Friday’s Headlines: Cough Cough Edition

Why doesn’t the mayor — or the governor, for that matter — tell New Yorkers to avoid driving on days when Gotham is beset with dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires?

We asked that question about Eric Adams three years ago when the AQI surpassed 400 on June 7, 2023, and are asking it now about Mayor Mamdani and Gov. Hochul as wildfire smoke once again blankets the city and much of the country.

Transportation is a top source of greenhouse gas emissions. Back in 2023, NY1 meteorologist John Davitt told Streetsblog’s Julianne Cuba that the connection between bad air and driving was “obvious,” and said it made no sense to him that city officials, say, required drivers to turn on and move their cars for street cleaning on air quality alert days.

But city emergency officials and two consecutive mayors haven’t so much as reminded drivers of that fact that their pollution-spewing cars and trucks make bad air days worse.

With more wildfire smoke likely headed our way, maybe that’ll change.

In other news:

• A Manhattan judge ordered DOT not to install the W. 72nd Street bike lane pending the outcome of a lawsuit from opponents. (amNY)
• U.S. DOT removed bike lanes and speed cameras from FHWA’s list of “proven safety countermeasures.” (NPR)
• … as Sean Duffy’s son-in-law rakes in money from the transportation lobby. (Bloomberg)
• Attention Julie Menin: New Jersey’s e-bike registration law is already a disaster, and it doesn’t officially go into effect for another two days. (NorthJersey.com)
• The city launched an app to help street vendors follow the law and avoid fines. (Documented)
• Cops haven’t charged the e-bike rider who allegedly struck a 43-year-old jogger in Central Park last week, leaving the victim in a coma. (NY Post)
• An SUV driver crashed into Ginjan Café on Nostrand Avenue in Bed-Stuy, injuring three people. (News 12 Brooklyn)
• Mayor Mamdani has already raised $304,000 for his re-election. (NY Post)
• City Council Speaker Julie Menin wants more “worker protections” in the bill to outlaw Central Park horse carriages, as she picks several policy fights with the mayor. (amNY, Gothamist)
• City Council members gave themselves and other city elected officials an 18 percent raise, their first since 2016. The mayor and speaker have already said they would decline the pay bumps. (City & State)
• The feds raided the home of ex-Sheriff Anthony Miranda. (Politico)
• Birds may have played a role in last year’s sightseeing helicopter crash that killed six people, the NTSB said. (ABC7NY)
• Thank god cars are allowed on St. Marks, am I right? (PIX11)
• DOT completed safety fixes on Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, which hosts a summer open street from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, until Aug. 28. (Bronx Times)
• Ex-FDNY firefighter Michael Pena was sentenced for killing Justin Diaz while driving intoxicated in 2025, and will spend four to 12 years in prison. (Gothamist)
• The Manhattan DA charged Elvin Suarez with manslaughter and drunk driving charges for that horrific May 15 crash on the Upper West Side that killed two people. (West Side Spirit)