlacardAbuse via Twitter)
• More driver-on-driver crime in Midtown. (NY Post)
• We liked the first one, but this is getting old: