The Briefly for July 21, 2020 – The "Don't Make Me Turn This Car Around" Edition

Today - Low: 77˚ High: 89˚

Humid throughout the day.

Video: Walking through Occupy City Hall. (Action Kid) Apartment Porn: A $4 million townhouse in Windsor Terrace with an inground saltwater pool. (Valeria Ricciulli for Curbed) Reducing service, slashing the transit workforce, scrapping planned infrastructure improvements, raising tolls beyond scheduled increases, and some of the other "hard choices no matter what happens" at the MTA over the next few years with a projected $16 billion loss. (Christina Goldbaum for NY Times) The pandemic is making more New Yorkers consider buying cars. (Mark Hallum for amNewyork Metro) There's never been a better time to have contactless payment on the subways. OMNY is available throughout the Bronx. (Ed García Conde for Welcome2TheBronx) It feels like we haven't heard anything about subway closures for construction in forever, but here we are. The F line's Rutgers Tube, which connects Brooklyn and Manhattan, will close nights and weekends starting in August through the spring to finish Hurricane Sandy repairs and fortification. (Matt Troutman for Patch) Governor Cuomo is going full-on "don't make me turn this car around" when it comes to bar and restaurant openings. (Alan Sytsma for Grub Street) Mayor de Blasio saw the video of a homeless man being punched in the face by an NYPD and decided that everyone and no one is to blame for the situation continuing his longstanding tradition of never taking a stand on anything and upsetting everyone on every side of every situation. A true ally to nobody. (Rosa Goldensohn for The City) Pulling the enforcement of the city's Open Streets away from the NYPD and asking community partners to take over was supposed to make things easier. Now, the NYPD are harassing volunteers. (Dave Colon for Streetsblog) Apparently asking that the NYPD stop beating and killing New Yorkers is too much to ask if you're NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. (Joe Jurado for The Root)

"The NYPD demands accountability from everyone but themselves. The Department refuses to require personnel to attend virtual misconduct hearings or provide body camera footage to investigators. Officers without masks beat masked demonstrators on video, after weeks of sometimes-violent mask-wearing enforcement, then insisted that more cops were essential for public safety."

- Maryanne Kaishian, senior policy counsel at Brooklyn Defender Services, Cops continue misinformation campaign to smear policies they don’t like for Brooklyn Eagle

The widely cited and incorrect talking point of a politician who is trying to convince their constituents that using tax dollars to pay for a sports stadium is beneficial for the neighborhood. The Yankees received $1.186 billion in public money and tax breaks to build their new stadium in 2009. Eleven years later, the Yankees pay no property taxes on an estimated $5 billion of city-owned land, the Bronx will not see any baseball fans in 2020, and the neighborhood surrounding Yankee stadium is economically dying, with the average merchant behind on rent to the tune of $60,000. This year, the Yankees signed pitched Gerrit Cole for $324 million. (Patrick McGeehan for NY Times) Deep in the city's budget is 4.1 million dedicated to supporting people involved in the sex trade, but what does that even mean? (Zijia Song for Bedford + Bowery) An interview with Brian Nagy, an NYC teacher in the school system's remote teaching pilot program that says remote learning may, in some form, be here to stay. (Gabrielle Birkner for Chalkbeat) What to expect in phase four. (Nicholas Loud for Untapped New York) The FDNY had to save two people whose inflatable swan drifted into the East River and began sinking. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork Metro) RIP Jerry Wolkoff, the man best known as the developer that demolished 5Pointz. (Christian Murray for Queens Post) The 7 best hikes near New York City. (Rebecca Fishbein for 6sqft) RIP Nina Kapur, CBS2 reporter who died after a moped crash in Manhattan. (Emily Davenport for amNewYork Metro) Interview: Michael Zapata, the new owner of Ample Hills on why a guy who manufactures precision lasers in Oregon just bought an ice cream company in Brooklyn. (Joshua David Stein for Grub Street) Apartment Porn: A $3.5 million townhouse with an "enchanted garden" backyard, six fireplaces, and private parking. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft) Sheldon Silver, the former New York State Assembly speaker, is going to prison for 78 months after being convicted on corruption charges. (Benjamin Weiser and Jesse McKinley for NY Times) Why the hell does Domino Park, a public space, have private security guards posted at its entrances? (Ben Weiss for Greenpointers) Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants are ending their move towards no-tipping policies. Meyer believes tipping contributes to inequitable pay, wage instability, and other problems. He says he's ending the policies because "guests want to tip generously right now." That's extending a lot of trust, considering it's not his income he's making policies about. (Julia Moskin for NY Times) The president is threatening to send federal agents to the city to "keep this city safe." We have heard some awful ideas this year, each dumber than the last, but I can't ever imagine this ending well. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) The William Vale's pool is now open to the public with the price tag starting at a hefty $75 for a few hours and going up to $500 for two people. (Collier Sutter for Time Out) Check out this wonderful pen and ink cityscape from artist Kaylie Fairclough. (Matt Coneybeare for Viewing NYC) A call for Mayor de Blasio to shut off the lights so the city can see the comet Neowise. (Jen Carlson for Gothamist) Wait times for results for Covid-19 tests across the city are slipping. The free tests available at the city's publicly run hospital network are beyond the advertised 3-5 days and are drifting towards the two-week territory. (Anastassia Gliadkovskaya for The City) Attention mallrats: Indoor malls are still closed. (Jeanine Ramirez for NY1) A deeper look at the temporary hospital that was built at U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which cost $52 and treated 79 patients. (Brian M. Rosenthal for NY Times) Where to eat dim sum outdoors in Chinatown. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)