Monday’s Headlines: ‘We Speak English in America’ Edition

Wow. Not only is NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch sending her jackbooted officers out into the streets (including in parks, apparently) to issue criminal summonses to cyclists who used to get regular traffic tickets, but the jackbooted thugs she’s sending out are real jerks.

Watch this video from our friends at Reddit … and make sure you have the sound on.

I’ll admit, I don’t know what the cyclist allegedly did, but the way he was treated was unprofessional at best and actionable at worst. Listen closely: at one point, the bike rider says something in Spanish, and cop responds, “We speak English in America.”

And a subsequent Reddit poster said, “At one point they had the whole crew of officers shoving him against the car. ‘Stop resisting.'” (The video does not show the handcuffed cyclist — yes, handcuffed — resisting in any way.)

For the record, Americans are not required to speak any language, though an “official” language is something being pushed by President Trump, who is a favorite of many NYPD officers (the majority of whom live in the suburbs).

We ran into a friend of the cyclist at the Bike Jumble in Park Slope on Saturday, so maybe we’ll have more later today, but even before that, we expected a full investigation by Commissioner Tisch into this rancid officer.

Or rancid officers, amirite, Placard Abuse?

In other news:

• The most important piece over the weekend was The Times’s comprehensive look at all of the many, many ways that congestion pricing is making our lives better. Obviously, we’ve been covering this more or less every day, but it’s nice to have it all in one place (or two or three, as there was also a video and a sidebar). Great job, Gray Lady!
• Now you know why we publish John Surico whenever he’ll let us!. His latest piece in Bloomberg about the rise in serious injuries on New York City streets was a master class in tamping down the hysteria. First, he recognized that people feel less safe, but accurately pointed out how few pedestrians are actually injured by e-bike riders. And he pointed out that serious injuries are down in Manhattan, the borough with the most delivery cyclists and the most bike lanes. And he reminded the bike-lash haters that there are more cars in the city now, with more drivers (congestion pricing aside). More cars always mean more injuries. They just do. So let’s hope Surico has put to rest Commissioner Tisch’s notion that cyclists who break the rules need to be criminalized. (Oh, and we’ll have a lot more on that story this week, as Kevin Duggan returns from vacation loaded for bear.)
• The New Yorker‘s rising star Zach Helfand had a brutal takedown of U.S. DOT Secretary Sean “Road Rules” Duffy.
• In the same issue, Alexandra Schwartz’s love letter to New York included praise for congestion pricing (albeit not as deeply reported as the Times piece mentioned above). Amen from Streetsblog and Komanoff:

• Vital City is the latest outlet to question whether President Trump can do anything to congestion pricing.
• From the assignment desk. There are two very worthy pressers today (which both agencies — shame on them! — only told us about on Sunday evening):
  • First, the MTA will announce more bike access to its bridges. Meet at the corner of E. 125th Street and Second Avenue at 9:45 a.m. to catch the shuttle to the Randalls Island event. It’ll be streamed live here.
  • And at 1:30 p.m., city Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez will join Queens Beep Donovan Richards to start the visioning process for the future redesign of Conduit Boulevard, which has these huge, community-dividing medians that can be dramatically improved. It’ll be streamed live here.
• Apparently, amNY noticed that there is widespread bus fare evasion.
• Speaking of buses, welcome to the Glinda the Good Bus. (NY Post)
• Is later sunsets — which happens every year — really a news story, Gothamist?
• The City did some good work over the weekend thumbing through the hundreds of pages of unsealed documents in Mayor Adams’s corruption case.
• We really cannot wait for the return of A train service to the Rockaways. (Gothamist)
• And, finally, here’s a nice historic tribute to the Ocean Parkway bike lane … the root-riven one that the Parks Department barely maintains.