Stars — they're (risking their lives) just like us.
Our Streetfilms colleague Clarence Eckerson got a chance to ride from the Upper East Side to Theater Row with actor Amy Hargreaves, who shared what she loves about cycling (the speed, the relaxation, the camaraderie) and what she doesn't like about cycling (Times Square).
Hargreaves is best known for playing Maggie Mathison on "Homeland," but Eckerson has been an admirer since her leading role in "Brainscan" in 1994. He caught up with her days before the end of the Abington Theater Company's run of Elizabeth Coplan's "Til Death" at Theater 5 on W. 42nd St.
It was quite a ride (and the Citi Bike trip wasn't bad either!):
In other news:
- Our Julianne Cuba had a great, albeit incremental, story about a hidden benefit of paying delivery workers properly. Bloomberg looked at the situation nationally.
- The Times and amNY got in on the Brooklyn Bridge vendors story.
- New Jersey government was horrified to learn that Louisa Carman, a young staffer for Gov. Phil Murphy, was killed in a crash on Route 1. (New Jersey Globe)
- Speaking of the human impact of crashes, multiple outlets followed up the weekend's carnage with after-the-fact prayers and thoughts. The Daily News, in fact, did it twice. If only the mainstream media cared about crashes before they happen.
- Indeed, the Post completely bought the NYPD's preliminary report that a man fell onto Woodhaven Boulevard after tripping on the median, and then was struck by a car which then "flung" the victim into another car traveling in the completely opposite direction. Something doesn't add up here, but the paper (and amNY, too) was content to just shovel the press release to its readers.
- Speaking more of the ongoing public health crisis of road violence, the city DOT put out its final, albeit preliminary, fatality numbers for 2023 — and despite a decline in pedestrian deaths, the total number of victims is far higher than the average (239) since the Vision Zero era started. The shading below indicates how bad the last few years have been:
- Port Authority tolls between New Jersey and Manhattan are going up — so where's your lawsuit about that, Gov. Murphy? (NYDN)
- We were happy to see that the Times, Gothamist and amNY covered the earthquake in Astoria yesterday (but mostly because it allowed us to type "earthquake in Astoria," which we don't get to type very often).
- The Bronx Times covered the city's Pelham Parkway redesign.
- OK, we admit we were a little excited when the Post "broke" the "news" that former Mayor Bill de Blasio was spotted making out with someone in a fancy bar. But we've said it before and we'll say it again: Enough! Unless the guy is doing something truly newsworthy, he's simply not newsworthy — especially when he's spotted in a Manhattan coffee shop talking on his phone. The Post described the former chief executive as looking "like a forlorn, aging city hipster" who was "glumly lost in his thoughts as he slumped over a cup of Joe." Um, isn't that literally every over-50 white guy in this city? It certainly describes me, so leave us forlorn glum coffee drinkers alone, Rupert. Ruling: De Blasio's solitary java is not news!
- Speaking of not news: The weather-obsessed Post is already hyping a weekend storm that won't likely happen.
- And, finally, Council Member Justin Brannan showed a legitimate justification for a cyclist riding on the sidewalk:
