The Naparstek Post: Better Fact-checking Than The New Yorker

Aaron Naparstek eviscerates an ill-informed New Yorker column.  Oh, and pity poor, poor John Cassidy, who drives a "heap" - a Jaguar XJ6.  Like his previous heaps, which included an E-class Mercedes and a couple of Cadillacs.  Clearly, just an average joe.

Cassidy makes himself out an ignorant, entitled buffoon in his piece (no link from me, you'll have to click through Aaron's piece to see it).  I expect more from the New Yorker than garbage like this.

American Prospect Profiles Sadik-Khan

And it's a great piece, read the whole thing. This is just an aside, but something that people lose sight of when thinking of Mike Bloomberg and transit:

On the national level, Mike Bloomberg is now recognized as a progressive reformer, and his history as a Democrat turned Republican turned Independent, all for political gain, is largely overlooked. But New Yorkers, whose memories are longer, could hardly have predicted that the most recent iteration of their mayor's chameleon career would be the promotion of a bikeable, walkable city. What even most local observers don't realize is that the Bloomberg administration's unexpected commitment to these issues is due less to ideological conviction than to the influence of one woman: Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of New York City's Department of Transportation. . . . Bloomberg's own record on public spaces was far from stellar. An expert hired to direct the Transportation Department's cycling program, Andrew Vesselinovitch, quit in 2006, claiming that Weinshall and Bloomberg rejected most of his ideas and were insufficiently committed to reforming the streetscape. Under the influence of former Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Dan Doctoroff, another Wall Street veteran, the Bloomberg administration had been pushing unpopular proposals to construct massive sports stadiums and apartment towers, replete with thousands of parking spaces, on the far West Side of Manhattan and in downtown Brooklyn. "Here we have the most transit-oriented city in America, and many of Bloomberg's most treasured development plans, at that point, were tied to 750-spot parking lagoons, as if this were the suburbs," says Aaron Naparstek, editor of Streetsblog, which lobbies for "livable streets."

Bonus points to TAP for quoting Aaron. Hat tip to MAC for the heads up.

That Was Fast: 9th Street Bike Lane Forming Like Voltron

Streetsblog has a picture up; the hotly contested bike lane for 9th Street is already shaping up.

We're looking forward to getting some bikes now that we have room, and actually using some of the miles of new bike lanes sprouting up around the city.

Streetsblog: Ninth Street Earns Its Stripes

Assemblywoman Joan Millman on Congestion Pricing

Streetsblog has the text of a letter from Assemblywoman Millman in response to inquiries about her stance on congestion pricing. The full text is available here.

Some people view this as anti-congestion pricing. I disagree; I think it's perfectly reasonable to express some reservations about the plan's impacts.

Let me be clear: I support congestion pricing 100%. However, implementing the program is going to have impacts, and those impacts must be addressed. For our stretch of Brooklyn, which already has congestion at rush hour, we can expect significantly increased ridership on the F line due to the plan and to continued population growth.

The MTA can cheaply and quickly improve subway service for a wide swath of Brooklyn by reinstating express service on the F and extending the V into Brooklyn. If I were Joan Millman (a man can dream, can't he?) I would support the mayor's plan but demand that the F & V line improvements be made concurrently or before.