Most of us (except the Daily News, see Sunday front page, right) spent the weekend Schadenfreuding all over Andrew Cuomo, whose long reign at the top of New York's political oligarchy effectively ended when he faced reality and realized he could not have a political crony "investigate" the charges that he sexually harassed two young staffers.
At least, that's Ross Barkan's take — and he's had a string of on-point takes recently. Plus, he has a book coming out about Cuomo's handling of the COVID-19 crisis that includes the governor's initial February scandal over nursing home deaths. (Stop the presses — this book needs an epilogue!).
Mayor de Blasio also relished the impending fall of his longtime nemesis (NY Post, amNY). And the Post was exceptionally excited, publishing roughly 423 stories between Saturday, when the Times broke the "second accuser" story, and Sunday night. The Paper of Record was no slough, either, publishing several follow-ups, including one about the Smug Guv's attempt at an apology.
In other news:
- The Daily News did a big takeout on the city's Open Culture program, which will start accepting applications today, but, um, even a long story in a credible paper can't really explain how this is all going to work. Can someone help our struggling artists, please?
- In a related story, what we really need is a WPA-type program for artists. (Gothamist)
- We hate to say we told you so, but we told you that the overnight shutdown would lead people to say, “Why do we need 24-7 service anyway?” (Bloomberg)
- Remember our award-nominated series on the NYPD's racially biased "jaywalking" summonses? Well, The New Yorker had a great story about a man who is about to be deported by ICE because he was charged with crossing against a light in The Bronx.
- Are we still doing this? OK, so some business owners in Astoria have started a petition to block a new protected bike lane on 31st Street because, get this, the plan "would make the streets more dangerous for cyclists — since many businesses on the busy corridor make deliveries [and] park equipment by the street," the LIC Post reported.
So in other words, driver want to do unsafe things, so we probably shouldn't try to make the roadway safer. The petition drive has the support of the Queens Chamber, which spent much of Sunday trolling cyclists on Twitter (and getting trolled right back by everyone). The Chamber responded (right) by blocking many Queens residents on Twitter (which prompted more trolling!).
* The winner and still champion is, of course, the Belt Parkway between JFK and Sheepshead Bay every night after 10 p.m.
