The Briefly for July 22, 2020 – The "$400 Million Extra in Overtime" Edition

Today - Low: 78˚ High: 88˚

Possible rain in the evening.

What to expect when you're expecting the state legislature's summer session to start soon. In focus will be nursing homes, automatic voter registration, redistricting, contract tracing privacy, and more. (Ross Barkan for Gothamist) Following the June 23 primary and election, State Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz is pushing legislation that would extend the state's relaxed absentee voting rules until January 2022, which is the earliest the state's constitution could be amended. (Norwood News) What's open, what's closed, what to eat, and what to wear (a mask). A guide to Government Island. (Scott Lynch for Gothamist) A Queens man claimed NYPD officers beat him, twice Tased him, and yanked out one of his dreadlocks, according to a federal police brutality lawsuit. (Matt Troutman for Patch) The NYPD pledged to cut overtime by $335 million in an attempt to cut its budget by $1 billion. Instead, they are predicted to overspend on overtime by $400 million by the Independent Budget Office. (Erin Durkin for Politico) Our absentee voting mess is giving the White House ammo against main-in voting. Great. (Daniel Marans for HuffPost) 12 ways to picnic in Tompkins Square Park. (Rob Patronite for Grub Street) New York Attorney General Letitia James along with 23 other Democratic attorney generals are suing the Trump administration to stop a new rule that removes non-discrimination protections against LGBTQ people when it comes to health care and health insurance, which is set to take effect in mid-August. (Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech for QNS) The latest Black Lives Matter / Blue Lives Matter protest clash happened in Marine Park in Brooklyn, but this time there were words exchanged without violence. (amNewYork Metro) Photos: The new take-out only Smorgasburg. (Scott Lynch for Gothamist) A woman was found floating in the East River on Monday night with no signs of trauma on her body. (Emily Davenport for amNewYork Metro) Jonathan Rodriguez was the second person arrested in connection with the death of Richard Hamlet, whose body was discovered wrapped in plastic atop a Bronx McDonald's last week. (Matt Troutman for Patch) If it didn't fully set in the other day, the F train will be shutting down on nights and weekends for eight months starting in August. Ruining subway reliability? Now THAT is how we start feeling normal again. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft) Is it possible that the Mets' deal with Jed Lowrie is the worst in the franchise's history? The Mets started paying him $20 million a year last year, he's made eight plate appearances, was injured for the rest of the season and is already on the injured list. (Joe Pantorno for amNewYork Metro) In an attempt to "resolve problems outside the court system," Mayor de Blasio announced a mediation project for the city to work with landlords and tenants. Renters will receive legal assistance and advice to negotiate with landlords. (Matt Troutman for Patch) After 21 years, radical bookstore, cafe, and activist center Bluestockings is looking for a new home. The bookstore is being pushed from the location by their landlord's demands for higher rent. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan) Interview: Storm King Art Center's Director of Facilities Mike Seaman on what it takes to maintain Storm King year round, keeping it a beautiful place that everyone is already tired of seeing your photos of on Instagram. (Luna Shyr for Atlas Obscura) The closing Fairway grocery stores in Red Hook and Douglaston, Queens will become Food Bazaar stores. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist) Rooftop Films is back to create a summer movie drive-in theater in Flushing Meadows Park. It started on Friday night with John Lewis: Good Trouble, which was a few hours before the news of Lewis's beath became public. (Daniel Maurer for Bedford + Bowery) Interview: Melba’s restaurant's Melba Wilson on the future of NYC restaurants. (James Ramsay for Gothamist) M.I.A. and Brik Bar in Astoria and Maspeth Pizza House in Maspeth have all had their liquor licenses revoked. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork Metro) The Brooklyn Botanical Garden will reopen on August 7. (Noah Singer for Brooklyn Eagle) Meet Street Riders NYC, the mobile protest movement with over 60,000 among its ranks. (Peter Rugh for The Indypendent) Wear your damn mask on the subway. That's the message of the MTA's Mask Force, an arm of "Operation Respect." (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) Upper East Side for Black Lives Matter has held 50 consecutive nights of vigils in Charles Schurz Park. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan) Black Tap is selling its Instagram-ready milkshakes to-go for the first time. (Bao Ong for Time Out)

I don’t know a single person who would say that the COVID-19 pandemic has been easy to get through, but as a disabled New Yorker, it came with extra challenges and stressors. Politicians talked about the importance of protecting the elderly but failed to mention disabled people as if we didn’t exist. Do you know what it’s like to be erased during a pandemic?

-Michele Kaplan, disability rights advocate, Disability and dignity in the age of COVID-19 for amNewyork Metro

From Tuesday to Saturday from 12-4 pm and 5-9 pm at Lincoln Center until August 1, Lincoln Center will be playing music in the Josie Robertson Plaza, the initiative is being called Sounds of Lincoln Center. (Mike Mishkin for I Love The Upper West Side) Riders are up on the city's buses, but speeds are down. New York City is healing herself. (Dave Colon for Streetsblog) Someone is using Republican Assemblymember and congressional candidate Nicole Malliotakis's name to talk shit about the mayor and governor on flyers in Bay Ridge. Malliotakis says someone is trying to defame her by putting up the flyers. (Jamie DeJesus for The Brooklyn Home Reporter) Councilmember Donovan Richards won the Queens borough president primary and will go on to the general election in November to likely become the first Black man elected to the office. (Clarissa Sosin for Queens County Politics) Interview: Joycelyn Taylor, candidate for NYC mayor is 2021.(Liena Zagare for Bklyner) Photos: As the summer heat cooks the city, the city is no longer just living through the pandemic, we're living with it. (Ben Fractenberg for The City) Where to eat outside in the East Village. (Hannah Albertine & Matt Tervooren for The Infatuation) Thanks to reader Zlata for today's featured photo from a recent Bowery walk!