What a day for the livable streets crowd, eh?
It started when the New York Times previewed a big announcement from the mayor's State of the City address — that the city had finally capitulated to advocates and would create more cycling and pedestrian space on the Brooklyn and Queensboro bridges. Despite the scant details, everyone ran with the story (including Streetsblog, the Daily News, the Post, Gothamist, the Wall Street Journal, amNY, Brooklyn Paper, and, of course, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal).
Then, later in the day, the State of the City address itself had lots of promises:
- Streetsblog covered the biggest news, obviously. (And, as far as we know, we were the only outlet that pointed out that the mayor's 3,706-word speech did not use the word "bus," "subway" or "transit" even once.)
- The Post focused on new powers for the Civilian Complaint Review Board and on a proposal to give communities more say in the naming of new precinct commanders. (amNY also covered that angle.)
- The Daily News oddly led with the already reported Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridge story.
- Gothamist and the Times took the broader view of the notion of "recovery."
- City and State did a "by the numbers" take.
In other news:
- A judge blocked the MTA's plan to cut token booth clerks because it's a "service cut" requiring public hearings. (NYDN, NY Post)
- As we noted yesterday, the Council did indeed approve thousands of new street vendor permits. (amNY)
- The Times did one of its cute interactive features about the history of Brooklyn street addresses.
- At least Newark still has a Penn Station! (Gothamist)
- This is weird: Citi Bike is coming to Bay Ridge — but only a thin, two-block-wide stretch of the very top of the neighborhood, whose community board is notoriously anti-bike. (Brooklyn Reporter)
Have a great weekend. It will be cold.
