If you know someone who loves The Bronx and loves to walk, have we got a stocking stuffer for you.
Late great sociologist William Helmreich, who was known for walking all over New York City and writing about his discoveries in his "New York Nobody Knows" books, has posthumously released his final book in the series, "The Bronx Nobody Knows" (Princeton University Press).
It's another marvelously detailed classic with too many details to provide here. Helmreich died in 2020, so it has fallen on his wife, Helaine Helmreich, to promote the book all over town (she walked most of the city's hilliest borough with her husband, so she's an authority, too).
And, boy, has she been promoting. Helmreich has been on the Indoor Voices Podcast, in the Forward, and on the Bronx Buzz. And CBS Sunday Morning also covered her husband's work. More recently, she appeared at an Untapped Cities event:
So if you love The Bronx, buy the book.
In other news:
- Speaking of The Bronx we all know too well, that Dec. 3 fatal fire has been linked to a lithium-ion battery. (NYDN)
- The Post found more bloat in the MTA's Second Avenue Subway spending.
- Here's another police chase that did not end well. (NYDN, NY Post)
- Speaking of police misuse of vehicles, those cops who drove into Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 ended up not getting any discipline at all, thanks to Police Commissioner Edward Caban. (The City)
- It's nice to see that some places in the world are welcoming electric bikes and mopeds as a far better alternative to cars. (NY Times)
- The Daily News had more details on the 18-year-old motorcyclist who was hit and killed by three drivers in the Bronx last week.
- The Post over-stated this headline suggesting that congestion pricing is the only thing likely to hurt Broadway. Empty offices and the Post's own hysteria about crime are no doubt playing a much bigger role in Broadway's struggles (which are happening long before congestion pricing even starts).
- Meanwhile, Gothamist reported that no changes are expected to the toll pricing the MTA Board approved last week. And Komanoff hopes that congestion pricing will lead to more forms of carbon taxation. (Carbon Tax Center)
- The West Side Rag did a lengthy and detailed story about two blocks where a few parking spaces were removed for pedestrian safety and space. It was a fair story, but it made us wonder how we're ever going to solve the world's Big Problems if taking away a few parking spaces engenders such anger.
- No surprise here: Clarence Eckerson Jr. of Streetfilms is one of the 50 most influential people in American cycling. (Escape)
- Finally, this is the space where we remind you that it's out annual year-end fundraising drive and where we honor the previous days' benefactors. But we did want to give special thanks to readers Patrick Schnell and Michael Streeter, each of whom accepted my offer and donated $500 to appear in an upcoming episode in my ongoing "criminal mischief" series in which I hunt down license plate defacers or obscurers. (If anyone else wants to join the fun, here's how.) In addition, many people have been generous over the weekend: Thanks, John! Thanks, Shane! Thanks, Michael!
