Monday’s Headlines: Last ‘Headlines’ of the Year Edition

The theme for today is “It’s the end of the year as we know it,” which means lots of looks back at 2018. Streetsblog has already given you its Streetsie Award winners in the general category, plus our Vision Zero Hero of the Year, our placard abuse of the year, our biggest piece of unfinished business of the year, the best street redesign of the year (thank you, DOT), and the best transit project of the year — and today we continue with the worst thing Mayor de Blasio said all year and the pro-car NIMBY of the year.

And we’ll also offer our annual “In Memoriam” post to mourn the lives we lost to road violence this year.

Today is the last day of 2018 and it’s also your last chance to contribute during our annual December Donation Drive. Just click the yellow box above to contribute. And thank you for a great 2018.

Here’s the news:

• The last days of 2018 were characterized by unsafe conditions for pedestrians in multiple locations, part of what Streetsblog has hashtagged #deblasioschaos. The Post and Times (and all of Twitter) reported that the Brooklyn Bridge was a walking and biking parking lot (while the six lanes of traffic remained available to cars, as Second Avenue Sagas pointed out); Times Square was overwhelmed by pedestrians; and the area around the Rockefeller Center tree was also gridlocked by people wanting only to enjoy America’s greatest walkable city on foot. Mayor de Blasio: Do something.

Close these streets to cars already! Between 5th Ave in the 50s, Brooklyn Bridge & now this, when are you going to get it @NYCMayor @NYC_DOT? Close these streets to cars at least during the holiday season and consider making permanent super blocks Cc: @NYCSpeakerCoJo https://t.co/QlFFsCM9Sb

— ?Peter W Beadle? (@pwbnyc) December 30, 2018

• The Daily News crunched the numbers on the safest year for road deaths on record to focus on the bad news: pedestrian deaths rose slightly from last year. Lawyer and Friend of Streetsblog Steve Vaccaro focused on the local angle that pedestrian deaths were up 14.5 percent in Queens — a borough famous for rejecting DOT street safety projects.
• Seriously, Mayor de Blasio, what’s going on with Fair Fares? As the Post pointed out, the half-priced transit program is supposed to start on Jan. 1, but the mayor has not revealed how anyone is supposed to sign up for it. NY1, Gothamist and the Daily News also picked up on the problem. Not a peep from the Times.
• In case you missed it: Terrible carnage caused by a speeding driver on the West Side Highway. The driver was charged with manslaughter, a rarety. (NY Post)
• And there was more road violence in Sunnyside, though this speeding driver thankfully mauled only himself. (NYDN)
• The MTA will start an awareness campaign about the danger of moving between subway cars after four people died in a month. (NY Post)
• The date for the special election for the city’s greatest no-show job Public Advocate will be on Feb. 26. As someone said on Twitter, the list of candidates who are not running is shorter than the list of those who are. (NY Post)
• And finally, some sad family news. (NYDN)