Tuesday’s Headlines: Pessimism and Optimism Edition

File photo: Gersh Kuntzman
File photo: Gersh Kuntzman

The big story yesterday was the 15-cent fare hike that came out of the monthly MTA committee day.

All the outlets — NYDN, NY Post, NY Times, amNY, Gothamist — dutifully covered that the base fare will rise to $2.90 by Labor Day — and that straphangers are livid.

But none of the media outlets added a key bit of context: The MTA, which before budget season was predicting a fiscal cliff (as in, “about to go off the …”) is now projecting a budget surplus by 2026, thanks to all that casino revenue that hasn’t materialized yet.

Our own Dave Colon pointed it all out in an epic Twitter thread:

In other news from one of the slowest Mondays on record:

  • Like Streetsblog, other outlets covered the news that Attorney General Letitia James would not charge the officers who ran down and killed Ronald Smith on Eastern Parkway on a rainy April night last year. (NYDN, CBS NY)
  • Now here’s an idea: Body-worn cameras for much-abused traffic enforcement officers. (NYDN)
  • Please help the family of a Queens seventh grader who was hit by an MTA bus driver. (amNY)
  • Turns out that the awesome sunset we got all excited about yesterday was due to Canadian wildfires. So global climate change sucks, but at least we’re going down with a beautiful view:
The weekend is over, but beautifully. Photo: Jean Cawley
It’s the sun equivalent of a smog moon. Photo: Jean Cawley

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