Monday’s Headlines: Run This Town Edition

Who’s in charge here?

On Thursday, Streetsblog broke the news that the Adams administration has put 34th Street busway on ice in response to concerns amplified the New York Post about a project backed by every elected official and community board in the neighborhood.

Mayor Adams has a penchant for going against the wishes of the public’s democratically elected representatives when a loud minority opposes a Department of Transportation street redesign. Now The Post is egging him on to do it again — this time on 31st Street in Astoria.

As Heatmap reporter Matthew Zeitlin put it on X in response to the 34th Street news, “[If] your standard for transit improvements/projects is ‘if there’s literally any local opposition, we won’t do it’ then you simply won’t do anything.”

Democratic Party nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani, meanwhile, has criticized Adams of “corruption” for canceling street redesigns at the behest of special interests and for “betraying” his bold 2021 campaign promises, but hasn’t commented on Hizzoner’s more recent mishegas.

(Mamdani was conspicuously missing from a June 13 statement from elected officials in favor of the 31st Street proposal, which runs entirely within his Assembly district.)

Congestion pricing, which Adams once supported but distanced himself from just as it was set to launch, continues to be a smashing success, Gov. Hochul’s office announced over the weekend to mark the six-month anniversary of the the toll’s introduction. Several outlets, including amNewYork, NY1 and Gothamist, covered the good news: Traffic is down, fewer car crashes are happening and the MTA is raising the money it needs.

Pollution, meanwhile, has improved or stayed steady across the city since congestion pricing launched — contrary to the MTA’s own forecasts, according to new city data uncovered by Streetsblog reporter Dave Colon. Click here for the full story.

In other news:

• Mamdani wants to build QueensLink, he said last week. (Queens Eagle)
• CNN’s Fareed Zakaria talked Penn Station and “why can’t we build nice things” at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
• Catalytic converter theft is down in the five boroughs. (Gothamist)
• More shark sitings shut down city beaches for four days in a row over the weekend. (NY Times, NY Post, Gothamist)
• The brother of a man killed by an NYPD cop during a 2019 traffic stop is furious Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch won’t fire the killer cop, as are several City Council members. (Daily News, Gothamist)

In crime news, Tisch celebrated that the Fourth of July came and went without a shooting incident, but it was another holiday weekend marked by vehicular carnage in New York City:

• A hit-and-run driver killed a 36-year-old hero who managed to save another pedestrian’s life when he pushed her out of the path of danger near Broadway Junction. (News 12 Brooklyn)
• Another hit-and-run driver killed a 42-year-old restaurant worker crossing the street in Brooklyn with his son early Saturday morning, according to reports. (Daily News)
• Cops arrested Tony Wallace, 29, of Brooklyn over the weekend for allegedly hitting and killing a 34-year-old on a motorcycle at Clarendon Road and E. 35th Street in East Flatbush on Saturday afternoon. Wallace is charged with aggravated unlicensed operations of a motor vehicle, authorities said.
• A similar tragedy happened the same afternoon on Staten Island. (S.I. Advance)
• Two people are fighting for their lives after what the Daily News called a “fiery crash” on the Belt Parkway near Cross Bay Boulevard.

And finally, it is fully summer and the biking vibes are fully good: