NYC

A long winter has set in for high-risk New Yorkers and others who rely on outdoor dining, after the City forced restaurants to tear down their roadside dining sheds for the first time since 2020.

Under new rules that went into effect this winter, curbside dining is banned from December through March. The number of restaurants offering outdoor seating plummeted as a result of burdens posed by the new system.

Many New Yorkers were sad to see the sheds go. But besides business owners, the biggest repercussions have been felt by people who can’t dine indoors due to the ongoing risk of COVID-19—the original purpose of the outdoor dining program, but one largely forgotten by policy makers.

"It's so isolating, and it’s so lonely, and it’s so frustrating," said Jennifer Pozner, an author from Brooklyn who only eats outdoors due to health concerns.

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Tolls on drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street will move ahead as scheduled this weekend — unless New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration can convince a judge to bolster a recent ruling.

Beginning Sunday, the MTA plans to flip on automated tolling cameras that will bill passenger vehicles $9 during daytime hours in the MTA's "congestion relief zone." It would mark the start of a years-in-the-making congestion pricing program that’s slated to raise billions of dollars for New York City’s public transit system.

An attorney for Murphy’s office, which sued to try to block the toll from taking effect, claims a ruling Monday from Senior U.S. Judge Leo Gordon prevents New York from moving ahead with the toll, at least temporarily.

But while the ruling demanded more details about the program, it did not include a specific order blocking the toll from taking effect. And unless Murphy’s office can quickly convince the judge to clarify that his ruling actually does temporarily prohibit the plan, the MTA and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul say they intend on charging the toll as scheduled.

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49156087

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has taken a soft touch with President-elect Donald Trump, left open the possibility of switching to the Republican Party in a pair of Friday morning interviews.

A Manhattan federal judge in a long-running lawsuit against the city’s beleaguered Department of Correction said Wednesday that a third-party receiver should be appointed to oversee use-of-force and safety issues in the city’s jails.

Laura Taylor Swain, chief district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, cited nine years of failed promises by jail officials in her 65-page decision.

“The glacial pace of reform can be explained by an unfortunate cycle demonstrated by DOC leadership, which has changed materially a number of times over the life of the Court’s orders, wherein initiatives are created, changed in some material way or abandoned, and then restarted,” she wrote.

She ruled that fining the city or taking other measures to force reforms would not be enough.

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They haven’t come close to fulfilling Gov. Kathy Hochul’s goal of helping 150 people victimized by the state’s old, racially biased drug laws enter the legal cannabis business — and some they have assisted fear their dispensary dreams are collapsing.

But the three managers of a public-private loan fund established to carry out the primary social mission of New York’s sweeping cannabis legalization program are doing just fine.

Records obtained by THE CITY show that they earned $1.7 million over the most recently tallied 12-month period and stand to make millions more in years to come, even though the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund has faced charges of predatory lending, secrecy and mission failure. By a conservative estimate computed by THE CITY, the managers’ longterm haul could easily come to $15 million over a decade.

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The Vessel in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards will officially begin welcoming visitors again Monday with enhanced safety measures, three years after it closed to the public in response to several suicides.

The 150-foot beehive-like structure now features floor-to-ceiling steel mesh barriers encasing several of its stairways and platforms, and the top level will remain closed. The barriers were designed to be cut-proof and weather-resistant, according to a spokesperson.

Built in 2019 for $200 million, the Vessel was a popular tourist attraction and photo spot in the center of Hudson Yards, until four people jumped to their deaths from its upper floors.

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NEW YORK — At long last, the New York Liberty are WNBA champions.

Sunday’s Game 5 between the Liberty and Minnesota Lynx was far from New York’s most aesthetically pleasing game of the season, but style points aren’t awarded in winner-take-all affairs. Instead, the only number that matters is the final margin — a 67-62 Liberty overtime win — in crowning a champion.

“One more (point) than the other team,” star New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said of what stat would be most important Sunday.

Jonquel Jones led the Liberty with 17 points en route to being crowned the finals MVP. Breanna Stewart added 13 points and 15 rebounds in a grinding affair and reserve center Nyara Sabally provided the most unexpected but necessary boost of all, playing a playoff career-high 17 minutes, scoring 13 points and hauling in seven rebounds.

With it all coming together just enough, New York took home its first-ever title, having lost its five prior appearances in the WNBA Finals.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a sweeping federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment on charges he took bribes and illegal campaign cash from foreign interests.

The arrest came amid an ongoing exodus of top Adams administration officials, as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was using staffers in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing.

Mohamed Bahi, who resigned Monday as the mayor’s liaison to the Muslim community, is accused of encouraging a businessman to solicit illegal straw donations from four of the businessman’s employees and to then lie about it to the FBI.

At one point, Bahi told the businessman that Adams believed the man wouldn’t cooperate with law enforcement, according to prosecutors. As agents arrived to search Bahi’s home in July, they say he deleted an encrypted messaging app from his cell phone that he had used to communicate with Adams.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Adams denied that he had any hand in telling anyone to lie. “I would never instruct anyone to do anything illegal or improper,” he said.

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After their disappointing loss to the Vikings on Sunday in London, the Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the inteirm head coach, a source said. The Jets will host the Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 6 for first place in the AFC East.

Saleh had one year remaining on his contract that he signed in 2021.

“This morning, I informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as the head coach of the Jets,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said in a statement. I thanked him for his hard work these past 3 1/2 years and wished him and his family well moving forward. This is not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction.”

Saleh registered a 20-36 record in four seasons with the Jets. This is the first time since becoming the owner in 2000 that Johnson has fired a coach during the middle of the season.

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Phil Banks, Mayor Adams’ top public safety deputy and longtime friend, resigned over the weekend, the latest senior City Hall official to step down after becoming embroiled in federal corruption investigations that are rocking the administration.

Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety, submitted a resignation letter to the mayor Sunday night, sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News. It was not clear Monday morning if the resignation was effective immediately.

In a string of TV appearances Monday morning, Adams confirmed Banks had submitted his resignation. He said Banks’ exit is at least in part related to his entanglement in the cloud of corruption investigations hanging over the mayor and his administration.

“He stated he wants to transition to other things with his life and he doesn’t want this to be a constant burden on the work that we’re doing in the city and I accepted his resignation,” Adams said on NY1. “I wish my good friend well.”

Adams, who’s fighting federal criminal charges alleging he solicited bribes from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors, also said Banks initially told him he wanted to resign six months ago, but that he had convinced him to stay on to work on some initiatives that needed to be completed. The mayor did not identify those initiatives.

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Dockworkers at the Port of New York and New Jersey walked off the job after midnight Tuesday; part of a strike that could have a profound impact on the region’s economy and is the largest the industry has seen in almost 50 years.

Demanding better wages and a promise that their jobs won’t be taken over by automation, about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association stopped work at ports from Maine to Texas as their contract with the United States Maritime Alliance expired. The biggest port on the East Coast is New York and New Jersey and the strike — the first since 1977 — could potentially drive up already inflated prices of goods and food.

At least 35 ships on their way to the region will have to anchor offshore, supervised by the U.S. Coast Guard, while the union tries to reach a deal, according to Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton.

The longer they sit, the more chance there is for fresh produce to start going bad, according to industry experts. Other imported goods like wine and spirits won’t be able to reach store shelves or restaurant bars.

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*A reader of THE CITY, Lynn B., asked our newsroom, “Eric Adams is represented by top legal talent. Who is paying them? Are NYC taxpayers picking up the bill for his defense?”

Here is our answer:*

As Mayor Eric Adams contends with his indictment and court case, it’s unlikely taxpayers would cover his legal bills. That’s because payment to the attorneys representing him should, in theory, come from what’s known as the Eric Adams Legal Defense Trust.

The mayor set up that trust — and installed its trustee, his longtime ally Peter Aschkenasy — last November as news emerged about the federal corruption probe of his 2021 campaign.

A legal defense trust is an organization monitored by the city’s Conflict of Interests Board that allows a public servant to raise money to pay for certain types of legal expenses. Through the trust, Adams can accept contributions up to $5,000 per donor. But the fund can’t solicit or accept donations from people with city contracts or business before the city.

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams—who truly believes that God put him in that job—was indicted this week on five federal charges related to bribery, wire fraud, and accepting straw donations from foreign officials. The acts detailed in the nearly 60-page indictment from the Southern District of New York span a full decade of Adams’ political career, dating back to his tenure as Brooklyn borough president and extending up through his current mayoral reelection campaign. (He pleaded not guilty to the counts on Friday.)

Despite being the only mayor in NYC history to be charged during his tenure, Adams is still doing what he does best: refusing to budge an inch and clumsily making his case before a city that’s long tired of his shenanigans. “From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city,” he declared during a rainy Thursday morning press conference, sheltering under a pavilion with members of the city’s Black clergy. “My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do.”

It was another wild moment from a mayor who is perhaps best recognized outside the city for having a long history of wild moments. You know, like claiming his favorite concert experience was the 1990 Brooklyn live show where Curtis Mayfield was paralyzed, or downing two beers at a Midtown Irish pub before noon on St. Patrick’s Day and deeming himself “Eric O’Adams,” or wearing a lettered bracelet sporting the word HUSTLE while visiting holy sites in Israel.

Since he entered Gracie Mansion in 2022, Hizzoner has invited mass vitriol for slashing municipal public services while coddling the brutal, corrupt police department and demonizing the city’s immigrants. But now, with the feds pursuing several probes into his inner circle and spurring some of his highest-ranking lieutenants to step down … well, let’s just say it’s difficult to imagine how even a mayor as defiant as this one manages to last in the political realm.

We’ll probably learn a lot over the coming months about just how closely intertwined Adams was with Turkey’s government, which will surely provide us with much more fodder in evaluating the man’s legacy. But in the interim, let’s enjoy a trek down memory lane with a highlight reel of his most ridiculous moments.

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The MTA board on Wednesday approved a $68.4 billion blueprint for big-ticket upgrades in the transit agency’s new five-year capital program — even as billions of dollars in funding remain unaccounted for in the current plan and the next one.

The MTA board had until October 1 to submit the 2025-2029 plan for system upkeep and expansion to the state’s Capital Program Review Board, which has 30 days to review and approve it.

MTA board members signed off unanimously even though Gov. Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing pause in June left a $16.5 billion gap in the transit agency’s capital budget. The vehicle-tolling initiative is legally mandated under a 2019 state law that aimed to raise billions for transit upgrades in the 2020-2024 plan.

“It’s the costliest plan yet, with the biggest funding question mark,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.

Hochul’s indefinite delay forced the MTA to scale the plan back, slowing subway signal replacement projects, while also deferring the purchase of electric buses and legally binding accessibility upgrades at 23 stations.

And that’s before the MTA faces a projected $33 billion funding gap in the new plan.

“This is all on Governor Hochul — she made the mess, she has to fix it, yet she has brought no solutions to the table,” Jennifer Van Dyck, a member of the Elevator Action Group, which advocates for increased accessibility, said during the meeting’s public comments. “And you seem to be relying on Hochhul’s word, which we all can attest to, counts for nothing.”

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19889325

Money that was supposed to fund educational trips for children without homes instead paid for vacations that New York schools staffers took with their families around the country, including a visit to Disney World, according to a recently released investigative report.

Investigators recommended firing employees after finding that the head of the Queens Students in Temporary Housing (STH) program, meant to reward hardworking unhoused students with educational excursions, was telling her staff they could bring their families instead. (Temporary housing status is for students living in shelters, cars, parks or abandoned buildings, according to the New York City Public Schools website.)

Staff families weren’t joining the trips under a misunderstanding of the rules, independent investigators wrote. In one instance, STH Queens regional manager Linda Wilson allegedly told her staff: “What happens here stays with us.” She denies saying it. ...

Last spring, New York City police officers stopped a 19-year-old on the subway during her commute. She was eligible for a free transfer from the bus to the subway, but the transfer failed to register at the turnstile, so she and a friend entered through the platform emergency exit door.

Police stopped them, took their names, and let her friend go. Officers told the 19-year-old she had a prior arrest — from 2018, when she was in her early teens — and began to question her.

The cops should not have known about that past arrest. A New York state law protects juvenile records in cases without any finding of guilt from access by anyone, including law enforcement, without a court order.

The young woman is one of three plaintiffs who filed a class-action suit in July against the city and NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban for what they said was a practice of illegally accessing, using, and leaking sealed youth records. The suit, which was unsealed Thursday, alleges that officials routinely share those sealed records with prosecutors and the media — specifically with pro-cop tabloids that regularly publish juvenile arrest information sourced from police.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18960282

In June, Governor Kathy Hochul made the bombshell announcement that she had ordered the MTA to indefinitely pause New York City’s congestion-pricing program, just weeks before it was set to begin. The governor had once been a major proponent of the first-in-the-nation plan to charge fees to drivers traveling at or below 60th Street, but when she announced the pause, she cited concerns about the $15 toll being too much of a financial burden for everyday New Yorkers. This week, Hochul is indicating that a replacement plan could soon be on the horizon.

The New York Post reported on Sunday that Hochul is mulling significant changes to congestion pricing, including a lower toll and potentially adding new exemptions to the fee. A source told the outlet that the governor is considering excluding teachers, police officers, and firefighters who commute from paying the toll. In July, the New York Times reported that state lawmakers, who would have to sign off on a new plan, were pushing for Hochul to consider a lower toll

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NYC Council approved a rezoning plan near four new MetroNorth Stations that will produce nearly 7,000 housing units in the East Bronx

https://archive.is/xliQe#selection-683.4-683.187

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NYC Launches "Ur in Luck," a new effort to expand New Yorkers’ access to public restrooms across all five boroughs, including in Flushing. A new Google Maps layer is also being added that New Yorkers can activate on their phones to easily find the locations of every public restroom.

https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/441-24/mayor-adams-launches-ur-luck-new-effort-make-nyc-public-restrooms-more-accessible-#/0

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New Renderings Revealed For 'The Coney': a casino, hotel, and entertainment complex proposed for Coney Island

https://newyorkyimby.com/2024/05/new-renderings-revealed-for-the-coney-casino-master-plan-in-coney-island-brooklyn.html

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15642866

In a statement, Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler pointed to the contrast between the dcpi’s staffing surge and Mayor Eric Adams’s cuts to other city services, including hundreds of layoffs in the Department of Buildings. “It’s stunning to see the nypd Communications Department more than double to 86 staff while so many of our City agencies are struggling to fulfill their mandates without workers.”

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240521114200/https://nysfocus.com/2024/05/14/nypd-dcpi-tarik-sheppard-protests-pr

MTA Reports Details of Nearly $300 Million in Capital Savings

https://new.mta.info/press-release/mta-reports-details-of-nearly-300-million-capital-savings

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