Wednesday’s Headlines: De Blasio Cowardice Edition

One day after we reported (pictured) on how top NYPD brass defied their boss-on-paper, Mayor de Blasio, by opposing a Council-approved chokehold bill he supports, the mayor on Tuesday did the opposite of what a strong manager is supposed to do — instead of telling his subordinates where they could stuff their complaints, he capitulated and declined to sign the bill.

The Daily News suggested that de Blasio’s delay was pro forma, but it enraged plenty of people. Council Member Rory Lancman, who authored the chokehold bill, called for the mayor to fire Police Commissioner Dermot Shea (Queens Post), but de Blasio said he definitely would not be doing that (NY Post).

In case the mayor needed another reason to sack Shea, one was provided by the Placard Abuse Twitter account, which caught Shea retweeting a bit of specious NYPD propaganda.

Not a good look to be praising spontaneous police supporters who turn out to be placard perps.

In other news:

• More annoying video ad screens are coming to the subway. (NYDN)
• Welcome to the MTA’s open windows theory. (NY Post)
• The Wall Street Journal did its version of the “New Yorkers are rushing to buy cars” story.
• Remember how excited Mayor de Blasio was to sign Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s “Streets Master Plan” bill? Yeah, well, its 2022 implementation will be delayed so the DOT can save all of $1.3 million (NY Post). In October, Hizzoner had told Errol Louis that he was excited to “do all the groundwork to get ready to ramp up to that much higher level.”
• State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris think SUVs should have a warning label on them. (NYDN)