Ever since their unsuccessful bid to impose "congestion pricing" fees for driving cars and trucks in the "inner city" of Manhattan early in his reign...er...mayoralty, Bloomberg and Sadik-Kahn have done anything they can to make sure driving (and walking) in Manhattan is nearly impossible. First, they turned Times Square, Herald Square, and just about all of the other "Squares" in Manhattan into "pedestrian malls" replete with little tables and chairs thereby shutting down blocks and blocks of avenues to all car, truck, and bus traffic.
Here's a before and after shot of the Times Square pedestrian malls:
Okay, the way Citibike works is that you join Citibike (sponsored and financed by Citibank, an evil bankster-type operation) online for a yearly membership fee plus a per-rental fee, get an electronic key card, and then you can rent and return a pretty blue bike from any of the many racks stationed around the city mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn. You just slide your card in, get a green light, and take a bike. Then return it to any designated rack in the city. With some plans, you can access a bike as many time as you need to get from Brooklyn to Midtown in no time flat. The catch is you can only rent in 30 minute intervals (some plans you can rent for 45 minutes).
Now as most things that happen in this city, it has not been without problems and, of course there have been hiccups. First off, all the access kiosks/bike racks are run on energy-saving green solar powered batteries. Yey! But one of the things that is at a premium in NYC is...well...sunlight. Oops, someone didn't take that into consideration when placing racks, so the batteries that run the kiosks where you put in your electronic keycard to access your bike rentals are losing power very quickly. (and I will point out that city sunlight is greatly reduced for about eight months out of the year and we are going into the "sunniest" part right now. But hey, that's just me thinking out loud...) This is causing delays in access and sucking up some of that valuable 30 minutes for which you will be heavily charged if you go over.
Nextly, the Commissioner plunked down massive bike racks like these in the middle of the night, without any warning:
Let's just say that New York City dwellers do not take to change quietly. And to wake up to a giant blue bike rack on your block without any warning has many with their noses out of joint. Now, that would be okay because NYC dweller ALWAYS have their noses out of joint about something, but there doesn't seem to be any thought with where they plunked these racks down. In more than one case, they plunked racks down in front of buildings blocking access to say, emergency access. The first weekend, some poor guy was in the middle of a life-threatening stroke and the EMS team was delayed in rendering care just trying to figure out how to get into the building. Needless to say, that rack was "adjusted" the next day. But complaints are pouring in from everywhere the racks have been plopped down including a pending lawsuit from an arts group where a rack was placed in a space designated for large "art" installations. At this point the city has only placed about half of the proposed 600 rack (10,000 bikes in all). And, oddly, none will be anywhere near Mayor Bloomberg's tony neighborhood. [Personally, I think one should be placed right in front of Mayor Bloomberg's mansion, but then it would block his many idling SUVs and many armed police guards. Again just thinking out loud...)
So far, one bike has been stolen, one bike has been destroyed in a car/bike collision (no one was hurt yet), and all pedestrians are at risk to riders biking the wrong way on one-way streets and blasting through red lights. And the summer has just started! BTW, I am wondering how many of these bikes (like the pedestrian malls) will be used during the winter, but then, that's Citibank's problem.
Moving on...
Mayoral News - Guess what? I bet you can't. Okay, I'll tell you in my own version of a NY Post headline - "Weiner On A Roll!". Yes, folks, Anthony "Look At My Big Weiner" Weiner is leading the pack of Democrat Mayoral hopefuls in our upcoming elections in November. Frankly, I am not the least bit surprised. In the entire field of candidates, Weiner is actually the best candidate.
Related - Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, former Sec't Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department is in the hot seat these days. It is alleged that at the same time she was drawing a nice government salary at the State Department, she was earning a six-figure salary as a private consultant. It was only in the last month of her government job that her status was changed from "special government employee" to "private contractor", so she could "consult", but it is unclear how long she was privately consulting (not to be confused with consulting with one's privates as per her husband). It has been explained that Abedin was using her consultant hat to clear the path for Clinton's private life. Investigations to follow...
Other Mayoral news - New York may be in a financial pickle. It was revealed this week that many of the groups that have been subject to city budget cuts during the Bloomberg administration have been receiving private donations from....Mayor Bloomberg to cover the cuts. Now, this may sound very generous and benevolent of our Billionaire Mayor, but what happens when he is no longer mayor and these and other groups can no longer benefit from the NYC Mayor's largesse? Or more importantly, when we need to make more cuts and there is no one to come in behind them and cover them privately? Like I have said, the only thing I worry about more about than "Mayor Bloomberg" is the fallout from the "Former-Mayor Bloomberg".
Oh, one last thing - Just in case you think I may have forgotten, I am happy to report that no NY elected officials have been arrested in over a month. This may be a new record, but don't be sad. US Attorney Preet Bahrara says it is just a lull and more are coming. I will keep you posted.
Okay, that's it for this report. As always, please feel free to comment on these or any other issue...
BTW, I will be traveling today, so I will be responding sporadically. I am off to the Great State of Texas to celebrate my Dad's 85th Birthday...