The "Attempted Murder by Cheesecake" Edition
The "Attempted Murder by Cheesecake" Edition
BAM going NIMBY on bike lanes wasn't on my 2023 BINGO card.
Between the attempt to force through an anti-abortion judge to the highest court, openly flouting Democrats in Congress while pushing climate denialist policy and her prioritization of the same discriminatory actions campaigned for by the right-wing opponent she ran against, the journalists covering Hochul would do well to remember the old newsroom saying: “three is a trend.”
-Amba Guerguerian, Op-Ed: Kathy Hochul Isn’t a Mystery—She’s a Republican for the Indypendent
• Get to know Rowan Wilson, set to become the first Black person to serve as New York State's chief judge. While Wilson's record has some questionable decisions, they don't appear to be as problematic as Hector LaSalle's. A classic cock-thumb. (Jon Campbell for Gothamist)
• The Department of Sanitation is taking over highway cleanup from the Department of Transportation. Why? This is my speculation, but maybe this is connected to Sanitation workers getting paid less than highway workers. There's additional criticism of the move, as DOT jobs have long been a gateway to civil service careers for Black and brown New Yorkers. (Reuven Blau for The City)
• The state's budget is still unfinished, but there's talk that Governor Hochul's boost to the state's housing supply is out of the latest draft. The proposal aimed to boost the housing supply by 800,000 homes in the next decade. Also, gone appears to be any hope of including a law that limits rent increases and would have given tenants the right to renew their leases. (Sam Mellins for New York Focus)
• The Rent Guidelines Board is discussing rent increases, with the lowest adjustments being 5.3 percent for one-year leases and 6.6 percent for two-year leases. The highest is 8.25 percent on one-year leases and 15.75 percent on two-year leases. Why? "Landlord costs." With recent data showing nearly 40 percent of rent-stabilized households spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent, anything remotely close to what's being discussed would be outright cruel. (Mihir Zaveri for NY Times || archived version)
• The state's case against the NRA could go to trial this fall, which could lead to an independent monitor being installed to oversee its spending. A judge previously ruled that New York can't dissolve the NRA. (Samantha Max for Gothamist)
• Photos: Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, is still on the loose and eating rats in Central Park. (D Bruce Yolton for Urban Hawks)
• Congrats to Whitestone's Katherine McQuade, crowned United States of America’s Miss 2023. (Ethan Marshall for Queens Post)
• This story about an attempted doppelganger murder-by-cheesecake is wild. Viktoria Nasyrova was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree and other charges. (Bill Parry for Brooklyn Paper)
• I didn't expect BAM to go full-on NIMBY, but the headline Brooklyn Academy of Music Claims Bike Lane Proposal Poses' Serious Safety Concerns’ defies my expectations. (Julianne Cuba for Streetsblog)
• Every New York City parking garage must have a safety inspection, according to a 2021 law. Unfortunately, the law gave garages up to six years to be inspected, which didn't help prevent Tuesday's deadly collapse in Downtown Manhattan. (David Brand and Christopher Werth for Gothamist)
• Apartment Porn: $29 million Upper East Side penthouse recently featured as Kendall Roy's apartment on Succession is up for sale with 5,508 square feet, 3,500 square feet of outdoor space, a private elevator for the apartment, and much more. (Spencer Cain for East Side Feed)
• Have you been to the kissing spot? What about the good luck spot? Bad luck spot? Maybe you've noticed artist Felix Morelo's spots across the city. (Nicole Saraniero for Untapped New York)
• Mayor Adams's latest tactic to secure funding for migrants being housed in New York is to openly badmouth the Biden administration. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist)
• It's time to start killing spotted lanternflies and destroying their eggs. Ten places to find spotted lanternfly eggs. (Christina Izzo for Time Out)
• The city will pay as much as $53 million to 4,413 people held in harsh, isolated conditions at Rikers Island and Manhattan jails between 2018 to 2022, according to a settlement agreement filed in federal court. (Matt Katz for Gothamist)
• From a once-in-a-lifetime meal to drunk pizza at 3 am, ten dining experiences every New Yorker has. (Kristen Perrone for Time Out)
• This weekend kicks off the week-long Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl. (Aaron Ginsburg for 6sqft)
• Ten surprising finds at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. The Book of Bread is indeed a book and contains no actual bread. Sad. (Nicole Saraniero for Untapped New York)
• Mayor Bill de Blasio's failed 2020 presidential bid was hit with a $53,100 fine this week. (Brigid Bergin for Gothamist)
• This summer's soft serve trend is literally bananas. I mean literally in the literal sense, as Morgenstern's is launching eight experimental non-dairy soft-serve flavors that are banana based. (Nikole Rajgor for Secret NYC)
• The best bets for a satisfying bowl of wonton soup. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
Top Clicked Links from the Last Edition:
Featured Pet: Oliver!
Reaching into my archive a bit today, thanks to reader Sarah, here’s Oliver once more! I’m low on pet photos! Send your pet pics to thebriefly@gmail.com
