Thursday’s Headlines: To Honor America Edition

Happy Fourth of July! At Streetsblog, we feel there’s no better way to honor America than to compile a list of must-read stories for you, so you can spend the rest of the day kicking back with a beer, a burger, a replica Sherman tank on the National Mall or any other way you choose to mark the 243th birthday of these United States.

We will celebrate as we always do: by riding around on our Huffy taking pictures of cops in bike lanes. But hey, that’s us! Here’s your news:

• In case you missed it, Dana Rubinstein at Politico got behind the curtain of Mayor de Blasio’s Brooklyn–Queens Expressway task force and learned … it’s a lot like Gov. Cuomo’s end-run around the MTA with the L train.
• Also ICYMI, Manhattan Institute policy analyst Connor Harris called Gov. Cuomo’s $2-billion LaGuardia AirTrain to nowhere “a truly stupendous waste” in a New York Post op-ed.
• Remember Camron “Neno” Brown, the boy who was killed by a church van in April? Well, his body is still in the morgue as his family tries to raise money for a funeral. (Queens Eagle)
• Citi Bike endorsed Transportation Alternatives’ “die-in” on Tuesday night in Washington Square Park — an explicit “Screw you” to Mayor de Blasio and DOT over its failure to keep cyclists safe. (Citi Bike via Twitter)
• Double-duty Rubinstein also had an inside look on the superficial nature of Gov. Cuomo’s consultant review of the MTA’s corporate structure. (Politico)
• Jose Martinez in The City took a deep dive on past “cycling safety” initiatives — and got out of the Department of Transportation’s comfort zone. Speaking of which, can this Twitter guy with the great New York accent run for president instead of Mayor de Blasio? Please?

• And, if you want a long look back, our editor’s Daily Beast piece on how he failed to stop then-con man Donald Trump from becoming president is now outside the beastly paywall!