Friday’s Headlines: Far Above Cayuga’s Waters Edition

Polk Award-winning investigative reporter Jesse Coburn and I (New York Press “Best Good Guy of NYC, 1997 and 1998!) were in upstate Ithaca to lecture first-year law students about the importance of the First Amendment and to thank our friends at the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic for all the fine work they’ve provided us over the years (and in the future — shhh!).

Here we were:

So let’s get straight to the news:

• The NYPD fired a cop for writing a ticket to a driver who abused her placard, these court papers say. (Gothamist)
• Likening yourself to a mayor who was defeated in his re-election bid is an odd play for Mayor Adams, but as the Times reported, calling himself “David Dinkins 2 … has become a central theme in Mr. Adams’s re-election strategy.”
• We’ll say it: The city’s obsession with bus fare “evasion” is absurd, selective and downright mirror-breaking. If they’d pick up a looking glass, the MTA, the NYPD and the Adams administration would clearly see why people don’t pay their bus fare: congestion causes buses to run too slowly, the city won’t build dedicated bus lanes and most bus riders pay when they get into the subway anyway. This is a waste of time that slows down buses. (NYDN, amNY)
• And, as the Times reported, “some riders feel justified in not paying the $2.90 fare because heavy traffic and a lack of bus lanes means that bus service can be slow and unreliable.” Ya think?
• And these enforcement blitzes are also arbitrary and capricious:

• Just in time: A few days after we published an op-ed from “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz on the cost-effective way to protect subway riders, the MTA went and did it. (Gothamist)
• If anyone sees a worse lede on a car crash story than the one published by the West Side Rag on Wednesday, we’ll eat our hat (and our next FOIL lawsuit): “A cyclist on the Upper West Side was sent to the hospital after getting hit by a car that fled the scene.” Ugh. Where do we begin?
• Seriously, New Jersey Transit? Really? (NJ.com)
• Gothamist had an interesting take on congestion pricing that reminded us that many subway users still feel it’s “unfair” to charge drivers to fund transit, which is sort of the definition of internalizing your own oppression.
• In a related story, the MTA is still paying to finish Grand Central Madison. (Crain’s)
• The bike path on the Tappan Zee Bridge is already falling apart. (LoHud)
• Is this really the question you want to ask when it comes to a city with not enough basic recreation space, Crain’s?
• And, finally, the Times did a tremendous tribute to the literary muse that is the New York City subway.