On a morning last week, as we paused on our bikes for the entire Otis Bike Bus to gather up, one of my eagle-eyed kids noticed the bouquet of fresh flowers.

When their question of why there were flowers resting at the corner of Shore Line Drive and Grand Street came, I didn't dodge it, although I did elide details and talk softly: The flowers were in memory of a person who had been hit by a driver. Yes, they had died. The anniversary was coming up — thus, the flowers. No, it wouldn't happen again. The city had changed some aspects of the intersection design — and on those mornings with the sun shining at such a low and blinding angle, the Bike Bus's adults would be there to make sure drivers stopped for crossing kids.

As the rest of the Bike Bus arrived and we prepared to cross, an older couple were about to use the crosswalk. I asked if they'd like to go ahead of us. We could wait. No, one of them said, they were actually hoping to cross with us.

And that's how I found myself standing in the middle of Shore Line Drive, tapping along to the music playing from my bike's Bluetooth speaker (some mornings my R.E.M.; other mornings my daughter's Zara Larsson/Olivia Rodrigo), holding a hand up to block the blinding sun, so I could stare at the waiting motorists (with another adult doing the same on the far side of the intersection) — while our crew of kids, parents, and two seniors on foot, one of them using a walker, crossed the street.

There have been a couple mornings recently with these conditions, at least one of them when I could see the moisture still condensed on the windshields. (On the recent morning with the most moisture, I recall it was a Taylor Swift song I was tapping along to as I stood in the middle of Shore Line Drive) That is the dangerous combo: sun + condensation - visibility.

Instead of just writing about why every driver in Alameda should begin these fall mornings by fully defrosting their windshields to maximize their visibility, I thought I'd make it more visual. Here's the script for The Morning Bun's first video:

Setting: Alameda, California, next to Crown Memorial Beach

Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani: "What a lovely place this is!"

Drew: "Mayor Mamdani, thank you so much for coming out to Alameda."

Mayor Mamdani: "My pleasure — and I brought you something, too."

[Mayor Mamdani hands over a brown paper bag; cut and zoom to Drew opening the bag to reveal 3 sesame bagels and 3 poppy seed bagels]

Drew: "Thanks so much — after we finish filming, the burritos are on me."

Mayor Mamdani: "Yum! But besides the bagels and the burritos we're here to talk about an important topic: wiping your windows."

[cut to the Mayor and Drew sitting in Drew's Subaru; the front windshield is fully dappled with moisture]

Mayor Mamdani: "What is this? A little subway that you have to drive all yourself? A little bus? [beat] I joke. I joke."

Drew: "Not only do you have to drive it all yourself, you have to ready it for the road all by yourself."

Mayor Mamdani: "And isn't one of the most important ways to be ready for the road being able to actually see the road?"

[cut to the Mayor and Drew trying to look out the windshield; shaking their heads]

[cut to the Mayor trying to look in the passenger side-view mirror, which is also dappled with beads of water; shaking his head]

[cut to Drew trying to look in the driver side-view mirror; shaking his head]

[zoom to finger pressing the defrost button; sound of Subaru levels of max defrost]

[cut to Mayor and Drew standing outside the car with rags wiping off the side windows]

Mayor Mamdani: "Maintaining your own little bus sure takes work — this is why I love our MTA workers — they handle it all for us — I can instead hold my coffee and my breakfast sandwich."

Drew: "Did you bring me one of those, too?"

Mayor Mamdani: "You know, I thought about it — but it didn't last the flight. [winks] Back to our work." [continues to wipe the window]

[cut back to Mayor and Drew in the car, now with the front windshield and the side windows clear]

Drew: "Thanks for your help. Now I can actually see forward."

Mayor Mamdani: "Now I can see where the track would be if this were an actual subway. I kid. I kid."

Drew: "I wish."

Mayor Mamdani: "We're joking and we're talking about this for a reason — to drive safely, you need to see."

[cut to Drew peeking into side-view mirror and slapping his hand over his eyes]

Drew: "Oww, that's blinding!"

Mayor Mamdani: "Why'd you look into the sun? You didn't strike me as a Trump type."

Drew: "Just trying to peek to the side before I drive out."

[cut to Mayor Mamdani putting on sunglasses]

Mayor Mamdani: "We've got Manhattanhenge — the sun shines at an angle like this — but when I'm walking on the sidewalk, holding my coffee, I don't have to go to all this effort to be able to safely see."

[cut to Drew putting on sunglasses]

Drew: "O.K., I did get a peek and now we're ready to roll — safely and slowly..."

Mayor Mamdani: "Great. Let's go get that burrito. I'm three hours ahead of you and hun-gar-y."

[camera zooms out to show rear seats]

Drew's son: "Aren't you going to take us to school, Dadda?!"

Drew's daughter: "If we had ridden with the Bike Bus we would have been there by now!"

Drew: "Oh, [Daughter] and [Son] I totally forgot. We were so busy filming. [pause] Uh, you're going to have to wait a few more minutes for that burrito, Mister Mayor, we have another stop to make along the way."

[cut to Mayor Mamdani handing out bagels to the office staff at Otis Elementary, with a giant smile]

[cut to Mayor Mamdani eating a super burrito, with a giant smile]

[note to production editor: please do not use B-roll footage of Drew's super burrito repeatedly dripping onto his hands and his lap]

[end with motion graphic of fingers on a wet windshield rapidly tracing out letters reading "FALL IN ALAMEDA / MEANS / WIPE YOUR WINDOWS"]