Hat tip to the Daily News for printing our old man editor's op-ed on Sunday about the direction this city must take to not only save 3-month-old babies like Apolline Mong-Guillemin from reckless drivers, but also reclaim our streets from the constant violence and anxiety caused by the existence of so many cars themselves.
We hope you'll read it. We also hope the incoming mayor will read it, too. (Interesting enough, future Mayor Eric Adams did say he's headed to the Netherlands to study how the low-lying nation deals with flooding. Streetfilms Director Clarence Eckerson Jr. reminded him to study the bike infrastructure and car-free streets while he's there. If you want to watch Eckerson's extensive coverage, he compiled 21 short films into a playlist here.)
The Daily News also printed Rohit Aggarwala's op-ed about the need for more automated enforcement (hear, hear!).
In other news from a busy weekend:
- Reporters were asking Mayor de Blasio all week last week why his Department of Finance and the Sheriff's office failed to tow away the car of Tyrik Mott, who cops say killed Baby Apolline, yet had more than $5,000 unpaid parking tickets — more than 16 times the threshold for being towed. The agencies didn't bother to return calls — then out of the blue towed away dozens of scofflaws' cars in three Brooklyn precincts (scoop by the NY Post, followed by Gothamist). Somebody got the memo ... but that still leaves 73 precincts filled with cars linked to reckless or law-breaking drivers (we'll exempt the Central Park Precinct, where the only illegally parked cars belong to the cops themselves).
- Beautiful writing here by Diana Budds at Curbed in her review of the new Brooklyn Bridge bike lane: "Taking a lane away from cars and giving it to bikes, as much of a hard-won, symbolic victory as it is, feels like the tiniest of steps in a journey that needs a leap."
- So you think you love Citi Bike? Well, you don't love it as much as this guy ... who has visited every single dock. (NY Post)
- Here's your United Nations General Assembly gridlock alert (Gothamist), though DOT says it isn't screwing cyclists this year:
- The Daily News had some new details on the driver who seriously injured a cyclist and crashed into a squad car last week.
- On the eve of this week's congestion pricing hearings, Nicole Gelinas offered solid recommendations for making sure the central business district tolling works — including no exemptions! (NY Post) We'll have our big preview story tomorrow, so set your watches!
- Following up on our straightforward coverage of the NYPD traffic enforcement slowdown, the Post blamed the mayor for the reason cops are writing so few Vision Zero summons.
- In case you missed it, the DOT's "bike boulevard" plan for 21st Street (Brooklyn Paper) has expanded to be a game-changer for Windsor Terrace. Our old man editor spent all of Sunday nerding out on it. Read it here.
- Neighbors have started a GoFundMe for the family of delivery worker Jose Gomez, who was killed by a driver last week. (West Side Rag)
- How badly does the city execute its contracts? Really badly. (Gotham Gazette)
- Just when everyone was really starting to complain about Revel scooters crossing the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges — which the company legalized in July — the city has told the company to re-block such trips (good scoop by the Post, then followed by Kevin Duggan at amNY, and then again by the Post). It's unclear if Lime will follow (we spotted one of those green-hued menaces on the Manny B on Sunday) and there are plenty of illegal (and much faster) mopeds in places they don't belong.
- Duggan also followed our mini- (and dashed-off) scoop about the new charges against Tyrik Mott, the driver who cops say killed 3-month-old Baby Apolline.
- Do bike lanes cause gentrification? Darrell Owens debunks the myth.
- We've certainly been critical of cops over their lackluster (we're being generous) approach to street safety, but we don't share the pearl-clutching of the Post and the News in their coverage of a police officer who briefly rode on the back of an illegal motorcycle at a block party. Should she really have busted the chopper owner at the block party?
- Why can't we have nice things ... like Paris's car-free day? (Via Twitter)
- And, finally, welcome to the war on cars, Chris Hayes:
