Queens

A Queens man will go to court tomorrow following a charge that he damaged the vehicle of a driver who -- twice -- nearly ran him down in the street. The incident occurred some three weeks before the road-raging motorist encounter that triggered a legal ordeal for Manhattan cyclist Ray Bengen.

Another NYPD high-speed pursuit ended in a crash over the weekend. This time, an innocent bystander is dead.

Last week the Department of City Planning released the "Queens Around the World Guide," a map to help cyclists see the sights, sample the cuisine, and frequent the merchants of the city's biggest borough.

The words never fail to shock.

Dollar Van Demos, the unlikely union of transportation needs and musical dreams that has entranced New York bloggers, is giving private transit operators in Brooklyn and Queens some of the best press they've ever received. But that isn't the only reason it's worth taking a fresh look at dollar vans. If the state legislature can't avert the MTA's doomsday scenario, the vans may soon see a surge in ridership -- perhaps big enough to launch a few recording careers.

DOT has plans to improve conditions for pedestrians on the Queens side of the Pulaski Bridge, which connects Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Hunters Point in Long Island City. According to a recent presentation [PDF], pedestrians will benefit from additional crosswalks, new markings and signalization to reduce turning vehicle conflicts, and pedestrian islands.

On the scale of absurd political theater, fare hike hearings in New York City rank very close to the top. Elected officials heap scorn on the MTA, diverting attention from their own responsibility for underfunding transit, while beleaguered straphangers beg board members for a reprieve that depends on those same electeds. It's a cycle of frustration, blame, and unaccountability.