Thursday’s Headlines: A Terrible Day for De Blasio Edition

The protests go on, and they must. The best live blogging is being done by Gothamist, amNY, the New York Times and pretty much everything on Twitter.

The NYPD appears completely out of control:

So wasn’t it just so perfect that the Daily News had a nifty exclusive: 236 former and current (!) staffers for Mayor de Blasio slammed his handling not only of the current turmoil, but his entire administration’s commitment to racial justice.

“None of us joined the de Blasio Administration believing this mayor would be radical on criminal justice policy,” states the letter [full text here]. “That was apparent from the moment he hired Bill Bratton to be his police commissioner. But we saw in Bill de Blasio a chance for real change.”

But it faded: “We saw up close the Administration’s unwillingness to challenge the abuses of the NYPD — the Mayor’s refusal to fire Daniel Pantaleo for choking the life out of Eric Garner, the continuation of the failed ‘Broken Windows’ policing strategy that criminalizes our Black and brown communities, the rejection of even basic accountability measures like making information public about police officers accused of misconduct.”

The letter issues multiple demands — including finally putting a number on how much the NYPD budget should be cut: By $1 billion from its bloated $6 billion. The $1 billion is the amount by which de Blasio has increase funding for cops since taking office.

In other news yesterday:

• Gov. Cuomo says that restaurants can operate outdoors once New York City enters Phase II (which isn’t expected before June 22), but Big Dog Excelsior Car Guy didn’t create any guidelines, so it’s unclear what the city will do (Gothamist, NY Post). In a related story, the DOT canceled its webinar, which had been set for Friday, because “guidelines and policies are shifting rapidly as we work to develop plans to support the recovery of NYC’s small businesses,” according to a de-invite that went out to the restaurant community from DOT.
• Mayor de Blasio’s recommendations for the MTA — covered yesterday by Streetsblog — would only make things worse for transit, the MTA said. (NYDN)
• Everyone covered the crazy racist with the Wolverine glove who tried to kill Black Lives Matter protesters in Queens (Gothamist, Queens Eagle, amNY with a comprehensive story, NY Post with the suspect’s long rap sheet).
• WNYC was the latest outlet to do the “carpocalypse now” story.
• The subway derailment and subsequent grounding of the MTA’s newest cars was also widely covered (NYDN, NY Post), but amNY had a great graphic.
• Like Streetsblog, the Post covered the mysterious elimination of Citi Bike during the curfew.
• Are cops stealing protesters’ bikes … during a curfew? Yes, according to the Democratic Socialists and Armin Rosen.