Friday’s Headlines: Boatload of Skepticism Edition

The NYC Ferry, which just got more expensive for some and cheaper for others. Photo: NYCEDC
The NYC Ferry, which just got more expensive for some and cheaper for others. Photo: NYCEDC

The big story yesterday was Mayor Adams’s announcement that he is raising the fare of the NYC Ferry to $4 from $2.75, in a bid to lessen the overweening public subsidy and what even Hizzoner acknowledged is a rich man’s ride.

In a nod to equity, Adams said he was coupling that hike with a discounted fare of $1.35 for low-income New Yorkers, as well as promoting the stiff skiff (each ferry ride costs the taxpayers as much as $14.75, according to one estimate) among nearby public-housing residents.

“A fairer ferry?” Streetsblog asked (stressing the question). The Post ran with the mayor’s “one hand, other hand” spin, saying Adams would “raise fares…while dolling out discounts.”

Meanwhile, amNY played it straight, as did the News. Gothamist emphasized the equity angle.

In other news:

  • A hit-and-run driver mowed down a pedestrian on the Lower East Side. (Streetsblog)
  • The city still isn’t getting street-vendor regs right, The City reports.
  • More power to the Civilian Complaint Review Board? If only. (Gothamist)
  • Urban Omnibus gives props to Queens’s 34th Avenue open street.
  • Speaking of open streets, here’s a petition in support of Berry Street.
  • The Yorkville bistro Quatorze is collecting money for the family of its delivery worker Tiburcio Castillo, who was killed for his e-bike. (Patch)
  • In more Upper East Side news, Fresh Direct truck drivers are triple-parking on Third Avenue, illegally mobbing the space by illegally deploying traffic barriers. (Uppereastsite)
  • We told you that pick-up trucks are murder. (ABC7, amNY, NBC4)
  • New Jersey’s car-loving Rep. Josh Gottheimer is threatening to “defund” congestion pricing unless Garden State motorists get a toll credit. (NJ.com)
  • What’s this, NYPD? A ticket or a pass for a fake-plate violator, after the mayor and Chief Royster ordered a sting? Our Julianne Cuba caught Brooklyn cops as they asked a driver with a fake paper plate to sub it out for a real one, which he apparently had on hand. (via Twitter)

  • SEE IT: Video caught the Staten Island crash that killed three. (SIlive.com)
  • Who wants to join the NYC Planning Commission? Larisa Ortiz, managing director of Streetsense, is leaving. (via Twitter)
  • Our prediction? Whatever the City Council tries to tamp down rattus norvegicus, the creepy critters will outlast us. (amNY)
  • Great bus/bike/ped news has arrived on University Avenue in the Boogie Down. Thanks, DOT! Now, let’s put a camera on every bus to keep motorists out of the red lanes (a huge problem in these parts) so that we can maintain our pride in the crimson tide. (via Twitter)

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