Thursday’s Headlines: Criminal Mischief Edition

Wow, the mainstream media really doesn't get what we're fighting for on the streets of New York City!

Early on Wednesday, TMZ broke the news that a man had been arrested for "criminal mischief" after he allegedly pulled off license plate covers that had been affixed to two illegally parked SUVs. Unfortunately for him, those SUVs happened to belong to the always-touchy-but-even-more-touchy-right-now Secret Service.

The arrest led to lots of breathless coverage about a stalker (or, as the Post put it, an anti-cop activist) who was targeting Vice President Kamala Harris's step-daughter as she dined inside a Tribeca restaurant. MSNBC's hot take was typical (and sad, frankly):

The suspect turned out to be none other than Tribeca resident and Friend of Streetsblog Harry Heymann (though he wasn't talking)! So we posted our counter-narrative quickly, pointing out that Heymann was likely not targeting the Second Family, but merely saw two illegally parked placard perps with illegal plate covers taking up sidewalk space in his neighborhood and acted as anyone (or at least I) would act. (There was decent coverage in the the Daily News.)

As you may or may not know, Streetsblog has long shared Heymann's apparent disgust for law enforcement officials who break the law. So later in the day, I published my spreadsheet of the many military officials, cops, firefighters, court officers, and all manner of officials that I have personally caught defacing, covering or obscuring their plate over the last two years. And who (except, of course, the mainstream media) could forget this perp in the Manhattan District Attorney:

The AP did a much better job with the coverage of Heymann's arrest, even quoting me:

Like this gentleman who may or may not have broken the law, I have been outraged by the way in which public officials, including those whose job it is to enforce the law, have willfully broken the law and made our roads less safe.

As members of the public, we do have a responsibility to play a role in keeping the roadways safe. If that means cleaning up a piece of state property that is required by law to be readable, I’m okay with that. That said, I have never messed with the Secret Service.

I also got to share my spiel in Gothamist.

All in all, we'll be covering the issue more today — especially why the Secret Service is covering its plates in the first place. And others are apparently organizing a vigil ... for me:

In other news (was there other news?):

• The best real story of the day was Rocco Parascandola's Daily News piece about how Police Commissioner Edward Caban and Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry are being driven around in massive SUVs that have racked up more than $3,500 in unpaid tickets, including for speeding, running red lights and driving in bus lanes — unpaid, of course, until the News started asking about them. Gotcha!
• The day was also dominated by coverage of the red ink pouring out of the MTA headquarters thanks to Gov. Hochul's cancelation of congestion pricing (NYDN, amNY). Gothamist focused on fare evasion.
• Mayoral candidate Brad Lander told Hell Gate he would pedestrianize "good chunks" of Manhattan below Canal Street.
• Suddenly the effort to reconnect Bronx neighborhoods severed by the Cross Bronx Expressway is under fire. (The City)
• NY1 weighed into the "debate" over closing a tiny bit of roadway to cars, which we covered definitively earlier this month.
• There's now a map of the city's public restrooms. The bad news? There are so few pins on it! (amNY)
• We're still trying to figure out why DOT wants to widen a dangerous Staten Island roadway and hope to have more soon (the Staten Island Advance got the scoop). I did reach out to the Rock's rock-ribbed, car-loving, speed-racing Republican Council Member Joe Borelli and he told me (not likely joking), "I would have went for six lanes."
• The Daily News and Post had more on the speeding Mercedes driver who killed a pedestrian.
• Gothamist's Liam Quigley looked at how the Department of Sanitation's containerization effort will fare in super-dense neighborhoods.
• People are losing their shit over the closing of a truly venerable Starbucks on Astor Place in the Village. Landord-tenant dispute? No, the workers wanted to unionize — and that's one thing not on the Starbucks menu. (Curbed)
• Finally, from the assignment desk: There's a congestion pricing rally on Saturday at 11 a.m. along Manhattan's Summer Street: