Monday’s Headlines: A Weekend of Carnage Edition

It was another weekend of carnage across the city thanks, in part, to hit-and-run drivers.

• A Brooklyn mom saved her son from a hit-and-run truck driver, shielding her teenager and receiving the worst of the impact, saving him, the Daily News reported (the Post had a lesser account).
• A Citi Bike rider in Manhattan was critically injured by another hit-and-run driver. (NYDN, NY Post)
• A drunk driver hit and killed a woman on the heinous Van Wyck Expressway service road. (1010 WINS)

On the plus side, cops reported that they had arrested the hit-and-run driver who killed Shevon Cintron in December in Harlem, the Daily News reported.

The weekend was so bloody that Council Transportation Committee Chair Selvena Brooks-Powers called for action.

"Every single time life is lost on city streets, impacted families need swift justice," she said in a statement. "Last year about a third of all traffic fatalities were hit-and-runs and yet the NYPD only managed to solve four of them." She called for the Council to pass her bill that would require the city to create a reward for individuals "who provide information leading to the apprehension, arrest, or conviction of an individual involved in a hit-and-run."

No dollar amount is in the bill (and skeptics would point out that Brooks-Powers had a hand in eliminating a reward that was in another Council bill that would have gone to people who report cars that are illegally, and unsafely, parked in bike and bus lanes).

Despite so much death and maiming going on, the Times continued its devotion to the privately owned automobile. In this case, it came in the form of the Gray Lady hand-holding people who want to buy electric cars — with not a single word about the deleterious effect of cars on cities. Repeat after us, New York Times: Electric cars are still cars. And cars ruin cities.

Indeed, even artificial intelligence knows that, as we proved over the weekend by having a brief conversation with the Microsoft Bing chatbot. With surprisingly little prompting, Bing was able to describe the terrible problem of cars in cities, prescribe solutions, and beg area politicians for relief.

You pols wouldn't want to be thought of as dumber than a computer, now would you?

In other news:

• It was a huge weekend for transit news:
  • Lots of outlets are piling on the MTA right now, but be aware of the ulterior, anti-congestion pricing motive. (NY Post).
  • Indeed, the Republican war on transit continues (NY Post), but a Brooklyn Council member wants to help the subway system by encouraging New Yorkers to adopt a station. (Gothamist)
  • Speaking of all that, the LIRR says it will recalibrate service in the wake of the rough opening to Grand Central Madison (NYDN, NY Times, Gothamist, Crain's, amNY), though they should have known problems were coming, the Post reported.
  • Meanwhile, Gothamist found a few secret elevators that can get LIRR customers from the street to the Grand Central Madison concourse in 20 seconds instead of 10 minutes.
  • Also, meanwhile, the other East Side Access project — getting for new Metro-North stations in The Bronx — is back on schedule. (The City)
  • The Port Authority raised the fare on the already overpriced AirTrain. (Gothamist)

Let us take a moment to praise the prolific former federal transit with the supremely appropriate last name. Larry Penner recently has been en fuego with his insights into the Long Island Rail Road's East Side Access (aka Grand Central Madison) coverage, including:

• an op-ed in the Daily News
• an op-ed in the Post (no link, but a picture of it is to above right)
• an op-ed in Mass Transit.