Two New York City Council committees have unanimously greenlit the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, an ambitious rezoning scheme to upzone 230 blocks of Queens that would allow roughly 11,800 new homes—over a third deemed permanently affordable—and 7,000 …
Andrew Cuomo, angling for a mayoral comeback, now vows to abandon New York’s costly plan to close Rikers Island jails—once a cause he pushed former Mayor Bill de Blasio to accelerate—citing delays and overruns reminiscent of Boston’s “Big Dig.” Critics, unmoved by promises to refurbish decaying facilities, suggest his proposal is less blueprint, more political pothole patch, and notably shy on both timelines and price tags.
After New York City Council overrode Mayor Eric Adams’ veto this month, unlicensed street vendors in Queens’ neighborhoods—where Latin American fare is more common than subway delays—will now face civil rather than criminal penalties for violating rules. Local mainstays like Cleotilde Juárez, once hit by thousand-dollar fines, can breathe easier; their chalupas now stand a better chance of surviving, even if their competition with taco trucks remains cutthroat.
Tempers flared on Capitol Hill as Mike Lawler, a Republican from Peekskill, loudly blamed Hakeem Jeffries, Brooklyn Democrat and House Minority Leader, for the government shutdown—prompting sharp retorts about “embarrassing” conduct and Medicaid cuts. The wrangling, which extended to disputes with Arizona senators over a delayed swearing-in, suggests Congress may soon set new records for pantomime, if not for productivity.
A&E Real Estate, one of New York’s larger residential landlords, faces foreclosure on 12 buildings in Kew Gardens, Queens, after defaulting on a $165 million loan originally from the now-defunct Signature Bank—liabilities now landing with Santander. With 1,200 units in the crosshairs and A&E’s expenses outpacing revenue, we suspect their accountants have developed a sudden taste for aspirin.
Nearly five months after New York’s Department of Transportation barred cars from a lane of the 116-year-old Queensboro Bridge to create long-awaited separate paths for pedestrians and 8,500 daily cyclists, the city has yet to finish essential signage and markings—resulting in confusion that’s only slightly preferable to the old mêlée. Perhaps winter, which waits for no advocacy group, will spur bureaucratic paintbrushes into action.
The National Weather Service has slapped Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau, and Suffolk with a coastal flood watch from Sunday morning to Monday afternoon, warning of gusts up to 40 miles per hour and up to three inches of rain, especially near Howard Beach. Officials urge New Yorkers to tether or stash garden paraphernalia and potted plants, lest the city gain an unplanned reputation for airborne topiary.
The National Weather Service has warned that coastal flooding from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening could bring up to 2.5 feet of water above ground in parts of the Bronx, Queens, Suffolk, and Nassau counties—a soggy prospect for New Yorkers unaccustomed to aquatic commutes. We note, however, that barricades do a brisk business repelling both curiosity and cars at times like these.
New York City braces for coastal flooding from Sunday noon through Monday evening, after the National Weather Service cautioned that tidal surges could push water up to 2.5 feet over sections of Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Suffolk County. Travel disruptions and soggy basements loom, but, as ever, we await humanity’s heroic resistance to street canoeing and the perennial temptation to test one’s luck in borrowed galoshes.
