The Briefly for January 2, 2020 – The "De Blasio Argues $30 Pizza, Not the $51 Billion MTA Plan" Edition
Today - Low: 40˚ High: 47˚
Possible light rain overnight.
Photos: Times Square celebrates the coming of a new decade. (Jen Chung for Gothamist) Why does anyone camp out all day in Times Square to watch the ball drop? Here are some answers. (Jen Chung, who got the Times Square assignment, for Gothamist) Photos: Cleaning up Times Square. (Ben Yakas, Gretchen Robinette for Gothamist) A full 2020 calendar of meteor showers, supermoons and lunar events you can see from the city. (Adam Nichols for Patch) Welcome to Little Aidan Zobnin and Anthony Saraceno Jr., New York City's midnight babies for 2020. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork) Election Day. When is the NYC Marathon? When does the U.S. Open start? Comic Con is what days? A look ahead at major events in the city for 2020. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork) Five laws that will hit the city in 2020: the plastic bag ban, $15 minimum wage for all, cash bail, the end of pot testing, and pre-registering to vote for teens. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) More new laws coming this year: Discovery reform and the end of "blindfold laws," insurance companies will be required to cover in vitro-fertilization and adoptees can access their birth certificates after turning 18. (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) "Another Tech Guy Tries to Disrupt Food Space" and other predicted 2020 headlines from Eater's peanut gallery. (Eater) Clamoring for more holiday cheer? A list of the best holiday pop-up bars in NYC. Most are open this weekend. (Bao Ong with Collier Sutter for Time Out) Is one of your 2020 resolutions to get more civically involved? Here's how to join your community board. (Curbed) Mayor de Blasio has the opportunity to directly influence the MTA's $51 billion capital plan for 2020-2024, but he is declining to be directly involved. Everyone else with appointment power for the review board has named themselves at the governor's request. Thanks for stepping up and representing the city Mr. Mayor. (Dana Rubenstein for Politico) The mayor doesn't want to get involved in the MTA's capital plan, he'll get involved in trying to shame Domino's for selling $30 pizzas in Times Square on New Year's Eve. The mayor, never one to have a connection with the city he's supposed to be in charge of, seems to forget that most pizzas in Times Square, albeit not from Domino's, costs around $30. (Lee Moran for HuffPost) An illustrated tribute to Tom's Diner in Prospect Heights. (Jessica Olien for NY Times) Even the MTA has begun using the nickname Train Daddy for President Andy Byford. (@nyctsubway) Photos: The 2020 Coney Island New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunge. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan) Video: Take a walk from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Chinatown with a 360° view. (ActionKid) Sometimes the performer on the subway is playing the didgeridoo, sometimes it's the equivalent of a punk rock music festival. (The Villager) Elon Musk spent last week being a genius inventor on Twitter, coming up with the idea... for the subway. What a genius! Traveling underground! (Dave Colon for Streetsblog) Video: How much wind is too much? Watch a wind turbine in Co-op City fall apart under heavy winds. (Ed García Conde for Welcome2TheBronx) It took a death, but the Department of Buildings is doubling the size of their facade inspection team from 12 to 24. Every building in the city over six stories has to undergo a physical inspection. That still seems like it isn't enough. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist) The NYPD's Michael J. Reynolds, a white man, traveled to Nashville for a bachelor party and ended up kicking in a black woman's door while drunk, threatening her and her sons with a racist slur and violence. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years' probation. There's a petition signed by 10,000 people calling for his firing, but he's still an officer. As a reminder, it took five years for Daniel Pantaleo to be fired. (Ed Shanahan for NY Times) Northeast Queens' biggest stories to watch in 2020. (Jenna Bagcal for QNS) Nightmare: A 36-year-old fell 15 feet off the roof of a building on Mott Street and was trapped between two buildings. She was rescued from between the buildings and her name has not been released. (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) Prohibition Bakery, the boozy bakery in the basement of Subject Bar on Suffolk St, closed on Christmas Day. It's a different story than most closings, instead of rent it was "an enormous drain of time and energy, and frankly had stopped bringing me any real happiness." (Stacie Joy for EV Grieve) Having defeated Airbnb, the Hotels Trade Council is happy to accept its role as a political heavyweight. It's the latest focus is to convince the City Council to require hotels to acquire a special permit to essentially ban the construction of new hotels. (J. David Goodman for NY Times) Republican State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolbys wrote an op-ed urging New Yorkers not to drink and drive. He was arrested on New Year's Eve after crashing his car while drunk just outside of Rochester. (NY 1) Chicken and waffles. Eggs Benedict. Meatloaf sandwich. 18 hangover-busting dishes. (Eater)