The Briefly for January 31 - February 1, 2021 – The "Indoor Dining Returns to NYC" Sunday Edition

Today - Low: 26˚ High: 29˚

Snow overnight.

Due to Monday's snow storm all Covid-19 vaccination appointments are being rescheduled, in-person classes are canceled, some food distribution and childcare programs are canceled, and the city's Code Blue emergency cold weather plan is in effect. The National Weather Service is predicting 17 inches of snow with wind gusts up to 50 mph. (John Del Signore for Gothamist) An illustrated guide to what it's like to give the Covid-19 vaccine. (Julia Rothman and Shaina Feinberg for NY Times) Raise your hand if you're surprised that white New Yorkers have received a disproportionate amount of vaccine doses. No hands? Just checking. (Sydney Pereira, Jake Dobkin, and Nsikan Akpan for Gothamist) Believe it or not, hundreds of candidates for the June primaries are still required to collect signatures in-person, creating a democratically-mandated super spreader event. The state's legislature put a bill together to lower the number of signatures required, which Governor Cuomo hasn't signed yet. (Brigid Bergin for Gothamist) Interview: Loree Sutton on running for mayor. (Ben Max for Gotham Gazette) Indoor dining will return to the city at 25% on Valentine's Day. (Tanay Warerkar for Eater) NYC Restaurant Week To Go was extended three additional weeks until February 28, overlapping past the re-opening of indoor dining. (Erika Adams for Eater) The boogeyman of NYC is "if you do that, people will leave the city." The latest person to invoke the boogeyman is Andrew Yang, saying if the city scraps its gifted programs, families will leave the city. Critics say the people with the ability to leave the city are middle-class white families and protecting the program is akin to protecting those families over others. (Elizabeth Kim for Gothamist) The City Council is one step closer to taking the NYPD out of traffic enforcement and investigating crashes, handing that off to the Department of Transportation. It's part of the Council's 12-part agenda which includes many other police reforms. (Gersh Kuntzman for Streetsblog) Included in the reform package: Ending qualified immunity for NYPD officers who commit misconduct, giving the City Commission on Human Rights the power to investigate police officers with a history of bigotry, Giving press credentialing to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services instead of the NYPD, Creating a new task force to handle mental health emergencies, and more. The reform package answers Governor Cuomo's call to submit a plan for police reform before April 1 or risk losing state funds. (Christopher Robbins and Yasmeen Khan for Gothamist) Always read the plaque. Like this one on Pearl Street marketing the site of the city's first printing press. (Nicole Saraniero for Untapped New York) If you hated the "everything is cake" memes, Double Chicken Please on the Lower East Side is selling ice cream that looks just like a hot dog. (Anna Ben Yehuda for Time Out) I felt proud of myself after making a batch of chocolate chip cookies last night. Patrick LaMarca's 4AM CANDY CO. is putting me to shame with these over the top, massive gourmet peanut butter cups available for order. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) Photos and Video: The 75th anniversary of NYC's World War II victory parade. (Abby Gweon for Untapped New York) Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez vacated 262 warrants related to prostitution charges last week, stating he's aiming to remove the negative consequences for individuals. There's a much larger conversation to be had about prostitution in New York, but I haven't seen an article that properly communicates the nuanced problems with the state's latest efforts. Please feel free to send me links to educated arguments on this. (Kevin Duggan for Brooklyn Paper) If you've ventured out to Red Hook and looked behind the (former) Fairway Market, you'll find a trolley car. Here's a brief history of how that trolley got there and how it's connected to the secret tunnel under Atlantic Ave, and the modern (failed) attempts at a Brooklyn-Queens trolley. (Brooklyn Eagle) William Pepe, the MTA employee arrested in connection to the Capitol insurrection, has been connected to the Proud Boys by the federal government. Pepe continues to be suspended without pay from the MTA. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist) Who's running for Queens borough president? Get yourself educated ahead of the June primary. (David Cruz for Gothamist) A federal judge is appointing a monitor to oversee the city's special education complaint system, since the city has failed to live up to its side of a 2007 lawsuit requiring the education department to provide services or payments to families within 35 days of receiving a hearing officer’s order. (Alex Zimmerman for Chalkbeat) Get your leases signed now, because there are some early indicators that the renter's market could be at an end. (Matt Troutman for Patch) 42 date spots with outdoor heat lamps. (Matt Tervooren for The Infatuation) Mets fans rejoice! The new owner of the Mets managed to not Mets things up when it came to the GameStop stock. There was a worry that Steve Cohen's support of Melvin Capital would require him to take funds away form the team, a very Mets situation indeed. (Joe Pantorno for amNewYork Metro) The Lunar New Year is on Friday. 7 restaurants with Lunar New Year specials. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)