Friday’s Headlines: Fight for Your Right To Party Edition

Even as the nation’s attention was riveted yesterday on the January 6 Select Committee’s hearing in Washington, with its stark scenes of combat at the Capitol, Streetsblog & Company instead took the night off and fought for our right to party.

Streetsblog’s sister organization Open Plans relaunched its annual “fun(d)raiser” last night and, well, it was fun. Safe-streets activists mingled with scribes munching on olives and mini spinach pies. People talked shop, traded tips, and celebrated awards. The speeches were mercifully short, enabling everyone to return quickly to the libations. Several attendees indulged in a bit of rug-cutting. We snapped some pix for your delectation.

We’ll ponder constitutional crises and coups d’etat tomorrow.

In real news:

• Tragedy on the train platform as a Q line rider got dragged by a subway door. (NYT, NY Post, NYDN, Gothamist, amNY) 
• The mayor and the MTA are rolling out more red paint for bus lanes. (Streetsblog, amNY, NY1)
• Important: Don’t forget that early voting begins tomorrow. More information here.
• Brooklyn CM Lincoln Restler and Stop the Chop got some ink for their bill curtailing the flights of noisy helicopters (amNY, BKHeightsBlog)
• Who’s for street safety? StreetsPAC endorsed a Queens Assembly candidate Juan Ardila but he drives a vehicle that’s racked up an armful of violations in the last three years. Conservative Democratic CM (and apparent tattle-tale) Bob Holden said in the article that he “sees Ardila driving the vehicle all the time.” Ooops. (SunnysidePost)
• That gas-tax holiday? Drivers are not even feeling it, according to one survey. (Gothamist)
• SEE IT: A truckdriver sideswiped a row of parked cars in Queens. (ABC7)
• Motorist-on-motorist violence on the Cross Bronx leaves one dead. (NYDN)
• Ex-Ranger Sean Avery’s scooter attack on a motorist got punished. (NYT)
• Cops are seeking a moped rider who fled after hitting a toddler. (Village Sun)
• The narrow bike-ped path on the Queensboro Bridge (the one that won’t see any relief until 2024) carries almost as many people in an hour as a lane of car traffic. (Via Twitter)

• Here’s the latest gizmo: an interactive map that measures noise pollution. (Via Twitter)

• Finally, here’s an idea for Brooklynites: Make a cute little patch of greenery more useful and less marooned. (Via Twitter)