The big news over the weekend was another fire apparently sparked by e-bike over-charging in a Manhattan high rise.First, the light stuff: The marathon was awesome as always, if a little hot.We would submit that a more accurate assessment of why fire vehicles are stuck in traffic would start with the cause of the traffic: driving. While condemning “open street programs, bike lanes and traffic islands” as a hindrance for emergency vehicles,” she also pointed out what the Post reporters didn’t even bother to consider: “Private and commercial vehicles are, often times, illegally parked in those areas,” creating situations that cause “the log jam.” One small measure of balance came from Queens Council Member Joann Ariola - who chairs the fire and emergency management committee. No evidence was provided, save for a discredited video from Jackson Heights’s 34th Avenue open street that doesn’t even depict what the Post says it does (it’s not clear if the paper’s reporters even watched the video or simply quoted the people pushing it as “evidence” of a war on cars and on heroic EMTs). Even as subways and bus use remains 30 to 40 percent lower than it was before the pandemic, driving is well above the pre-pandemic numbers, as MTA bridge counts show.īut the Post aimed its ire at “the Big Apple’s controversial street-closure and outdoor-dining programs.” The paper also allowed “critics” to blame the delays on “new bike lines, road barriers and other anti-car policies made under former Mayor de Blasio’s ‘Vision Zero’ initiative.” Now, you could attribute the seven-second average increase in response times to many factors - not the least of which is that our post-pandemic “recovery” has been accompanied by a surge in driving and car ownership. The entire story was built on a single fact: “From January to mid-September, it took fire trucks an average of 5 minutes and 3 seconds to reach a fire - seven seconds longer than during the same period last year.” (Never mind that January to mid-September of 2021 still included part of the pandemic when there were fewer drivers on the road - that wasn’t pointed out in the Post piece). In a classic example of putting know-nothing “gut feelings” over actual reporting, the Post published a scandalously thin story claiming that street-safety improvements have lowered the response times of emergency vehicles. Despite criticism, we often link to New York Post articles in our daily headlines digest because on any given day, the paper transcends its toxic politics to provide good reporting on the city.
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