The Briefly for February 5, 2020 – The "Why Bother Having A Public Transit System At All?" Edition

Today - Low: 37˚ High: 44˚

Light rain in the morning and overnight.

A not completely accurate comic portrayal of New York's zoos. (@pixelatedboat) Here's the full list of Catholic clergy accused of sex abuse in NYC. (Adam Nichols for Patch) 29 things that are regular here and weird almost anywhere else. (Mary Lane for New York Cliche) Andy Byford's last day on the job for the New York Transit Authority will be February 22 and advocates are starting to get worried about the MTA's ability to move forward without him. (Mark Hallum for amNewYork Metro) The MTA is seeking proposals from ride-hailing services to help service transit deserts better by adding cars to bring people to the nearest subway stop during the hours of midnight and 5am. The details are nearly non-existent, like price and what locations would be served, but it's a start. (Jose Martinez and Trone Dowd for The City) Transit advocates are less than impressed with the MTA's potential plan to subsidize for-hire car rides. Rather than address a real issue with transit availability, the MTA is punting to cabs to fill in the gaps it created. How long until the MTA uses this as an excuse to further cut back on night and weekend service? (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) The city is working on a pilot program to bring a potential 5,000 basement apartments up to code in East New York, but at the same time they are also cracking down on illegal basement apartments elsewhere. (Kevin Sun for The Real Deal) Robert Sietsema’s top five bacon dishes across the city. (Robert Sietsema for Eater) What's the top hotel in the city? Was your pick The Lowell Hotel New York on 62nd? According to US News and Reports, it's #1. Check out the rest of the top ten. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) Renderings: Check out what the pedestrian plaza will look like outside Grand Central this summer. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft) Does a perfect carrot cake exist? Does it come from Lloyd's Carrot Cake in Riverdale? (Ed García Conde for Welcome2TheBronx) The train that lost power between Secaucus and Penn Station left New Jersey at 6pm and didn't arrive at Penn Station until 10pm for a ride that usually takes 15 minutes. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist) 17 hidden gems in Flushing. (Noah Sheidlower for Untapped New York) All hail Pizza Rat, the unofficial subway mascot. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist) New York's tourism industry is taking a hard hit from the lack of Chinese tourists around the city, representing the second-largest foreign travelers in the world. (James Barron for NY Times) The first person showing signs of coronavirus symptoms does not have coronavirus. The other two people showing symptoms have not been given a diagnosis. (Joseph Goldstein for NY Times) The Knicks fired their team president Steve Mills. Whoever takes the job for James Dolan next will either become a very wealthy person or the biggest idiot in the NBA. (Joe Pantorno for amNewYork Metro) Kids born later in the year are up to 70% more likely to be diagnosed as having a learning disability by the city's public schools according to a new data analysis from the Independent Budget Office. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) It's an inclusive sauna on wheels, and yes, it's in Bushwick. (Collier Sutter for Time Out) The NYPD isn't supposed to talk about public policy, so why are they opening their mouths about bail reform? Oh right, because they police themselves and basically feel like they can do almost anything they want. (Christopher Robbins for Gothamist) January saw a 20% drop in murder, a 24% drop in hate crimes and an 18% drop in rape, but the overall volume of crime was up 17% compared to last January. The Police Benevolent Association's Pat Lynch has decided this overall jump can be blamed on the NYPD's latest boogeyman: bail reform. With the reforms being on the books for one month, it is impossible to make a direct connection between the two. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) Incidents of slashings and stabbings in city jails surged 10.4 percent last year and physical confrontations between detainees and corrections officers rose sharply to a staggering 37 percent—and the City Council Committee on Criminal Justice is trying to find out why. (Matthew Benedetti for NY City Lens) The NYPD is phasing out its activity log memo books in favor of an iPhone app. The books have been in use since the 1800s and the new app will centralize the information and leave less room for fudging the facts. (Corey Kilgannon for NY Times) 22 go-to fast casual spots in the Financial District. (Urvija Banerji for Eater) Brooklyn Bridge Park has new a public art installation at Pier 3. The large metal hoops are called "New York Clearing" by Antony Gormley and I'm going to withhold my judgement on this until I experience it firsthand, because it's looking a little weird in the photos. (Gabe Herman amNewYork Metro) An adult tree house is coming to this luxury Lower East Side high-rise. Of course it is. (Howard Halle for Time Out) It took eight months, two closed-door sessions, and an hour of debate on the last night, but Community Board 7 on the Upper West Side has asked the city for a study curbside usage on the Upper West Side and explores the idea of paid residential parking permits. Eight months. (Eve Kessler for Streetsblog) "The usual?" 26 restaurants where you'll want to become a regular. (Hannah Albertine, Bryan Kim, & Matt Tervooren for The Infatuation)