The big story yesterday was Mayor Mamdani's continued goodwill tour towards all the livable streets issues that you've been reading about in Streetsblog for the last four years.
In just the first six days of his mayoralty, he's turned the Department of Transportation commissioner into Sundance to his Butch; he's promised to implement the McGuinness Boulevard road diet; he's vowed to daylight intersections; he visited a non-fatal fire (really rare for a mayor) just so he could call out illegal hydrant parkers; and, unlike his predecessor, he stood with Gov. Hochul to champion congestion pricing.
The fun continued on Tuesday when Hizzoner joined a hard-working DOT crew to level off the notorious bump at the Manhattan end of the Williamsburg Bridge that Streetsblog has been decrying for years (not the least of which because the NYPD uses the poorly designed exit ramp for ticket stings).
And the mayor gladly took questions from two Streetsblog reporters ("Hello, Streetsblog," he said). First, as Sophia Lebowitz reported, he said there's no problem too small to attract his attention if it means encouraging safe cycling. And second, he admitted that he's committed to changing the design of that cyclist/pedestrian clusterfuck on an expedited timeline because bad infrastructure encourages cyclists to break the law in order to be safe.
Read all about it in Lebowitz's story. But for another day, the Mamdani-O-Meter adds a number (above right).
Other outlets also covered it (Gothamist, the Times (wha?), amNY) and Nolitadirtbag made an Instagram reel:
And I had one of the first rides:
In other news:
- The Daily News had more details about a super sad but true love story: Elvin Sanchez was killed by a hit-and-run driver last week just months after his wife died.
- Here's a long-overdue great use for some congestion pricing money. (Secret NYC)
- If you don't want to get snapped by the new fare gates, pay your fare, Janno Lieber says. (amNY)
- Who's a bad boy? This dog-abusing driver. (NYDN)
- The 4 train is going to be F'd for weekends through February. (NYDN)
- More bad news for Mamdani's business diversity appointee Michael Garner. As we say at Streetsblog: Follow the tickets. (The City)
- The Times's Michael Kimmelman lets you vote for projects you want (but judging by the first day of "up" votes, New Yorkers are happy with all the great ideas as long as they don't affect their car driving!). Change the equation, Streetsbloggers!
- The Williamsburg woman who was hit by a truck driver in her neighborhood has died, spurring more calls for a redesign of the dangerous roadway. (Vos Iz Neias)
- ACAB: All Cars are Bad. "Self-driving cars are poised to increase driving — and thus create more opportunities for collisions," Bloomberg reported.
- The Court Street bike lane will save lives. (Bk Reader)
