The Briefly for June 23, 2020 – The "Are These NYC's Bad Old Days?" Edition

Today - Low: 73˚ High: 82˚

Possible drizzle overnight.

Here's how to vote in today's primary. (BKLYNER) Today is the primary across the city, but don't expect results so quickly this time around. Absentee ballots aren't counted until eight days past the election. We could be waiting a while. (Brigid Bergin for Gothamist) In the hall of fame of bad ideas, let me introduce you to the stacked highways all across Manhattan idea from the 1930s. (Joshua Mu for Viewing NYC) After a spike in gun violence over the weekend, the mayor said the city isn't going back to the bad old days where there was "so much violence in this city," but also "Nor are we going back to the bad old days where policing was done the wrong way." According to that statement, we are currently living in "the bad old days." (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) With phase two, the city's playgrounds have reopened. They are literally no safer than they used to be, so don't expect sanitization or regular cleanings. (Donna Duarte-Ladd for amNewYork Metro) The city formally announced that phase two would start on Monday on Thursday, giving restaurants four days to prepare and comply with a new set of regulations for outdoor dining. (Gary He for Eater) What to expect from phase two of NYC's reopening. (Nicholas Loud for Untapped New York) Here are the guidelines for reopened restaurants as a part of phase two. (Chris Crowley for Grub Street) More than 3,000 restaurants have signed up to set up outdoor dining as the city enters the second phase of its reopening. The restaurants approved will be allowed to set up tables and chairs in parking spaces and sidewalks. (Erin Durkin for Politico) The state moratorium on evictions ended over the weekend. There are advocacy groups that are estimating 50,000 - 60,000 cases could be filed in the next few days. This is the first wave of expected cases, another protection for people who were directly affected by Covid-19 expires in August. (Matthew Haag for NY Times) Hundreds of people gathered in protest to demand the eviction ban continues until the state has recovered from the Covid-19 crisis. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) An investigation is ongoing after a man fell onto the tracks and was hit and killed by the 7 train on Sunday night. (Emily Davenport for amNewYork Metro) "Back in my day, if you wanted to go to a Target, you had to go to Brooklyn, the Bronx, or New Jersey" is what very lame grandparents will tell their grandkids. Target announced it is opening stores on the Upper East and West Sides. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft) Facebook is eyeing expanding its footprint in the Hudson Yards, taking over the space that will be left vacant by Neiman Marcus's bankruptcy. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft) Photos and Video: 10,000+ riders took part in the Street Riders' Black Lives Matter Ride through Manhattan. Fun fact, more people showed up for the ride than turned out for Trump's Tulsa rally. (Amanda Hatfield, photos by Toby Tenenbaum for BrooklynVegan) Heads up: The produce at this week's farmers markets should be fantastic. (Robert Sietsema for Eater) Thanks to a loophole about how the NYPD's cars are funded, the two lawyers that are accused of tossing Molotov cocktails into empty police cars may be facing life in prison. (Beth Fertig for Gothamist) A look at the NY Post's recent history of running "copaganda" articles that share police narratives with anonymous sourcing, zero additional verification, and in contradiction of facts. (Kay Dervishi for City and State) The NYPD are known liars. Despite their crying in public about being "poisoned" by Shake Shack employees, a thorough review shows that the officers involved never displayed any symptoms of illness and the Shake Shack employees couldn't have known that the order was for NYPD officers because the order was placed online. Despite this, police unions sent out information that the officers had started throwing up and invented a narrative of Antifa employees inside Shake Shack. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist) NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea testified in defense of the police's actions against protesters during the first week of June without providing details and dodging every possible question that involved specifics and dismissed a delivery person's arrest as a "false report." (Mark Hallum for amNewYork Metro) Look around the city and you'll see iconic statues wearing face masks. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) What is usually the best party in the city every year, the Mermaid Parade, is going to be virtual and take place on August 29. (Amanda Hatfield for Brooklyn Vegan) The Inwood rezoning lawsuit, which was ruled that the de Blasio administration failed to account for the potential change in the racial makeup of the neighborhood, could forever change how the city plans neighborhoods towards something more equitable. (Caroline Spivack for Curbed) Members of Sure We Can, the city’s only nonprofit redemption center, is requesting $2.3 million from the city's budget, saying they will have to close their Bushwick location that it has occupied for ten years without it, where hundreds of canners gather each morning to sort and redeem their bottles and cans. (Emily Davenport for amNewYork Metro) Video: The surprising part of this drug bust was unrelated to the drugs, it was the chickens. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) The man who tried to escape Rikers Island on Thursday made another attempt to escape on Sunday. According to inmates at Rikers, the measures taken to combat Covid-19 have made Rikers intolerable. (JB Nicholas for Gothamist) Okay, phase two is in effect, but let's look at what phase three could mean for the city. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) 28 restaurants open for outdoor dining this week. (Eater)