Thursday’s Headlines: Mayoral Indictment Edition

Well, we’ve been saying for months that Mayor Adams should be indicted for failing to build the legally required amount of bus and bike lanes, for capitulating to big donors by curtailing street safety improvements, and for pissing on congestion pricing, so until the actual indictment is unsealed today, we’re going to assume that’s why the feds have lowered the boom.

In any event, everyone covered it. Click here for all the coverage, though the best stuff was when everyone dunked on Bret Stephens on Twitter:

Late in the night, the mayor, his hands shaking, taped a video declaring his innocence and saying he will fight and stay in office (and blaming immigrants for his troubles):

If Adams ends up changing his mind and resigning, you won’t see much mourning in these pages (though we will miss his City of Yes housing initiative, which could have been transformative).

If he leaves, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will take over, albeit temporarily. The livable streets crowd has a generally positive view of Williams — he’s been particularly eloquent about the victims of road violence, for instance. And as Komanoff pointed out last night, Williams has said the right things about congestion pricing (which is easy for him, not being mayor or governor…):

It’s hard to say more about Williams — judging by how rarely he’s even mentioned in Streetsblog, he’s not much of a leader on livable streets issues. Meanwhile, while the indictment news was still drying on the page of last night’s early edition, the Post was already sharpening its knives about the “progressive Democrat” Williams. (Cool it, Rupert, Williams will only be mayor until the special election — 90 days, max.)

Then again, we hope Williams will at least use his 90-day bully pulpit to get Gov. Hochul to restart congestion pricing. That would cement a mayoral legacy — something Eric Adams failed to do in three years.

In other news (there was other news?):

• Well, today was supposed to be a big day, what with a huge City Hall rally to support the now-indicted mayor’s City of Yes zoning plan and a party in Foley Square to celebrate Lorenzo Pace’s monumental sculpture “Triumph of the Human Spirit,” which we hope cops won’t park on. But it’ll all likely be overshadowed by the Adams follow-ups.
• Speaking of City of Yes, before he was indicted, Mayor Adams’s signature housing plan moved easily through the City Planning Commission (NYDN, Streetsblog, Gothamist, amNY, NY Times), but the Post is already saying the Council will reject it.
• The MTA board did the very expected thing and approved the $68.4-billion capital plan, and most outlets played it straight (all the angles were done before). (NYDN, NY Post, amNY)
• That said, amNY reminded everyone that the MTA didn’t put any money for the Second Avenue subway in that big renovation plan.
• An Amtrak train derailed near Penn Station, screwing over New Jersey Transit and Amtrak riders. (NY Post, amNY)
• The DOT announced a nifty way to recycle pavement. (NYDN)