Monday’s Headlines: Heastie’s Hasties Edition

Pressure is growing on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to abandon his objection to the “Stop Super Speeders” bill, which he blocked last year and is continuing to block even after Gov. Hochul said she wanted it passed as part of the budget. Over the weekend:

• The Daily News editorial board said that Heastie “needs to get out the way” of a bill “that is sure to save lives.”
• A day earlier, New York’s Hometown Paper published an op-ed from DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn and Health and Hospitals CEO Mitchell Katz that did not name Heastie, but pointed out that proposals to rein in reckless drivers are “being advanced by both Gov. Hochul and the state Senate.” As a reminder, Flynn and Katz said that a vehicle with more than 20 violations “is five times more likely” to get into a serious crash.
• And I even went up to Heastie’s office in the Bronx to show him how many reckless drivers are endangering him and his neighbors. I spotted 12 recidivist hasties in just 15 minutes of walking around Heastie’s Gun Hill Road office (he wasn’t there so I couldn’t get a comment):

• And related to super-speeders, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a belated hat tip to Deputy Editor J.K. Trotter, who set the city agenda with his story last week on the Staten Island cop, who remains on the job despite 547 camera-issued speeding and red-light tickets. After the initial story, many outlets followed:
  • The Post finally picked up a Streetsblog story like a normal paper.
  • NY1‘s Pat Kiernan interviewed Trotter on Friday.
  • Hell Gate’s podcast took up the issue, too.
  • We did a follow-up on Mayor Mamdani’s failure to immediately announce some kind of discipline against a cop who so clearly is a danger to his neighbors.
  • And we went to Staten Island to talk to the very people endangered by Officer James Giovansanti.

In other news:

• State officials in New York and New Jersey are asking FIFA to grift us all a little less. (Gothamist)
• Meanwhile, some of this World Cup anxiety seems a bit overblown. We’re talking about eight games over one month. (NY Post)
• Michael Oreskes turned in another well-reported piece on President Trump’s involvement in the Penn Station redevelopment (Chelsea News), while The Daily News contributed an explainer.
• The poorly maintained East Side greenway has a new sinkhole. (Patch)
• We’re not fans of highway funds, but we do think New York State should get its fair share, rather than having infrastructure money be used as a political tool by the president. (Gothamist, NYDN, Streetsblog Empire State)
• It took a guy from Salt Lake City to teach the New York Times a lesson about car dependency (scroll down to the third letter).
• OK, I’m as YIMBY as they come, but this is a very tall building with way too much parking. (West Side Rag)
• What do we think about police squad cars that fire darts at speeders? Hmmm. (NY Post)
• Complete lies from the Post about the 31st Street bike lane in Queens, which is, in fact, wide enough for firetrucks.
• Mother truckers! (NY Times)
• The new Mets losing streak can’t be blamed on Mayor Mamdani, but we can blame it on the bassist of Geese. (Gothamist)
• Finally, we love this Nike ad: