New Penalties for Reckless Drivers Now In Effect, But NYPD Isn’t Ready
In May, the City Council passed a package of legislation to crack down on traffic violence. In June, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the bills. Today, one of the most important bills in that package goes into effect: Intro 238, also known as Section 19-190, creates a new criminal misdemeanor charge for reckless drivers. But NYPD’s legal department has yet to create an enforcement directive for officers and investigators on the street.
August 22, 2014
Rodriguez Bill Would Use Taxi TV to Help NYPD Close Hit-and-Run Cases
A bill introduced today by City Council Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez [PDF] would require all street hail taxis to display notifications from NYPD about wanted hit-and-run drivers using in-vehicle screens like Taxi TV. If utilized by NYPD, the hope is the technology will help improve the department’s low closure rate for hit-and-run cases.
August 21, 2014
WPIX Gets BIke Law Facts Wrong and Misses DMV Scandal Under Its Nose
New Yorkers have seen their fair share of malicious press about bikes, from willful ignorance in Daily News editorials to Marcia Kramer linking cyclists to terrorists. But sometimes, it's not maliciousness that causes trouble. A story from WPIX reporter Kaitlin Monte this morning may have been intended to educate the public, but did little more than circulate misinformation. A moment of fact-checking before going on air could have salvaged much of the piece -- and perhaps spotlighted a newsworthy scandal right under the reporter's nose.
August 21, 2014
Scenes of Mindless Bike Enforcement From “Operation Safe Cycle”
NYPD's bike ticket blitz, a.k.a. Operation Safe Cycle, is halfway through its two-week run. The department has promised to target "hazardous violations that create a danger for pedestrians and cyclists," but the accounts pouring in from readers suggest that police haven't raised their game since the last flurry of bike enforcement. While it's tough to get a comprehensive picture of NYPD bike citations, readers report a lot of fish-in-a-barrel ticketing activity and flat-out bogus summonses. No one has written in to tell us about NYPD nabbing a wrong-way cyclist who just went through a crowded crosswalk.
August 20, 2014
A Proposal for Incremental Parking Reform in NYC
In most of New York City, zoning requirements compel new development to include a certain amount of parking. These mandates make housing more expensive while causing more traffic and pollution, but the Department of City Planning took only the most timid steps to reform them during the Bloomberg administration, and the de Blasio administration isn't shaping up much differently. Now a small team of architects and urban designers has a strategy to make progress on parking reform, and while it's not exactly bold, it may appeal to the conflict-averse DCP.
August 19, 2014
Chin Urges Council Colleagues to Turn Parking Into Affordable Housing
Last month, Manhattan City Council Member Margaret Chin asked the de Blasio administration to prioritize affordable housing over car storage by replacing a city-owned parking garage in her district with new apartments. Acknowledging that the decision might be politically difficult, last week Chin urged her City Council colleagues to follow her lead if they want to tackle the city's affordability problem.
August 4, 2014