The Briefly for September 18-19, 2020 – The "Two Protests Fall in Love" Friday Edition

Today - Low: 51˚ High: 69˚

Mostly cloudy throughout the day.

This weekend - Low: 50˚ High: 65˚

Human Turd Eric Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the state's attorney general into the financing of Trump properties, but only after the presidential election. (Ed Shanahan for NY Times) The latest figures has NYC's unemployment rate at 16% compared to the rest of the country's 8.4%. When the rest of the country's unemployment rate was 3.5% in February, it was 3.4% in the city. (Greg David for The City) Photos: At this point, it's anyone's guess why people are protesting outside Mayor de Blasio's home. Actually, two independent protests met outside Gracie Mansion, and like a 2020 romantic comedy, they came together over their common hatred of the mayor. (Photos by Denice Flores Almendares for Gothamist) In an almost cruel move, the mayor is still walking about laying off 22,000 city workers. (Matt Troutman for Patch) Three months after Mayor de Blasio announced that the NYPD would stop ticketing street vendors, the NYPD took to Twitter to boast about ticketing street vendors. Christine Chung for The Dity) Mayor de Blasio halted the decision to evict hundreds of homeless men from a temporary shelter in a hotel on the Upper West Side, but families had already started being moved out of other shelters to make room for them. A perfect de Blasio decision, no positive impact but plenty of repercussions. The worst of everything. (Gwynne Hogan for Gothamist) Here's what you need to know about the de Blasio caused Upper West Side homeless shelter saga. (Valeria Ricciulli for Curbed) It only took a few days after business leaders sent him a letter asking him to do exactly this, but our simp mayor is now starting to talk about how companies should be sending people back to their offices. Do not be fooled by the low "rate of infection" that city and state officials throw around. The effective reproduction rate in New York still indicates that the virus is spreading and not diminishing. (Erin Durkin for Politico) The NY Taxi Workers union shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and FDR Drive on Thursday in a protest demanding debt forgiveness for cabbies hit hard by the pandemic. (Matt Troutman for Patch) Photos: Inside Keith Haring's last apartment in NYC. (Michelle Young for Untapped New York) A firetruck t-boned an ambulance early on Thursday morning in Brooklyn, killing the man in the ambulance and injuring 12. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) Is the New York yoga studio dead? (Ted Alcorn for NY Times)

On Tuesday, I introduced a City Council bill [read it here] to clear the red tape that’s allowed for racially biased, anti-pedestrian policies. The bill will effectively decriminalize “jaywalking,” which, it should be noted, was a term invented by the auto industry to shame pedestrians.

- Costa Constantinides, Astoria's representative in City Council, Here’s Why We Should Decriminalize ‘Jaywalking’ for Streetsblog

The hopes for the Industry City rezoning hinges on the owners adding 20,000 new jobs, but even members of the service workers union that represents the current workers are losing faith in the owners. The union technically supports the rezoning, but they still haven't reached an agreement with the site's management since it opened in April of 2019. (Claudia Irizarry Aponte for The City) What's the most dangerous ride in Coney Island? It might be the ferry if the city's chosen location gets built. The city's location is in a dangerously polluted creek that also has a few unexploded bombs sitting at the bottom of it. The locals if you could imagine, arent happy with the location. (The Coney Island Blog) Remember I asked if the $50 fines on the subway for not wearing a mask? It took ONE day for someone to film two police officers not wearing masks in a subway station and being shits about it. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) Photos: A hazy NYC as the smoke from the West Coast has reached the east coast. (Collier Sutter for Time Out) North Brooklyn environmentalists and Pratt Institute have created an interactive map charting historic environmental pollution in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and adjacent neighborhoods. (Kevin Duggan for Brooklyn Paper) When SNL starts up again in October they will have a live crowd and Jim Carry will be portraying Joe Biden, Maya Rudolph will return as Kamala Harris, and Alec Baldwin will also be back for the new season. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist) Sam Moyer's Doors for Doris, built from leftover pieces of stone from around the world and cemented into doors can now be found at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza entrance to Central Park at 60th St. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) Will the Hudson Yards need a second bailout? The city's already provided $5.6 billion in tax breaks in hopes of making the money back. Sounds like a crazy idea? We already bailed it out after the 2008 crash. (Neil de Mause for Gothamist) The city is opening a new lab to process Covid-19 tests and cut down wait times as school is almost in session and indoor dining is scheduled to start at the end of the month. The hope is that the lab will eventually process 40,000 tests a day. (Joseph Goldstein for NY Times) How to get a virus test result in under 48 hours. (Emma G. Fitzsimmons for NY Times) Listen, just get a flu shot. At this point, let's get the upper hand on any illness we possibly can. (Zainab Iqbal for Bklyner) California, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada and Ohio are off the state's quarantine travel list, but Puerto Rico has been added. (Matt Troutman for Patch) Apartment Porn: Chloe Sevigny’s $3.25 million prewar Park Slope apartment overlooking Prospect Park is for sale. (Susan De Vries for Brownstoner) A yeshiva in Queens continued holding in-person classes this week after the Mayor's Office announced the school was shut down after more than a dozen students tested positive for coronavirus. Health officials returned and shut the school down a second time. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) Is the city ready for electric scooter ride-sharing? (Dan Rivoli for NY1) 7 things we still don’t know about the school year in NYC, but really should. (Reema Amin for Chalkbeat) A look into how the city's "Situation Room" for Covid-19 monitoring at schools. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist) Here are the 56 schools with positive Covid-19 cases before the school year even starts in person. (Matt Troutman for Patch) The city already delayed in-person classes once and now they're doing it again. Students will come back into classes in phases, starting with younger children first. I was told by a friend that this is the plan that the UFT suggested weeks ago but the mayor balked at. High schools will open on October 1. Always a last-second decision from this city. (Elisa Shapiro for NY Times) Some students, even if they're participating in "in-person" classes, will be logging on and actually having their classes virtually while sitting in classrooms. The high number of students that opted out of in-person classes is causing a staffing problem. All of the inconvenience and fear of sending your child to a school building with none of the benefits of them learning in a classroom! (Yoav Gonen from The City and Alex Zimmerman for Chalkbeat) The city's blended approach to education will cost an additional $32 million a week. (Reema Amin for Chalkbeat) With fall here, can we still go apple picking? (Eliane Glusac for NY Times) The governor used the figure that the MTA lost $300 million due to fare evasion a year to justify hiring 500 new NYPD officers to patrol the subways. Turns out that number is very wrong. Can we have our money back instead of these subway cops? (Jose Martinez for The City) The ultimate guide to outdoor dining. (Eater) Thanks to Sandra for today's featured photo of some turtle friends!