The sky finally delivered a bit of snow last night and into this morning, though my trick knee was only predicting three inches, max, when we put this issue of Streetsblog to bed at midnight. Here's hoping my gimpy limb was wrong.
In any event, even a small amount of snow shows us how little space automobiles need — and how much more of our precious public space we give them. You can see it in the "sneckdown," as Streetfilms auteur Clarence Eckerson is always saying.
Last night, with barely a quarter-inch on the ground, I was able to snap my own "sneckdown" on Prospect Park West. Notice how much space (light blue) could be given back to pedestrians, all by taking back space out from the curbline (yellow line) that drivers clearly don't need:
In other non-snow news:
- A hit-and-run cabbie injured two people in Midtown. (NY Post)
- Man, this process of getting faster Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor is taking so damn long! (NY Times)
- Former federal transit man Larry Penner sees delays ahead for the MTA's plan to build four Metro-North stations in the Bronx. (Mass Transit)
- Speaking of the MTA, apparently it still has a problem with the sprinklers at the East New York bus depot. (NYDN)
- Meanwhile, the Villager offered an entirely biased take on Manhattanites' supposed hatred of congestion pricing. The story didn't even point out that the majority of Manhattanites — and the vast majority of those inside the congestion zone — do not own cars. Basic.
- There's a new "bike lane challenge" in town:
- With his "undercover" ride along, Dean Moses of amNY shows how much access the NYPD is willing to give to reporters it deems friendly.
- There should be a contingency plan when the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is closed during high-wind periods — but it's not clear what that is. (Brooklyn Paper)
- G — this is a really harsh full shutdown schedule for Greenpoint subway customers. (NY Post)
- If speed governors are so good for city school buses they're even better on all cars. (Gothamist)
- The mayor is taking a lot of credit for "restoring" budget cuts — but Hell Gate ain't buying it.
- Personally, we've been enjoying road signs that try to connect to drivers with a little humor — maybe they get read more? In any event, the feds are nixing them. (NY1)
- Forgive us, but we missed this Crain's profile of Sanitation Department spokesman Joshua Goodman. As New Yorkers, we can think of better angles for coverage of the agency, but as reporters, we would like to point out that Goodman has always been responsive and trustworthy, which is more than we can say for other top agency flacks!
- Speaking of things we missed, we focus so closely on carnage occurring every day in the five boroughs that we sometimes miss important news from other areas, such as two fatal crashes in upstate Tarrytown, both on dangerous Rt. 9. The first crash was in November — and the local paper's headline said it all "Fatality at Broadway and McKeel Avenue Highlights Longstanding Risks for Tarrytown Pedestrians" (Hudson Independent). But nonetheless, another pedestrian was killed on Dec. 23 nearby (Daily Voice).
- FedEx is doubling down on turning Sunset Park into a major delivery hub, which will mean more trucks in the neighborhood for a long time. (Crain's)
- And, finally, there's a new danger lurking for Manhattan pedestrians with that "new, improved" electric car stench:
