Wednesday’s Headlines: ‘Fairly Often’ Edition

How would you define “fairly often”? Every few days? Every few weeks?

For former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid more accusations of sexual assault than you can count on two hands, it’s the latter.

In a quick but newsy interview with Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times, the ex-governor said he takes the subway or bus “fairly often.” Fitzsimmons replied, “Once a week?”

“Once a week,” Cuomo responded. “Once every other week.”

Cuomo, who also admitted to Fitzsimmons that he hadn’t lived in the city for nearly 35 years before moving back recently to run for mayor, described his multiple “collectible vintage cars.”

This reporter will not pass judgment on Cuomo’s love of old cars, which he shares. But the ex-governor more or less admitted he rarely takes mass transit, at least compared to the average Manhattan resident (he lives in Sutton Place). Cuomo has made several recent grand vehicular entrances and exits in the transit-rich borough, always driving the car himself. Reporters even caught him running a red light last week. (And don’t forget those two speeding tickets!)

Streetsblog asked the governor’s campaign a simple question: “Why does he drive everywhere?” Cuomo spokeswoman Esther Jenson responded by pointing out that two of the governor’s opponents, Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, have government-funded cars and drivers, whereas the governor drives himself.

Jensen also provided the following statement:

“Gov. Cuomo utilizes a range of transportation options, including his vehicle, as part of a demanding campaign schedule that requires flexibility and reliability, his use of a car is a practical response and New Yorkers understand that he’s focused on delivering solutions, and they trust his leadership to make our transit system safer and more accessible.”

That wasn’t the only news out of the Times interview. Cuomo also abandoned his recent opposition to congestion pricing, answering in the affirmative when Fitzsimmons asked him, “Now that it’s showing signs of success, do you support it?” The Post, which ran Cuomo’s op-eds last year calling on Gov. Hochul to delay the toll’s implementation, pounced on what it called a “flip-flop on a flip-flop.” Cuomo, who signed the law that created congestion pricing in the first place, also claimed that when congestion pricing was supposed to start, “the subways have never been worse.” The reality is crime was dropping and ridership was increasing when the new toll launched in January.

Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein blasted Cuomo for “lying to New Yorkers about public transit.”

“Riders need a mayor we can trust, not someone spewing falsehoods about our way of life and exploiting our fears for personal gain,” Pearlstein said in a statement.

In other news:

• The ex-governor does not have a favorite bagel. (NY Post)
• OMNY plagued by “payment errors, double charges and card reading failures.” (amNY)
• Politicians panned the state for letting the developer of Atlantic Yards miss another affordable housing deadline. (Gothamist)
• Gothamist also covered DOT’s push for the “stop super speeders” bill.
• Read Judge Arthur Engoron’s emphatic decision rejecting a legal bid to stop the city’s 96th Street busway here. It was a real slam dunk for the city: “Petitioners have failed to show any irreparable harm caused by the subject bus lanes,” he wrote. “Despite petitioner’s protestations, a bus lane does not ‘sever’ a resident’s connection to the street in front of their building nor does it ‘make it impossible to make deliveries.’ Inconveniences do not an irreparable harm make.”
• The War on Cars followed up on our critiques of anti-bike entertainer John Mulaney.
• Come on, state DOT! Let the LIRR modernize. (NY Post)
• Staten Island Advance columnist Tom Wrobleski is in such a rush to attack congestion pricing that he doesn’t even read his own paper.
• In a scathing review, Hell Gate’s Nick “The Hit Man of City Hall” Pinto trashed Mayor Adams’s “disquieting” gun-filled, Nazi-light press conference in the Blue Room yesterday. Pinto provided a tick-tock of all the bizarre lengths to which Hizzoner and “Obersturmführer-in-horsehide” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch dodged questions, but he left out our question: Will the NYPD, at long last, provide statistics backing up Tisch’s claim that she needed to launch her criminal crackdown on cyclists because they don’t pay their tickets.
• And finally, watch Streetsblog’s latest video report from last Friday’s Critical Mass ride against the NYPD’s anti-bike crackdown: