Thursday’s Headlines: Yang’s Subway Stumble Edition

Don’t try this in front of reporters: Mayoral wannabe Andrew Yang fetched up outside of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s lower Manhattan headquarters yesterday to offer a plan for a city takeover of the agency — only to stumble on basic questions of … finance.

This is the unfortunate repartee as captured by the New York Post:

“I don’t have the number in front of me,” Yang ultimately admitted, after being asked for the debt figures a second time.

“Right now, it is facing a massive shortfall — before the feds came through, so thank you, Chuck Schumer. Love it.”

amNY derided the candidate with its headline: “Andrew Yang proposes copy/pasting NYC Transit operations to management by the city.”

The Daily News was kinder, merely saying that Yang’s latest pitch was “short on specifics.”

Mayoral control of the subways has been a topic since then-mayoral hopeful Corey Johnson proposed a version of it in 2019, when budget watchdog Carol Kellermann of the Citizens Budget Commission pronounced it a “miserable” idea.

In other news:

• The city will retrofit 1,500 trucks in its fleet with 360-degree cameras for safety. (amNY)
• Students, neighbors remembered the beloved local teacher mowed down by a hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn on Tuesday. (NYDN, Gothamist)
• State lawmakers are seeking to lower the threshold of driving while impaired. (NYPost)
• A New Jersey lawmaker is proposing a bill to ban the bike-licensing laws that cops have used to harass young black cyclists. (NJ.com)
• It’s baaaaaaack! What signals a post-COVID recovery most? The return of the TD Five Boro Bike Tour! (WPIX)
• It’s baaaaaaack! What becomes a city least? Public abuse of transit workers, such as bus drivers. (amNY)
• Awwww! Dagnabit! Dealers are running short on cars. (WSJ)
• Upper Manhattan residents are fielding ideas to rein in racing of ATVs and dirt bikes. (West Side Rag)
• Some east Bronx Council candidates want to roll back transit fares. (TheCity)
• Yet another reason to shut down vehicle traffic on Second Avenue. (NYPost)
• And, finally, a perennial question from the placard corruption Twitter account: (Via Twitter)