Monday’s Headlines: Keep Calm and Remain on ‘Pause’ Edition
To the surprise of no one, Gov. Cuomo extended the stay-at-home order through June 7, which means another four weeks of this interminable — and all-too-necessary — sorrow (NY Post). And, as all the papers reported this weekend, that means more suffering for communities of color in the form of over-aggressive policing (WSJ, CNN, NY Post, NY Times, NYDN, Streetsblog)
In other news:
- ICYMI: The MTA is again leading the nation’s largest transit systems in demanding a proper recovery bailout — calling for $10 billion more, on top of the $3.9 billion it already received (NYDN). It’s part of an ask of $32 billion by all 15 transit systems to address the crisis for the rest of 2020 and through 2021 (MTA).
- Another bailout will be needed for Mayor de Blasio’s ferry system, whose ridership is down 80 percent. (NY Post)
- So the MTA closed the subway between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., partly to evict homeless people — but then it was so cold on Saturday that the agency parked warming buses at terminal stations so homeless people could be kicked out of the subway and onto a bus (Gothamist). On Sunday, Mayor de Blasio said he’s been pleased by how many homeless people are accepting help — but the Post was unimpressed.
- Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser had an op-ed in the Daily News calling COVID-19 a hinge moment for New York City.
- A speeding driver gave a Staten Island woman a very unpleasant Mother’s Day surprise — crashing his luxury car into her house. (NY Post)
- A United States Postal Service driver hit and critically injured a pedestrian in the Village on Sunday, but the Daily News story failed to point out that the USPS rarely disciplines rogue drivers, as Streetsblog reported last year.
- Outside magazine did a great data visualization on cyclists deaths.
- And, finally, if cherry blossoms bloomed during COVID-19, but no one could see them, were they still beautiful? (Gothamist)
One last thing: No one covered the mayor’s quiet release of his “surface transportation” recovery panel. We’re pursuing coverage today, but wanted you to have the full list. Anything occur to you? Why not email us at tips@streetsblog.org?
1. Cira Angeles, Livery Base Owners Association
2. Quemuel Arroyo, Disability Transit Advocate
3. Jaqi Cohen, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign
4. John Corlett, AAA NYS
5. Mary Dailey, TransitCenter
6. Bhairavi Desai, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
7. Laura Fox, Lyft (Citi Bike)
8. Josh Gold, Uber
9. Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives
10. Kendra Hems, Trucking Association of New York
11. Jen Hensley, Lyft
12. David Jones, Community Service Society and MTA Board Member
13. Sarah Kaufman, NYU Rudin Center for Transportation
14. Robert Linn, MTA Board Member
15. Camilla Morris, Bus Association of New York
16. Betsy Plum, Riders Alliance
17. Daniel Ramot, Via
18. Sam Schwartz, Sam Schwartz Engineering
19. Ron Sherman, Metropolitan Taxi Board of Trade
20. Nick Sifuentes, Tri-State Transportation Campaign
21. Jaswinder Singh, Yellow Taxi Medallion Owner
22. Jennifer Tausig, NYC BID Association
23. Courtney Williams, the Brown Bike Girl
24. Tom Wright, Regional Plan Association