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Wednesday Winners (and Losers)

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

Winners

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Finance Chair Julissa Ferreras-Copeland — Councilmembers Mark-Viverito and Ferreras-Copeland have proposed investing $12 million to expand Citi Bike and $50 million to subsidize reduced MTA fares for low-income New Yorkers.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City DOT — The mayor instructed the Department of Transportation to move forward with a road diet and protected cycle track on 111th Street in Queens, and the DOT has begun installing “sneckdowns” that will never melt at crash-prone intersections.

Jeff Seal — Confronting New York City drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk is a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.

Katie Blomquist — The North Charleston, SC first grade teacher raised enough money to buy a bike for every kid in her school.

NYPD 5th PrecinctOft-abused placard parking is now a thing of the past in Chinatown.

Losers

Penn Station commutersEight of Penn Station’s 21 tracks will be shut down indefinitely after a derailment — the second in just 11 days and the latest in a string of NJ Transit-related screw-ups — damaged a switch machine.

Amtrak — Amtrak, which own’s Penn Station’s rail infrastructure, was excoriated by MTA Interim Executive Director Ronnie Hakim and Interim Chair Fernando Ferrer for “not aggressively maintaining its tracks, switches and related equipment at Penn Station.”

Connecticut General Assembly’s Transportation Committee — The committee advanced a bill which would prohibit the state department of transportation from spending $300,000 on a mileage tax study (though no word on whether they’ll pass legislation to prevent the DOT from spending four times as much to study widening I-95).

MTA – According to the latest New York State budget extender, Governor Cuomo did indeed reduce funding to the MTA by $65 million despite calls for this amount to be restored to operating funds in the final budget.

New York City pedestrians and cyclists — Be careful out there: three in five NYC drivers admit to speeding, while one in five admit to texting or emailing while driving.

SeattleCiao, Pronto.

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[…] Cuomo’s Budget Extender Takes $65M From MTA, Includes $700M for Farley (MTR, Politico) […]

TOM
TOM
6 years ago

The Chinese dock-less bikes are attracting $750 million private investment domestically and from abroad; and MOTIVATE can’t get an SBA loan!

Going to the municipal government as a last chance to get investment tells you something. Banks can read the innovation news. UBER did a number on medallion taxis, and innovation will score against CitiBike.

Don’t throw good money after bad. Especially MY taxes.

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