Gothamist pointed out the coverage noted that the victim was in possession of an iPod. I hear he was wearing a sexy skirt too.
This is great. Once a week someone gets run down by reckless right hand turn drivers, and all we get is how peds are at fault. Is it illegal to drive with an iPod?
But, unlike most of the recent incidents, the driver was cited (failure to yield).
Is that the same yellow Hummer that is always parked on the sidewalk on Union Street?
Miss, and what's the penalty for failure to yield when you kill someone? 10 years? That would be a good start.
Ethan -- I think that's the Uncle Louie G's Hummer you're referring to. Google doesn't connect the driver to the chain, but that doesn't prove anything.
-smo (was boycotting ULG's until I looked at the latest price increase -- now it's too expensive to boycott)
The failure to yield ticket will hurt the driver badly if civil litigation is brought, but does not carry a significant criminal penalty (much less one that commensurate with the negligent homicide the driver committed). Why is this any different than taking a loaded gun and shooting it on a city street without looking at whom it may be pointed?
New MTA Commissioner Lee Sander's objection to the #7 extension on fiscal grounds is consistent with Sander's answer to a question I posed on a recent call in on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC radio.
When I asked his views on the reinstitution of service on Staten Island's north shore rail line, Sander raised objections, and these were fiscal, too, expressed as a concern over sustainable levels of ridership--a valid concern a generation ago, but no longer.
The north shore was once considered doomed to decline. But over the course of a generation, because of gentrification and new immigrant settlements, the north shore has rebounded, with increases in population and housing units. There's every reason to expect that with adequate communications support, rail service would over time develop ridership among people who now take surface transit--buses, cabs, private-car pickups--to and from the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George.
I suspect Sander's comment is a reaction to what he considers MTA's over-spending on capital projects under Kalikow--as well as his attempt to set a more austere tone and lower expectations.
Fortunately, Sander's view, while certainly important, is one of several that carry some weight. There's reason to expect that the state and the feds (who've already come up with some initial funding for the project) may view the reinstitution of service on Staten Island's north shore rail line more favorably.
I really liked his ice cream, but I have asked him and his family members to move his yellow hummer off the sidewalk on more than one occasion. They seemed to have no conception of how offensive and obstructive their actions where.
If this is indeed the same car, I do feel for the guy in what he must be going through, but he was not treating the neighborhood or pedestrians with respect in the way he owned or operated his vehicle. He deserves repercussions and a larger point needs to be made to prevent others from acting similarly.
Steve, I agree, a Hummer, more than any other car, is a built as a military weapon and should not be allowed for use in a "civilian" or "civil" setting. Both the user and the manufacturer should be liable and Hummers, and other vehicles that have blind spots for children, should be banned from places where children are allowed to be walking.
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