Friday’s Headlines: Bollards are Just Toothpicks Edition

First, let's remember that it's our annual December Donation Drive, so if you see this icon (right) atop our stories this week, maybe it'll remind you, um, you know, um, how much good work we do and how much we'd be grateful for more support. (Yesterday, we received a bunch of nice gifts from our readers, so here's today's thank you roll: Thanks, Rachel! Thanks, Ross! Thanks, Daniel! Thanks, Gordon! Thanks, Patrick! Thanks, Susan! Thanks, Alexandra! Thanks, Eric! Thanks, Other Susan!)

Now, onto a quick video we wanted to show you of a speeding driver losing control of his car and slamming into a light post.

It’s a pretty scary crash and a reminder that most bollards are like toothpicks when a car is moving this fast:

In other news from (finally!) a busy day:

• The Post seized on Mayor de Blasio's nearly decade-long failure to rein in placard abuse ... with a story about de Blasio's most-recent failure to rein in placard abuse. Mayor-elect Adams, who has long disagreed whenever reporters or rival pols say placard abuse is a problem, may not be the ideal person to fix the issue.
• Also related to the Streets Master Plan, which we covered first, amNY did its first-day story on the second day.
• The Times's Michael Kimmelman showed off, again, why he's just so good. His deep deep deep dive into the city's East River Coastal Resiliency Project is part overview of this specific project, but also a look into our scerlotic planning and execution process, which offers "useful lessons about how we got here and how we might try to think differently," he writes. It also raises many questions about the de Blasio administration's notion of community consensus-building, but also the idea of "community" in the first place. It's just a must-read.
• Guse of the Newsuh offered a little bit too much information about how unvaccinated MTA workers will be spit-tested every week.
• The Times followed our story last month about Citi Bike's supply-and-demand problem. (Alas, no link, no love.)
• A woman who plowed through a crowd of peaceful protesters earlier in the year declined a plea deal because she didn't want to admit she acted recklessly. Here's hoping she gets a jury of cyclists and pedestrians. (NY Post)
• MTA cops have the lowest vaxx rate in the entire transit workforce. (amNY)
• Stolen school bus mayhem in Brooklyn. (NYDN, NY Post)
• Here's a worthy resiliency project that will beautify Hillside Avenue in Queens. (Flushing Post)
• State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli put out a new report showing that the MTA isn't spending capital money fast enough. (NY Post, Gothamist)
• A Twitter user named Alison Geroi posted a picture of what appeared to a bus shelter ad criticizing the Covid vaccines. Geroi quickly deleted and reposted the image after the DOT social media team quickly replied that the agency had not sought to profit on conspiracy theories, but rather the anti-vaxxer had probably "pried open the glass casing." (Oddly, the Times covered it. Less oddly, so did amNY and Gothamist.)