One day after dealing with the controversy from the most-photographed snowball fight in history, the NYPD announced more news:
Around 8:21 a.m. on Tuesday, cops arrested Gary Levinson, 62, for criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving. That was a pretty quick resolution to the early November crash in which cops say Levinson killed pedestrian Valerie Schoeck, 27, by driving a commercial van the wrong way on Morton Street in the West Village.
Hours later, across the East River, cops showed up to a dramatic confrontation in Clinton Hill, where more than a dozen protesters blocked a vehicle transporting ICE agents and a Brooklyn resident they had just detained in Bushwick. The NYPD arrested one New Yorker who tried to stop the vehicle's movement with a bike.
Neil Constantine of amNY captured up-close footage of the incident:
And now let me turn it over to the Streetsblog Editorial Board for a breaking editor's note:
After a record-setting run of 24 days, Streetsblog is resetting its livable streets "Mamdani-O-Meter" back to zero. This decision came on Wednesday after a top FDNY official testified at a Council hearing that the agency opposes protected bike lanes (which Kevin Duggan thoughtfully covered here). It was the second time in as many days that a key official in a uniformed agency openly flouted the mayor's supposed agenda.
As we noted on Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called for criminal charges against snowball throwers in Washington Square Park just hours after her boss downplayed the incident as a playful snowball fight. Streetsblog encourages Mamdani to reassert control of his subordinates, lest they hijack his agenda and feed more chum to the bipartisan outrage machine that continues to root for the mayor's failure. (Of course, the Post is on the other side on this one.)
Now, back to the news digest:
- Joseph Lynskey, whom a stranger pushed onto train tracks in Chelsea in late 2024, has returned to the subway system. (NY Times)
- The MTA sent a sternly worded letter to the Trump administration threatening to sue if funds aren't restored for the Second Avenue Subway. (NYDN, NY Times)
- Council Speaker Julie Menin was planning to co-host a podcast sponsored, in part, by the autonomous vehicle company Waymo, which clearly wants to enter the New York City market. After reporters began to ask questions, however, the Speaker changed her mind. (Politico)
- Sunday's snowstorm brought down 47 street trees, including an especially large one on Park Place in Crown Heights. (Gothamist)
- It was another pretty bad day for the subway. (NYDN)
- We want our Tremont Avenue busway, Bronx residents say, amNY reported. Our own Dave Colon had a better angle on the same story: The feds are holding up the busway, just like they are on 34th Street.
- It's easy for the MTA to boast of its on-time performance ... when you take the bad numbers out of the database. (NY Post, Streetsblog)
- A straphanger compared the MTA’s plan to revive audio-based advertisements to the plot of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451. (NY Post)
- New Yorkers with disabilities will have a lot to say when the City Council reschedules its snow-canceled hearing on the city's response to the first big blizzard. (The City)
- Lastly: Check out this magisterial post from the Sergeants Benevolent Association, one of the main NYPD unions:
Today it is snowballs, indeed.
