The "Not Arrested for Weed at the Airport" Edition
A brownstone full of junk for $2 million, a studio apartment for the pandemic, strange things in Staten Island, Batali's gotta pay, the matriarch of Brooklyn's progressive movement, and more
Today - Low: 74˚ High: 83˚
Rain in the morning and afternoon.
• A focus on Eric Adams's inner circle. (Emma G. Fitzsimmons Katie Glueck for NY Times)
• Making the case of why you should stay away from the new Momofuku Ssäm Bar at the South Street Seaport, which is described as "expensive mall food" instead of Momofuku food and a "monogrammed polo shirt." (Ryan Sutton for Eater)
• Change takes time. Meet Nydia Velázquez, the matriarch of Brooklyn's progressive movement, whose political career started in the mid-80s and the five candidates she supported for City Council all won their primaries. (Gwynne Hogan for Gothamist)
• Real Estate Lust: A $4.3 million full-floor apartment in Soho with original wood columns and beams, 12-foot ceilings, massive windows, a key-locked elevator, and more in a cast-iron building. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft)
• Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich will pay $600,000 in a settlement over a sexual harassment investigation by NY Attorney General Letitia James, which found they violated city and state human-rights laws at restaurants Babbo, Lupa, and Del Posto. Batali is still facing two civil suits and a possible criminal trial in Boston. (Chris Crowley for Grub Street)
• There's a lot of speculation around what the city's reaction to the Delta variant of Covid-19 will be. The mayor's said very little but he's hinted at support for proof of vaccination to access public spaces and restaurants, encouraging vaccine mandates for workplaces, and going beyond the weekly negative test mandate or vaccination for health care workers. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• The Manhattan Marriage Bureau opened on Friday for the first time in fifteen months with some changes. Don't expect to be able to walk in and get married or have guests at your wedding or civil ceremony and only one witness is allowed. (Vincent M. Mallozzi for NY Times)
• The city's flood maps were drawn up in 2007, predating Hurricane Sandy b five years, and they haven't been updated since. The flood zones in high-risk neighborhoods are potentially 46% larger than they appear in the city's maps and in the event of another major storm, it could mean the city is once again unprepared for a disaster. A new flood map is due in 2024, which seems like an awfully long gap between changes, considering the planet seems to be trying to evict us by force. (Jaclyn Jeffrey-Willensky for Gothamist)
• Welcome to Staten Island’s South Shore, where positive Covid-19 cases have tripled since last month and people won't get vaccinated. (Sharon Otterman for NY Times)
• Say hello to the couples living in studio apartments during the pandemic, including one 284-square foot apartment in Harlem. (Kim Velsey for Curbed)
• Who would have thought that a murder "solved" in four hours sent the wrong man to prison for 23 years in Giuliani's NYC and the person arrested was a person of color? Oh, everyone would believe that? (Jonah E. Bromwich and Arielle Dollinger for NY Times)
• "Accidentally" left some weed in your bag and you're about to get on a flight? The Port Authority police won't seize it, you won't be arrested, and you won't get a ticket if it's under three ounces. It still seems like a bad idea to not have it safely hidden but who am I to tell you what to do? (Mirela Iverac for Gothamist)
• The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park isn't Macbeth, but it may as well be. The official opening was delayed for two weeks after its leading man was injured and its third consecutive performance was canceled due to a positive test for Covid-19. It's been running in previews since July 6. (Sarah Bahr for NY Times)
• For under $2 million you can buy this dilapidated brownstone in Clinton Hill which looks like a crime scene and is full of junk. As the article states, not every owner of a brownstone is wealthy and has gut-renovated the place. A real fixer-upper! (Kim Velsey for Curbed)
• The DOJ's Civil Rights Division is not opening a probe into Governor Cuomo's handling of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes. The FBI and U.S. Attorney are still investigating if the administration undercounted the number of nursing home deaths. (David Cruz for Gothamist)
• 13 strange things you probably didn’t know about Staten Island. #10 is that Staten Island voted to secede from NYC in 1993 but the Giuliani administration wouldn't let them. (Annalise Mantz for Time Out)
• Wildfire smoke is worse for you than you realize and it's still extremely dangerous when it reaches New York. It's time to add the air quality report to your weather checks. (Emily Lang for Gothamist)
• Mayor de Blasio; former police commissioners William Bratton, James O’Neill, and Dermot Shea will not be required to take the stand in a judicial inquiry into Eric Garner’s 2014 chokehold death on Staten Island. (Joseph Gegeon for Gothamist)
• 18 stellar seafood restaurants in NYC (Kat Odell for Thrillist)
Featured Pets: Bowie and Radar!
Thank you Rachel for sending in this renaissance painting-like photo of these cool dudes, Bowie on the left and Radar, or "Ray," (short for Radar O'Reilly) on the right. Email your pet/animal photos to thebriefly@gmail.com to give the readers of The Briefly a smile.