The Briefly for August 9, 2019 – The "Our Punching Bag Mayor" Edition

This weekend's subway disruptions hit seven different subway lines. If you're planning on getting wherever you're going via the subway, double-check. (Subway Weekender)

Looking for a beach read for the weekend? This piece in the Times about how Bill de Blasio went from a progressive hopeful to Democratic a laughing stock and punching bag is a good read. (NY Times Magazine)

It's so common for businesses that close "for renovations" to never reopen that places like Boilermaker in the East Village are changing their signs to explicitly state they'll be reopening. (EV Grieve)

During the trials for the members of the SPLC designated hate group The Proud Boys for their part in starting fights following a talk from founder Gavin McInnes in Manhattan, the members of the Proud Boys claim that it was the Antifa members that posed a threat and they were simply defending themselves. (NY Times)

8 places to staycation and vacation this summer. (amNY)

When the city put a freeze on the number of cars it allowed for ride-hailing apps, drivers claimed it was unfair because of the price of leasing one of the licensed cars. Now the Taxi & Limousine Commission is investigating those leases. (Patch)

Is this the best egg salad sandwich in New York City? Gothamist believes they've found it at Bibble and Sip. (Gothamist)

Michael Collopy was hit and killed by a cyclist on the corner of 23rd and 6th earlier this week, the second pedestrian to be killed by a cyclist in 2019. 23rd and 6th is particularly dangerous, a cyclist was killed at the intersection in June and there have been multiple crashes in the last five years there. (Gothamist)

Stephen Ross, president of the company that owns Equinox, Blink Fitness, SoulCycle, and PURE Yoga and an investor in multiple popular restaurants is hosting a $100k/plate fundraiser for the president's re-election campaign, "strongly disagrees" with the president, but it's not stopping him from hosting the fundraiser anyway. (Gothamist)

Stephen Ross was "the only potential investor" in David Chang's Momofuku. Chang asked Ross to cancel the fundraiser on his podcast but didn't mention if he actually asked Ross to cancel the fundraiser personally or if he decided that mentioning it on his podcast would absolve him of the situation. (Eater)

Chang isn't the only chef doing damage control after his connection to Stephen Ross became public. Christina Tosi of Milk took investment from Ross and José Andrés opened multiple restaurants in the Hudson Yards, where Ross is his landlord. Both have issued statements to publicly distance themselves from Ross, but have not made a statement about what they intend to do moving forward. (Grub Street)

BAM commissioned Leo Villareal, Teresita Fernández and Hank Willis Thomas to create public art for its Fort Greene campus, to be completed in the next two years. (6sqft)

Photos from inside the Paley Center's Marvelous Mrs. Maisel exhibit. (Untapped Cities)

Don't be alarmed, but a venomous snake may have gotten loose from the Bronx Zoo and no one knows where it is. Not as much fun as the loose cobra from a few years ago, some signs have been posted to keep your eyes open for a "nervous" black and yellow mangrove snake. (Gothamist)

Okay, let's talk about the summer of White Claw. (Grub Street)

If you're the kind of person who loves awful experiences, you can watch this 41-minute 43-second interview between Sean Hannity and Bill de Blasio. (Gothamist)

Each generation of commerce ruins the previous generation's pillars and tenets and the slow and public death of the Sex and the City-type shopping experiences are no different. Even in this piece in the Times which bemoans when shopping "felt like art," Ginia Bellafante admits that the stores she looks back on fondly are the same stores that signaled "the beginning of SoHo's end." (NY Times)

Mayor de Blasio has taken his local ethics-violating campaign financing to his failing presidential bid, or as Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York describes him, "a walking ethical disaster." (Gothamist)

The MTA's fare hikes won't help address financial woes, due to the fare hikes outpacing increases in income for poorer New Yorkers. If fares continue to go up, but not wages, mass transit becomes less of an option for the people who need it most. (Patch)

Even hawks need some privacy while destroying a pigeon on the sidewalk. (Gothamist)

Traffic at LaGuardia was so bad last night that the nearby highways and internal roads were full of people abandoning their rides in buses, cabs, and cars to walk in an attempt to catch their flights. (Gothamist)

New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza is popular with parents amid calls for his firing, a new survey shows. Carranza has been accused of sowing racial division due to his push for racial integration of the city's school. (Patch)

19 new restaurants in NYC. (Eater)