The "You Didn't Have to Tweet That" Edition
The "You Didn't Have to Tweet That" Edition
The city budget, MTA bathrooms, buy Britney's former penthouse, polygonal animals on Park Ave, de Blasio will not run for Congress, where to eat when you want some personal space, and more
Today - Low: 30˚ High: 57˚
Rain in the morning.
This weekend - Low: 22˚ High: 39˚
The latest seven-day positivity rate: 2.46%
76.17% of city residents have received two shots, 85.26% of city residents have received one or more shots. Source: NYC Department of Health.
Anyone lose something?
• Mayor Adams appointed an anti-LGBTQ official to his administration in Pastor Gilforn Monrose, who was appointed to Head the New Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnership, a new office created by the mayor. Monrose has a history of making anti-LGBTQ rights comments, including speaking out in opposition to same-sex marriage. (Andy Humm for Gay City News)
• After coverage of his latest trip to Albany didn't prove fruitful in gathering support for his proposal to roll back bail reforms, the mayor took to blaming media diversity and blaming critical coverage. (Emily Ngo for NY1)
• The mayor spent the first seven minutes of his announcement of his Summer Youth Employment Program criticizing the press but eventually got around to saying that the city will expand the program to include 100,000 young people with a 50% increase in funding. (Jessica Gould for Gothamist)
• The mayor's first budget for the city is $98 billion, which includes funding for an income tax break for low-income families, funding FairFares, and the summer youth program. Criticisms have been aimed at a lack of an adequate general reserve fund and flat funding for the NYPD while asking most city agencies to cut 3% and let jobs go unfilled. (Greg David, Yoav Gonen, and Katie Honan for The City)
• While campaigning, the mayor spoke about universal composting as part of his agenda and called Mayor de Blasio's suspension of the city's compost pickups a mistake. His first budget stopped the planned expansion of the city's composting program. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist)
• Black unemployment in the city is over 15%, while unemployment rates for white and Hispanic workers are at 6.2% and 10.2%, respectively. Comparatively, the national Black unemployment rate is 6.3%. (Greg David with visualizations by Will Welch for The City)
• The CEO of Threes Brewing publicly stated that vaccine mandates are a "crime against humanity." He also made vague references between a vaccine passport system and "Jim Crow South, Nazi Germany, Stalinism, Maoism, and other dark times in human history." Don't worry; he wasn't comparing a vaccine passport to the Holocaust, just early Nazi Germany. Does that help his cause? No, no, it does not. The great thing about beer is that there are plenty of places to get it that aren't Threes Brewing. (Brooklyn Magazine)
• The NYPD boasted on their Twitter account about arresting 12 people over $1,800 of diapers, cough medicine, soap, and health necessities, then they saw the reaction and deleted the tweet. What's the matter? Embarrassed? (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• The MTA is being sued for not providing Access-A-Ride users the same half-priced fares available to seniors or disabled riders of the subway and buses. (Stephen Nessen for Gothamist)
• It was a rough 12 hours on the subway. Three people were hit by trains in three separate incidents between late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Early reporting didn't point to foul play, but it does bolster the argument for platform doors. (Matt Troutman for Patch)
• What're the odds of the MTA opening up their bathrooms to the public soon? Pretty shitty! See what I did there? Anyway, the MTA will not reopen the bathrooms it closed during the pandemic. The linked article uses so many more bathroom puns about State Senator Jessica Ramos making this a #1 and #2 priority. I can't help myself. (Dave Colon for Streetsblog)
• The best semi-public bathrooms in the city can be found on the TikTok account @got2gonyc. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• If you've got questions about those divorce auction signs strewn about the city, the answer to your first question is yes, it's a scam. (Keith Marder for I Love the Upper West Side)
• The Classic BEC, much like the Wu-Tang Clan, ain't nothing to fuck with. The BEC is the #1 all-time bagel at H&H Bagels, ahead of a plain bagel with cream cheese, the Nova Scotia Salmon, and all others. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out)
• Congratulations to Bill de Blasio for deciding not to run for Congress. (Brooklyn Magazine)
• Planet Hollywood in Times Square refuses to die. The third incarnation of Planet Hollywood in Times Square will include a Guy Fieri collaboration. (Choire Sicha for Curbed)
• Real Estate Lust: Britney Spears's former $7 million Noho penthouse on three floors, which was also previously owned by Cher, Keith Richards, and Russell Simmons (not at the same time), is on the market with 3,785 square feet, four beds, four baths, was the recording location for the song 'Toxic,' an outdoor shower, a fireplace, views of the Empire State Building from an outside terrace, and more. (Devin Gannon for 6sqft)
• Podcast: Atlas Obscura on the Panorama of the City of New York. (Atlas Obscura)
• Pizza-flavored hamantaschens? I can't wait for Purim! (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• 11 things city landlords are required to provide, and 11 they’re not. (Emily Myers for Brick Underground)
• Congrats to Nikki Lucas for winning the special election for East New York’s 60th Assembly District. (Ben Brachfeld for Brooklyn Paper)
• An Ode to Mojo the Gorilla, one of the polygonal animals from French artist Idriss B on Park Ave, presented by the Patrons of Park Avenue. (Anna Rahmanan for Time Out)
• What does it take to join the Coney Island Polar Bears? (Joe DeLessio for Curbed)
• Interview: Kristen Gonzalez announced her candidacy for the newly created State Senate District 17. (Emma Davey for Greenpointers)
• A seat at the table at CDI Cross Gender Community, a decades-old dinner club for the trans community where Gentlemen are not welcome. (Joe Gutesha for Grub Street)
• After a clean-up and fresh chipping following a leptospirosis outbreak, the McCarren Park Dog Run is open. (Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner for Time Out)
• Ten secrets of the Woolworth Building, which is off-limits to the general public. (Michelle Young for Untapped New York)
• A Spider-Man statue in Forest Hills? (Kayla Levy for Patch)
• 16 spacious restaurants where you won’t be on top of other diners. (Kenny Yang for The Infatuation)
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Featured Pet: Clementine!
Thank you to reader Samantha for sending in photos of today’s featured pet Clementine, a hardworking cat.
