Thursday’s Headlines: Affordability for Whom Edition

Well, the honeymoon is definitely over, as you can see by the resetting of our bespoke Mamdani-O-Meter back to zero (right).

The cause for the latest disappointment to the livable streets movement — the second of Mayor Mamdani's short tenure — was the mayor's decision to both sign onto Gov. Hochul's shill work for Uber in reducing car insurance rates, and also heartily defend the effort even as street safety advocates howled.

We couldn't believe that a mayor who had spoken so eloquently about both the importance of public transit and the suffering of victims of road violence could support a proposal that would reduce compensation to people who have been grievously injured by car drivers while also making car ownership more appealing because of lower insurance premiums.

So I biked out to Richmond Hill to ask the mayor to his face:

Yesterday in Albany, you had a different take on the affordability agenda [in support of] Gov. Hochul's proposal to lower auto insurance rates. One of the foundations of that proposal is to reduce the compensation for people who've been seriously injured by car drivers, as well as making it cheaper to own auto insurance, thereby encouraging more people to get cars and drive, which is a different side of your affordability agenda, because there'd be more congestion, more road violence, more damage to roads, et cetera. So how do you square that? Why would you support something that would encourage more driving and deprive injured people of compensation?

The mayor's answer:

I will support measures that will reduce the cost of living across the city, and I will also do so in tandem with a vision that makes this a more livable city And what we found time and time again, is that we have to make public transit the most convenient, most affordable, most rational option that New Yorkers can take. And that is in many ways, a central part of what my DOT is doing in trying to make our streets the envy of the world.

The answer was so incomprehensible from such an obviously smart person — how does encouraging car ownership make New York more livable? How does making car ownership cheaper make transit more rational? — that I bullied myself into a follow-up.

I have to follow up on that, because if you make driving less expensive, then that changes the equation for many people who would otherwise choose transit.

The mayor's answer:

I think for a lot of New Yorkers, it's not just a question of cost, it's also a question of time. And for me, the reason that I was supportive of Gov. Hochul's actions to start to reduce auto insurance rates is that this [high premiums] is another way in which New Yorkers are being pushed out of the city. The focus will always be, "How do we make it as easy as possible to get around the city as cheap as possible."

Again, the answer was disappointing to people who care about (or even have devoted their professional lives to) reducing car dependence. We — and I count the mayor among that "we" — know what makes cities more livable: boosting transit and discouraging driving.

It was depressing to hear the mayor defending the opposite — and boosting an effort to reduce costs on drivers, who damage our city in so many ways (and, need we remind you, are on average wealthier than their transit-using neighbors).

So, mayor, you're back at zero.

In other news:

• The good news? Today is another day for the mayor to get on our good side, and he'll do so by announcing, at 11 a.m. today, new enforcement "against predatory delivery apps." Sophia Lebowitz will have the story later.
• Here's some more good news: It looks like Council Member Shaun Abreu of Upper Manhattan will lead the Transportation Committee. Abreu has been a leader in the effort to get trash out of black plastic bags and off the sidewalk. (NYDN)
• How does a car flip over? Its driver was going too fast. (WB365)
• A Staten Island pedestrian died after being hit by the driver of an SUV. (amNY)
• Several outlets followed Streetsblog's horrifying story about a woman cyclist whose leg was severed by the driver of a tractor-trailer. (Patch)
• And amNY followed Streetsblog Empire State's world-leading coverage of the coming AV threat.
• Meanwhile, Streetsblog and amNY (with an error in the caption of the lead photo!) had competing coverage of Monday's hearing on the Upper West Side about the alleged Wild West conditions inside Central Park. Lest we forget: the park is far safer and more pleasant than it was when car drivers stole it from the public.
• Tariffs and policy revanchism is killing the e-bike boom. (Bloomberg)
• NJ Gov. Phil Murphy once said he would fix NJ Transit or die trying. So given that complaints continue, will Murphy simply expire on his last day in office later this month? (X.com)
• On the other hand, North Jersey.com says Chairman Kevin O'Toole and Executive Director Rick Cotton revitalized the Port Authority.
• The nation needs fewer bus stops apparently. (Works in Progress)
• And, finally, stars ... they're not like us ... because they ride illegal moto-bikes. (Splash News)