Thursday’s Headlines: Bloomberg Backtrack Edition

Mayor Bloomberg when he announced the city's car-sharing program. File photo: Noah Kazis.
Mayor Bloomberg when he announced the city's car-sharing program. File photo: Noah Kazis.

So much for Mike Bloomberg’s legacy.

The media company that bears the former mayor’s name issued a Twitter “QuickTake” on congestion pricing that simply took our breath away yesterday:

That take was awful, but it was merely a reflection of the car-centric news story to which the tweet linked, which complained of how “motorists coming from Dutchess/Putnam Counties in New York would be charged a total average of $111,” which is a preposterous spin, given that only a tiny bit of that is the toll charge and the rest is the cost of owning a car, paying for gas and upkeep and insurance.

This from an outlet that proudly bears the name of congestion pricing’s original standard-bearer. Shame. (To be fair equally repulsed, Crain’s also took a driver’s-eye view of the situation.)

The internet reacted negatively:

https://twitter.com/GernotWagner/status/1557720493536337921

In other news:

  • We certainly expected backlash to congestion pricing on the day when the full environmental assessment was released (and the Daily News finally got around to covering it), but we not only got the backlash — in the form of an incoherent and factually inaccurate tweet from 1010WINS reporter Juliet Papa — but also a backlash to her backlash. (We also got a reaction story in Gothamist.)

https://twitter.com/winsjuliet/status/1557313164613648384

https://twitter.com/BarmanNYC/status/1557313607490322434?s=20&t=YJaGENzjkAuYZwiOxjdEsg

Meanwhile, Nicole Gelinas of the NY Post had a good take linking congestion pricing to placard abuse, using the environmental assessment’s own figures:

https://twitter.com/nicolegelinas/status/1557377835098062849?s=20&t=1fJu-tPxm6QoR-2HlTVeLg

  • New York City is a “platinum-level” walkable city. But you knew that! (DOT via Twitter)
  • A driver was slashed in a road-rage incident in Queens. (NYDN)
  • It was embargoed until 5 a.m. today, but Sen. Chuck Schumer let out the good news about a federal discretionary grant of $7-plus-million to plan more greenways. Kea Wilson wrote up the larger story for Streetsblog USA, which may not live yet (depending on when you’re clicking on this).
  • Speaking of the feds, the MTA got another $116 million in clean energy grants to buy more electric buses to give some company to the paltry 25 e-buses that we currently have. (NYDN)
  • The MTA is stepping up its efforts to catch toll dodgers. (amNY)
  • Wow, the Post wrote about a rat that wasn’t even near a restaurant!
  • Another motorcyclist is dead, but the preliminary report leaves lots of questions. (NYDN)
  • And, finally, stars, they’re just like us (even in black-and-white and in Boston):

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