The Briefly for April 17, 2019 – The "L Project Will Take Train Service From Suck to Blow" Edition
Long before Amazon decided not to build a headquarters in Long Island City, they decided not to build at Industry City. The details came out thanks to a Freedom of Information Law request and shows just how far the developers were willing to go to become Amazon City ahead of their billion dollar rezoning request. (Gothamist)
Here's what you need to know about what's open and what's closed on Good Friday, Passover and Easter across the city. (Patch)
Here is the subway map and schedule for the L Project, which starts on April 26 and will take the trains service from suck to blow for the foreseeable future. (Gothamist)
Congratulations to the Bed-Stuy chess team for winning second place in the All-Girls National Chess Championship in Chicago last weekend. (Patch)
Squibb Bridge, the pedestrian bridge connecting Brooklyn Bridge Park and Brooklyn Heights will be demolished and rebuilt after opening in only 2013. The BQE Rehab won't interfere with the bridge, meaning work can get started faster. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
If Skynet ever becomes a reality, you can rest assured that the city's government won't play a hand in its creation. The mayor's artificial intelligence task force has met 20 times in the last year and has accomplished, as far as reporting has shown, absolutely nothing but infighting and typical government inefficiencies. Like many of the mayor's projects, there was no explicitly stated goals or scope to the work they are expected to achieve. (Curbed)
Close your eyes and picture a variety show in Bushwick. Good. Now turn up the saturation and volume past the point of being polite. If you've got a wild enough imagination, you've pictured something close to Eric Schmalenberger's Blunderland Variety Show in its seventh year. (Bushwick Daily)
Hold on to your Instagram accounts, Rosé Mansion is returning this summer. (amNY)
In "nowhere is safe" news, the Fifth Avenue Apple Store has had a supposed month-long bed bug infestation. (Gothamist)
The MTA's revamped plans for a completely new system of bus routes is still coming, but much like a city bus, it's going to arrive later than you want it to. NYC Transit plans to finalize a plan by April 2020. (QNS)
The Lyrid meteor shower will hit its peak on April 22 and 23 and will happen from the 16th to 25th. Take a look upwards at night, you may see some shooting stars. (Patch)
New Jersey politicians think congestion pricing unfairly targets New Jerseyians. Maybe they've forgotten the point of congestion pricing is first and foremost to reduce the number of cars driving into Manhattan. (NY Times)
Buckets Of Xanax, no really we're talking about literal hundreds of thousands of pills in buckets, were seized in a dark web raid that was using Manhattan businesses as return addresses. (Patch)
SPIN's new ping pong lounge launches next week. The ping pong is free, but how's the food? (Time Out)
The mayor, unlike some other politicians, has already released his 2018 taxes. Nothing terribly exciting, but he gets credit for doing it. (Politico)
Jumaane Williams, who is both the city's public advocate and also captain obvious, said that the Hudson Yards is "not for a majority of this city." (amNY)
The state's legislature is pushing forward with a bill that would ban religious exemptions for the measles-vaccine for any child attending schools in New York state. Rockland County's outbreak has infected 186 and Brooklyn's has infected 259. The World Health Organization labeled measles as one of the 10 largest threats to global health in 2019. (Downtown Express)
An interview with Dr. Jan Kaminsky, Director of Education at Rainbow Health Consulting, and is also developing a National LGBTQ+ Nurses Association. (Gothamist)
The best bars in Soho and Nolita. (The Infatuation)
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