He really dug himself way down in the hole.
David Simon, the creator of the celebrated TV show "The Wire," gave many New Yorkers an unexpected reason to hate him by slamming the city that had the temerity to hold him accountable for speeding.
It all started when Simon posted on Twitter that he had gotten a camera-issued speeding ticket early one July morning ... and complained that he was the victim:
Simon got dunked on all day long by New Yorkers, especially those who care about protecting kids in school zones — though celebrity chef Tom Collicchio sided with fellow outspoken liberal Simon:
Simon's all-day Twitter barrage was a multi-hour reminder of the original Musk-squandered joy of Twitter (it was covered exhaustively by Hell Gate). Here were our favorite moments:
- Perhaps Mayor Adams hasn't achieved much in his term, but DOT's response was his universal pre-K:
- Some tried to turn Simon's medium against him:
- Some mocked Simon's rage that appeared to party aimed at the defenseless children:
- And, of course, many people pointed out the obvious:
For some reason, Simon was still going at it six hours after his toxic first tweet — and still spouting inaccuracies about the city's camera system:
As we watched Simon take a beating on Twitter, we reached out to him over his second-favorite medium to seek more details, but got no answer. Our friend Jehiah Czebotar used what little information that Simon provided to come up with three possible cars associated with a July ticket at the time in question:
One of the likely suspects had many parking tickets and three camera-issued speeding tickets — the one in July coming in Manhattan.
Another had two speeding tickets on the same July day in Brooklyn.
And the third has six speeding tickets — with the July one coming in Queens.
No matter which car it is, Simon can't claim he doesn't know about New York City's speed cameras. Except he can — Simon spent most of the day doubling and tripling down on his first tweet with more and more inaccuracies. Some were pointed out by Streetsblog Deputy Editor David Meyer (a native of the D.C.-area):
The day ended with outright mockery in the form of song:
In other news from an otherwise slow day:
- The MTA has started making good on its promise to add service. (NYDN, amNY)
- Like Streetsblog, the Daily News and Gothamist covered the death of an e-bike rider in The Bronx.
- We mentioned in yesterday's headlines that Council Member Lincoln Restler's bill to phase out diesel generators on ice cream trucks had earned him the ire of rolling coal MAGA-head, but it's also earned him threats. (Gothamist)
- Believe it or not, the first license-plate scanners for congestion pricing have been installed near Columbus Circle. (The City)
- ICYMI: Our editor was once again a top performer in this year's City and State's "Transportation Power 100" list, winning the high praise, "No journalist is more in tune with New York City’s transportation issues, particularly related to roads and traffic, than Gersh Kuntzman." Our old man even came in ahead of city transportation legends Sam Schwartz (55), Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff (59), and Janette Sadik-Khan (67).
- And, finally, we're happy to share the joyous news that sometime Streetsblog contributor Jeff Novich has gone global as a garbage influencer:
