The Briefly for February 27, 2019 – The "Paying For The Subways With Legal Marijuana" Edition
Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio unveiled a 10-point plan for MTA reform. Reorganize the MTA, congestion pricing, fare hike caps, MTA board appointments that end with a mayor or governor's term, crack down on fare evaders, an audit, a new Regional Transit Committee, the Columbia and Cornell experts will return, expedite Andy Byford's subway action plan, and the governor and mayor will actually have to work together. That last part is the most unrealistic. (Second Avenue Sagas)
Once marijuana is legal, a portion of the taxes will go towards funding the MTA under the ten-point plan. (NY Post)
Who doesn't want another boozy Taco Bell in the city? Brooklyn Heights' community board. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
Jumaane Williams is New York City's new Public Advocate. (NY Times)
Watch Public Advocate Elect Jumaane Williams’ post-election speech. (@JumaaneWilliams)
The NY Islanders are expecting a new $1.18 billion arena for a 2021 opening, but State Senator Leroy Comrie is a member of the Public Authorities Control Board and won't allow the project to move forward unless concessions are made. We have ourselves a new Amazon-style showdown. (Gothamist)
Therese “Patricia” Okoumou, the woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty last July 4, pulled a similar stunt in Austin, TX. Federal prosecutors asked a judge to revoke her bail. (NY Post)
How much do you need to earn to think about buying a home in NYC? $105,684.33. (Patch)
New York is a baseball state. Soon it may be the law. (amNY)
After $773 million over four years, Mayor de Blasio has pulled the plug on his Renewal turnaround program, which hoped to turn around the city's 100 lowest performing schools. Unfortunately the new program looks a lot like the old one. (Chalkbeat)
If you love combined sewer overrun, this is the perfect Twitter account for you. (@combinedsewers)
The first eight months of last year, there were 934 schools in the city that had critical health code violations, the kind that would shut a restaurant down. Mice, roaches, flies, mold, and rats. (NY1)
The barnacle Citi Bike likely spent time in the Hudson River, but it's more fun to believe that the last rider was Aquaman. (Gothamist)
The only good left on the internet is the "Bag Dogs" Instagram account. (Gothamist)
File is under the city's nightmare file. A man fell down an elevator shaft from the third floor in SoHo and survived. (Gothamist)
Stop feeding the animals in city parks before the City Council makes it illegal. (amNY)
The NYPD still doesn't know who shot and killed Detective Brian Simonsen in a robbery turned friendly fire in Richmond Hill, Queens. (amNY)
Community Board 3 approved naming the Northeast Corner of 79th Street and 37th Avenue after State Senator Jose Peralta, who died unexpectedly last year. (Jackson Heights Post)
10 historical buildings in Gowanus at risk of demolition. (Untapped Cities)
The city's compost is potentially worth $22.5 million annually, but we are literally trashing it. (Patch)
State Senators Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried introduced a series of bills to decriminalize sex work in New York. As Ramos puts it "Ultimately sex work is work." (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
Where to go after you delete Tinder in frustration. (The Infatuation)
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