A Round and a Roundy: A Tale of Two Mayors

For a mayor who came to power by accurately defining New York as a “tale of two cities,” last week was pretty remarkable.

That’s when Mayor de Blasio totally botched a question from a WNYC listener about his stalled busway projects, yet knew every single detail about alternate-side-of-the-street parking. Our own Dave Colon wrote about it, and clearly inspired our editorial cartoonist, Bill Roundy.

The bottom line, of course, is that Mayor de Blasio has made no secret of his desire to make owning a car easier in New York City. Yes, he’s built lots of bike lanes, but his efforts to actively discourage car ownership in New York City have been paltry. Mayors of other world capitals have dramatically transformed their streetscapes — creating car-free streets all over the place — but our mayor has nibbled at the edges. Giving restaurants curbside space is great, but it’s just a start. Retail stores need help, too (right, CityRise?), and more parking spaces need to be taken away for bike lanes, Citi Bike racks (right, Macartney?), curb extensions, mid-block crossings, etc. etc.

So that’s why Roundy drew what he drew. Enjoy.

All of Bill Roundy’s cartoons are archived here.