The "Blood Emergency" Edition
The "Blood Emergency" Edition
The mayoral debate, renaming NYC, the best sandwiches, the end of rubber rooms for teachers, and more
Today - Low: 64˚ High: 68˚
Mostly cloudy throughout the day.
This weekend - Low: 64˚ High: 72˚
• To demonstrate how ranked choice voting works, the city is encouraging people to test it out with voting online on the best pizza topping. The best pizza topping is no pizza topping, but I digress. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist)
• "To me, Andrew Yang — he’s qualified for nothing. He couldn’t be the president of my condo board." -Fran Lebowitz. Curbed asked 20 well-known New Yorkers for their ranked choice ballots. I was surprised to see Scott Stringer on so many of them. (Willy Blackmore, Marisa Carroll, Ben Jacobs, Nia Prater, Valeria Ricciulli, Caroline Spivack, and James D. Walsh for Curbed)
• Gothamist's live blog from the mayoral debate. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist)
• 5 takeaways from the latest Democratic debate for New York mayor. (Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Dana Rubinstein for NY Times)
• The first question in the debate was "Do you believe Eric Adams live in New York City?" To fight the idea that Eric Adams lives in New Jersey, he invited the press into his basement "home." (Christopher Bonanos for Curbed)
• Speaking of mayors, is anyone surprised that billionaire Michael Bloomberg paid virtually no federal income tax from 2014 through 2018? (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• One thing all the candidates agreed on is that the city should reconsider renaming sites named for slaveowners. Stuyvesant, Lefferts, Riker, Bergen, Nostrand, Dyckman, John Jay, DeWitt Clinton, and more. Will they acknowledge and consider Christopher Colombus's slave trading? (Dana Rubenstein for NY Times)
• Photos: If you weren't up at 5:30 on Thursday morning with a clear line of sight, here are some photos of the "ring of fire" solar eclipse. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• Macy's 4th of July fireworks will return to the East River for the "biggest show yet" off the Long Island City coast. (Allie Griffin for Queens Post)
• Memorial Day has come and gone. Will last summer's fireworks nightmare return this year? (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• Remember when the BQE along the Brooklyn Promenade was falling apart? It still is. The mayor says he'll unveil a plan to temporarily fix the highway in the coming weeks, but the long-term solution is up to the next mayor. (Kevin Duggan for Brownstoner)
• Carnegie Hall will reopen on October 9 for its 2021-2022 season. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out)
• If you've ever considered adopting a dog, you've likely come across a loving and adorable pit bull that you'd want to make a part of your family but in the back of your head you knew that it would ruin your insurance bills. State Senator Mike Gianaris sponsored legislation that would stop insurance companies from hiking rates or denying people homeowners’ insurance based on the type of dog they keep. The bill passed the state senate this week. (Michael Dorgan for Queens Post)
• Custard turns 100 and is as Coney Island as the Wonder Wheel, roller coasters, and hot dogs. (Bella Druckman for Untapped Cities)
• Five NYPD officers are facing significant discipline from 2020's racial justice protests. Mission accomplished! Yikes. (Yoav Gonen for The City)
• The city said it is disbanding the Absent Teacher Reserve, which includes the city's reassignment centers, also known as Rubber Rooms, and reassigning most of them to new positions. (Jessica Gould for Gothamist)
• This American Life did a memorable episode on Rubber Rooms in 2009. In a laughable update on the episode's page, there's a note about an agreement to end rubber rooms in 2010. (This American Life)
• The Tashkent Supermarket in Brighton Beach: One of the city's greatest hot buffets. Buffets are the one thing that I missed during the pandemic. (Ryan Sutton for Eater)
• Morgenstern's Famous on Houston Street is expanding to burgers and fries with Morgenstern's Burgers, Fries, and Pies. (Scott Lynch for Gothamist)
• My landlord took days to repair a broken fridge and I lost $100 worth of groceries. Can I get reimbursed? (Austin Havens-Bowen for Brick Underground)
• Robert Sietsema chooses 11 more sandwiches that are getting us through the pandemic. They are ranked and #1 is the Potato Croquette Sando at Curry Mania. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
• Everything you need to know about eating in restaurants right now. (Rachel Sugar for Grub Street)
• The first entirely new post-pandemic Broadway production will be Paradise Square, which explores race relations in 19th century New York. Previews are set to begin on February 22. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• It's a blood emergency. The New York Blood Center is down to a three-day supply of blood and needs you to donate. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• The Foo Fighters will play the first full-capacity show at MSG on June 20. Tickets go on sale on June 11 at 10am. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan)
• The VMAs are coming back to Brooklyn and will happen with a live audience on September 12. (Andrew Sacher for Brooklyn Vegan)
• What to eat and what to avoid at Little Island. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
• Apartment Lust: A $13.75 million Riverside duplex with a private pool overlooking the Hudson, a 3,600 square foot terrace, seven bedrooms, eight and a half bathrooms, and more. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)
• Smorgasburg will be back at Prospect Park and Williamsburg this year, including new rules for their Williamsburg site like hiring vendors from marginalized communities, having a dedicated staff to clean the park on event days, fundraising for food insecurity, and reinvesting into the actual park itself. (Duncan Freeman for Brooklyn Magazine)
• Five new great breakfast tacos. (Nikko Duren for The Infatuation)
Featured Pet: Squirrel!
Today’s featured pet is from Jessica. The squirrel who stashes its nuts and seeds (and one time a whole carrot) in the flower boxes on her fire escape. Want to see your pet here? Send in your photo to thebriefly@gmail.com.