Tuesday’s Headlines: But They NEED Their Cars Edition
A really big snowstorm affords us a great chance to push back on the inaccurate (and, frankly, anti-progressive) notion that many New Yorkers need their cars to get to work.
Look around your neighborhood at all the fossilized Fords, ossified Audis and sedimented Subarus that haven’t moved since the big blizzard more than eight days ago. If their owners had to drive, presumably, they would have dug them out and driven.
And enjoy our slideshow of all the car owners who need their cars:
And, lest we forget the sneckdowns!
A week after the blizzard, and some epic #sneckdown s remain in Park Slope. The ?? tells us more than any traffic study or community board meeting could about how much space cars actually need to move safely through our streets. pic.twitter.com/RYAJ8wcYbe
— Marc Torrence (@marctorrence) February 9, 2021
In other news:
- Despite multiple requests from Streetsblog, new Department of Transportation Commissioner and intellectual property lawyer Hank Gutman gave his first sit-down to the Times, which was pretty skeptical frankly. “The [mayor’s] ambitious agenda would be challenging even for a seasoned transportation professional, which Mr. Gutman, 70, a retired lawyer and a donor to Mr. de Blasio and other Democrats, is not.” Ouch.
- A delivery cyclist was seriously injured by a hit-run-and-return driver on the Lower East Side. (NYDN)
- Some details emerged about Mayor de Blasio’s “open culture” program, which we wrote about yesterday, and Gov. Cuomo’s “pop-up” performance version (NY Times, Brooklyn Paper, Gothamist). The NY Post story about Cuomo’s proposal had a weird detail: “The events will not be publicly announced beforehand and will last only about 20 minutes to try to keep down crowd size.” (“Hey, honey, you want to go see the — oops, I don’t know where it’ll be and, wait a second, we missed it.”)
- The Times took a look at the cruel process of evicting homeless people from the subway and not giving them anywhere else to go.
- Brooklyn Borough President candidate Robert Cornegy has locked up the non-Brooklyn vote, apparently. (NYDN)
- Good news: maybe our old man editor can finally stop teaching eighth grade! (Gothamist)
- And, finally, US DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the magic words in an interview yesterday, “Roads aren’t just for vehicles — they are for people.”
Roads aren't just for vehicles—they are for people. pic.twitter.com/LuG0q2obIK
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) February 8, 2021
