The "Taxing the Mandalorian for Subway Funding" Edition
MSG pays zero taxes but the state wants to tax you 4% of your Netflix subscription.
• A few months ago, Mayor Adams issued a directive to allow emergency responders to involuntarily transport mentally ill people to hospitals. That's not what happened on Sunday morning when NYPD officers shot Raul de la Cruz outside his Bronx apartment, responding to a 311 call for medical intervention. In Spanish, Raul's father explicitly told a 311 operator he called 311 because he didn't want his son to end up killed. Two white officers who did not speak Spanish showed up, and you can likely guess the details of how the scene played out. Raul survived being shot four times by the NYPD officers, one of which was Crisis Intervention Team trained. The NYPD has jurisdiction over hospital visitation, and his family has not been allowed to see Raul. (Bahar Ostadan for Gothamist with contributed reporting from Josefa Velásquez)
• City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is calling for the NYPD to move away from police-initiated traffic stops as they disproportionately target people of color. Blacks and Latinos are about 52% of the city's population, yet comprise 90% of arrests made during traffic stops. (Julianne Cuba for Streetsblog)
• Podcast: The Big Ugly Mess Behind New York's Busted Budget Process. (Hell Gate)
• The state is looking anywhere to keep MTA fare at $2.75, including taxing your streaming service costs. The state has been looking at a 4% tax on streaming services and taxing ride-hailing trips as an alternative to a payroll tax increase. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• If the state is looking for money, maybe they want to end Madison Square Garden's free ride when it comes to property taxes. MSG's property tax exemption is estimated at $43 million a year. Yeah, tax my Disney+ but let James Dolan pay zero dollars in property tax. (Giulia Heyward for Gothamist)
• Newer city lifeguards are getting a permanent raise and all public pool and beach watchers could net an attendance bonus as the city tries to avoid another lifeguard shortage. (Katie Honan for The City)
• Where to Go: Winner Butcher in Park Slope. What to Order: The strawberry fritter. (Stacey Lastoe for Brooklyn Magazine)
• Q&A: How Close Is NYC 2023 to the ‘Fear City’ of the 1970s? with Columbia professor Kim Phillips-Fein. (Max Rivlin-Nadler for Hell Gate, paywall-less link, memberships available)
• The MTA board is voting on Wednesday on the "rules of conduct" for Grand Central Madison, two of which are you can only sit on benches for 90 minutes and not be allowed to lie down anywhere in the station. Is this a win? Not at all, but it's better than Moynihan Station's outward hostility towards sitting. Another chapter in the city's war on the unhoused pretending to be about customer service. (Catalina Gonella for Gothamist, Clayton Guse and Stephen Nessen contributed reporting)
• Mayor Adams proposed a composting mandate, where violators will be fined. The mandate will likely start in Queens in June, with Brooklyn coming in October of this year and Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island following in 2024. The mandate targets yard waste like leaves and grass rather than food scraps. (Aaron Ginsburg for 6sqft)
• It's never too early for spooky season. Macabre walking tours spotlight the ghosts and witches of NYC. (Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out)
• Ten ghost signs of Downtown Manhattan. (Frank Mastropolo for Untapped New York)
• Where to find a Passover meal in NYC. (Eater)
• Apartment Porn: A $2.6 million Upper West Side penthouse with a bed that descends from the ceiling, a 1,400 square-foot wraparound porch, a solarium, a private roof terrace, and more. Yeah, a bed that comes down from the ceiling. (Michelle Cohen for 6sqft)
• The Resy Guide to Breakfast in New York, covering three boroughs. (Deanna Ting for Resy)
• A look into Banter in the West Village's new business model where the employees own a portion of the café. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
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Featured City Pet: Hansie Schnauzer!
Thanks to reader Tessa for sending in this adorable shot of Hansie! Send your pet pics to thebriefly@gmail.com.