It was an incredibly slow news day in the livable streets world. About the best we could manage was tweeting at Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo — in her native language, mais oui! — urging her to fromage some sense into her New York counterpart, who once again told Streetsblog he’s not ready to make the city safer in anticipating of the coming carpocalyse.

Aujourd'hui, @NYCMayor a déclaré à Streetsblog qu'il admirait la maire de @Paris, @Anne_Hidalgo, mais ne mettrait pas en œuvre ses stratégies de réduction de voitures comme elle l'a fait. Aidez nous, Madame Hidalgo!: https://t.co/2HL1ftgNLa

— Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) May 20, 2020

Beyond that, this is the best of the rest:

• The Gothamist headline needs no embellishment (except, perhaps, to blame the mayor and the governor): “Poorer Neighborhoods Hit Hard By COVID-19 Deaths While Richer Ones Were Spared.”
• People are more comfortable with the bus than the subway during the current crisis. (NY Post)
• Twenty-four members of the City Council wrote Mayor de Blasio demanding open space for restaurants. (Keith Powers via Twitter)
• The main police union just endorsed an unrepentant homophobe for a Bronx congressional seat. (NY Post)
• It is just astounding how much time — and how many talented reporters — the New York Times wastes chronicling the petty grievances of car owners.
• As we hinted at last week, the MTA is looking abroad for ideas to restore faith in the system. (WSJ)
• Strength in numbers! Researchers found that the rate of car-bike collisions fell after Philadelphia introduced bike-sharing. (New York Times)
• Our friends at Riders Alliance are surveying transit users to see what they need in order to regain their trust. Take the quick (and cool!) poll here.
• And, finally, our friends at Streetsblog MASS have a book club — and you don’t need to be a Bay Stater to read along and participate! (Streetsblog MASS)