The Briefly for July 8, 2020 – The "Manhattan is the Actual Worst (at Socially Distancing)" Edition
Today - Low: 74˚ High: 84˚
Rain in the evening.
A complete NYC horror movie in only 28 seconds. (/u/NewYorkShenanigans) Dog runs have reopened. (Angi Gonzalez for NY1) Who's the worst at socially distancing? We're looking at you, Manhattan! (Luke Fortney for Eater) The city's absentee ballots, by the numbers. (Emily Ngo for NY1) Absentee ballots will begin to be counted in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn today (Staten Island started their count on Monday), and everyone is getting ready to challenge votes like it's the 2000 election and we're in Florida. (Claudia Irizarry Aponte for The City) There is no official count of New York children who have lost a parent or caregiver to the virus — and even less idea of how the city will help support the likely hundreds or more kids who have suddenly suffered a life-altering loss. (Rosa Goldensohn for The City) A look at the data of how the federal government's Payroll Protection Program's loans were distributed. The top three zip codes for loan approval were in Greenpoint, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork Metro) The International Culinary Center and the Institute of Culinary Education will be merging. Calling it a "merger" may be generous, the ICE has no plans of expansion and announced nothing when it comes to ICC's faculty. The ICC is planning on closing its doors but will allow the current students to graduate before doing so. (Erika Adams for Eater) Other cities may be bouncing back from the massive amount of people filing for unemployment, but in New York City unemployment is near 20%, forcing at least a million people out of work. With jobs tied to the city's reopening and the city's reopening tied to the country's recovery, it doesn't look like the city will be bouncing back soon. (Patrick McGeehan for NY Times) These are the measures that NYC courthouses will take to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Get used to seeing thermometers everywhere. (Noah Singer for Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
The mayor pledged 100 miles of Open Streets in May, and he is now touting that New York has the most Open Street mileage of any city in the country. That seems to have led the project to prioritize raw mileage over a holistic view of how people and communities want to use their streets or any sense of what conditions it takes for an Open Street site to be successful.
-Sasha Aickin for Streetsblog, ‘Open Streets’ Isn’t Working for All of the People
A Brooklyn man was indicted for allegedly smuggling hundreds of ancient Egyptian artifacts through JFK earlier this year. This is the second-worst Indiana Jones movie ever. (NBC News New York) Summer school officially kicked off Monday, but some of the 143,000 students enrolled in the remote program have yet to start their coursework due to technical glitches. (Alex Zimmerman for Chalkbeat) City Comptroller Scott Stringer unveiled a plan to reopen the city's schools, including smaller class sizes, mandatory masks for all teachers and students in second grade or higher, realigned scheduled for remote learning, restricted movement within schools, and more. The plan also calls for at least one full-time nurse at each school in the city. (Robert Pozarycki with Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech for amNewYork Metro) The “37th Avenue Sidewalk Cafe Coalition” is calling on the city to simplify the permit process for sidewalk seating on a permanent basis. (Allie Griffin for Jackson Heights) In an attempt to close the digital divide in low-income communities of color, the city will expand its "Internet Master Plan" over the next 18 months to 600,000 more New Yorkers. The cost is $157 million, with $87 million of it is coming from the NYPD's budget. (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) The Yankees and Mets will plan two exhibition games against each other on July 18 and 19. (Joe Pantorno for amNewYork Metro) Who wants to spend two billion dollars for a baseball team that loses $50 million a year? No seriously, who wants to buy the Mets? The Steve Cohen watch continues. (Joe Pantorno for amNewYork Metro) Speaking of losing money: Ruminating on if Uber's purchase of Postmates deal is good for restaurants. One business that only loses money buying another that only loses money. What could go wrong? (Rachel Sugar for Grub Street) How Black organizers fed the Occupy City Hall protests with restaurant and homemade meals. (Luke Fortney for Eater) The MTA is adding 9,000 more digital screens to subway stations to better inform people. Sorry, typo. I meant to sell more advertising. (Mark Hallum for amNewYork Metro) Photos: The fledgling hawks in Tompkins Square Park are beginning to explore outside the park, but the family is doing extremely well. (Laura Goggin Photography) When Lambda Lounge in Harlem opens this weekend, it will become only the second Black-owned LGBTQ+ bar in New York City. (Bao Ong for Time Out) 22 places Lin-Manuel Miranda left his mark in NYC. (Hannah Nice for StreetEasy) Privately run child care centers in New York City can reopen as early as Monday, about three months after the coronavirus forced 3,000 programs to shut their doors. (Christina Veiga for Chalkbeat) City Councilmember Rory Lancman, representing central Queens, is calling on Mayor de Blasio to fire NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea for blaming the recent surge in violent crime on criminal justice and police brutality reforms. (Michael Dorgan for Jackson Heights Post) The mayor thinks that a majority of New Yorkers think more policing will mean that they're safe. A recent Sienna poll points out that only 33% of New Yorkers said they feel “more secure” when they see a police officer. Who does the mayor think he represents? (James Ramsay for Gothamist) "We have the knowledge to stop shootings; it’s unfortunate that most of our powers were taken away to stop the shootings. Knowledge is power? Well, we have the knowledge, we don’t have the power." -Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri, committing a crime by murdering an idiom while looking to place blame anywhere but the NYPD for an uptick in shootings. (Christopher Robbins for Gothamist) “Crime has been going up since 2018. This was before there were any reforms around bail or there was a release from Rikers Island.” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has his own theories. (NY1) "We’ve had violence that we haven’t seen in many years and the police strategy is to reduce crime. In the past few days, we’ve been trying to reimagine policing, by listening to the community, set up meetings with community leaders and find out what they value, their cultures, and give the community the police service they desire." Chief of Community Affairs Jeffrey Maddrey isn't here to win, he's here to make friends. (Todd Maisel for amNewYork Metro) Meet Touchy Blinky, a mobile interactive art/music/tech installation that is helping keep the East Village and the city weird. (Stacie Joy for EV Grieve) Where to eat when it might randomly rain for twenty minutes. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation) Thanks to reader Nai for today's featured photo!