The Briefly for August 14, 2019 – The "Hangry Squirrels Want Your Blood" Edition
Are you ready for Rat Academy? City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is hosting an event with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on August 22 for free training on safe and effective methods for rat prevention. (Facebook)
In the first year of the city's Culture Pass program, 70,000 tickets to 50 cultural institutions across the city like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Second Stage, and others were given out. Anyone with a library card is eligible for CulturePass. (amNY)
Google Maps will now show the location of Lime bikes in the city. (Curbed)
The squirrels in Battery Park are out for blood. Don't let them woo you into a false sense of security with their fluffy tails and seeming meekness. According to a new warning from city officials, they're vicious little hellbeasts who will go for your food at any cost. (Gothamist)
The city's subway stations are in pretty poor shape, but they're the worst in Queens, where 44% of the structural components are in disrepair. The good news in this is that the overall number od station with serious structural deficiencies actually fell from 2012 to 2017. (LIC Post)
The governor signed a new law into place strengthening the state's sexual harassment protections. (Gothamist)
David Chang continues his "I built my businesses on the foundation of Stephen Ross's money" apology tour, donating all of the profits his restaurants to different progressive organizations. (Eater)
An oral (and visual!) history of Winston the Wonder Dog that jumped off a roof, fell through a sunroof and seems to be doing okay. (Gothamist)
Broadway producer Ben Sprecher was arrested on Tuesday morning on child pornography charges. (Gothamist)
What does "parents buying" mean on a real estate listing? Pretty much what you might imagine it would. (StreetEasy)
An NYPD officer committed suicide on Tuesday morning, the eighth of the year. An average year sees five officers commit suicide. (NY Times)
The Off-Broadway “How I Learned to Drive” won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1998 and 23 years later the show will reunite on Broadway in 2020 with David Morse and Mary-Louise Parker reprising their original roles. (NY Times)
Snapple is spending the summer paying tribute to "Boroughs & Burbs," and the label designs are about as embarrassing as a drink designed by Bret Michaels. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
The warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan has been temporarily reassigned after the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein and the two guards guarding him have been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation into his death. (NY Times)
The Metropolitan Correctional Center historically has had issues with overcrowding, understaffing, cleanliness, and medical care. This is the same facility that experienced a multi-day heat and electricity outage during the coldest days of last winter. (Gothamist)
The new transit fare OMNY system hit its millionth fare on August 8, four times faster than planned. The MTA has no plans to roll out the system ahead of schedule and will be in all stations and buses by the end of 2020. (amNY)
The 1, 2, and 3 trains are headed for some big outages over the next two weekends as the MTA is wrapping up a rehab project. Service will be shut down between Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn. (amNY)
Today is the first day of the special "look-back" period for sexual abuse lawsuits in the state and thousands of cases are expected to be filed. The suits are being triggered by the Child Victims Act, which increased the statute of limitation for child sexual abuse from age 23 to age 55 and included this one-year "look-back" period. (amNY)
This weekend Apartment 5A: A Tribute to the Show About Nothing takes over Parasol Projects on the Bowery. It's an exhibition dedicated to all things Seinfeld in celebration of the show's 30th anniversary. (Gothamist)
Meet Jamaal Bowman, Cornerstone Academy for Social Action's principal, who is challenging Congressperson Eliot Engel for the 16th Congressional District seat in the House of Representatives. Bowman has the backing of Justice Democrats, the group who pushed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into office. (Gothamist)
The city and state are once again planning to take the federal government to court. This time it's over the final "public charge" rule, which would require immigrants seeking green cards or visas to show they are not likely to rely on certain government programs like food stamps. Without challenge, the rule would go into effect in October. (Patch)
There is only one legal hostel in New York City thanks to the city's building codes. Council members Mark Gjonaj and Margaret Chin are looking to change that with a new bill that will give hostels their own classification and a regulatory agency to look over them. (Gothamist)
Video: What's the best pastrami sandwich in the city? (Viewing NYC)
Five finalists in the Big Ideas for Small Lots architecture competition are being displayed at the Center for Architecture. The competition highlights the challenges facing a number of the city's 10,000 small and/or oddly-shaped lots and faces those challenges with unconventional developments. (Curbed)
A look back at the efforts of Jackie O and preservationists to save Grand Central Terminal from the same fate as the original Penn Station. (6sqft)
Opening arguments were heard on Tuesday in a lawsuit meant to prevent the rezoning of Inwood. The lawsuit accuses the city of failing to look at the environmental impact of the rezoning, particularly among racial lines. The rezoning was approved after three years of community protest that the rezoning continues Mayor de Blasio's selling out the city to developers. (Gothamist)
A 3.2-acre farm is opening in Brooklyn on the rooftop of the Liberty View Industrial Plaza mall in Sunset Par and operated by Brooklyn Grange. Once the space officially opens, it will be open to the public on Sundays through October. (The Brooklyn Home Reporter)
The opening of a sanitation garage may not seem like a big deal, but it is when a neighborhood's been waiting for it since 1985. Having a local garage means trash pickup times can change from evenings to mornings, which means a change in how the neighborhood looks and smells. (Kings County Politics)