Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Carnage

Friday’s Headlines: ‘Home Rule’ Rocks Edition

The Legislature shouldn’t decide the speed limits on our roads. Above, the Albany State House. Photo: Wally Gobetz/Flickr

How many state legislators does it take to change a light bulb — er, a speed limit?

Way too many, according to Transportation Alternatives, which argues in a new report that the number should be zero. The report, "'Home Rule' Means Safe Streets: The Deadly Impact of Albany’s Control Over New York City Streets" marshals persuasive evidence that New Yorkers are dying in traffic violence because of outdated provisions that allow Albany to restrict the city's use of crucial street-safety tools.

Indeed (as we have reported many times in these pages), the Legislature won't let the city set its own speed limits or determine the number, location, and operating hours of speed and red-light-enforcement cameras. It also restricts the number of red-light enforcement cameras and the use of enforcement cameras in bus lanes. Meanwhile, according to TransAlt:

TransAlt wants immediate home rule and for the Legislature to pass the entire eight-bill Crash Victims Bill of Rights and Safety Act, so that New Yorkers can act quickly to beat back the epidemic of traffic violence that made 2021 the deadliest year since the start of Vision Zero. To which we say, "hear, hear!" The Post also covered.

In other news yesterday:

    • How many subway sleepers went to shelters the first week of Mayor Adams's crackdown? A total of 22. (NYDN)
    • The crackdown on subway crime yielded 143 arrests so far. (Brooklyn Eagle)
    • The MTA's chief, for his part, wants the power to ban repeat offenders. (NYDN, amNY)
    • A police chase led to a crash that damaged the fronts of two homes in Staten Island. (SILive, plus the Post, following Streetsblog)
    • Brooklyn Paper goes hard on the Grand Street bike-lane story. So did we.
    • Gothamist got in on the LaGuardia transit options news.
    • Bed-Stuy is aghast at the misogynistic art on this van parked by a school. (Patch)
    • City Limits reported that ticketing of street vendors has climbed back to pre-pandemic heights (even though enforcement was handed to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection) on the same day that our Julianne Cuba witnessed a cop ticketing a vendor in the subway at Jackson Heights. The harassment irked many, including State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who tweeted:
    • Finally, RiseNY dedicated one of its new Times Square exhibits to the 1950s kitchen of Ralph Kramden, sit-com TV's most famous city bus driver. (Via Twitter)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Monday’s Headlines: ‘We Speak English in America’ Edition

Read that talk bubble. That's really what the cop said to a man under arrest. Plus other news from a busy weekend.

May 12, 2025

Cyclist Launches Class Action Suit For Bogus NYPD Red Light Tickets

The NYPD keeps ignoring a law that allows cyclists to pass through a red light on the "Walk" sign. Now, someone is making a federal case about it.

May 12, 2025

Decision 2025: Mayoral Hopefuls Discuss the Death of Outdoor Dining

We asked, will you commit to expanding both Open Streets and outdoor dining in the roadway. And here's what they said...

Car Harms Monday: ‘Car Brain’ is the Demon Spawn of Car Dependency

Our policies, our budgets and our cultural narratives assume everyone can and does drive. That's car brain.

May 12, 2025

Zohran Mamdani Wants to Take a Free Bus … Straight to Gracie Mansion

So let's talk about the candidate's fare-free bus policy.

May 12, 2025
See all posts