Hat tip to Dodai Stewart over at the Times's "Street Wars" column, which is finally finding its way after opening up with the usual NIMBY, anti-bike, stop-taking-my-parking revanchism.
In yesterday's installment, Stewart shared insights from her trip to Paris for the Olympic games (remember those?). Beyond the silly (and increasingly misused by the Times) question headline, "Parisians Are Choosing Bikes Over Cars. Will New Yorkers Do That, Too?" is a simple answer: We must.
Not that Stewart is willing to say it outright: "This is going to make some New Yorkers mad," she opened, "but we need to look at what Paris is doing with its streets." It's an absurd (and classically Timesian) lede — wishing to avoid enraging a supposed class of grumpy snowflakes who can't accept change, even if it makes their city safer and better.
Of course, the story then goes on to show — Mon Dieu! — that Paris is, indeed, a much better city than New York, thanks to a dramatic reduction in car trips, as well as making all the streetscape improvements a city can make (looking at you, Amsterdam) once people are free to get around on transit, bikes and on foot because they're not choking on pollution or terrified that their kids will get run over by a driver.
"You don’t have to be on a bike to appreciate a bike-friendly city," Stewart added. "Streets teeming with bicycles are much, much quieter than streets crammed with cars. ... Looking at before and after photos of Paris, the transformation from car-clogged to bike-friendly is striking. My hometown of New York City would have a long way to go for a similar effect."
So let's get started! We're doing our part over here, and the Times can help by continuing to pointing out the flaws in our New York exceptionalism. (Oh, and also refer to Streetfilms before doing anything about Paris — Clarence Eckerson Jr. has been posting updates from the City of Light for 20 years!)
In other news:
- Speaking of how we'll never get change in New York City, a bunch of grumpy car owners don't like the Department of Transportation's scooter-share program in Queens. You meant the one that was so successful in the Bronx? Yes, that one. (QNS)
- New York Focus looked at the many ways Donald Trump could kill congestion pricing if he's re-elected. And if that happens, we have one person to blame (beyond Trump, that is).
- It was a deadly weekend for motorcyclists. (NYDN)
- The MTA is going after bus fare evaders. (NY Post, NY Times)
- A day late, but it's always good to read how Gov. Hochul does not have the legal authority to pause congestion pricing. (amNY)
- Here's more on the 2-pocalypse, which started on Monday. (Gothamist)
- Keep your money, Gov. Murphy — just fix NJ Transit. (Gothamist)
- And, finally, from the assignment desk: At 8:30 this morning, the DOT is going to announce the "next major step to develop a redesign of Park Avenue with wider medians and new public space." That sounds awesome, and Sophia Lebowitz will be there to ask the tough questions ... some of which we raised two years ago:
