Joe Lhota
Streetsblog Basics
Ignoring Dozens of CB Votes, Lhota Says Bike Lanes Drop From the Sky
When it comes to bicycling, Joe Lhota has a penchant for ignoring facts in favor of opinions. As Hurricane Sandy approached landfall, the then-MTA chief tweeted a photo of a man riding in a shared lane on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, implying that bike lanes are to blame for bike-bus crashes. This May, he said that DOT didn't coordinate with the fire department on bike-share station siting, when FDNY said that, in fact, DOT vetted the locations with them.
October 22, 2013
Transportation Mainly a Pocketbook Issue at First Mayoral Debate
Transportation didn't get much airtime during last night's debate between Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota, but the candidates did trade a few jabs. Over the course of the debate, which aired on WABC, the pair fielded a handful of questions on MTA fares, traffic enforcement, waste management, and development -- with Lhota at one point deriding Robert Moses.
October 16, 2013
The Lhota Platform: No Walking, No Biking, No Details on Street Safety
It looks like Joe Lhota didn't listen to Nicole Gelinas or Transportation Alternatives. Yesterday, Lhota released what his campaign billed as a "comprehensive policy book" [PDF], but New Yorkers interested in safer streets or better bicycling and walking are still awaiting much of any policy from the Republican candidate.
October 11, 2013
Priority Number One Under Joe Lhota’s DOT: Sync the Stop Lights
On his radio show this morning, John Gambling asked Joe Lhota what he thinks about congestion pricing and transportation issues generally. Lhota spent the next three minutes (starting at 8:25) explaining that under his administration, DOT would focus on its "core competency." Bus lanes didn't make the cut. Bikes? Forget about it.
September 12, 2013
Longshot McDonald Bests Lhota, Catsimatidis on Streets and Transpo Issues
At last night's Republican mayoral debate, the candidates -- Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis, former MTA chair and Giuliani deputy mayor Joe Lhota, and Doe Fund founder George McDonald -- offered a few glimpses into what transportation policy might look like under a GOP mayor. McDonald, who was until last year a registered Democrat and is trailing in the polls, trumpeted his more aggressive stance on livable streets issues, while leading candidates Lhota and Catsimatidis were far more cautious, and sometimes outright hostile, when it came to street safety interventions.
August 29, 2013
At Forum, Mayoral Candidates Back Bus Lanes, Shy Away From Funding
At a mayoral forum on transportation this morning, the first since a February event hosted by Transport Workers Union Local 100, eight candidates offered ideas on how they would improve the city's road and transit network. For the most part, the candidates were eager to support buses, quick to get agitated about bike lanes, and short on realistic ideas for how to fund their plans.
June 19, 2013
FDNY: “We Haven’t Had Any Issues” With Bike-Share Locations
Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota, on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show yesterday, said that while he didn't "know this for a fact," he views the bike-share program as an example of failed agency coordination in the Bloomberg administration, because he'd read press reports that people were complaining about new bike-share stations potentially impeding emergency response. Despite Lhota's speculation, based off hysterical media reports, the Fire Department says they were consulted by DOT and that the stations have not been a problem.
May 3, 2013
With Joe Lhota’s Impending Mayoral Run, Transit Can’t Be Ignored in 2013
A few quick thoughts on the news that MTA Chair Joe Lhota is going to leave the agency at the end of week to clear the way for a mayoral run...
December 19, 2012
Quick Hits From the 2012 RPA Regional Assembly
The tri-state area's transportation and infrastructure leaders are gathered at the Waldorf Astoria today for the Regional Plan Association's annual gala. For a few years now, the proceedings at the Regional Assembly have been haunted by the death of congestion pricing and bridge tolls in Albany, and lately the complete gridlock in Washington over a national transportation bill has weighed heavily as well. With large-scale transportation projects like the ARC tunnel falling by the wayside and funding streams for infrastructure getting weaker every year, there's not much new stuff in the pipeline, at the regional scale, to get excited about (unless you get excited about boondoggles).
April 27, 2012
NYC Congress Members, MTA Chief Repudiate House GOP Attack on Transit
Four New York City members of Congress joined the chairman of the MTA today to bluntly denounce the House GOP's anti-transit transportation bill.
February 6, 2012