Thursday’s Headlines: ‘It’s Menin!’ Edition

The City Council is back — and in its first act, members unanimously voted Council Member Julie Menin their next Speaker. But transportation and street safety issues weren’t mentioned among the Upper East Side Democrat’s priorities for the city, as our Sophia Lebowitz reported.

“Together, we will forge a new City Council that takes a more forceful and proactive approach to New York’s shared goals. That includes enacting universal child care, lowering skyrocketing health care costs, building more affordable housing, and slashing fines and bureaucratic red tape for small businesses,” said Menin, leaving off transportation — a glaring oversight given that more than 47,000 people were injured, and 205 killed, in traffic crashes last year, statistics show.

Menin took limited questions from reporters after the vote, and did not announce who would cinch the coveted committee positions. 

She did talk, vaguely, about the mayor’s quest for “fast and free” buses.

“I’m focused on what the City Council can do,” said Menin. “You asked about free and fast buses. I actually have the distinction of having the bus with the highest ridership in the city, and maybe in the country, and that’s the M15, which snakes through my district. Of course we want buses that are faster, that goes without saying. In terms of the cost, that is a question for Albany. We in the Council have been very supportive of Fair Fares. I’d love to look at whether or not we can expand it so we can make the fares free and reduced for more New Yorkers.” (Other outlets covered with their own angles: NY Times, amNY, Gothamist, The City.)

Here’s hoping Menin appoints a true leader to the all-important transportation committee.

In other news:

• In our top story today, the Mamdani administration announced a two-pronged approach to finishing the 31st Street bike lane, which means we can add another day to our factory-style Mamdani-O-Meter (right). Streetsblog, Gothamist, QNS covered.
• And you thought Gina and Tony Argento would only get to defend their opposition to Mayor Mamdani’s McGuinness Boulevard road diet in court! No, amNY offers free space to the accused NIMBYs.
• Cars — they do the darnedest things! (WABC7)
• Careful, Janno. (NY Post)
• By the way, the RFK Jr. bear cub/bike story isn’t dead yet. (Wired)
• If you’re flying out of Newark, get ready for some serious AirTrain shutdowns:

• Finally, check out this supermergatroid visualization of every single Citi Bike ride … ever: