Monday’s Headlines: 2021 Just Got Real Edition

OK, it’s time to put aside childish things, like all the days between the last real workday and today, when the cold reality of 2021 sets in. It’s Monday and it’s time to start the workweek with our roundup of all the news you’ve missed for the past few days:

• The NYPD says it will leave its Manhattan tow pound — which is inside Hudson River Park, on the river between West 36th and 37th streets — by the end of January. It’s unclear what the site will become, but anything is better than a parking lot for scofflaws on prime waterfront space (Patch, Gothamist). The Post took an odd angle on the story, suggesting that closing the tow pound would allow scofflaws to get away with murder; in reality, the city intends to open a new location for the storage of said vehicles.
• Multiple outlets ran end-of-year stories about how bloody our roads were in 2020, the seventh year of Vision Zero. The Post and the Times focused on the increase in motorcyclist and car passenger deaths, but the Tabloid of Record was also quick to point out that cyclist deaths were almost as bad as 2019, which was the worst of Mayor de Blasio’s tenure.
• Speaking of road violence, 2021 didn’t start so great: A man was killed by a hit-and-run driver in the Bronx on Jan. 2 (NYDN). And on the same day, a 4-year-old boy was badly injured by a driver in Prospect Lefferts Gardens (Gothamist, NY Post), a reminder of why coverage of that neighborhood in the Brooklyn Council District roundup story that we published today focused on street safety.
• The Wall Street Journal did a broad overview of the MTA’s expensive efforts to battle COVID-19.
• As we predicted, the Staten Island Advance would have a problem with the mayor wanting to fight speeding 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But you know how it is with the law-and-order crowd (they only order up laws they want to follow).
• In case you missed it, Gothamist’s Chris Robbins did a guide to winter biking.
• Also ICYMI, we did our inevitable walk-through of the new Moynihan Train Hall over the weekend. So did WNYC’s excellent Stephen Nessen and Gothamist’s Sophia Chang. Meanwhile, the Post Editorial Board wants more train halls just like it. And the Post’s counterparts at the Daily News also raved.
• Remember last week’s story about the “gang” of teens who supposedly attacked a BMW owner for no reason? Well, the first of the arrested suspects has already been freed in a case of mistaken identity. Now, he’s likely to sue the city. (NY Post)
• The mayor’s war on placard abuse — announced to great fanfare in 2019, but the subject of inaction and budget cuts since — is even more stalled than we thought. (NY Post)
• And in some great news for the city (but some bad news for our old editor’s arteries), Sammy’s Roumanian will reopen! (Gothamist)