Friday’s Headlines: Johnson & Johnson & de Blasio Edition

The needle and the repair done.
The needle and the repair done.

Mayor de Blasio led by example yesterday and got the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine as part of his daily press conference. In fairness, the mayor was funny, joking casually with the First Lady as Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi jabbed him, then saying, “OK, doctor, you have to tell me when you’re giving the shot though,” to show how easy it is to save a life (your own). (The Post covered it.)

The entire Streetsblog crew will be joining Hizzoner in the next few days, thanks to the vaccine eligibility of non-profit journalists (though our old man editor always questions the term, “non-profit journalists,” saying, “I worked for the Post and the Daily News — I never worked at a paper that ever made a profit”).

In any event, we’re so excited to get stuck that we may go and order eight beers apiece at McSorley’s.

In other news:

  • Open culture performances start this weekend, albeit slowly (NYDN, Patch). Gridlock Sam saw the cloud in the silver lining: Traffic. (NYDN, NY Post)
  • When this is all over, maybe there’ll be a public park on the roof of Radio City Music Hall. (amNY)
  • Beware the Citi Bike bandits. (NYDN)
  • Some jerks are driving into protected bike lanes to park in unoccupied outdoor dining areas. (Upper East Site)
  • Transit workers sued to stop some subway cuts (NY Post) — and their lawyer is Arthur Schwartz, amNY reported, though without mentioning that Schwartz is the same guy who sued on behalf of West Village property owners to stop the 14th Street busway.
  • Selvena Brooks-Powers won the special election in Queens to replace Donovan Richards, who went on to become borough president (QNS). We had covered the candidates’ positions on transportation issues here.
  • In case you’ve missed some things, we’ve had a slew of really important pieces this week:
    • We published a clarion call op-ed on the need to merge the idea of a citywide COVID memorial with the best part of an open street program that was created to deal with it: 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights.
    • We explored the mayor’s lack of vision on the open streets program in general.
    • We started the second round of our March (Parking) Madness competition with the Brooklyn and Queens borough finals (polls are still open in Queens).
    • And Streetsblog USA is deep into the first round of its Sorriest Bus Stops contest.
  • And finally, Friend of Streetsblog Charles Komanoff is getting justifiably impatient for congestion pricing. (Komanoff via Twitter)

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As others have noted, the proposed Brooklyn-Queens streetcar route would run right through city- and FEMA-designated high-risk flood zones. This raises questions about how the streetcar infrastructure and vehicles would be protected from storm surges, as well as the general wisdom of siting a project that’s supposed to spur development in a flood-prone area. Yesterday, reporters at […]