A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
Winners
MTA Staten Island Express Bus riders — Express Bus service between Staten Island and Manhattan will soon be faster and more reliable thanks to a “drastic” MTA plan which will streamline routes and consolidate stops.
Move New York — A new analysis from the team behind the Move New York Fair Plan contends that New York City has the authority to toll its own roads and bridges without approval from the state legislature.
Connecticut Representatives Cathy Abercrombie, Tony Guerrera, Chris Perone, Matthew Ritter, and Jonathan Steinberg — There won’t be a vote on tolls this session after all, but several House Democrats rose this week to make the environmental and economic case for congestion tolls and defend the importance of shoring up the state’s dwindling Special Transportation Fund.
Hawaii — About a dozen governors have joined the US Climate Alliance, but Hawaii is the only state so far to align itself with the Paris Accord through legislation.
Losers
American Dream Meadowlands — The American Dream Meadowlands mega-mall is being built in a “congested corridor… known for significant disruptions” and the nation’s “love affair with malls” is coming to and end, but somehow the project’s developer expects the sprawling complex to “become the pre-eminent tourist attraction, not just in New York [it’s in New Jersey], but in all of North America.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — As long as Governor Cuomo does things like blocking New York City’s ability to impose a 5-cent fee on plastic bags, New York is never going to have a “leadership role in protecting our citizens, our environment, and our planet.”
F train riders — After seeing what F train riders went through on Monday evening, can you blame Mayor de Blasio for traveling via chauffeured SUV?
President Trump — His rationale for bailing on the Paris Accord was a “doozy of dishonesty” filled with deceptions, misleading statements and “confused nonsense.”
