Friday’s Headlines: Rumble in the Bronx Edition

Council Member Mark Gjonaj — at it again.
Council Member Mark Gjonaj — at it again.

Here’s some must-see TV that a Friend of Streetsblog sent over the other day. It may look like just another corner, but watch for a while — and don’t miss the kid in the red jacket on the corner:

That’s the intersection of Johnson and Kappock streets in Riverdale. Both parts of the intersection have stop signs, but as you can see, few drivers even care. Meanwhile, the kid in the red jacket is held hostage, unable to cross a damn street to get home. (Finally, at about 1:10 in the video, a bigger person shows up and bullies the drivers to stop, allowing the kid to race across the street, running for his dear life.)

It's our December donation drive. Please give from the heart (and wallet) by clicking the logo above.
It’s our December donation drive. Please give from the heart (and wallet) by clicking the logo above.

Meanwhile in other news:

  • Amtrak’s most-important route — the Northeast Corridor — basically fell apart yesterday. (NY Post)
  • Diplomats and out-of-towners are stiffing the city on parking tickets even worse than trucking companies in the Stipulated Fine Program! (NY Post)
  • Uber admits that its drivers are causing way too many sexual assaults (reminder: one is too many). (NY Times)
  • The Times gave Carolyn Konheim a proper obit, following up on Charles Komanoff’s tribute in Streetsblog a day earler.
  • Lincoln Anderson, formerly of the now-Schneps-defiled Villager, has found new life as the owner of the Village Sun — seen here getting action to help Union Square pedestrians.
  • The Daily News had a great story about how Council Member Mark Gjonaj is all upset at business owners in his district for not putting up cash to support his failed lawsuit that sought to block the city from making Morris Park Avenue safer. Sorry, Councilman, but you have to pay for that crap yourself.
  • While we’re talking about Gjonaj, Friend of Streetsblog Michael Kaess ran the lawmaker’s plate for us and found that Gjonaj has nine speeding tickets this year — so many, in fact, that his car would be impounded under Brad Lander’s pending Council bill, the Reckless Driver Accountability Act. Curiously, Gjonaj is not a co-sponsor of the bill.

  • And, finally, the New York Times’s daily newsletter caught our editor in mid-fight with windshield-blinded CBS2 news reporter Marcia Kramer, who sincerely believes that Streetsblog calls her out because we don’t think her pro-car questions are valid. For the record: Kramer’s questions are valid! But it’s not valid to pretend that CBS2 isn’t biased in favor of drivers.

Gersh and Kramer at cargo bike

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