Wow, what a long weekend of carnality, first with a traditional feast on Thursday that always seeks to cleanse the massacre of native peoples from our nation's founding, then with the craziness of Black Friday, which seeks to cleanse our national psyche of the excess of consumption. Plus there were major, and separate, anti-Israel protests most of the weekend, as the Times (Thursday), Post (Saturday) and the Daily News and Gothamist (Sunday) reported.
Frankly, it'll feel good to get back to what we do best: cover the fight for livable streets. So in service of that mission, here are the stories you might have missed over the weekend (through which everyone except the daily papers seems to have slept, including yours truly):
- Speaking of the orgy of shopping, one place where it didn't happen was at Grand Central Madison, where the MTA is having trouble renting retail space. (NYDN)
- The Daily News is such a bizarre paper sometimes. Here, reporter Tom Tracy had a great story (with great pics) of a drunk driver who basically drove his SUV into a subway station. This time, Tracy looked up the driver's record, but for some reason, only mentioned a few parking tickets, yet ignored the moving violations that indicate that this driver has been a menace for a while. Per city records, the guy didn't just have "three parking summonses" as Tracy reported, but also five camera-issued violations for driving in bus lanes or speeding. (The Post's coverage didn't even bother to mention the driver's spotty record.)
- A Bronx driver intentionally mowed down a man on a moped, the Post reported.
- Here's a little more on that death machine involved in that Rainbow Bridge crash upstate. Do cars really need to go zero-to-60 in four seconds? (NY Times)
- The Post analyzed MTA data to report on the most delayed subway lines. Is your train on it?
- Gothamist followed our coverage of the city's plans for a full vending ban on the Brooklyn Bridge, but didn't link to us. But the outlet did link to our prior coverage in its Sunday story on a cyclist-friendly search-and-seizure ruling in New York's high court.
- Former federal transit man Larry Penner is not convinced there's a real funding mechanism in place for the new Port Authority Bus Terminal, so we'll look into that. (Mass Transit)
- If car sizes had just stayed the same — instead of doing the American "super size me" thing — transportation emissions would have dropped 30 percent. (The Guardian)
- And, finally, if tomorrow is "Giving Tuesday," today is "Monetary Monday," which is a reminder that we are fully into our annual donation drive. To contribute, click here. Any donation at all will earn you a place on the next day's Honor Roll of donors, joining the hallowed halls of previous benefactors, including those who contributed over the weekend: Thanks, Kenneth! Thanks, Randy! Thanks, Eve! Thanks, Samuel (and, yes, we love Pele, too)!
