Tuesday’s Headlines: Mayor, It’s a Perfect Day for a Ride Edition

Photo: Eric Phillips
Photo: Eric Phillips

Everything is being canceled, but you can rest assured that we will be here, producing clarion call journalism and fighting the forces of carnage through this entire crisis.

And we stand ready to meet Mayor de Blasio any morning this week at Gracie Mansion and accompany him on a bike ride downtown — or even to his gym in Park Slope. Come on, Bill, how about a nice ride with our old man editor, for old times’ sake? Weather is supposed to be gorgeous today! Just email us at tips@streetsblog.org (you can use our Citi Bike key).

Or just meet us at Superfine after work for a beer and show this virus who’s boss. We’re Streetsblog, so you know we’re not going to be doing any of that social distancing!

Here’s the news from yesterday:

  • Daily News rising star Noah Goldberg had more details about the people who chased down the dollar van driver who ran over and critically wounded a cyclist over the weekend.
  • Like Streetsblog, the Daily News wrote up the arrest of a driver who killed a pedestrian last fall.
  • The Daily News tweaked the mayor for recommending that people avoid the subway, but they could have fully inserted the shiv by folding in complaints from the all-powerful bike lobby, too, as Streetsblog did (natch!). The Post played the corona train straight, and Gothamist found the silver lining.
  • Yes, the head of the Port Authority, Rick Cotton, has coronavirus (NY Times). We wish him a speedy recovery, but can’t help pointing out that his illness is sort of ironic, given how ill his recent op-ed in Streetsblog made anti-AirTrain advocates.
  • Yes, the F train is going to live up to its name this summer. (Gothamist)
  • DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg also has a love-hate relationship with pro-car Staten Island Advance columnist Tom Wrobleski, penning a rebuttal to his most recent piece that claimed that speed cameras are just a money grab.
  • In case you missed it, Streetsblog stars Julianne Cuba and Dave Colon were on the same podcast last week (it’s weird how our old man editor, with 30 years in the biz, doesn’t get called for podcasts, isn’t it?) (Dumb and Awful)
  • A personal injury lawyer’s anti-bike op-ed in amNY had some major factual inaccuracies (sorry, but the NYPD certainly does crack down on rogue cyclists), but made an important larger point: bad road design is going to be the city sued.
  • While we’re on the topic, the anti-cycling crowd is crowing about this video from Times Square a few days ago that does indeed show a reckless cyclist running a light and hitting a pedestrian. So, cyclists, stop furnishing your enemies with ammunition. This kind of riding is not OK. (Streetsblog reached out to the NYPD for more info, but have not heard back, which, memo to Richie Esposito, is becoming the norm rather than the exception):

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG