The big news of the day is not that Rep. Ritchie Torres is lampshading a run for governor against Kathy Hochul. No. The big news of the day is that Torres reads Streetsblog, and learns important things from it.
Speaking at a rally to oppose a pair of possible Cross Bronx Expressway widenings on Monday morning, Torres said that he wasn't aware of one of the plans until Streetsblog brought to light the state's plan for a "connector road" in his district.
"When state DOT briefed me, I was not even aware of the connector road in my district," the South Bronx Democrat told the assembled press. "The first time I found out about it was in Streetsblog."
Torres didn't show up in Starlight Park to merely share his reading habits. The member of Congress gathered with a host of neighborhood activists who have spent months sounding the alarm on the state's plan $900-million plan to add a hulking service road next to the Cross Bronx, and called for New York State (and Gov. Hochul) to scrap the plan.
"It's a billion-dollar project. We should be spending a billion dollars on initiatives that reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, asthma hospitalizations. The Columbia University public health school did a study and found that capping the cross fronts cost somewhere in the range of $700 million," Torres told Streetsblog's Dave Colon. "If those cost estimates are accurate, capping the Cross Bronx is less expensive than expanding as the state is contemplating."
The state has attempted to greenwash the enormous project by claiming a bus lane to nowhere and a shared bike-pedestrian path make up for adding what amounts to a highway expansion in the last place the state should be expanding a highway. But local environmental advocates just aren't buying it.
"The Bronx is the unhealthiest county in New York State, and a project like this will ensure that we remain the unhealthiest," said Nilka Martell, the activist who started Loving the Bronx. "The years of devastation from the creation of the Cross Bronx Expressway are felt by thousands of Bronxites, and this project will only magnify these existing issues."
Of course, Torres was also happy to take some off-topic questions about his recent pointed criticism of Gov. Hochul and the possibility that he's looking to replace her. Torres didn't say he was running, but he did say he'd be spending the first half of 2025 on a statewide "listening tour," to meet residents of the red part of New York. Just remember that when the inevitable gubernatorial run happens, it started at an anti-highway widening event where Streetsblog's FOIL skills were praised by multiple speakers.
You're welcome, New York.
Reporting by Dave Colon
In other news:
- Jessica Tisch officially took the reins as Mayor Adams's fourth NYPD Commissioner on Monday. (NY Times, Gothamist, NY Post)
- DOT's temporary concrete recycling plant is blowing toxic dust all over Brooklyn's waterfront neighborhoods. (Hell Gate)
- A 47-year-old pedestrian in Queens died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on North Conduit Avenue early Saturday morning. (NY Daily News)
- Bloomberg dug into the "cautious optimism" the congestion pricing will meet its goals.
- NYPD used Apple AirTags to track and chase car thieves. Inevitably, the pursuit ended in a crash. (NY Post)
- A drunk driving Long Island school superintendent struck and critically injured a motorcycle rider in Suffolk County over the weekend. (NY Post)
- Finally, we launched our "year-end appeal" yesterday, and the support we received was, frankly, humbling. So as we'll do for the rest of the year, let us honor yesterday's donors: Thanks, Choresh! Thanks, Shane! Thanks, Kinh! Thanks, Christine! Thanks, Jehiah! Thanks, Alex! Thanks, Hindy! Thanks, Juan! Thanks, Camille! Thanks, Maury! Thanks, Jonathan! Thanks, Tom! Thanks, Ben! Thanks, Reed (keep up that singing)! Thanks, Oliver! Thanks, Jeff! Thanks, Chris! Thanks, Julia! Thanks, Sam! Thanks, Andrew (and thanks for the note)! Thanks, Katherine! Thanks, Joanna! Thanks, Philipp! Thanks, Anne! Want to join this illustrious crowd? Click the link at the top of this page.
