You know we love congestion because congestion remains the best argument for getting drivers to see the frivolity of their commuting choice.

So yesterday, our hats were off to a group of protesters who not only demonstrated in Midtown, but caused a heck of a traffic jam by putting a house (OK, not a full house, but a one-room shack) on Third Avenue to demand that Gov. Cuomo tax the wealthiest, which he refuses to do.

Dean Moses of amNY covered it with pictures and words. (Mayor de Blasio wasn’t out there with the protesters, but he was there in spirit, Gothamist reported.)

The rest of the day was light in news:

• The top story of the day was that Gov. Cuomo — who we predicted would shift dedicated MTA money to the state budget — was caught shifting dedicated MTA money to the state budget. (NYDN)
• Tolls on MTA bridges will be going up in April, which is only fair. (WSJ)
• The Port Authority said it would look into why air in several of its Manhattan PATH stations is so incredibly polluted. (amNY)
• On the same day that our story about Oonee’s new mini-pods came out, Bloomberg did a big takeout on the company.
• It took days, but the DOT finally removed snow from the Willis Avenue Bridge bike path, a heavily used route for commuters and delivery cyclists. (Welcome2TheBronx)
• Some bus cleaners are on strike claiming that the MTA falsified safety forms. (NY Post)
• Indoor dining resumes on Friday — and this Wall Street Journal headline is simply not true. We have not encountered a single person (granted, we don’t encounter a single person — or a married, divorced, engaged, estranged or any other person — these days) who is saying, “Gee, I can’t wait to dine indoors!”
• Today is the first day of the Year of the Ox. Farewell, Year of the Rat.
• And, finally, the structural engineer who created the Twin Towers (remember those?) has died. (NY Times)