Taking to the streets
We upstate New Yorkers like our winters, sure. Skiing, hockey. But we our summers. love
We know we can’t take good weather for granted. A four-season climate means we need to get out there — to the mountains, the lake, the front porch — and soak up the fresh air and sunlight while we can. COVID added to the urgency: Summer is our chance to refuel on human connection before frost or a variant drives us inside again.
So it’s great news that the Albany Common Council voted to make expanded sidewalk dining a permanent feature. The program allows restaurants in some parts of the city to use the full sidewalk for tables. It helps business and gives more people a chance to dine en plein air.
Pedestrians are diverted to a fencedoff path in the parking lane — not an ideal solution, and maybe the city can come up with something sturdier and more aesthetic than bike racks along the roadway. But the program is a great reimagining of Albany’s public space.
To that end, city leaders should look at New York City’s “Open Streets” program, which closes selected blocks to traffic on some days and offers the entire roadway to pedestrians. It
boosts traffic to businesses and restaurants and gives people a safe place to connect with one another. It’s been so successful the city keeps expanding it.
Why not try the “Open Streets” concept in Albany, just one or two streets on summer weekends? It could strengthen community and offer new recreational options, especially in neighborhoods that lack green space. We all need our time in the sun.
Money problems
Gov. Kathy Hochul had planned a trip to Boston — population of New York voters: pretty much zero, give or take a few temporary residents — last week for a fundraiser hosted by a Massachusetts construction company CEO. We’re glad to say it didn’t happen.
After the Times Union’s Chris Bragg wrote a story about the campaign event, it was canceled. Whether the scrutiny made someone rethink the optics, or whether there really were “scheduling complications,” as Gov. Hochul’s campaign says, it’s a good thing. The governor’s fundraising efforts have been highly successful but more than a little unsettling, with a lot of involvement from lobbyists and people with business before the state.
The Boston CEO, John Fish, had been a major donor to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, under whose administration Mr. Fish won a big state contract even though he wasn’t the lowest bidder. Of course, contributions have no effect on policy or contracts — that’s what Mr. Cuomo’s people said. So do Gov. Hochul’s people. But it’s hard to believe you’re here to clean up the system when you keep on working the system like your predecessors did.
Mr. Dejoy’s throwback position
Despite the Biden administration’s plan to green the government’s vehicle fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is poised to purchase 148,000 gas-powered trucks that get 8.6 mpg. Only 10 percent of the new USPS vehicles would be electric.
Postmaster General Louis Dejoy told The Washington Post he has other priorities. “I appreciate everybody’s interest in (electrification) ... but that is not my total responsibility.”
The Biden administration has pledged to end all federal purchases of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Mr. Dejoy’s failure to recognize his responsibility is one more reason he needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, 16 states (including New York) and the District of Columbia are suing the USPS to stop the purchase. Good. In the race to curb greenhouse gas emissions, we have no time to waste.