The Post broke the story over the weekend that newly minted Rep. Dan Goldman, who won the redrawn Park Slope/Lower Manhattan congressional seat sought by Bill de Blasio, Carlina Rivera, Mondaire Jones and Yuh-Line Niou, has racked up 84 tickets in six years on his two fancy cars.
But the tabloid missed the forest of recklessness for the trees of parking tickets. The vast majority of millionaire Goldman's tickets are of the basic illegal parking variety. But when we reviewed the record — you can too, right here! — we saw that Goldman graduated from three years of parking tickets (2016-2018) towards increased reckless driving through school zones and other places where pedestrians can be killed or maimed:
- In 2019, he got two camera-issued speeding tickets and one camera-issued red-light ticket.
- In 2020, he got seven camera-issued speeding tickets.
- In 2021, four more speeding tickets.
- In 2022, when he was claiming to be the best choice for voters, he got another four.
- And since taking office on Jan. 1, 2023, Goldman has gotten one more speeding ticket.
The total? Since April 13, 2019, he's racked up 18 speeding tickets and one red-light ticket on his 2019 Lincoln Navigator Reserve and a 2014 Range Rover — not a pair of cars that a self-proclaimed environmentalist should be driving (he now drives — or, excuse us, is driven in — a Cadillac Escalade, as our own Julianne Cuba noticed after a presser last week).
Why anyone who represents what might be the most transit-rich congressional district in the country needs two assault cars is beyond us. But no matter the car, repeatedly driving 11 or more miles per hour above the posted speed limit in school zones is offensive, privileged and selfish.
And all too common among our political leaders.
In other news from a busy weekend:
- In case you missed it, during the Big Game we threw up an important story about the hundreds of millions the city has spent on settling claims stemming from reckless driving by city workers — and City Comptroller Brad Lander offered some interesting recommendations. (Streetsblog)
- Friend of Streetsblog Aaron Short took a look at the wild Council race in increasingly red Bay Ridge, where incumbent Justin Brannan, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from former Democrat, not Republican, Ari Kagan. (Hell Gate)
- Let's put someone in a wheelchair on the MTA board to fight for the needs of disabled customers. (NYDN)
- The conspiracy theorists think the "15-minute city" concept is just another left-wing plot. (Vice)
- Why won't New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy simply take a bus ride with advocates? It's really not so difficult. (NJ.com)
- Denver's e-bike subsidy program is a success. (City Lab)
- Uber and Lyft took a greater share of fare money as drivers struggled. (The City)
- Cops not only deface their own plates, they misuse plate data to stalk their girlfriends. (NYDN)
- Speaking of police, crime is way down compared to 20 years ago. So why are there just as many cops? (Bloomberg)
- Safety is no accident — but it can't be achieved if we keep doing the same thing with our roads. (The Hill)
- amNY was basically all gambling ads when we did the headlines.
- Some person and some nonprofit are going to win those two $10,000 prizes from the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, so why not you? The winning person or group will be devoted to "improving urban public health in areas such as: reducing health disparities; obesity/diabetes/nutrition; chronic disease prevention and management; environmental health; HIV/AIDS; health problems associated with poverty; healthy aging; mental health; substance abuse and addiction; public health policy and advocacy; and access, financing, and quality of care," says the website. But don't be deterred, o livable streets community: The 2019 winner was Families for Safe Streets! (Hunter College)
- And, finally, from the assignment desk: At 2 p.m., Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso will join the chorus of pols that is cheering on our own Julianne Cuba, who revealed last week that the state is not going to do anything to mitigate the disastrous state-owned portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway north and south of the short stretch in Brooklyn Heights that the city is fixing. Reynoso's presser will be at the Jaime Campiz Playground at Metropolitan and Marcy avenues.
