Tuesday’s Headlines: Make McGuinness Safe Edition

The mayor’s failure to implement the full road diet on McGuinness Boulevard that his Department of Transportation initially favored continues to have horrific repercussions.

Greenpointers reported on Monday that a pedestrian was struck by a car driver near McGuinness and Nassau Avenue and hurled 15 feet away from the force of the collision, which caused serious injuries.

The crash came days after the safety group Make McGuinness Safe blamed Mayor Adams at a community board meeting for watering down the road diet plan that would have narrowed the roadway to one lane and included a protected bike lane.

Instead, the roadway is two lanes in both directions most of the day, and car drivers typically park in the bike lane. So far, 21 people have been injured on McGuinness this year, including four cyclists and four pedestrians, city data show — two more than during the same period in 2019, which is shocking because the city said it would make McGuinness safer.

Residents will rally and march in support of the road diet on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the intersection of McGuinness and Bayard Street. Scheduled to attend are virtually all of the area’s elected officials — the ones who Mayor Adams said don’t really reflect “community” opinion (despite election results to the contrary). And by “community,” he, of course, means well-connected donors who got the ear of his chief adviser and road-safety foe Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

In other news:

• A number of outlets covered the anti-scooter press conference in Queens on Monday, but it reached the level of absurdity when Assembly Member Weprin claimed he did not know that DOT was expanding its successful Bronx scooter pilot to Queens until he saw the scooters on the sidewalk. To paraphrase John Gielgud’s character in “Arthur,” usually one must go to a community board to hear such uninformed inanities. Next time, Assembly member, please just read Streetsblog!
• Speaking of e-scooters, whaddya know — electric bikes and mopeds aren’t the only ones that burst into flames and burn victims beyond recognition. The only difference? Cars are much bigger. (NY Post)
• As we reported yesterday, the Washington Bridge is all red and green — an early Christmas present from the DOT. (Gothamist)
• Hell Gate had the best coverage of the police shooting of an alleged fare beater: “NYPD Farebeating Crackdown Results in Sending a Hail of Bullets Into a Suspected Fare Evader, Subway Riders, and a Fellow Officer.” (Crain’s coverage was solid, too.)
• 911 is a joke — or, more accurately, police response to 911 is a joke. (NY Post)
• Hey, taxi! Wait, do you have insurance? (NY Times)
• It’s a very bad look when a mayor is going after street vendors — and the Times’s Street Wars column made that painfully clear.
• The Times also covered the continuing evidence that Gov. Hochul’s congestion pricing pause is a disaster.
• The Staten Island Ferry will get some much-needed repairs thanks to an infusion of Biden Bucks. (Marine Link)
• Rubber banned, man? The city condom program is out of condoms. (Hell Gate)