We know it's tempting to treat the dead Oblomovshina week between Christmas and New Year's as some sort of "vacation," but Streetsblog is still cranking out the kind of vitally important stories that simply cannot be missed.
For example, on Monday, Dave Colon reviewed Mayor de Blasio's failure to improve bus speeds. On Tuesday, Julianne Cuba did the same about Mayor de Blasio's failure to rein in cars. Charles Komanoff offered another reminder of why congestion pricing will be good for all New Yorkers (even outer-borough drivers!). And our old man editor even tossed in a story about how the city is going to buy 250 Teslas as squad cars.
And today, Colon has a story about a federal labor panel that may — may! — revisit the issue of gig workers, which could potentially change live for deliveristas and Uber drivers. And Cuba looks at six unsolved hit-and-run cases that have left families and communities grieving.
So we've kept busy — which probably means it's a good time to remind you about that little yellow box at the top of this page. Yes, it's our annual December Donation Drive, which means you get a chance to toss a few bucks at us to keep the lights on all of next year, when we'll get a new mayor, a new council, a new comptroller — and the same old commitment on our end to hold them accountable.
Yesterday, we received another murder of contributions, so let's take a moment to honor those savvy subsidizers: Thanks, Benjamin! Thanks, Jeff! Thanks, Andrew! Thanks, Matthew! Want to join this honor roll? Click here.
Now, here's yesterday's news in a handy digest:
- Clayton Guse of the Daily Newsuh is the latest reporter to do the post-mortem on Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative, which, as others have found, had its ups and downs. The takeaway: "Advocates say that progress isn’t much to be proud of. They slam de Blasio for kowtowing to a vocal minority of New Yorkers who own cars instead of pushing forward with a bold reimagination of street space, which covers about a quarter of the city’s land mass."
- It's a big L for the W. (amNY)
- Admit it, you want a comprehensive list of all the streets that got co-named for celebrities and other honorees this year. (Gothamist)
- In his last three days, Mayor de Blasio unveiled a plan to save Lower Manhattan from flooding. But renderings still show the FDR Drive in the pictures, so we're not optimistic that this is a real plan. (amNY)
- Our former Streetsblog USA colleague Angie Schmitt explored the health implications of mega-cars for The Atlantic.
- Gothamist got around to Tuesday's news that Gov. Hochul had signed a bill that will give cyclists and pedestrians a greater voice at the MTA.
