The "Mostly Empty but Most Expensive Empty Space" Edition
Texas Governor Abbott is a garbage human being, the reasons for the rats, Boka the bodega kitten is home, a $125k co-working membership, inside Grand Central's LIRR station, and more
Today - Low: 75˚ High: 93˚
Rain in the evening and overnight
• Boka, the bodega kitten stolen from Green Olives Deli & Grill, has been returned! (Kevin Duggan for Brooklyn Paper)
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott is sending buses of migrants to the city in a move that treats human beings in crisis as game pieces in a political pissing match. (Patrick Svitek for Texas Tribune w/additional reporting from Katie Honan for The City)
• Governor Abbott is exploiting the state's law that requires local governments to provide shelter to qualified people experiencing homelessness. This is in line with what you'd imagine someone would do if they hated humanity. (Arun Venugopal for Gothamist)
• Photos: Inside Grand Central Terminal's LIRR station. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• Here's a look at the plans for a new $10 billion Port Authority bus terminal, which aims to accommodate the growth of bus ridership through 2050. The current building has been there for 72 years, so 2050 seems a little short-sighted? Maybe by 2094, we won't need buses anymore? (Aaron Ginsburg for 6sqft)
• The shortage of monkeypox vaccine doses in the United States is expected to last for months. There are 1,831 cases reported in the city. (Apoorva Mandavilli for NY Times)
• The city's office vacancy rate is higher than in the 1990s, 2001, and 2008. In addition to the vacancy rates being exceptionally high, it's also the most expensive in the United States. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out)
• There's a long list of why the city has such a rat problem, and outdoor dining isn't close to the top. Imagine if we got rid of all the outdoor dining, we'd go back to the level of rats we had before outdoor dining, which was… not a problem? (Julianne Cuba for Streetsblog)
• A Manhattan judge ruled Friday to throw out the city's education department’s budget and allow the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams to reconsider how to fund schools this year. The City Council has to revisit the budget. (Reema Amin and Amy Zimmer for Chalkbeat)
• Photos: Lightning hits the Verrazzano Bridge. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch)
• Need something to hate? How about this $125,000 upfront members-only co-working club? After your initial $125,000, you'll need to pay $36,000 annually. Collette is just one of a bunch of new businesses springing up across the city with astronomical prices to set foot through the door. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• Congrats to the M102, winner of the Pokey award, for hitting an amazing speed of 4.6 miles per hour. Kudos to New York City Transit president Richard Davey for actually showing up to accept the award. (Stephen Nessen for Gothamist)
• The chess tables at Tompkins Square Park were barricaded. While no one has made a statement publicly this time around, they've been barricaded in the past as part of the Adams administration's attempts to pressure unhoused New Yorkers into leaving the park. (EV Grieve)
• All of Queens is getting curbside composting starting in October. The City Council has a veto-proof majority for this, so the mayor is pretending like it's his idea, despite fighting against the idea of expanding composting programs since being sworn in. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• In praise of the watermelon salad. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
• How much effort does it take to convince one cop to write one ticket to someone very obviously displaying an illegal license plate cover? Almost, but not entirely impossible, as Noah Martz made it happen after consulting with three cops and definitely more effort than a $65 ticket should entail. (Noah Martz for Streetsblog)
• A visit with Hemingway, the sleepy kitty in the window on 3rd Street. (EV Grieve)
• The deadline to switch parties ahead of the August 23rd primary is August 11th. (Brigid Bergin for Gothamist)
• Where to Go: Garden Carver in Williamsburg. What to order: The vegan meatball hero or the spicy rigatoni. (Megan Paetzhold for Grub Street)
• Did you know you can be arrested for swimming at a city beach when lifeguards aren't on duty? This is the perfect rule technicality to enforce when it's been this hot for this long. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• You have not been doing your part to murder as many Spotted Lanternflies as possible, as they have made a 2022 return. (E.L. Danvers for I Love the Upper West Side)
• Staten Island Ferry workers have been operating without a union contract with the city for a dozen years, which makes the mayor's decision to supplement rush-hour service with the non-union NYC Ferry salt in the wound. (Claudia Irizarry Aponte for The City)
• New York City is #1 in summer flight cancellations. We're #1! We're #1! (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• The first legal weed store on the Upper West Side, kinda. (Mike Mishkin for I Love the Upper West Side)
• The Times breathlessly reports on inflation of food prices and uses the price of french fries in Times Square for its headline. Look, I wouldn't have been surprised before the pandemic if you told me that a Times Square plate of french fries cost $15 or a $20 cocktail. (Nicole Hong for NY Times)
• A retired Long Island teacher, Robert Fehring, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending over 60 threatening letters to LGBTQ individuals and organizations, including the Stonewall Inn. (Joseph Konig for NY1)
• NYC Parks is seeking a high-quality restaurant, snack bar, and rowboat rental at the Central Park Boathouse once the current contracts end in October. (Lynn Lieberman for GothamToGo)
• Apartment Porn: A $3.3 million Gowanus penthouse with three beds, five outdoor spaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, and more. (Aaron Ginsburg for 6sqft)
• A coffee place with ceramic to-go cups. No, it's not in Bushwick. It's in Bed Stuy. The Artshack Cafe is part of Artshack Brooklyn, a ceramics studio. Normally, I mock this, but this is quite fun. The ceramics studio is a community-based organization that offers free and subsidized programming for adults and kids (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• 13 top Mexican restaurants in the East Village. (Robert Sietsema for Eater)
Last Edition’s Top Clicked Stories:
The two holdout houses that forced Rockefeller Center to be built around them
Eater Critic Robert Sietsema’s 9 Favorite Summer Sandwiches So Far
Featured City Pet: Rene!
Thanks to reader Karen for sending in today’s photo of Rene, who is spending the summer with Karen. Rene might be a little camera shy but knows how to stay cool on these hot days. Send your pet photo to thebriefly@gmail.com!
