The Briefly for August 6, 2019 – The "Absolutely Unbelievable Story of A French Bulldog" Edition
The Union Square Tech Hub, formerly the PC Richard & Son near Union Square, broke ground on Monday to cheers for new jobs and jeers that Union Square may soon resemble midtown. (amNY)
25,000 bees were removed from the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George. The NYPD's beekeeping unit relocated the hive. If you come across thousands of bees, don't spray them with anything and don't call 311, call 911. (NY Times)
Meet Winston, a French bulldog who accidentally jumped off a six-story window, smashed through the sunroof of a car below and LIVED! Winston is staying at the vet for observation but has no broken bones. (Gothamist)
Mayor de Blasio says Bernie Sanders would have won the 2016 election, does this embracing of Bernie mean the mayor is ready to stop spending his weekends in Iowa? (Politico)
The Brooklyn Navy Yard hit a milestone 10,000 jobs for the first time in half a century. While it may never see it's World War II peak of 70,000 jobs, they are expecting to see 20,000 by 2021. (amNY)
Driverless cars have arrived in NYC, but they're only inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard as shuttles, operating in a one-mile loop to and from the ferry terminal for free. (NY Times)
Which neighborhoods are the coolest in the city? Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, and the Upper West Side. Strictly speaking, in those neighborhoods, tree cover provides the most shade and absorbs the most heat, making them the "coolest." (Curbed)
The best Greek restaurants in the city. (The Infatuation)
De Blasio steps in it again. The city purchased a cluster of buildings in April for $173 million, which appraisals showed a value between $50 million and $143 million. De Blasio owns two houses in the city and the mortgages on those homes come from the brother of one of the people who sold the city the overpriced buildings. Par for the course for our failing presidential candidate of a mayor. (Curbed)
The Dogspot "pet harbors" aka "dog jails" pilot program in Brooklyn passed City Council. These are the little locking windowed air-conditioned jail cells for dogs to sit in while you go into a store. It's a step up from leaving your dog tied up and unattended like your best furry friend is a bike. (Bushwick Daily)
Meeting, James Turrell's skyspace installation at MoMA PS1 is open after having its unobstructed view of the sky marred by construction at the buildings where 5Pointz was in Long Island City. (Gothamist)
For those of the spooky persuasion, Halloween is less than 100 days away. For those inside the haunted house industry, it's already time to get to work. Take a look inside the construction of the Bane Haunted House in Chelsea. (amNY)
Eight crypts and catacombs in the city, some spooky, some scary, some tourist attractions. (Untapped Cities)
What do Prospect Heights and Central Harlem South have in common? They're the two neighborhoods with the most rats per square mile in the city. (Patch)
How cold do you want your ice cream? How about "liquid nitrogen cold?" Four Winters, a new ice cream shop in Queens, is using liquid nitrogen to create "instant ice cream." (NY Times)
It's a midtown sidewalk showdown between a business improvement district and food cart owners. Food cart owners are accusing midtown developers are accusing the BID of intentionally putting flower planters and bike racks where their carts usually stand in an attempt to get rid of them. (amNY)
Hart Island, the city's mass gravesite where over one million New Yorkers have been buried since the Civil War, operated by the Department of Corrections and inmates are paid $1 per hour to bury bodies, is finally getting a post-Hurricane Sandy restoration. Erosion has caused the shoreline to disappear and as a result, human remains were exposed. (Curbed)
Add this to your list of travel nightmare scenarios. A woman was locked underneath a Peter Pan coach bus with the luggage on a bus bound for Boston. The police arrested the Peter Pan employee that allegedly locked her in. (amNY)
Part of the deal that allowed the Atlantic Yards to be developed was that 2,250 affordable apartments would be built by 2025. At the current rate of construction, developer Greenland Forest City Partners looks like it'll be missing that deadline. (The City)
A beaver was spotted in the Hudson River, hanging out and doing beaver things. It's been a while since the city's seen wild beavers, but the beaver is the official state animal and the city was pretty much founded on the fur trade, but this little guy is safe from that. (Gothamist)
The lawsuit preventing 14th St from becoming a busway has already cost commuters an additional year's worth of delays. (amNY)
A vigil in Crown Heights became a public mass shooting when four of the people holding the vigil were shot early Monday morning. All the victims are in stable condition. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
Agrilus 9895 is a new species of beetle discovered in Green-Wood Cemetery and is a relative of a species of beetle in Europe but unique to Brooklyn. (Atlas Obscura)
Where do food industry pros go when their shifts are over? A list of late-night locations. (amNY)