The "Who Rules Public Spaces?" Edition
The "Who Rules Public Spaces?" Edition
When Covid-19 restrictions may be lifted, Celebrate Brooklyn and SummerStage announce lineups, where to celebrate your birthday, and more
Today - Low: 73˚ High: 82˚
Rain starting in the afternoon.
Rob’s Note: Hey folks, I’m back! According to my RSS reader I missed about 2,600 stories, so these 23 links can’t possibly encompass the last week and a half. I want to thank everyone who sent in positive notes while I took a week off. Reply to this email and let me know what you think was the biggest story of the week!
• Despite his claim to hold himself to the "highest ethical standards," mayoral candidate Eric Adams seems to have heavily blurred those lines when two bidders to run a casino in Queens attended his birthday party fundraiser. (Greg B. Smith and Yoav Gonen for The City)
• Record Store Day(s) is happening June 12 and 17, here are Brooklyn's best record shops. (Allison Rapp for Brooklyn Magazine)
• The BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival lineup has been announced. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan)
• SummerStage also announced its lineup with shows in Central Park, Coney Island, and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklynVegan)
• Renderings: The proposed Gowanus waterfront after rezoning. (Sebastian Morris for New York YIMBY)
• The city's law department was offline on Monday after a cyberattack forced the city to shut down the network. The NYPD and FBI are investigating the attack and have not identified the attacker or their goals. (Benjamin Weiser and Ashley Southall for NY Times)
• As Mayor de Blasio's final city budget approaches, he has one last opportunity to severely disappoint the city when it comes to cutting the NYPD's budget. As the article lays out, the mayor and the City Council don't appear to have an appetite to make any major reductions to the NYPD budget. (Samar Khurshid for Gotham Gazette)
• The debate over what to do about the carriage horses in Central Park is partially credited for sinking Christine Quinn's mayoral hopes in 2013, handing the race to Bill de Blasio. The same group that targeted Quinn in the 2013 race begun running attack ads targeting Andrew Yang for his stance against strengthening increasing the standards of care for the city's carriage horses. (Dana Rubenstein for NY Times)
• The message is simple. Don't ask the NYPD for help. Brooklyn's 5th Ave BID asked the NYPD to assist in asking delivery workers to slow down while traveling down Fifth Avenue. The NYPD responded with a ticketing blitz of delivery workers. The NYPD have not been invited back. (Dave Colon for STreetsblog)
• Where to take a snack break in Williamsburg. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)
• Revel had plans to bring 50 Teslas, driven by full-time employees with sick leave and paid time off, to the city to elbow into the ride-hailing app ecosystem. They had those plans but are now claiming the city is blocking their attempts. (Stephen Nessen for Gothamist)
• Who makes the rules for our public spaces in the city? It's not the mayor's office, as the NYPD decided to shut down Washington Square Park and Tompkins Square Park at 10pm over the weekend, using physical force on park-goers to remove them. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• Just in case you were worried, Stomp is coming back in July. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• "Are People Really Wearing High Heels Again?" The Times asking the hard-hitting questions. (Ruth La Ferla for NY Times)
• Where to have your birthday dinner in NYC. (Hannah Albertine for The Infatuation)
• Governor Cuomo loves a threshold and lifting his Covid-19 restrictions is not different. Once 70% of adults are partially vaccinated, most restrictions will be lifted. As of Monday 68.6$ of New Yorkers were partially vaccinated. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist)
• Springsteen on Broadway is coming back on June 26. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist)
• Biden Offers Infrastructure Concession By Partially Demolishing Brooklyn Bridge. (The Onion. This is satire. Not everyone gets that all the time.)
• We can see the light at the end of the tunnel but this is no time to start skimping on tips. It may almost feel normal to go out to a restaurant again, but the workload hasn't returned to normal for the service industry. (Chris Crowley for Grub Street)
• Check Craigslist, because right now because you can buy the iconic Ukrainian diner the Odessa Restaurant in the East Village for a cool $400,000. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• In a bunch of words that have almost no meaning separate or when assembled in this order: Anthony Weiner is considering selling NFTs of his sexts and tweets. (Ben Smith for NY Times)
• Apartment Lust: An $8 million Park Slope townhouse with four outdoor terraces, five-beds, a curved staircase, a dining room for at least 12, and more. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft)
• 66 ways to reacquaint yourself with the NYC restaurant scene this summer. (Eater)
Featured Pet: Green-Wood Groundhog
Thanks to Jessica for sending in this photo of a photogenic groundhog eating flowers in Green-Wood Cemetery. Got a pet or animal photo you want the city to see? Email me your pet/animal photo and you may see it here in the future!