We're going to take this snowy morning to work on some long-term projects, but by afternoon, we'll be back on the road to monitor the Sanitation Department's efforts to clear bike lanes and pedestrian crossing zones because, you know, the agency did such a great job last time. (If you see something, say something.)
On the plus side, the mayor is getting ahead of carmaggedon by restricting all travel "except in emergencies" as of 6 a.m., so please don't go anywhere. On the down side, NJ Transit isn't even bothering to provide service on Monday, the Daily News reported, but the MTA will keep rolling as long as it can, the Post reported.
In fact, why not curl up with our headlines right now:
- The biggest story yesterday was Mayor de Blasio having to confront — amid a flurry of reporters' questions — that the city had absolutely failed — again! — its Black residents. Months after it was clear that COVID-19 had disproportionately affected the Black community, the city released data on Sunday showing that Blacks comprised only 11 percent of COVID vaccine recipients (they comprise 24 percent of the population) and Latinos comprised 15 percent (despite being 29 percent of the population). Meanwhile Whites had gotten 48 percent of the vaccinations, despite being just 32 percent of the population. Everyone covered this obvious outrage:
- The Times suggested simply that "white New Yorkers are navigating the city’s complicated vaccination system more easily," and only critics of the mayor to gently touch on the deeper problem: Mayor de Blasio's failure to anticipate that centuries of racism by government would leave African-American's distrustful. Even the mayor mentioned that in his presser, but the Times's Emma Fitzsimmons chose to avoid direct conflict (though she did quote Eric Adams calling it New York's "Katrina").
- The Daily News allowed de Blasio to appear to be leading the effort to fix a problem of his making, quoting the mayor, "We have so much more work on the ground … to address the issue of trust and to build faith in vaccination."
- The Post also pointed out that up to this point, the city's vaccine information was printed only in English and Spanish (Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Haitian Creole, French, Korean, Polish, Russian and simplified Chinese are on their way).
- The Wall Street Journal pointed out some efforts the city had made in setting up its vaccine distribution strategy, but the numbers speak for themselves.
- Mark Hallum at amNY actually did the wise thing — going with a second-day reaction story. Knowing that all the big papers would fill their limited column inches with the main news, Hallum got local pols to react to the mayor's failure, which was far more enjoyable a read.
- Gothamist, which had presaged the news last week, put it in the starkest terms in the lede: "Three white residents receive a COVID-19 vaccine for every Black or Latino person in the city." And the outlet ran the only chart you need to see:
In other news:
- We covered the death of a Good Samaritan who was one of two people killed by drivers on Friday, but the Daily News offered more details on just what a good Good Smaritan Michael Agurkis was. A sad story.
- Nothing to see here — just another speeding driver killing himself on the Belt Parkway, our own Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (NYDN)
- Speaking of recklessness, a speeding driver injured six people in Brownsville. (amNY)
- We live in a country where 10 Republican Senators can propose a COVID relief package that's one-third the size of President Biden's robust, $1.9-trillion stimulus — and get to claim that's the "moderate" position. Huh — we wonder if we'll even be able to buy a baconeggandcheese with what the other three dozen Republicans are proposing. (amNY)
- And, finally, Untapped Cities takes you inside the arch in Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza.
