Tuesday’s Headlines: Dean Joins the Team

Dean Fuleihan will be the city’s next first deputy mayor, Mayor-elect Mamdani announced at a press conference on Monday where he also tapped his longtime chief of staff Elle Bisgaard-Church to that role in City Hall.

Fuleihan got his start working for disgraced state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and most recently served former Mayor Bill de Blasio as budget director and first deputy mayor. His name has never graced the hollowed (web)pages of Streetsblog, so we have little insight to offer here. Bisgaard-Church spoke to Dave Colon earlier this year about the “Fix the MTA” campaign that Mamdani waged early in his tenure as a state legislator. You can read more about Fuleihan in Gothamist, City & State and The City.

Meanwhile, the fight over the mayor-elect’s free buses proposal continues to brew online and in the press. The Daily News editorial board, which endorsed Andrew Cuomo in both the primary and general elections, inveighed against fare-free transit in today’s paper. The paper commended Gov. Hochul for expressing skepticism about Mamdani’s proposal, and amplified bus policy expert Eric Goldwyn’s $1.4-billion high-end estimate of the proposal’s cost (compared to Mamdani’s $700-million figure).

There’s certainly reasons to be skeptical: The free bus pilot Mamdani pushed a few years back didn’t yield much time savings for riders, which the MTA’s customer surveys have long shown is the top priority for bus commuters.

One point the Daily News cited that shouldn’t apply, however, is Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro’s bizarre threat to cut federal operating aid to transit agencies that choose not to collect fares. For one, the MTA doesn’t receive any operating subsidies from the feds. And plenty of other jurisdictions have implemented fare-free buses, including in red states where the Trump administration would be loathe to serve the same punishment.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber has said he wants free buses to be studied more closely before they can be implemented — it’s important to keep that study focused on real challenges to and consequences of implementation, not political pot-shots being hurled from Washington.

In other news:

• The editorial board at amNY wrote in support of the IBX after its reporting highlighted potential NIMBY roadblocks in the proposed transit line’s path.
• Central Park carriage horse drivers are suing animal rights advocates. (NY Post, Gothamist, amNY)
• NYC Ferry is adding a new connection among Manhattan’s west side, Staten Island and Brooklyn. (Gothamist)
• The days are number for the so-called “Elizabeth Street Garden.” (Gothamist)
• New York City will take out a big loan to pay for electric school buses. (The City)
• NYPD’s Civilian Complaint Review Board has “whitewashed” thousands of publicly available police misconduct records. (Hell Gate)
• A man stole a FedEx truck and crashed into multiple vehicles before attempting to commandeer an ambulance. (NY Post)
• Staten Island neighbors are worried their street might collapse due to a persistent leak. (S.I. Advance)
• NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is under extra-scrutiny as she weighs whether to penalize an off-duty cop who shot and killed a 37-year-old man. (The City)
• And finally, meet the city’s slowest buses — the winners of this year’s “Pokey” and “Schleppie” awards. (NBC New York)