The Briefly for December 9, 2019 – The "Amazon Comes Crawling Back" Edition
The only late-night disruptions on the subways this week are on the 4, 6, D, E, J, and Q trains. Read up before you head out. (Subway Weekender)
Does rezoning lead to gentrification? A study looking at two rezonings during the Bloomberg administration in Park Slope and the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront shows the populations of black and Latino residents dropped by the thousands while the overall population of the neighborhoods grew. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist)
With the results of that study, there is pressure on the City Council to pass legislation that would require the city to predict demographical changes before a neighborhood is rezoned. (Christian Murray for LIC Post)
Hello Amazon, look who came crawling back and is opening a new office in Hudson Yards without any taxpayer subsidies. (Caroline Spivack for Curbed)
>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is for her stance on HQ2 in Long Island City. (@AOC)
The governor and mayor, whose administrations are responsible for the failed HQ2, are still pointing fingers. Cuomo is pointing fingers at the politicians who stepped up in opposition to the deal and de Blasio is blaming Amazon for walking away. (Amy Russo for HuffPost)
The NYPD were targeting black and hispanic people for minor offenses in the subways from 2011 to 2015. That's not only according to a lawsuit, but also multiple sworn statements from NYPD officers. (Joseph Goldstein and Ashley Southall for NY Times)
The NYCHA has issued a "heat action plan," which establishes a protocol to fix and prevent heat outages. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist)
What did your street look like in the 1800s? Check it out with OldNYC's StreetView-like viewer. (Matt Coneybeare for Viewing NYC)
The top 10 secrets of Chumley’s, the Greenwich Village speakeasy from 1922. (Claire Leaden for Untapped New York)
Six Astoria restaurants with outdoor dining all year long. (Claire Leaden for We Heart Astoria)
A Park Slope substitute teacher is in trouble after telling his class of 1st graders that Santa isn't real during a class about convincing. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
It's been three years since the last gun buyback program in the city. What's the history of buyback programs and why has it been so long since the last one? (Noah Goldberg for Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
A look at the history of the Queensboro Bridge. (Lannyl Stephens for GVSHP)
Are the governor and mayor's strategies to help the city's homeless working? The answer is somewhere between the data collected is "vague" and completely inconclusive. (Mirela Iverac for Gothamist)
Congressperson Max Rose is trying to save the Staten Island Yankees from obvilion. Part of MLB's reasoning for announcing the elimination of the team is unacceptable time travel for teams and players not receiving a fare wage for their services. (Jaime DeJesus for The Brooklyn Home Reporter)
The list of restaurants ordered closed is back this week with a new entry into the 100+ point violation club. (Adam Nichols for Patch)
Why is Mike Bloomberg lying that no one asked him about stop-and-frisk until now? (Amy Russo for HuffPost)
The best holiday markets in NYC. (Ameena Walker for Curbed)
31 literary icons of Greenwich Village. (Andrew Berman for 6sqft)
If you don't like the idea of SantaCon you're really not gonna like the idea of Fireball whiskey sponsored SantaCon party yachts. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist)
Are you a bus? (Vincent Barone for amNewYork)
Congrats Tribeca, you beat 90210 as the nation's most expensive zip code. (Kathleen Culliton for amNewYork)
Lucky Lee’s, which claimed to have "clean" Chinese food, is closed a year after it opened. (Serena Dai)
Forget the best. Here are the worst dishes of 2019. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)