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Thursday’s headlines: edition of the mayor’s indictment
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Thursday’s headlines: edition of the mayor’s indictment

A T-shirt that is making the rounds.

Well, we’ve been saying for months that Mayor Adams should being sued for failing to build the legally required number of bus and bike lanes, for pandering to big donors by limiting road safety improvements, and for whining about congestion pricing. So until the actual charges are made public today, we’ll assume that’s the reason the federal government has reduced congestion.

Anyway, everyone covered it. Click here for all the coverage, but the best was when everyone took Bret Stephens to task on Twitter:

Late at night, the mayor, with trembling hands, recorded a video declaring his innocence and saying he would fight And stay in office (and blame his problems on immigrants):

If Adams changes his mind and steps down, you won’t see much mourning here (though we will miss his City of Yes housing initiative, which could have been transformative).

When he leaves, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will take over, albeit temporarily. Livable Streets has a general view of Williams — he’s been particularly eloquent about the victims of traffic violence, for example. And as Komanoff pointed out last night, Williams has said all the right things about congestion pricing (which is easy for him, since he’s not mayor or governor…):

It’s hard to say more about Williams — judging by how rarely he’s even mentioned on Streetsblog, he’s hardly a leader in the livable streets movement. Meanwhile, as news of the indictment was still drying up on last night’s early edition page, the Post was already sharpening its knives on the “progressive Democrat” Williams. (Rupert, calm down, Williams will only be mayor until the special election — 90 days, max.)

But again, we hope Williams will use his 90-day bully pulpit to get Governor Hochul to reinstate the congestion pricing. That would cement a mayoral legacy — something Eric Adams failed to do in three years.

Other news (was there other news?):

  • Well today was supposed will be a big day, with a large rally at City Hall in support of the zoning plan of the now indicted mayor of the city Yes And a party in Foley Square to celebrate Lorenzo Pace’s monumental sculpture “Triumph of the Human Spirit,” which we hope the police don’t park on. But it will probably all be overshadowed by the Adams follow-ups.
  • Speaking of City of Yes, before Mayor Adams was indicted, his signature housing plan was easily approved by the City Planning Commission (NYDN, Streetsblog, Gothamist, amNY, NY Times), but the Post is already reporting that the council will reject the plan.
  • The MTA board did what it was supposed to do and approved the $68.4 billion capital plan. Most of the media played it straight (all angles had been covered before). (NYDN, NY Post, amNY)
  • That said, amNY reminded everyone that the MTA had not put any money into the Second Avenue subway in that major renovation plan.
  • An Amtrak train derailed near Penn Station, causing disruption for New Jersey Transit and Amtrak passengers. (NY Post, amNY)
  • The DOT has announced a smart way to recycle pavement. (NYDN)