The Briefly for May 30, 2019 – The "I Don't Have to Talk to You" Edition

The city is getting safer, but pockets of Brooklyn are seeing spikes in violence. Is gang activity to blame? (NY Times)

“I don’t have to talk to you.” Why did Brooklyn Community Board 1 buy that $26,000 SUV? It doesn't matter, because now the story is about Community Board 1’s district manager Gerald Esposito's outburst when questioned about it at a board meeting this week. (The City)

One of the benefits of going to school at NYU is that you also get to live in one of the country's most expensive rental markets. Oh what, that's not a benefit. (Patch)

The Staten Island Wheel is the city's zombie project. Now that it's been dead for months, the city's Economic Development Corporation is meeting with a new developer to work on the 630 foot tall Ferris wheel. (6sqft)

Electric scooters are still illegal, but rent-by-the-minute mopeds have arrived in Long Island City, Astoria, and multiple Brooklyn neighborhoods. (LIC Post)

We have the mayor mayor, the night mayor, and soon we may have the bike mayor. (Streetsblog)

If you're a fan of events like The Squirrel Census, the Great Fish Count is looking for volunteers across the city. (6sqft)

Is this pole dancing rat the work of the enigmatic Zardulu? (Gothamist)

More on Zardulu. (Reply All)

In a move that seems too perfect for the nightmare dystopia the city's real estate has become, a former prison in Harlem may soon become a series of luxury apartments. (The Root)

A guide to the city's only observation decks. An easy guide because it comprises of all of them. (Curbed)

The "mechanical void" loophole has officially been closed by the city council. The short version of it was that developers were adding mechanical space in the middle of buildings to get around zoning laws to make the upper floors of their buildings as high as possible. (Curbed)

Three men were found guilty of "a sort of insurance fraud on steroids" that made them $31 million richer until they were caught. (Gothamist)

This week's commuting hell belongs to 79th St, where the MTA closed all but one exit, causing overcrowding and five trainloads of people unable to leave the station. (Gothamist)

A few weeks after City Hall transferred city-owned land in the Bronx to a developer and approved $12 million in financing for an affordable apartment complex, Mayor Bill de Blasio's political action committee received a $25,000 donation. (The City)

Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, pioneering transgender activists who were at the vanguard of the gay rights movement, will be immortalized in a monument that may be placed down the street from the Stonewall Inn. (NY Times)

Netflix's mini-series on the Central Park Five is released on Friday, and with it will bring a flood of stories about the men at the center of the controversy and how they were targeted, hated, and abused by the city they called home and more specifically Donald Trump. (NY Times)

First, it was Trader Joe's and now Whole Foods is following suit. 8 of the city's 12 Whole Foods will stop making deliveries outside of what they refer to as the "walking zone" near their stores and are pushing customers to otherwise use Amazon's 'Prime Now' app instead of visiting the store at all. (Tribeca Citizen)

Where to eat, but mostly where to avoid, at Hudson Yards. (Eater)

Governor Cuomo does not have any plans to lighten his grip on the state and just started his third term. He announced plans to run for a fourth term in office. The last governor of New York to serve four complete terms was George Clinton, New York's very first governor in 1777. (Patch)

Katz's is having a 'When Harry Met Sally' fake orgasm contest on the 30th anniversary of the film's release. If you've been training for this your whole life, this is your moment. (Eater)

40 ideas for a birthday party for an adult. Calling it an "adult birthday party" sounds like it involves pornography. (Grub Street)

Can we have one week without someone intentionally trying to sabotage the subways? (Gothamist)

Tourism is up in the city and has taken Broadway's box offices with it. 2018 was the ninth straight year of growth in the number of tourists, who make up 63% of the total 14,768,254 people attending Broadway shows, paying $1.8 billion for tickets. Other factors in Broadway's growth include longer running shows, a wider variety of shows and a higher volume of them as well. And Hamilton, which grossed $165 million in ticket sales. (NY Times)

Infinity in a Tiny Room is an art show that takes place in an apartment, and no, this is not in Bushwick. (Patch)

The best Thai restaurants in New York. (Grub Street)

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