The big story yesterday was that Eric Adams had grabbed the coveted entirely expected endorsement of StreetsPAC, the city's only political action committee devoted to safe streets. Don't take our collective yawn to suggest any animosity towards the future mayor — Adams has more or less said all the right things about encouraging cycling, reducing the oppression of cars and boosting equity in transit and open streets — but given the competition (aka Republican nominee and bike lane hater Curtis Sliwa), our guess is StreetsPAC didn't have to think too hard.
Still, Adams made the most of his moment with the livable streets crowd yesterday. The Daily News played up Adams's commitment to fixing Mayor de Blasio's mess on Atlantic Avenue, plus his comment that "there are too many cars in our city."
It also says something about the positive place of the bike in our current culture that the Democratic candidate could deride his GOP opponent by saying, “I don’t even think he knows how to ride a bike.”
The Post played up Adams's promise to build 300 miles of protected bike lanes and to be on his bike a lot (unlike the current resident of Gracie Mansion). PoliticsNY (via amNY) played up Adams's pledge to fix the disproportionate impact that road violence and car pollution takes on communities of color. Gothamist played the story big, suggesting that Adams would really be the city's first bike mayor.
To read the full endorsement, click here.
In other news:
- Discourtesy, unprofessionalism and disrespect: Everyone covered the story of the two NYPD officers who harassed a straphanger who had the temerity to ask them why they weren't following state law and wearing a mask. (NYDN, NY Post and amNY, with a hat-tip to Kevin Duggan's lede)
- Hat tip to Gov. Hochul for setting aside Cuomo-era secrecy and putting the MTA on a clearer path towards transparency, a huge initiative pushed by our friends at Reinvent Albany. (Gothamist)
- Climate activists occupied the driveway of congestion pricing opponent Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is sort of a DINO. (NY Post)
- A woman was seriously injured by a Sanitation truck driver in Brooklyn. (Brooklyn Paper)
- Former President Trump's friend Paolo Zampolli is at it again with his illegal parking. This time, he got caught. (Village Sun)
- Police and firefighters rushing to emergencies — with sirens blaring — is a public health crisis. (NY Times)
- A group of NIMBYs has sued the city saying the Open Restaurants program violates state environmental law because it did not go through a proper environmental review (NY Post). But let's not kid ourselves about what this lawsuit is about: the word "parking" (as in "the loss of parking has been extreme") is mentioned 29 times in the 84-page filing, as we pointed out:
- And, finally, from the Assignment Desk: DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman will be in Astoria early this afternoon to release a new study, "Safe Streets for Cycling: How Street Design Affects Bicycle Safety and Ridership," which the city claims will provide "an in-depth analysis of the change in cycling risk following the installation of both conventional and protected bicycle lanes." (Our guess is they leaked the report to another outlet, so we'll have the story later today. But just guessing? The city is going to show evidence that bike lanes make roadways safer for all users.)
