The Briefly for November 11, 2019 – The "MTA Can't Ruin Mercury's Transit" Edition
Another Monday, another week of late night subway disruptions. This week's inconveniences hit the 2, 3, 4, 6, A, D, E, L, Q, and R trains. (Subway Weekender)
Mercury will be visibly in transit in front of the sun from 7:30am to 1pm today. It's probably easiest to see on space.com, but if you've still got your eclipse gear you can give that a try. (Time Out)
Retired Brigadier General Dr. Loree Sutton is the newest face to announce her candidacy for mayor in 2021 as a Democrat. General Sutton is the founding Commissioner for the Department of Veterans’ Services. (amNewYork)
The 28th cyclist to be murdered by someone behind the wheel of a vehicle was my friend Matthew Travis Palacios. Matt was riding his bike in the bike lane on 1st Ave at 2:30am on Saturday when a dump truck made an illegal turn, hit him and drive way, leaving him severely injured. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. I knew Matt through our involvement in local pro wrestling where he was always someone who made me feel welcome and whose star shined bright. He described pro wrestling as his lifeline. “Every night I come home and hear how someone got shot… like, what if I’m next? But with wrestling I feel like, finally, I have a shot.” RIP Matt. (Heavy)
Michael Bloomberg isn't even officially in the 2020 race and he's the most disliked candidate among Democrats. Despite that, he's already polling at 4%, higher than Mayor de Blasio ever did. (Politico)
That dislike may be earned. When Mayor de Blasio took mayorship of the city it was after his "tale of two cities" campaign which highlighted the inequality created during the Bloomberg administration. (NY Times)
Is the Montauk Cutoff Queens' High Line? It's near the Sunnyside Yards, which is supposed to be Queens' Hudson Yards. Maybe we should just let Queens be its own thing? (Forgotten New York)
It started as a thread of tweets and its ending with an investigation into Goldman Sachs by a New York regulator. For some reason, the algorithm which controls spending limits on Apple Cards, which is managed by Goldman Sachs, assigned a man a credit limit 20x that of his wife, despite her credit score being higher than his. The investigation is into gender bias. (HuffPost)
Salt Bae, the joke that won't go away, settled a lawsuit with four employees he fired over tip distribution to the tune of $230,000. (Jezebel)
Stop and Frisk, another remnant of the Bloomberg administration, was deemed unconstitutional in 2013. That hasn't stopped the NYPD, who was caught on video stopping and frisking three young men outside NYCHA buildings without justification. (Gothamist)
The MTA's surge of police officers on the subways is going swimmingly. Here's a video of NYPD officers removing a man who fell asleep on the platform waiting for an L train from the station. He wasn't arrested. (Gothamist)
Having vanquished all other crime in the city, four NYPD officers handcuffed a woman selling churros at the Broadway Junction subway station and confiscated her churros and cart. (Gothamist)
Andy Byford, president of the New York City Transit Authority, has a new nickname: Train Daddy. (Patch)
Train Daddy is bringing bus boarding platforms to 14th St to make bus service even speedier along the street. Each platform will save the time buses take to pull over and stop and also sidewalk space for pedestrians. (amNewYork)
The MTA has signed on to the Paris Climate Accord. As it is pointed out, if the MTA improved its service, it could make the biggest impact on carbon emissions is to improve its service. The city already pledged its commitment to the accord in 2017. (Curbed)
Psychology professor at Kingsborough Community College Joshua Dietz is moonlighting as Josh Neal, a white nationalist and the co-host of a podcast alongside known neo-Nazi and literal punching bag Richard Spencer. (Gothamist)
Flavors of Italy in Manhattan is one of the flavors of restaurants closed by the Health Department last week. (Patch)
23 NYCHA buildings had heat outages this weekend as temperatures flirted with 40 degrees, with the total number of tenants without heat hitting 5,500. (Patch)
The power lunch is dead, long live the new power lunch at Sweetgreen. (Eater)
The NYCHA is spending $363 million to upgrade obsolete boilers, but they won't be ready to be used until 2023. (The City)
The Charging Bull at Bowling Green is going to be moving. It's had a hell of a year between being assaulted by a banjo and having a bucket of fake blood dumped on it. The bull will be moved somewhere close to the New York Stock Exchange, maybe to be reunited with the Fearless Girl statue? (amNewYork)
Twenty-seven people were arrested this week for allegedly taking part in a massive $18 million medical insurance fraud scheme, which included bribing 911 operators, medical personnel, and police officers for the confidential information of over 60,000 motor vehicle accident victims. (Gothamist)
Did you get your flu shot? There have been 189 confirmed cases of the flu in the state last week. (Patch)
Mary Frost went to "The Deplorables," a pro-Trump Broadway charity event, so you didn't have to. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
Spikes, bolts, barriers and more of the city's hostile architecture. (NY Times)
Dandra is a new sculpture in Tribeca Park of a pair of ten-foot-tell butterfly wings was installed to bring awareness to the trans and non-gender conforming community. It's by Brazilian artist Robem Robierb, known for making Instagram-friendly art, and named for Dandra dos Santos, a trans woman murdered in Brazil in 2017. (Untapped New York)