Wednesday’s Headlines: Smoke Everywhere Edition

Manhattan’s smoke-filled skyline on Tuesday. Photo: David Meyer
Manhattan’s smoke-filled skyline on Tuesday. Photo: David Meyer

Our bike rides into work were beset by smoke blown in from Canadian wildfires on Tuesday, and forecasters told the New York Post that we’re in for a similarly ashen commute on Wednesday.

City and state officials have urged New Yorkers to stay indoors — warning that the bad air could cause shortness of breath, irritated eyes, or worse, Gothamist reported. Missing were calls for New Yorkers to drive less.

Transportation is a top source of greenhouse gas emissions on a good day, but local pols are apparently loathe to bite the bullet and suggest drivers consider alternatives — even when doing so has potential health benefits for everyone. Each additional car trip makes the air quality that much worse.

Many New Yorkers will choose to brave the smog-infested air on two wheels, including for work or because there isn’t an alternative; we salute them, even if their doctors do not. It’s a good thing we always carry a mask.

In other news:

  • A 26-year-old Queens man was held on $300,000 bail after killing one pedestrian, injuring four others near Gramercy Park on Sunday after a day of boozing in Manhattan. (NYDN, NY Post)
  • Pete Davidson has some regrets about buying that Staten Island Ferry boat. (ET Online)
  • An MTA bus driver was assaulted and doused in lighter fluid in Brooklyn. (CBS New York, ABC 7 NY, NBC New York)
  • All aboard the bike bus! (NY Times)
  • The NYPD is now even going after basic neighborhood traditions. (Hell Gate)
  • Nick Offerman, welcome to the war on cars. Literally. (The War on Cars)
  • Amtrak ridership is approaching pre-pandemic levels. (Reuters, CNN)
  • Another local new channel gets in on the Fordham Road fracas, which Dave Colon covered for us. (CBS New York)
  • More eyes on the MTA’s incursion into the debate over the future of MSG. (NYDN)
  • Check in on upcoming District Attorney primaries in Bronx and Queens. (The City)
  • “UWS parents” love themselves some housing crisis. (NY Post)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

De Blasio on a rare subway trip in early 2014. Photo: Rob Bennett/NYC Mayor's Office

It’s More Than “Cheap Symbolism” When the Mayor Rides Transit

By David Meyer |
De Blasio dismisses the importance of getting out of his SUV. But if he's getting chauffeured everywhere he goes, there's no way the mayor can viscerally understand what the three-quarters of New Yorkers who don't commute by car experience on a daily basis. If he doesn't regularly experience what it's like to get around without driving, he won't feel on a gut level why improving transit, biking, and walking is so important.

Why Sally Rides

By Dmitry Gudkov |
Editor’s note: Sometimes it seems like pundits and reporters are incapable of writing about bicycling without falling back on words like “sanctimonious” or “European-influenced.” Many of New York’s political representatives likewise seem incapable of grasping how safer streets for cycling would benefit their constituents. Streetsblog could write endlessly about the point-to-point convenience of cycling, how […]

Ad Nauseam: Auto Zone, or Twilight Zone?

By Brad Aaron |
This Auto Zone ad is one for the ages. The dark ages. A young guy, who looks all of 17, is riding his bike down a rural dirt road when he comes upon an abandoned mid-1970s Ford Torino. A sign on the window reads, "if you can fix her you can have her." The kid […]