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Year In Review

Streetsies 2024: The Year in Fake Pictures

There was so much craziness in the news this year that we expanded the Streetsblog Photoshop Desk to help our readers make sense of it all. Here are our favorites.

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk|

How meta: This image of the Streetsblog Photoshop Desk during the halcyon days of newspapering is itself a creation of the Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

There was so much craziness in the news this year that we expanded the Streetsblog Photoshop Desk to help our readers make sense of it all.

And the team performed! Check out the best artistic efforts of the year:

The finger

When Gov. Hochul not only paused congestion pricing, but did so without finding revenue to continue the MTA's vital capital work, we captured her betrayal of city transit riders with this gripping image:

Gov. Hochul gave us all the finger.The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

ILM's nexus of criminality

When the mayor's main adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was indicted, we broadened the public's focus onto her larger corruption — that of public integrity:

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Grass roots? No, Astroturf!

When the City Council wanted to raise wages for delivery workers not covered by previous pay increase reforms, a weird, tech-funded group showed up to testify against it — a classic "Astroturf" approach. We called out the group with this image:

Photo: Josh Katz with The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Good, bad and ugly

The mayor's record on street safety improvements was mixed at best, which we characterized by using the title of the famous Sergio Leone Western and turning it into this photo:

The title of the film captures Adams's legacy on livable streets. The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk/Josh Katz

DEP TV

When the Department of Environmental Protection announced it would put videos of idling law violators on its website, we decided it was gripping viewing:

The city DEP will allow idling suspects to watch video evidence of their alleged transgression on a web portal.The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

A mountain of cash

After Hochul's congestion pricing "pause," everyone was saying that the MTA was being buffeted by storm and would need a mountain of money. But only Streetsblog did it graphically!

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

The fiscal cliff

After the congestion pricing pause, we revealed that Gov. Hochul had led MTA workers over a cliff ... which looked something like this:

It was her train to drive.The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Bulldozers for justice

After we revealed the full extent of the state Department of Transportation's malfeasance, we were happy to see Rep. Ritchie Torres and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez team up to, hopefully, toss the plan into the dustbin of history. That's a bit of a mixed metaphor for this image, but you get the idea:

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Let's go, Mets!

Like all New Yorkers (well, New Yorkers with a heart), we were pulling hard for our Mets. But when the team faced a critical, end-of-season series with the hated Atlanta Braves, we worried along with all of you. Mr. Met knew how we felt:

Mr. Met? More like Mr. Fret.The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

The watered-down toll

Gov. Hochul's decision to reduce the price of the congestion toll prompted us to accuse her (graphically, at least) of vandalism:

Here's what Gov. Hochul's new toll looks like ... in an editorial cartoon sort of way.Photo: The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

The Albany machine

Remember the sequence: The state legislature passed congestion pricing as part of the 2019 budget, so no one would have to vote yes or no on the toll itself. Then, Gov. Hochul superseded the law without any accountability. Then the legislature went into recess without doing anything. Basically, Albany is one big accountability avoidance machine, which we demonstrated thusly:

Gov. Hochul worked the buttons on the accountability avoidance machine.The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Just one more ramp

We caught the state Department of Transportation trying to build new ramps on the Cross-Bronx Expressway, and wondered where it would end. This is what we imagined:

Just one more ramp oughta finally do the trick.

Shrinking pols

Mayor Adams's vision for the city was so limited this year, that we decided he had shrunk himself and his office, which looked like this:

On bus and bike lanes, Eric Adams is the incredible shrinking mayor.Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office (with Streetsblog Photoshop Desk)

And Gov. Hochul also made herself small, with her unilateral congestion pricing pause, which reminded us of a movie:

Honey, she shrunk herself.Photo: Disney Publicity Still/Fair Use by Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

She also shrunk herself in contrast with the anti-congestion pricing president-elect:

She's smaller than ever.

Landing the plane?

For a brief period this year, it looked like Mayor Adams would not fully go to the mat for his signature rezoning plan, the City of Yes. He kept saying he would "land the plan," but we weren't convinced. Here's what it looked like to us:

Is Mayor Adams bailing from City of Yes? Or can he land this plane?The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk (with inspiration from "Airplane!")

Heroes want tolls

We're not even sure what this was about. It was Veterans Day, so we wanted to demonstrate our anger at Hochul not showing leadership on congestion pricing, we suppose:

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

Clash of heavyweights

We were caught in the middle of an epic Twitter war between our contributor Charles Komanoff and John Samuelsen of the transit workers union. Reluctant as we are to get in the middle of a fight (we like to be one of the participants, naturally), we decided this battle was a dish best served with a graphic:

The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

The big block

There was a brief period there when it looked like the Biden administration would protect Gov. Hochul from an assault against congestion pricing by the incoming Trump administration. We went with a football metaphor to demonstrate it graphically:

Is inside lineman Joe Biden protecting quarterback Kathy Hochul from a frenzied pass rush?The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

A three-pol circus

There were so many lawsuits against congestion pricing that we simply had to go with a wrestling metaphor:

(From left) Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy and UFT President Mike Mulgrew bodyslam the MTA.Streetsblog Photoshop Desk (based on photo by Hugo Fernandes)

Alone again, naturally

By the end of the year, Mayor Adams — indicted, — found himself all alone, which looked like:

He's all alone.Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office and The Streetsblog Photoshop Desk

What a year!

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