Wednesday’s Headlines: Look, You’re the Traffic Edition

Is there anything more delicious than world leaders stuck in traffic … complaining about other world leaders causing traffic?

Well, that’s what happened on Monday night, when, according to the Anadolu News agency, a car carrying French President Emmanuel Macron was trying to get crosstown just as President Trump’s motorcade was also trying to get through Midtown. The results are hilarious, as Macron is forced to get out of his vehicle and actually calls Trump on his cellphone to jokingly complain about the traffic (as a bemused member of New York’s Finest looks on):

Of course, the best question would be why Macron took a car instead of taking Le Subway (as French New Yorkers definitely do not call it).

And the same question could be asked of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo after she missed the first 20 minutes of a Clean Cities Campaign forum because she, too, was stuck in traffic, according to organizers. (Kevin Duggan and I were there, and it was stunning to watch a crowd of 100 people, virtually all of whom arrived by subway, bus, bike or foot, waiting and waiting for the Cossette of the livable streets movement.

When she finally did arrive, she was begged by “War on Cars” co-host Sarah Goodyear to share the secret of how she tamed car culture in the City of Light and turned a car- and pollution-choked city into the best city west of Amsterdam.

Hidalgo offered little beyond the importance of “building coalitions” and working with other mayors around the world (huh?). But she did offer one piece of advice that could serve future Mayor Zohran Mamdani well: Make the fight against cars a battle for clean air, rather than safe streets or bike lanes.

After all, no one is pro-pollution, right?

Also, she begged today’s leaders to “show courage.”

“They all called me crazy,” she said, looking back at her nearly 12-year campaign to make Paris great again. “But at the end of all of it, now they want more.”

In other news:

• The Post also covered Macron’s disgrace, while the Times covered the other reasons there’s so much traffic during the UN General Assembly, and amNY reminded us that diplomats don’t pay the congestion pricing charge.
• Is there a greater sign that Mayor Adams has given up? New York no longer has a “rat czar.” (The City)
• Or perhaps this: Police misconduct allegations are surging under this mayor. (NY Times, Hell Gate)
• The Post has jumped on the “Central Park isn’t safe” bandwagon — a teetering vehicle that the Murdoch-owned paper never seemed to hitch a ride on when car drivers filled the park drives and killed and maimed people.
• We’re number 1 … for number 1. (NY Post)
• She’s just another girl (I mean another girl) on the IRT. (NYDN)
• Tickets are still available for the “Not in My Backyard!” live show (co-starring me!) tonight at 7 p.m. at the UCB Theater on E. 14th Street. For information and tickets (cheap!), check out the UCB website.
• And, finally, Brooklyn and Queens cyclists need to keep an eye out for this Florida asshole: