Friday Headlines: New Sheriff In Town Edition

Streetsblog is getting a new leader. Gersh Kuntzman will step down as editor-in-chief on Jan. 1 and pass the job to David Meyer, he announced.

Kuntzman isn’t going far. He’ll stay on as senior editor to keep working to make the city “a better place, one street at a time,” he wrote.

Meyer will be only the fourth editor-in-chief in Streetsblog’s 20 years, following Kuntzman, Ben Fried and founding editor Aaron Naparstek. He started as a Streetsblog reporter under Fried, spent time at the New York Post, and returned in 2023 as managing editor.

Kuntzman said Meyer’s “talent and experience make him perfectly suited for this moment,” as the livable streets movement faces what Kuntzman called a “sclerotic status quo.” The newsroom Meyer inherits has won a Polk Award and broken a long list of stories.

Elsewhere in The Empire State:

• Gov. Hochul has yet to act on 445 of the more than 750 bills the Legislature passed this year, roughly the same backlog as this time last year, including a food additive ban that business groups want her to veto, and she has until the end of the year to act. (WXXI)
• State DOT is delaying a major redesign of Tinker Street in Woodstock. (Hudson Valley One)
• A train and a car collided outside of Syracuse. (Syracuse.com)
• The Ontario County DMV office will move in early 2028 from the county office building on Ontario Street to the former post office on North Main Street in Canandaigua, growing from about 4,000 to 5,901 square feet with significantly more parking, at a lease cost of $13,832 per month. (Finger Lakes Times)
• The Ithaca Common Council voted to give itself and the mayor a pay raise. (Ithaca Voice)
• The Ithaca Common Council voted 9-1 to pause permits for certain Cornell and student organization events through Nov. 5, a proposal from Mayor Robert Cantelmo after revelations about the university’s handling of a former student’s 2024 allegation of gang rape by fraternity members, with an exemption for First Amendment activity. (WSKG)
• Three Democratic Ulster County legislators, Dana Clinton, Abe Uchitelle and Amy Dooley, want to introduce a resolution setting a policy on how Flock license plate reader data is used, shared and retained, though Uchitelle noted the county has no Flock contract, and Dutchess County began moving last month to remove its 65 cameras. (The Overlook)
• An e-moto bike crash left a 13-year-old boy in Carmel with serious injuries. (The Journal News)
• Kingston police arrested two people in connection with an August hit-and-run that left a pedestrian in a coma after he was struck at Broadway and Liberty Street. (Mid Hudson News)
• The MTA has begun an environmental review of a proposed westward extension of the Second Avenue Subway beneath 125th Street in Harlem, opening a public comment period on plans to extend the Q train toward Broadway. (amNewYork)
• New York City is suing Manhattan law firm Asher & Associates, alleging that the firm filed fraudulent personal-injury claims seeking tens of millions of dollars from the city over accidents that did not happen as described in court filings. (amNewYork)
• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transportation commissioner, Mike Flynn, argued that many New York City drivers are wealthy and described free or underpriced curbside parking as a public subsidy that disproportionately benefits car owners. (The New York Post)
• MTA Chair Janno Lieber accused Andy Byford, the Amtrak official leading the Penn Station rebuild, of going “full MAGA” after Byford praised President Donald Trump’s role in the project, escalating a dispute over the MTA’s involvement and approval rights. (Gothamist)