Wednesday’s Headlines: Old Man Edition

There’s certainly no bigger Neil Young fan in the Streetsblog newsroom than this old man. But today I am distancing myself from the great Canamerican artist.

That’s because I’ve just listened to Young’s new single, “Let’s Roll Again.” Longtime fans will recognize the reference to Young’s earlier song, “Let’s Roll,” which was about heroism aboard a hijacked airliner, but this sequel is definitely not a call to honor, but disgrace.

The song, not to sugar-coat it, is a naked request for American automakers to build electric cars. Yes, Young has long championed environmental causes and even admitted (sometimes) the damage that auto-centrism has done to our country, but this longtime gearhead still doesn’t get it.

“Build somethin’ useful people need/Build us a safe way for us to be/ Build us somethin’ won’t kill our kids/Runs real clean, yeah it runs real clean,” he sings, backed by his new(ish) band, the Chrome Hearts.

Sure, the song includes a swipe at Elon Musk — linking Tesla to fascism — as well as a line bemoaning the “macho poison” spewing out of SUV tailpipes, but besides those juicy moments, ol’ Neil simply embraces the misguided belief that everyone would just be fine if America just electrified its vehicle fleet (which, by the way, is a big “if”).

It would be nice if when Neil Young sings, “Protect our children,” he didn’t mean “build me an electric car,” but “reduce sprawl and car dependency,” because that’s the only way we’re going to get out of this mess. Thousands of children every year are killed by car drivers, and that number won’t change if the vehicles are burning fuel or converting electrons.

Still, if you want to hear the song (a grunge version of “This Land is Your Land,” of all things!), be my guest:

In other news:

• The big story yesterday was the MTA’s court filing in its case against U.S. Department of Transportation Sec. Duffy’s effort to dis-approve congestion pricing. Our coverage focused on the positive — traffic is not diverting to the Bronx, as opponents predicted — but everyone else focused on the MTA’s legal maneuver to get a judge to block Duffy from taking punitive action against the state, as he has vowed to do even before a judge rules on the merits. (Bloomberg, NY Post)
• Remember Real ID mania? Never mind. (NYDN, NJ.com)
• Mayor Adams is the latest official asking Amtrak to make a better plan for fixing its East River tunnels. (NYDN, NY Post)
• Classic Post lede on the geese-in-the-tunnel story.
• The late Jane Walentas gets her due in Dumbo. (Brooklyn Paper)
• We were happy to see that BloombergCityLab writer Alexandra Lange won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for her writing about livable streets issues. We’re proud to know her.
• And, finally, it’s nice to see Friend of Streetsblog Harry Heymann actually win one. Who said nice guys finish last?: