OK, so I was vacation (want to see my slide show? Click here), but I was able to keep on top of all the news, thanks to my hard-working team at the S'blog. Hat tip to David Meyer, Emily Lipstein, Dave Colon, Kevin Duggan, Sophia Lebowitz and Summer Specialists Jonah "Five Tools" Schwarz, Matty "Old" Sage and Yoshi "Dad, I Know What 'Sluice' Means" Omi-Jarrett for keeping the lights on so brilliantly.
One thing I was able to follow was Andrew Cuomo's return to the mayoral race, thanks to a blitz of interviews he did with the mostly pliant New York press corps. So obviously the first thing I did upon touching down at JFK is run the plates on Cuomo's Dodge Charger. Reminder: we published a first-person mea culpa from the muscle car on June 25, the former governor's driving record comprised five camera-issued speeding tickets between March 28 and June 15.
That's objectively a horrendous record of reckless driving through city school zones.
Well, Cuomo's car has been dinged again! According to city records, he got another speed-camera ticket on June 22 in Brooklyn. That brings his total to six — which, if the state legislature had passed Sen. Andrew Gounardes's "Stop Super Speeder" bill, would have required Cuomo to get a speed limiter installed into his beloved Dodge.
Six speeding tickets in three-plus months makes Cuomo one of the city's most prolific reckless drivers. It certainly raises questions about his commitment to street safety. We reached out to the Cuomo campaign, but heard crickets. I'll update this story if we hear back.
In other news:
- The Times was a little late on Wednesday's dustup between Rep. Jerry Nadler and U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, but it's always good to have the Gray Lady in the fight.
- We're just sitting around with bucket after bucket of popcorn watching Mayor Adams's former police commissioner calling Hizzoner a Mafia don. (NY Post)
- And speaking of the mayor's failures, the Red Hook Pool is closed for repairs that could have been made before the already-too-short public swimming season began last month. If this mayor isn't committed to providing basic comfort to the sweltering population of one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, voters can certainly find someone who is. (The City)
- Reminder to the EMT union: The central idea of organized labor is to lift up workers, not tear them down. (amNY)
- N train joy ride. (Gothamist)
- City Limits covered the Council's effort to help delivery workers, but you read that in Streetsblog last week, right?
- Charles Komanoff's recent defense of Mayor Adams's 15 mile-per-hour bike speed limit has earned him the company of a strange bedfellow on Twitter, but not in Hell Gate.
- Speaking of cold comfort, Mayor Adams got endorsed by a bunch of police unions, whose members mostly don't even live here. (NYDN)
- Fines for blocking buses will begin on two more routes. (Patch)
- And, finally, if you're confused about the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again struggle to save the Bedford Avenue bike lane, check out two things: Gothamist's political take and the explainer video that our award-winning social team cooked up:
