Thursday’s Headlines: Car-Brained Ideas Edition

As predicted, the entire East Side is a traffic shitshow. Our friends at Hell Gate offered the latest coverage — “A Plunge Into Midtown Traffic Hell” — enduring the congestion, frustration, noise and pollution so you, dear reader, don’t have to.

The outlet’s conclusion (which you’ve read here a million times): Gridlock alert days are meaningless unless there are actual teeth in them — like deploying the very congestion pricing surcharges that Gov. Hochul specifically abandoned after the New York Post gaslighted her.

Hell Gate’s Christopher Robbins could only sigh, “If only there was something our governor and mayor could do about it …” (Robbins podiumed a second time in the day with this video of a reckless driver somehow ending up in a car-free plaza … and not giving a fuck).

Thankfully, Robbins offered another way, linking to our column by DOT legend Jon Orcutt about how much better everything would be if we just pedestrianized the entire area around the United Nations during the annual General Assembly clusterfuck. The story even came with a great Streetsblog Photoshop Desk rendering that leaves nothing to the imagination:

But the problem isn’t just cars — it’s the politicians who enable drivers to chip away at our quality of life one car at a time. DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn more or less admitted that in these pages yesterday when discussing the mayor’s plan to rebuild the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Flynn said his boss had no choice but to “rehabilitate the existing structure” even though the plan to cement in place Robert Moses’s greatest mistake “isn’t ideal.”

The op-ed unleashed a torrent of comments, mostly negative.

“Wait, are you trying to tell me that endless stakeholder meetings and years of community input did not solve the problem and now we’re left with the only option left to avert collapse?” wrote Daiglo. “It’s almost as if the protections created to prevent Robert Moses-style big projects from moving forward are now preventing us from fixing the damage created by Robert Moses.”

Quadcoralette offered some advice:

I don’t see why this route cannot be made a truck-only route. Trucks are so critical for commercial activity, but are only 10 percent of the traffic. We could just reduce the highway to one lane + shoulder in each direction and make this a toll route that large trucks or other vehicles with a commercial basis can use for free. … Non-commercial traffic would be heavily tolled to deter usage of the highway.

A poster identified as “shadow.dog.cat.paw” wanted more from Flynn:

Where’s your op-ed about stalling Sammy’s Law across the city? Or, aggressive daylighting? Or, the chronic cut through traffic; drivers who ignore residential neighborhood stop signs (LTN as a policy)? And, most important to me, why you think Sharrows continue to be acceptable for us in East New York (so much so that you regraded and repainted them this past Spring)? I live miles from the BQE cantilever. But, every day I (and most New Yorkers) step out the front door and navigate the dangers you ignore mentioned above.”

One person, ID’d as ithinkyouknow, made it personal:

So you’re a coward? You’re letting the inaction of Bloomberg/BDB/Adams set in as rot. Just grow a spine, tear the thing down in the middle of the night, and let New Yorkers have clean air.

In the end, perhaps Mark Walker had the best advice for Flynn: “Gravity is a valid option. Let it fall.”

In other news:

• Fortunately, one politician is taking on cars: Council Member Shaun Abreu will introduce a bill today to mandate “low-traffic neighborhoods,” not as a war on cars, but simply as a hospital for the damage they cause. (Gothamist, minus the poetry)
• And Sunset Park residents can tell you how badly they need safety measures. (Sunset Post)
• Hat tip to the amNY headline writer on the tree-planting story.
• And hat-tip to The Intercept for following up on our story linking DoorDash’s support for Andrew Cuomo to its eventual settlement with the Mamdani administration for screwing over workers.
• There’s a Streetsblog angle on the cop who was disciplined for his social media posts: He’s also an out-of-state plate scofflaw, natch. (Gothamist)
• This story out of Denver sounds like it came from Sam Schwartz’s new AV thriller, “Autokill,” but, alas, it didn’t. (News9)
• President Trump’s tariffs are undermining the American bike industry. (Bloomberg)
• A scooter rider who had been struck by a van driver has died. (QNS)
• DOT has lots of good jobs posted right now. (Miser via Bluesky)
• Meet the man who owns an old IRT archive. (Gothamist)
• A bus driver pinned a cyclist in the Bronx. (News12)
• The Times now says that self-driving cars may be too good.
• At least News12‘s NIMBY coverage of the Bergen-Dean bike boulevard didn’t liken the change to Hitler’s Germany, as the Post did.
• Buses are flying on Tremont Avenue now that the DOT has finished building its busway, the Daily News reports, but that’s not enough for some nay-saying nobodies.
• Finally, here’s some more calendar items for Streetsbloggers:
  • The Bicycle Film Festival rolls out tonight with the Opening Night reception, “How We Got Here.” Tickets for that and the Friday-through-Sunday screenings are here. (Bonus: It’s at the Ukrainian National Home in the East Village, which has a very under-rated restaurant.)
  • On Tuesday, Sept. 29, don’t miss this transit-themed comedy night, a benefit for Riders Alliance. Tickets here.
  • Sept. 30, is “Super Bowl Wednesday” for us (see logo below), thanks to what is expected to be an all-day (and part of the night) City Council hearing on electric bikes. Click here for information (and because it’s at City Hall and not at the Ukrainian National Home, you better bring sandwiches). In advance of the hearing, RPA put out a report whose outlines are very well known to Streetsblog readers.