Thursday’s Headlines: Sunset on the Capitol Edition

WASHINGTON — Sure, I edit StreetsblogNYC, but I’m down in our nation’s capital for a few days of R&R (reporting and remorsefulness) at the League of American Bicyclists’ annual summit.

Within hours of my arrival, we broke a big story on StreetsblogUSA — that the U.S. DOT, fresh from cutting safe streets programs, stalling good projects and trying to revoke congestion pricing, now has bike lanes in its anti-equity sights. No one who cares about road safety is happy about this.

And later in the day, we learned that the Environmental Protection Agency had basically DOGE’d away the first two words in its official name (and virtually all of its congressionally mandated mission), thanks to new Administrator Lee Zeldin, as the Times reported.

I also visited 16th Street NW, within view of the White House, to watch workers erase the Black Lives Matter mural at the behest of President Trump. In my long and slightly distinguished career, I’ve covered highway widenings, fossil fuel subsidies and mandatory parking rules, but I don’t think I’ve seen anything as willfully hateful as this particular battle in the president’s war on “woke.” Here’s what it looked like:

In other news from an exceptionally slow news day in New York (did you miss me?):

• Now do cars: Some people rallied at Gov. Hochul’s office in support of a bill that would not make roadways safer, no matter how much they think it would. (amNY)
• People tend not to like new taxes, but what if they funded the subway? (amNY)
• And, finally, would-be mayor Andrew Cuomo tweeted a picture of a car with “Cuomo for Mayor” written in the filthy back window. But NYC Bike Lanes revealed that the driver is a reckless recidivist. With friends like these, Andrew, amirite?