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Wednesday Winners (& Losers)

A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.

Fairfield State Representative Cristin McCarthy Vahey | Photo: fairfield-sun.com
Fairfield State Representative Cristin McCarthy Vahey | Photo: fairfield-sun.com

WINNERS

Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy The two state leaders, alongside about a dozen other Democratic US Senators, are fighting a Republican proposal to drastically cut Amtrak funding.

Fairfield State Representative Cristin McCarthy Vahey — Along with advocates from New Haven, McCarthy Vahey biked 45 miles in the rain to the state capitol in Hartford in support of the state’s bike bill, which was successfully approved by the legislature.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — Asked about new TWU ads portraying the mayor handcuffing an MTA bus driver with the hashtag “#AmendVisionZero,” de Blasio responded by saying: “Job one of all of us in public service is to protect people’s safety, not to placate unions.”

Delran, NJ — The Garden State’s most dangerous road for walking for the past five years is finally getting some pedestrian safety improvements in the South Jersey township.

Buffalo, NY — The City’s newly-unveiled Downtown Infrastructure Master Plan includes improving bicycle and pedestrian access and connections to waterfront areas, as well as transit transfer zones, traffic calming measures, streetscape improvements and ‘Complete Green Streets.’

Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream — The Michigan-based company is donating a portion of the profits from its new “Michigan Pot Hole” flavor to the state DOT to assist with road repairs.

LOSERS

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer — The finger-pointing continues over how to fund the MTA’s Capital Program, with Stringer (rightfully) placing blame on Albany. However, the majority of the agency’s critical infrastructure is located within the five boroughs, and finger-pointing won’t fill a $14 billion budget hole.

Congress Congress has passed yet another federal transportation funding extension, and many are skeptical that the two month extension will be enough time for an agreement on a long-term funding strategy.

NYPD — New York’s finest have denied a FOIL request for details regarding a fatal Manhattan curb jump crash and also won’t divulge information about crashes involving NYPD vehicles.

Copper thieves — According to an MTA press release, at least 500 feet of copper cable was stolen from 12 locations along the A train tracks near Howard Beach, damaging signal and track equipment and causing hundreds of thousands of riders along the 31-mile train line to suffer massive delays and reroutes during this morning’s commute.

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[…] York’s finest denied another FOIL request for details regarding a pedestrian fatality involving an on-duty officer, referred […]

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