Thursday’s Headlines: We’ve Done it (Again!) Edition

Wednesday night was Jesse Coburn’s night, as Streetsblog’s investigative reporter (above) collected his award from the Silurians Press Club for exceptional work on his investigation into the NYPD’s poor (and downright corrupt) response to 311 calls about reckless driving.

Of course, our old man was on hand at the National Arts Club bash, complaining as he often does about the club’s narrow definition of “open” bar and its limited fealty to his vast (albeit limited) career. But still, a splendid time was had by all who attended, including a team of great young scribes from The City, who shared our table:

Diplomatic relations were established. Who knows what can happen?

Take a minute to re-read Coburn’s investigation and bask in its quality and importance … before we move onto yesterday’s news digest:

• The Daily News reported something about a “scooter” rider in a fatal crash, but the photo is clearly a moped. The Post properly ID’d the vehicle in question. The bigger question? Why did the truck driver kill him?
• Hat tip to state lawmakers who want answers on Gov. Hochul’s Penn Station plan. (NY Post)
• More road violence in the Bronx. (NY Post)
• The Times joined Streetsblog and amNY in covering the Regional Plan Association’s big report that commuters will come back even if we have to wait til 2070!
• We were glad to see Hell Gate dive into the whole lifeguard shortage thing.
• Check out Maya Wiley and David Bragdon’s op-ed on the MTA in amNY.
• And, finally, anything trucks can do, cargo bikes can do better (except congestion the streets and pollute the air, of course). We were reminded of this yesterday when the Associated Press posted a video of UPS testing a narrow, four-wheeled cargo bike on the mean streets of New York.

We’ve had this beauty on our radar screens since December 2019, when Streetsblog’s old man editor and its young, basketball-jersey-wearing reporter test-drove an earlier, three-wheeled version as the city launched a six-month cargo-bike pilot that allowed companies to deploy electric-assist cargo bikes across Manhattan below 60th Street.

At the time, there was only one small thing bothering us about cargo bikes — and that was the size of the much-hyped cargo bike program. It was, and remains, one small thing. Today, argo bikes remain a tiny part of the urban delivery landscape, limited to the Whole Food trailers we see making local deliveries. It’s unclear why no other companies have done more, especially given how easy this is.

After all, look at this! Why can’t Haddad’s do this?