Thursday’s Headlines: ‘Slow Down, Borough President!’ Edition

We sent a polar bear of a reporter Kevin Duggan to the frigid Bronx yesterday to cover a worthy announcement by the Department of Transportation that its Vision Zero efforts over the past 11 years have been a force for safety and equity. But the DOT hasn’t answered his follow-up questions yet, so we’ll focus on the other news:

He arrived at the presser in the Soundview section of the Bronx only to find Borough President Vanessa Gibson’s chauffeur-driven, taxpayer-provided car illegally parked. So we did what we always do: We ran the plate.

Whoo boy!

What we learned is that since late 2022, the car assigned to Gibson has been nabbed by city enforcement cameras 25 times — including nine times for driving 11 or more miles per hour above the speed limit, six times for parking in a bus lane and nine times for running a red light (which is more than the threshold that once could have subjected her driver to DOT-run a safety course … if the Council hadn’t let that program lapse).

The car has so many unpaid tickets that it could be towed away by the sheriff, which would be kinda fun to watch. We reached out to Gibson for comment, but heard only crickets.

Oddly, the Beep seems to understand the connection between reckless driving and safety. At the presser, she had said, “Achieving safe streets is a shared responsibility. It allows all of us as residents, pedestrians, cyclists, to ensure that we’re working together with all stakeholders to achieve safe streets, to make sure that we reduce traffic crashes and we reduce fatalities on our streets.”

Hopefully she lives up to those lofty words by telling her driver to slow down and stop running red lights.

In other news:

• The big story yesterday was our world exclusive about NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s effort to undo a true scandal: reducing high-speed police chases. Everyone followed it (NYDN, NY Post, NY Times, amNY, Gothamist, The City) and Attorney General Tish James even sent over a statement of support. No one credited us with the our exclusive, but we don’t do it for the glory; we do it for the policy changes. That said, Tisch still has work to do, as the Streetsblog Photoshop Desk shows here:

• The Times also looked at Tisch’s general job performance in her few weeks in office (though the Gray Lady completely misunderstood why Tisch promoted John Chell to Chief of Department. Apparently the Times forgot that old expression…).
• We mentioned it yesterday, but I Love the Upper West Side is high on the city’s micro-hub pilot.
• Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew fought congestion pricing … now he’s fighting for his political life. (Politico)
• What’s with the Times Ethicist column completely misunderstanding pedestrian signals? Oh, right, cars.
• Gov. Hochul caught heat from almost everyone — except her handlers at the New York Post — for abandoning her cap-and-trade pollution plan.
• The Post also loves the governor’s plan for more cops on subways.
• Ouch! Don’t jump the turnstile at these stations. (NY Post)
• The killer driver of pedestrian Virginia Renta has been charged … with really minor counts. (amNY)
• Finally, meet the most paranoid person in Brooklyn. (NY Post)