The "Maybe Forcing This Was A Bad Idea?" Edition
The "Maybe Forcing This Was A Bad Idea?" Edition
The school staff vaccine mandate is back, R Kelly is guilty, the best new plant-based restaurants, a new NYC nightmare, and more
Today - Low: 56˚ High: 77˚
Rain in the afternoon and evening.
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• A federal judge ruled that the city can move forward with its vaccine mandate for educators and staff. The mandate was initially put on hold on Friday by a federal judge. As a result of the momentary pause, the deadline was extended to October 4. With this mandate getting a federal judge's approval, expect to see more mandates roll out in the coming weeks. (Eliza Shapiro and Benjamin Weiser for NY Times)
• The state's vaccine mandate for public hospital workers began on Monday with only 5,000 workers being unvaccinated. Those workers can't report to work, get paid, or get unemployment insurance while they remain unvaccinated. In anticipation of the deadline, Governor Hochul signed an executive order that would allow her to deploy the National Guard and fill vacancies with retired doctors and nurses. (Elizabeth Kim and Stephen Nessen for Gothamist)
• New York City is starting to look like the country as a whole when it comes to positive Covid-19 tests with neighborhoods like Borough Park, Charleston, and Midwood playing the parts of Florida, Tennessee, and North Dakota. The vaccine-hesitant areas are still very bad but everywhere that rational people live seem to be calming down. (Robert Pozarycki for amNewYork Metro)
• New York announced a $27 million fund for undocumented New Yorkers impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Ida who were ineligible for FEMA assistance due to immigration status. (Josefa Velasquez for The City)
• R. Kelly: Guilty on all nine counts. (Troy Closson for NY Times)
• The city moved forward in replacing Trump's name on the former Trump Golf Links with Ferry Point Links LLC, which appears to be run by Jack Brown, the CEO of CORE Community Services, a major provider of homeless services in the city under Mayor de Blasio. (Claudia Irizarry Aponte for The City)
• NYC Nightmare: A garbage truck dragged a dining shed down Sixth Avenue with someone still inside the shed. It was "only" dragged about ten feet and no one was injured but holy hell that's terrifying. (Choire Sicha for Curbed)
• What is Little Italy's Lombardi's without the pizza? Apparently, it's an Italian restaurant in Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge, even without Lombardi's serving pizza, already has more pizza places than Little Italy. (Christopher Heine for Brooklyn Magazine)
• The 12 best new plant-based restaurants. (Robin Raisfeld for Grub Street)
• The Cheesemonger Invitational, aka "The Olympics of Cheese," is hitting Brooklyn this weekend with an all you can eat and drink ticket available. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• A senior MTA bus supervisor evaded toll over $100,000 in tolls and fees spanning almost a decade by blocking his license plates. Amazingly, he was not fired but only suspended for 12 weeks. (Kevin Duggan for amNewYork Metro)
• The city's demand that municipal employees return to the office five days a week is setting up city government for a staffing crisis and accelerating brain drain after an already grueling eighteen months. As the headline puts it, maybe forcing city workers back to the office wasn't the best idea. (Caroline Spivack for Curbed)
• The Old Farmer's Almanac is predicting a cold, snowy winter for NYC. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• Who's buried in Grant's Tomb? Okay, so you know that one. Did you know that Riverside Park's Grant's Tomb wasn't the first Grant's Tomb? (Ephemeral New York)
• The best and worst of the Tony Awards (Jesse Green, Stella Bugbee, Maya Salam, Sarah Bahr, and Nancy Coleman for NY Times)
• Real Estate Lust: A $1.57 million East Village loft with original tin ceilings, Tompkins Square Park views, exposed brick, three beds, and more. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)
• NYC’s first official queer tap takeover will be held at Long Island City's The Baroness on Thursday pouring exclusively LGBTQ-owned breweries including the NYC's Dyke Beer, TALEA Beer Co, Gay Beer, and more. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• Mayor de Blasio finally visited Rikers Island on Monday, on a "sanitized" tour, where he did not interact with detainees or staff. He argued his interventions made "a real impact," despite officials calling on the federal government to take control of Rikers from NYC. This was his first visit since 2017. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• A look at how judges fueled the increase in the city's jail population. (George Joseph and Akash Mehta for New York City Focus and Gothamist)
• Something often featured in The Briefly is the question of who is allowed to use public space. It's something that comes up often in the city, where there are relatively few public recreational spaces. The latest fight over public space is St. Vartan Park in Murray Hill, adjacent to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. It's a public park but it's privately used by the St. Vartan's Preschool. The Park Department plans to open it to the public and, of course, the people who use the green space as their private area are arguing against it. (Kim Velsey for Curbed)
• The best restaurants near Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. (Liz Provencher for Thrillist)
Featured Pet: Agnes!
Check out adorable Agnes! Thanks to reader Robert for sending in this photo of Silkie Agnes. You can check out more photos at @imanichickens. Send in your pet/animal photos to thebriefly@gmail.com!
Thank you to the two generous readers who have contributed to The Briefly since the last edition.
