Wednesday’s Headlines: A Day Without Uber Edition

Uber and Lyft drivers will go on strike during the morning rush — and we’re hoping that New Yorkers are so happy with the quiet streets that they ask for the strike to be permanent. That’s not to say that Uber and Lyft drivers don’t have a legitimate beef with the tech companies, which have turned taxi drivers into Silicon Valley slaves — aided and abetted by the Trump Labor Department, which considers the drivers independent contractors not eligible for all sorts of benefits that all workers deserve.

In any event, send your favorite Uber- and Lyft-less street photos to us at tips@streetsblog.org. We’ll publish a montage later today.

And now the news:

• Lots of outlets covered the Families For Safe Streets rally at City Hall to demand stronger action by the de Blasio administration to make roadways safer, as fatalities are up dramatically this year. (Curbed, amNY, NY Post). The road violence in Vision Zero New York even became an international story, thanks to coverage by The Guardian. Streetsblog had started the day off with the scoop that Corey Johnson will push the mayor further than he has said he wanted to go.
• As if the de Blasio crackdown wasn’t enough, now e-bike-using delivery workers are the target of merciless thieves. (NY Post)
• A Bronx NYPD captain is on trial for helping another cop avoid a DWI. (NYDN)
• Legislators in Albany passed a bill to put cameras on school buses to catch people who don’t stop at their flashing red lights (NY Post, Buffalo News). Full disclosure: As cyclists, we stop.
• Arthur Schwartz is still upset about even the watered-down 14th Street busway plan. (The Villager)