4 ms·

NYC's Upset Election Was Drawn Along an Odd Line: Car Ownership

34 points by rntn 1y ago

aadhavans 1y ago
Interesting news, but the source seems blatantly partisan.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  A decade+ ago they used to be proper automotive journalists. IDK if they sold out or there was a change in management but now they just write really shallow "radio DJ analysis of trending stuff" type content that seems designed to appeal to the terminally online segment of the market for automotive journalism.
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Isn't this the same trend for almost all journalism?
    - potato3732842 1y ago
      Jalopnik greatly exceeded the level of garbage that was normal for the automotive niche at any given point in time. They had some good years early on but at some point there was a hard cut from that to "I can't tell if they're trying to satirize Reddit or if the journalists actually believes their own bullshit" content.
      - kotaKat 1y ago
        I argue it was about the time the GMG was recognized that quality took a major quality blow. Then it got dumped out from there and split out along with Gizmodo and the other blogs and their quality equally suffered.
  - nonameiguess 1y ago
    Jalopnik's ownership history is as spotted and confusing as any web media brand out there. It was part of the Gizmodo group for years, which was bought by private equity and split into separate themed components merged with other media holding companies bought by the same private equity. Four months ago it was sold to something called Static Media, yet another media holding company that I've never heard of, but given the about us page showing a whole lot of VPs and C-suites who look about 25 or so, I'm not sure I would expect this one to last any longer than all the previous owners.
    - well_actulily 1y ago
      Notably the litigation-induced bankruptcy of Gawker Media (of which Jalopnik was a part) in 2016 is the reason why Jalopnik wound up owned by these private equity groups. Most of these publications are shells of their former selves, but I suppose it could be argued that a lot of written media has gone that way—Gawker-associated and otherwise.
- amanaplanacanal 1y ago
  Not sure what you mean by partisan. This was the Democratic primary.
  - lukeschlather 1y ago
    Mamdani is a member of the DSA. I'm not sure whether they were suggesting bias toward the DSA or the Democrats.
- 1970-01-01 1y ago
  Jalopnik began their slow slide into the shit-tier of automotive journalism about 10 years ago. AI will have their jobs.
- add-sub-mul-div 1y ago
  "Partisanship" doesn't mean the same thing in this era where one party is run by a reality show personality. It's barely even politics to side by default with the adults.
esalman 1y ago
Correlation is not causation bla bla bla...
freejazz 1y ago
Not a huge surprise to anyone who lives in this city when so much of daily aggravation comes down to road use, either as a driver or a pedestrian. Cuomo also ran an anti-bike campaign while Zohran ran the opposite.
- Eric_WVGG 1y ago
  Not just an “anti-bike campaign.” Cuomo fought bike infrastructure — and subway infrastructure, and basically all the needs of the city — for his entire tenure as governor. Growing up in the Rockies, I put together the power dynamics between large numbers of rural counties and then a single urban county a long time ago, but was still surprised to see it functioning out East. I got to New York City, witnessed the deteriorating subway, see four lane one-way avenues with no bike lanes, and wondered where the hell all that tax money we're paying goes. Then I go upstate and see all these empty — but immaculately paved — freeways, and it all kind of comes together. It's wild that Cuomo, who is personally responsible for making sure that as little NYC money actually gets spent in NYC as possibly, had the chutzpah to think he'd be welcome running this place.
  - freejazz 1y ago
    Yeah, he can F right off as far as I'm concerned. Not sure I'd lament the bike infrastructure (I don't think it's the problem and I hate riding in the bike lanes, they're full of idiots) and the state of the subway (I take it every day and its generally fine) but yeah. Cuomo is nuts.
    - tombert 1y ago
      I would love the bike infrastructure if people (mostly cops) didn't act like it's just extra parking space. I'll be biking on it for awhile and enjoying myself, just to have to dodge a because some asshole cop refused to walk an extra forty feet.
      - freejazz 1y ago
        Eh it's mostly the oblivious citibikers and delivery riders that get me. I like riding with the cars, you can flow at a smooth 20-25mph without the fear that a salmoning deliverista is going to round a corner head-first into you.
cuuupid 1y ago
I think we are inferring causation from correlation, but anyways cars are a really divisive and polarizing issue in NYC. Many who can afford it are addicted to the comfort of cars vs the bus or subway, especially in summer. Meanwhile those who can't really have no need for cars and so never even learn to drive, exponentiated by college students and fresh transplants. Many of this group hate cars or are even afraid of them. Neither group will ever be able to convince the other - comfort and fear have incredible staying power and are large drivers of political inertia.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  I saw it mostly as "poor people voted for the socialist" which isn't surprising. If you include young people, then that isn't surprising either.
  - peakay 1y ago
    poor people voted for cuomo
  - Analemma_ 1y ago
    Literal Wall Street went 3:1 for Mamdani [0]. [0]: https://64.media.tumblr.com/4401d342f92344aa47da9469abd397ca/235a305e43df32db-16/s1280x1920/eaa41d64dfcf4c15639279e3f8bd43cc5bf2cfff.pnj https://64.media.tumblr.com/4401d342f92344aa47da9469abd397ca...
    - freejazz 1y ago
      Lol that's more likely dimes square, bankers don't really live in Fidi for the most part.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  - dml2135 1y ago
    I'm not sure where you are getting this from -- many of the poorer areas of the city, such as the Bronx, went to Cuomo.
kemayo 1y ago
Not sure that's really "odd", given that NYC is a city where car ownership is an extreme class / living-situation signifier.
- crazygringo 1y ago
  Just to be clear, it's extreme in the sense that owning a car means you are more likely to have less money. If you live in a house out in Queens and work as a plumber then you definitely have a car. If you live in Manhattan or Brooklyn and work for an investment bank you probably don't. Having a car in the city can be a real pain. A lot really depends on your lifestyle, if you need one -- like if you go rock climbing every weekend, you do. If you're into restaurants and clubs, you definitely don't.
avoutos 1y ago
To me the correlation doesn't actually seem that high when I look at the two maps.
- ars 1y ago
  Same here, the correlation is not high at all. I think this would require individual level polling to get this data, blurring the data by district fuzzes things too much.
jjk166 1y ago
I imagine any other proxy for population density would probably produce a very similar map.
bko 1y ago
For an article arguing the election broke on car ownership as a defining line, I would imagine there was a statistic like: n% of car owners voted for candidate A m% of non-car owners voted for candidate B It doesn't even bother explaining the different neighborhoods and car ownership in those neighborhoods. It just shows a map and basically says "trust me". It's an entire article written on a single tweet. I'm sorry, but this is really a garbage article
anonymousiam 1y ago
Maybe this has something to do with the "Congestion Pricing" NYC has been experimenting with. https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-03612 https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-03612
aaron695 1y ago
[dead]
tj-teej 1y ago
Reminds me of a joke: Bill: "I used to think Correlation implied Causation, but I took a statistics class and I now know that's not true" Bob: "Oh wow, sounds like that class helped!" Bill": "..maybe!"
- evanb 1y ago
  I first heard this joke in https://xkcd.com/552/ https://xkcd.com/552/
mateo411 1y ago
Sure, I think it is an odd line. In this case car ownership is a proxy for geography. You could probably find some other interesting proxy variables for geography, that could be used to write 500 word articles. A proxy variable that is in interesting from a monetary perspective could be something that you could use for contextual advertising. I saw four our five car ads when I skimmed the article.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- cyberge99 1y ago
  Jalopnik is a car themed website.
  - mateo411 1y ago
    That makes a lot of sense. Jalopy is a term for a car that isn't in very good shape. I suspect that's why they chose the name Jalopnik.
joeyagreco 1y ago
> an odd line the guy who ran on making public transportation free... is more popular with people that take public transportation...

34 points by rntn 1y ago

aadhavans 1y ago

Interesting news, but the source seems blatantly partisan.

potato3732842 1y ago
A decade+ ago they used to be proper automotive journalists. IDK if they sold out or there was a change in management but now they just write really shallow "radio DJ analysis of trending stuff" type content that seems designed to appeal to the terminally online segment of the market for automotive journalism.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Isn't this the same trend for almost all journalism?
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    Jalopnik greatly exceeded the level of garbage that was normal for the automotive niche at any given point in time. They had some good years early on but at some point there was a hard cut from that to "I can't tell if they're trying to satirize Reddit or if the journalists actually believes their own bullshit" content.
    - kotaKat 1y ago
      I argue it was about the time the GMG was recognized that quality took a major quality blow. Then it got dumped out from there and split out along with Gizmodo and the other blogs and their quality equally suffered.
- nonameiguess 1y ago
  Jalopnik's ownership history is as spotted and confusing as any web media brand out there. It was part of the Gizmodo group for years, which was bought by private equity and split into separate themed components merged with other media holding companies bought by the same private equity. Four months ago it was sold to something called Static Media, yet another media holding company that I've never heard of, but given the about us page showing a whole lot of VPs and C-suites who look about 25 or so, I'm not sure I would expect this one to last any longer than all the previous owners.
  - well_actulily 1y ago
    Notably the litigation-induced bankruptcy of Gawker Media (of which Jalopnik was a part) in 2016 is the reason why Jalopnik wound up owned by these private equity groups. Most of these publications are shells of their former selves, but I suppose it could be argued that a lot of written media has gone that way—Gawker-associated and otherwise.
amanaplanacanal 1y ago
Not sure what you mean by partisan. This was the Democratic primary.
- lukeschlather 1y ago
  Mamdani is a member of the DSA. I'm not sure whether they were suggesting bias toward the DSA or the Democrats.
1970-01-01 1y ago
Jalopnik began their slow slide into the shit-tier of automotive journalism about 10 years ago. AI will have their jobs.
add-sub-mul-div 1y ago
"Partisanship" doesn't mean the same thing in this era where one party is run by a reality show personality. It's barely even politics to side by default with the adults.

esalman 1y ago

Correlation is not causation bla bla bla...

freejazz 1y ago

Not a huge surprise to anyone who lives in this city when so much of daily aggravation comes down to road use, either as a driver or a pedestrian. Cuomo also ran an anti-bike campaign while Zohran ran the opposite.

Eric_WVGG 1y ago
Not just an “anti-bike campaign.” Cuomo fought bike infrastructure — and subway infrastructure, and basically all the needs of the city — for his entire tenure as governor. Growing up in the Rockies, I put together the power dynamics between large numbers of rural counties and then a single urban county a long time ago, but was still surprised to see it functioning out East. I got to New York City, witnessed the deteriorating subway, see four lane one-way avenues with no bike lanes, and wondered where the hell all that tax money we're paying goes. Then I go upstate and see all these empty — but immaculately paved — freeways, and it all kind of comes together. It's wild that Cuomo, who is personally responsible for making sure that as little NYC money actually gets spent in NYC as possibly, had the chutzpah to think he'd be welcome running this place.
- freejazz 1y ago
  Yeah, he can F right off as far as I'm concerned. Not sure I'd lament the bike infrastructure (I don't think it's the problem and I hate riding in the bike lanes, they're full of idiots) and the state of the subway (I take it every day and its generally fine) but yeah. Cuomo is nuts.
  - tombert 1y ago
    I would love the bike infrastructure if people (mostly cops) didn't act like it's just extra parking space. I'll be biking on it for awhile and enjoying myself, just to have to dodge a because some asshole cop refused to walk an extra forty feet.
    - freejazz 1y ago
      Eh it's mostly the oblivious citibikers and delivery riders that get me. I like riding with the cars, you can flow at a smooth 20-25mph without the fear that a salmoning deliverista is going to round a corner head-first into you.

cuuupid 1y ago

I think we are inferring causation from correlation, but anyways cars are a really divisive and polarizing issue in NYC. Many who can afford it are addicted to the comfort of cars vs the bus or subway, especially in summer. Meanwhile those who can't really have no need for cars and so never even learn to drive, exponentiated by college students and fresh transplants. Many of this group hate cars or are even afraid of them. Neither group will ever be able to convince the other - comfort and fear have incredible staying power and are large drivers of political inertia.

SoftTalker 1y ago
I saw it mostly as "poor people voted for the socialist" which isn't surprising. If you include young people, then that isn't surprising either.
- peakay 1y ago
  poor people voted for cuomo
- Analemma_ 1y ago
  Literal Wall Street went 3:1 for Mamdani [0]. [0]: https://64.media.tumblr.com/4401d342f92344aa47da9469abd397ca/235a305e43df32db-16/s1280x1920/eaa41d64dfcf4c15639279e3f8bd43cc5bf2cfff.pnj https://64.media.tumblr.com/4401d342f92344aa47da9469abd397ca...
  - freejazz 1y ago
    Lol that's more likely dimes square, bankers don't really live in Fidi for the most part.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- dml2135 1y ago
  I'm not sure where you are getting this from -- many of the poorer areas of the city, such as the Bronx, went to Cuomo.

kemayo 1y ago

Not sure that's really "odd", given that NYC is a city where car ownership is an extreme class / living-situation signifier.

crazygringo 1y ago
Just to be clear, it's extreme in the sense that owning a car means you are more likely to have less money. If you live in a house out in Queens and work as a plumber then you definitely have a car. If you live in Manhattan or Brooklyn and work for an investment bank you probably don't. Having a car in the city can be a real pain. A lot really depends on your lifestyle, if you need one -- like if you go rock climbing every weekend, you do. If you're into restaurants and clubs, you definitely don't.

avoutos 1y ago

To me the correlation doesn't actually seem that high when I look at the two maps.

ars 1y ago
Same here, the correlation is not high at all. I think this would require individual level polling to get this data, blurring the data by district fuzzes things too much.

jjk166 1y ago

I imagine any other proxy for population density would probably produce a very similar map.

bko 1y ago

For an article arguing the election broke on car ownership as a defining line, I would imagine there was a statistic like: n% of car owners voted for candidate A m% of non-car owners voted for candidate B It doesn't even bother explaining the different neighborhoods and car ownership in those neighborhoods. It just shows a map and basically says "trust me". It's an entire article written on a single tweet. I'm sorry, but this is really a garbage article

anonymousiam 1y ago

Maybe this has something to do with the "Congestion Pricing" NYC has been experimenting with. https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-03612 https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-03612

aaron695 1y ago

[dead]

tj-teej 1y ago

Reminds me of a joke: Bill: "I used to think Correlation implied Causation, but I took a statistics class and I now know that's not true" Bob: "Oh wow, sounds like that class helped!" Bill": "..maybe!"

evanb 1y ago
I first heard this joke in https://xkcd.com/552/ https://xkcd.com/552/

mateo411 1y ago

Sure, I think it is an odd line. In this case car ownership is a proxy for geography. You could probably find some other interesting proxy variables for geography, that could be used to write 500 word articles. A proxy variable that is in interesting from a monetary perspective could be something that you could use for contextual advertising. I saw four our five car ads when I skimmed the article.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
cyberge99 1y ago
Jalopnik is a car themed website.
- mateo411 1y ago
  That makes a lot of sense. Jalopy is a term for a car that isn't in very good shape. I suspect that's why they chose the name Jalopnik.

joeyagreco 1y ago

> an odd line the guy who ran on making public transportation free... is more popular with people that take public transportation...