The Briefly for February 21-22, 2021 – The "Take the Tone Down" Sunday Edition

Today - Low: 30˚ High: 34˚

Clear throughout the day.

• After a group of trans leaders called on Heritage of Pride (HOP) to hand over control of New York City’s Pride festivities to Black and Brown transgender individuals, a planned meeting between the two sides was cancelled — and a bitter controversy flared up. (Tat Bellamy-Walker for Gay City News)

• Joe's Pizza, Scarr's Pizza and Uncle Mike's Hometown Pizza are NYC's favorite pizza places, according to Google Maps searches in 2020. (Anna Ben Yehuda for Time Out)

• Indoor dining will increase in capacity on Friday, February 26 from 25% to 35%. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)

• Now that he's in deep shit with state and federal investigations into how his administration hid nursing home death numbers, the state's legislature is about to strip him of his emergency powers, and public sentiment is turning against him, Governor Cuomo wants to "take the tone down." (Christopher Robbins and Gwynne Hogan for Gothamist)

• 92% of NYC restaurants were either unable to pay some or all of their rent in December. 46% were able to pay some, 45% couldn't pay any. (Matt Troutman for Patch)

• Farewell Jing Fong, Chinatown's legendary Chinatown dim sum banquet hall, open since 1972. (Jen Chung for Gothamist)

"Ghost kitchens have been meticulously engineered to be infinitely adaptable and fantastically efficient. The Wall Street Journal loves them. But what they really are is a trend that manages, triumphantly, to strip away all joy from the act of eating. They are devoid of every feature that makes restaurants great, and they are not, despite what the many, many headlines say, the true future of the restaurant industry."

-Rachel Sugar, Ghost Kitchens Will Always Be Dumb, for Grub Street

• Pete Wells goes a bit behind-the-scenes on what it's been like being a restaurant critic during a pandemic that has shattered all of our norms about eating outside (and sometimes inside) the home. It's hard to remain anonymous when your name is on your delivery order. (Pete Wells for NY Times)

• Podcast: They're more than just the front door to the Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles' home. Looking at the history of manhole covers. (Michelle Young for Untapped New York)

• Apartment Porn: Actress Sela Ward's $5.8 million Soho loft, with 14-foot ceilings, exposed brick walls, a deep soacking tub, whatever a smart toilet is, a 300-bottle wine fridge, and more. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)

• A majority of Democratic candidates running for Manhattan District Attorney are promising to end the agency’s use of software from Palantir, whose invasive surveillance software has been seen as unreliable and rife with racial justice and privacy issues. (George Joseph for Gothamist)

• Manhattan DA Cy Vance added Mark F. Pomerantz to the Donald Trump criminal investigation team. Pomerantz has a history of investigating and defending white-collar and organized crime cases. (William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich for NY Times)

• The NYPD's secret misconduct records must be made public after a judge ruled against the Police Benevolent Association and other unions. This is the 50-a shielding law that's been the focus of conversation for some time. The records have not been made public yet as Mayor de Blasio waits for clearance from the court about when the records can be released. (Greg B. Smith for The City)

• A video shows an NYPD officer repeatedly punching a man as he's held down on the ground at the South Ferry subway station during an arrest for allegedly smoking a cigarette on the platform on Tuesday. Is this what 500 more cops will look like in the subways? (David Cruz for Gothamist)

• How the NYPD's Strategic Response Group, an anti-terror squad, became the city's tool for cracking down on protests. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)

• One day after signaling his plan not to enforce basic education standards within the community's yeshivas Andrew Yang is the frontrunner for the ultra-Orthodox vote. Yang credits a month-long course on the Bible he took at a Westchester prep school as his reason for his stance. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)

• A focus on the City Council showdown in Coney Island. (Rose Adams for Kinds County Politics)

• Corey Johnson got out of the mayor's race, but now he's thinking about running for comptroller. (Jeffery C. Mays and Emma G. Fitzsimmons for NY Times)

• Podcast: Quanda Francis on her campaign for mayor. (Ben Max for Gotham Gazette)

• Maya Wiley, the former MSNBC analyst and legal counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio running for mayor, has the endorsement of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, The National Health Care Workers' Union, which also endorsed Mayor de Blasio before he was elected. (Emma G. Fitzsimmons for NY Times)

• Congratulations Brooklyn, you have the lowest vaccination rates in the city. (Jake Samieske for Brooklyn Magazine)

• Meet artist Devon Rodriguez, whose drawings of strangers on the subway is providing sparks of joy on his Instagram and TikTok accounts. (Will Gleason for Time Out)

• KAWS: WHAT PARTY is coming to the Brooklyn Museum from February 26 - September 5. (Brooklyn Street Art)

• RIP Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of the Charging Bull statue. (NY1)

• Remember the Tribeca "bean" by Anish Kapoor, the creator of the Chicago bean, on Leonard St? It's only partially built, half shiny bean, half plywood construction site. (Michael Young for New York YIMBY)

• 11 Black-owned wine shops across the city. (Hannah Albertine and Nikko Duren for The Infatuation)

• A Park Slope Food Co-Op member started a GoFundMe to raise $10,000 to sue the organization, alleging racial discrimination. (Erika Adams for Eater)

• Move over lobster, here come the crab boils. (Ellie Plass for Bklyner)

• The city will not test rising kindergarteners for admission to gifted programs, the education department announced Wednesday. Instead, students will be evaluated by their pre-K teacher or sign up for an interview. (Christina Veiga for Chalkbeat)

• Black Seed Bagels is getting into pizza, but disappointingly there are no pizza bagels on the menu. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out)

• The top 10 places to find the best pastrami in NYC. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)

• The state's plan for the 20-million-square-foot Empire Station Complex surrounding Penn Station was adopted by the board of directors of Empire State Development. The plan calls for five buildings over 1,000 feet tall, up to 1,300 feet. For reference, the Empire State building's roof is 1,250 feet tall. The project is expected to be completed by 2038. (Vanessa Londono for New York YIMBY)

• Five snacks to try across the city. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)