New Years Eve occurs on a Sunday this year. While New Years Eve is one big party, it's important to keep in mind, that like St. Patrick's Day, all the amateurs come out to play [it's not just the Irish who are out drinking on St. Patrick's Day]. So some measure of caution is advised and you have to be careful.
The following are a number of different New Years restaurants in Queens NYC where you might consider booking a reservation.
Click this link to view a brief guide of New Years Eve parties & restaurants in Queens NYC where you will find links to Queens restaurants we've reviewed. The restaurants we've reviewed include a mix of high, medium and budget priced restaurants that are spread throughout the borough and offer a large variety of ethnic cuisines. Enjoy.
Things to do This Weekend in NYC & Boros
Holiday Markets, Holiday Events & Cultural things to do this Weekend in NYC ...
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 50's on Friday and Sunday, dipping into the mid 40's on Saturday. The temperature lows will be in the mid 30's on Friday and Saturday, rising into the mid 40's on Sunday. About an inch of rain is expected Sunday, beginning sometime between 4 pm and 7 pm. The humidity will rise from 50% on Friday to 60% on Saturday to 70% - 85% on Sunday.
The photo at right shows the Holiday Market in Grand Central Station this weekend, providing commuters with a very convenient shopping opportunity. Many holiday markets are already well underway, but there are even more to come.
Things To Do This Weekend in Manhattan NYC
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Manhattan holiday markets & shops. Times Square to open next week and many more beginning Thanksgiving Weekend.
CLICK this link to view our report on Manhattan holiday events & things to do NYC. This coming week 11/20 the Origami tree will be lit at the AMNH on the UWS and the Thanksgiving Day Parade will commence.
CLICK this link to view things to do this weekend in Manhattan NYC. We're now updating this weekly. Not shown on this post are the Frick Museum exhibit, quite a number of Museum of Modern Art exhibits, a number of Guggenheim exhibits, three exhibits at the International Center of Photography, a couple of exhibits at the Whitney, a ton of exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the food and fashion exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technolgy, three current / upcoming performances at the Joyce Theater, the upcoming performances by the Alvin Ailey Dance Group at City Theater, upcoming events at the Irish Arts Center, ...
CLICK this link to view things to do this weekend in Queens NYC. We're now updating this weekly. Not shown on this post are the Noguchi exhibit, the upcoming JCAL reading of a new work [art], two PS1 MoMA exhibits that opened 11/16/23, the upcoming Chocolate Factory performances and more ... like Ubuhle Women Beadwork.
The photo at right shows one of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade floats as it passes Columbus Circle on Thanksgiving Day. This year, due to fairly windy weather, they held the floats closer to the ground than in prior years, as you can see above. The low flying floats made watching the parade a bit less exciting than usual.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS - See the Queens Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. The new member sign up function has been fixed by providing this link - Queens Buzz New Member Sign Up. See the calendar for details on a 12/3 Holiday Festival in Astoria Park, and on 1/15/24 an MLK program at the Queens Botanical Garden.
Things To Do This Weekend in Brooklyn NYC
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Brooklyn holiday markets & shops BK NYC. The Makers Market Show begins next week 11/24 at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn.
The photo at right shows one of the many Christmas tree sales stands which are starting to dot all five boros in anticipation of the holidays. This particular one is in Manhattan on the northern section of Midtown West, only a few blocks west and south of Columbus Circle.
CLICKthis link to view this and other current & upcoming Bronx holiday events and things to do Bx NYC. This weekend 11/17 & 18/ 23 there's a tree lighting and Holiday Shows at Bay Plaza Mall. Also the NY Botanical Garden Train Show and Glow, and the Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights events have begun their holiday festivities, which run through the holidays.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS. 11/14/23 Human Rights Talk at the Bronx House and November 19 Turkey Giveaway while supplies last. See the Bronx Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. The new member sign up function has been fixed by providing this link - Bronx Buzz New Member Sign Up.
Things To Do This Weekend on Staten Island NYC
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Staten Island holiday markets & shops SI NYC. This weekend St. John's Lutheran Church and Great Kills Moravian Church Holiday Fairs.
CLICK this link to view upcoming Staten Island Holiday Events & Things to do NYC. Updates this week include for the National Lighthouse Museum and Monsignor Farrell High School holiday events.
The photo at right shows what turned out to be the beginning of a lovely and delicious Thanksgiving Dinner in the tristate area. I hope you had a good one with plenty of leftovers.
A couple of years ago, I happened upon a childhood book of fables and fairytales that I had saved since I was a first grader. I was young enough to still like fairytales and old enough to be learning and loving to read.
The book, A Gateway to Storyland, by Platt & Munk Co, was given to me around the holidays, and the book still gives me a warm, loved feeling when I periodically open it to browse through the fairytales and fables containing little nuggets of age old wisdom about how to conduct onesself [see photo at right / the book is still in print]. I read it numerous times immediately upon receiving it, as the illustrations fed my imagination, and lessons embedded in the words resonated with timeless sagacity.
Unselfish Parental Love Manifested by Empowering Progeny
Love comes in many forms, but the purest form is unselfish love. The love of truly giving something with no thought of anything in return. That love is oftentimes given intergenerationally - from grandparents to parents to children.
Perhaps the greatest gifts are those that cost us nothing but our time. Like the gift of teaching someone something that they will be able to put to good use throughout their lives. Parents do this all the time, when they help their children develop skills, and impart some knowledge and learning ... just as my parents did many years ago, by giving me a well illustrated fairytale book to encourage my interest in reading, while sharing the time tested insights of the ages, handed down through storytelling.
I. A Brief Thanksgiving History
The Pilgrims Shared Communal Resources to Actualize a Dream
At Thanksgiving time we commemorate one of America's first settlements, founded by the risk-taking, resource-pooling, hardworking, spiritual community of Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims were early English settlers who arrived on American shores in the early 17th century [1600's]. They came here because they wanted a measure of freedom and self-determination that they were forbidden in Europe or what was called the 'old country'. The Pilgrims wanted to practice their faith, unencumbered, in a way that differed from the established Church of England. They pooled their money to obtain a ship, the Mayflower, to cross the Atlantic in mid September of 1620, landing on America's shores at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts on November 9, 1620. Think of it. It took about a month and a half to travel a distance we can now traverse in about five hours.
The Pilgrims Receive Help from the Native People of a Strange Land
Per Wikipedia, the Piligrims survived a hard winter in 1621 with the help of the Wampanoag, an American Indian tribe. The Pilgrims were the immigrants, and the first Americans, the Indian natives, welcomed them. The Wampanaog taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels, and how to grow and harvest corn. Thus the Pilgrims ended 1621 with a good harvest which they celebrated and shared with their new friends, expressing their gratitude to a higher power, aka God, for the success of their endeavors.
Thus it was that the first Thanksgiving celebration happened in America ... or did it?
Irish Arts Gala, Anime NYC at Javits, Holiday Markets begin in NYC at Grand Central, Union Square & Bryant Park, Metrograph Film on LES, Concert at Park Ave Armory & Art Exhibits & Pasteles Contest at El Barrio in Manhattan; New Play at LPAC, Modern Dance in LIC, Diwali in Flushing, Queens World Film Fest Screening in Astoria / LIC, Thalia Spanish Theatre Xmas in Colombia and Off the Wall Affordable Art Fair in Queens; Taste of Mijagi Japan in Sunset Park, Climate in Crisis Exhibit ending at the Brooklyn Museum and Waiting for Godot Performances in Brooklyn; Ancestral Foods / Family Feast at Bronx Art Space and BlaKtinX performances at BAAD in the Bronx; WestFest 16 Folk Festival, Rogers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night of Singing at Wagner College on Staten Island, and more ... Next Week Thanksgiving & the Macy's Parade
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be nearly 70 degrees [briefly] Friday, descending to about 60 by night, on Saturday the high will be nearly 60, descending into the mid 40's in the evening, and on Sunday, the high will be in the mid 50's descending to the high 30's. Generally it's a dry weekend. There's less than a 50% chance of less than a quarter inch of rain on Saturday morning, ending by 10 am. The winds kick up from 7 mph on Friday, to 10 - 14 mph on Saturday, before settling in at 10 mph on Sunday. The humidity descends from 70 - 80% on Friday, to 50% - 60% for the rest of the weekend. Not too bad for this time of year.
The photo at right was taken on the Upper West Side on Thanksgiving Eve in a prior year. The balloons that fly in the parade on Thanksgiving, are all inflated and staged along Central Park West by the American Museum of Natural History, the day / night preceding Thanksgiving. It's a free event to see the balloons the night before the parade and a great NYC tradition. As of Friday, November 17, 2023 - the forecast for Thanksgiving Eve - is a high of nearly 60 during the day and a low of about 30 by midnight, with rain ending by about noon. So beware as, currently, the forecast is predicting a sharp drop in temperature that day.
FYI - We're working on and will continue to work on the Holiday events and Holiday markets through the weekend.
Things To Do This Weekend in Manhattan NYC
Friday, November 17, 2023 - Spirit of Ireland Gala. At Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan NYC. Honoring Stephen Colbert and Kathleen Lynch. They say that Liam Neeson, Gabrielle Byrne and Loah will be in attendance. Tickets available at the url below. Individual ticket is $1250. The arts center is located at 726 11th Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets in Midtown West Manhattan NYC. For details and tickets see - https://irishartscenter.org/
Friday, November 17, 2023 at 8 pm - Walton Ford Selects. At Metrograph Theater at 7 Ludlow Street between Canal and Hester on the Lower East Side. There are five films being shown this weekend which were selected by Walton Ford. He will be there Friday evening with Waris Ahluwalia to discuss Early Cinema and the films he selected. Tickets are $17 for the film and the talk after. For details see - https://metrograph.com/film/?vista_film_id=9999003520
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, November 17, 18 & 19, 2023 - Anime NYC at the Javits Center at West 34th Street and 11th Avenue in West Midtown. The convention is described as follows, " ... Anime NYC is New York City’s anime convention! A showcase of the best of Japanese pop culture in the biggest city in America, Anime NYC brings anime fans together for three days of unique exhibits, exclusive screenings, and appearances by some of the biggest creators in Japan ...". For details and tickets starting at $68 and up, see - https://animenyc.com.
Artist Studio. Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 7 & 9 pm - Reggie Nicholson - Percussion Concept - a percussion musical performance. The Park Avenue Armory is located at 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan NYC. For details and $45 tickets see - https://www.armoryonpark.org
Saturday, November 18, 2023 from 2 to 9 pm - Pasteles Contest. At El Barrio Art Space at 215 East 99th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues on the UES of Manhattan. Music, food & beverages and free admission. Pasteles are a Caribbean dish, which are a breaded packet filled with various kinds of foods.
Friday, October 27, 2023 thru Tuesday, January 2, 2024 daily from 11 am to 8 pm, except Saturday & Sunday when they open at 10 am - Bryant Park Winter Village. Approximately 180 mostly local vendors of unique arts and crafts. For details see - https://bryantpark.org
Monday, November 13 to Sunday, December 24, 2023 - The Grand Central Holiday Market. At Grand Central Station located at 89 East 42nd Street at Park Avenue [between 42nd and 44th Streets] in Midtown Manhattan NYC. For hours and details see - https://www.grandcentralterminal.com/
Thursday, November 16 through Saturday, December 24, 2023 - Union Square Holiday Market. Along 14th Street between Park Avenue and Broadway in Union Square Park. For hours and details see - http://www.usqholiday.nyc/
NEXT WEEK. Thursday, November 23, 2023 from 8.30 am to 12 noon - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year there will be seven performance groups, 29 clown crews, 17 performers, eleven marching bands, six balloonicles, and 25 huge floating balloons. They start at the American Museum of Natural History at 80th Street, marching south at Central Park West, turning east onto 59th Street, before turning south on 6th Avenue. Finally they turn west on 34th Street, ending at Macy's in Herald Square. See the front page for a weather report.
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Manhattan holiday markets & shops. Times Square to open next week and many more beginning Thanksgiving Weekend.
CLICK this link to view our report on Manhattan holiday events & things to do NYC. This coming week 11/20 the Origami tree will be lit at the AMNH on the UWS and the Thanksgiving Day Parade will commence.
CLICK this link to view things to do this weekend in Manhattan NYC. We're now updating this weekly. Not shown on this post are the Frick Museum exhibit, quite a number of Museum of Modern Art exhibits, a number of Guggenheim exhibits, three exhibits at the International Center of Photography, a couple of exhibits at the Whitney, a ton of exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the food and fashion exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technolgy, three current / upcoming performances at the Joyce Theater, the upcoming performances by the Alvin Ailey Dance Group at City Theater, upcoming events at the Irish Arts Center, ...
Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, November 15, 17 & 18, 2023 at 2.30 & 7.30 pm - Everybody. Also, Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12 noon. They describe the production as follows, " ... Inspired by the 15th century morality play Everyman, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play follows Everybody as they travel down a road toward life's greatest mystery and confront the inevitable (their death). An unpredictable, hilarious, and inventive inquiry into the ways we cope with our own mortality...". At the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at 31-10 Thomson Avenue in Long Island City Queens. For details and free tickets [dress rehearsal Wednesday 11/15 at 2.30 pm only] or $10 / $15 other days see - https://www.lpac.nyc/.
Saturday & Sunday, November 17 & 18, 2023 beginning at 8 pm - Take Root with Grazia Capri & Fadi J Khoury - FJK Dance Company. Modern dance performance featuring local dancers & choreographers [$20 / $25 Admission]. Sunday, November 19, 2023 beginning at 7 pm Fertile Ground featuring Emily Tarrier, MadSol - Solange Rodrigues Madison Lynch, James Barrett, Baggy Pants Dance, Harper Foote & Chris Ferris & Dancers. Modern dance performances - New Works Showcase. Admission $18. At 37-24 24th Street in Long Island City Queens. For details and tickets see - https://www.greenspacestudio.org
November 17, 2023 - December 17, 2023 - Friday & Saturday at 8 pm and at 4 pm on Sunday - Christmas in Colombia / Navidad en Colombia. Colombian music and dance performances. At Thalia Theatre at 41-17 Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside. For details and $40 / $42 / $45 tickets see - https://thaliatheatre.org/.
The photo at right, taken at a Thanksgiving Day Parade in a prior year, shows a very famous native New Yorker dressed in costume, floating above the crowd ... like he always does. The parade returns next Thursday.
Saturday, November 4 - December 17, 2023 - Off the Wall Affordable Art Fair. Over 100 local Long Island City Artists [aka LICA] feature their works for sale at Culture Lab LIC at 5-25 46th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens.
Saturday, November 18, 2023 beginning at 7 pm - Queens World Film Festival Listening Tour. Described as follows, " ... The Listening Tour is a program of Queens World Film Festival that brings small groups together to video tape their thoughts on Hope and Resilience. The program launched in September 2021 and has produced 46 segments featuring school children, the kitchen staff of local diners, artists, teachers, community organizers, 8th grade environmental activists and many other of our Queens neighbors. Join us as we share segments featuring community members from Rockaway to Flushing...". At the Local 1302 44th Avenue in Long Island City. Free w/ popcorn and chocolate while supplies last. To rsvp [required for admittance] see - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1e534qAdZojy7dzMiSFlpO77AardRWiZdydbbI7cImUBXtQ/viewform.
Sunday, November 19, 2023 beginning at 12 noon - Diwali Celebration at Flushing Town Hall at 137-35 Northern Blvd in Flushing. Folk dance and musical performances, as well as exhibits of Indian clothing, decoration and food. For details and $10 - $22 tickets see - https://www.flushingtownhall.org.
CLICK this link to view things to do this weekend in Queens NYC. We're now updating this weekly. Not shown on this post are the Noguchi exhibit, the upcoming JCAL reading of a new work [art], two PS1 MoMA exhibits that opened 11/16/23, the upcoming Chocolate Factory performances and more ... like Ubuhle Women Beadwork.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS - See the Queens Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. The new member sign up function has been fixed by providing this link - Queens Buzz New Member Sign Up. See the calendar for details on a 12/3 Holiday Festival in Astoria Park, and on 1/15/24 an MLK program at the Queens Botanical Garden.
Things To Do This Weekend in Brooklyn NYC
Friday, Saturay & Sunday, November 17, 18 & 19, 2023 from 4 to 7 pm - Taste of Miyagi Fair. Taste the sake & cuisine of Miyagi at Kuraichi at 267 36th Street in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. Free admission. For details see - https://www.japanculture-nyc.com.
Ending November 19, 2023 - Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas on the 5th floor in the Americas Galleries. The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway in the Park Slope / Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. For details and tickets see - https://www.brooklynmuseum.org
November 4 - December 3, 2023 DAILY except Mondays at 7.30 pm & 2 pm matinees on Saturdays & Sundays [closed Thanksgiving Day] - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. At Theater for a New Audience at Polonsky Shakespeare Center at 262 Ashland Place between Fulton and Lafayette in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. For details and $97 - 132 tickets, see - https://www.tfana.org/ *** Also note that on November 19th it's a Pay What You Will entrance fee.
The photo at right, taken in a prior year, provides some perspective on what's involved in being the human anchors for these huge balloons as they parade down Central Park West and Midtown.
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Brooklyn holiday markets & shops BK NYC. The Makers Market Show begins next week 11/24 at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn.
October 12 to November 18, 2023 - Ancestral Foods: Family Feasts. Group exhibit - Opening reception 10/12 from 6 to 8 pm and Closing reception on 11/18 from 6 to 8 pm. The Bronx Art Space is located at 700 Manida Street off Spofford Avenue in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. FYI - During the pandemic they moved from 140th Street in Mott Haven. For details see - http://www.bronxartspace.com
Friday & Saturday, November 17 & 18, 2023 at 8 pm - BlakTinX Performance Series - Interludes. They describe the performance as follows, "... Dancing Futures Resident CocoMotion and Movement Collaborators, Marcus Braggs, Muriel Peterson, Ze Motion and Luffy present a performance about relationships and the vicissitudes of life. Presented by Pepatián with support from the Jerome Foundation...". At 2474 Westchester Avenue in the Westchester neighborhood of the East Bronx. For details and $20 tickets see - https://www.baadbronx.org
The photo at right, taken in a prior year, shows the variety of characters in the shape of balloons at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade visual feast.
CLICKthis link to view this and other current & upcoming Bronx holiday events and things to do Bx NYC. This weekend 11/17 & 18/ 23 there's a tree lighting and Holiday Shows at Bay Plaza Mall. Also the NY Botanical Garden Train Show and Glow, and the Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights events have begun their holiday festivities, which run through the holidays.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS. 11/14/23 Human Rights Talk at the Bronx House and November 19 Turkey Giveaway while supplies last. See the Bronx Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. The new member sign up function has been fixed by providing this link - Bronx Buzz New Member Sign Up.
Things To Do This Weekend on Staten Island NYC
Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, November 16, 17 & 18 and 30, and December 1 & 2, 2023 beginning at 8 pm & 2 pm matinees on Saturdays and the last Sunday 12/3 - Rodgers and Hammerstein’s A Grand Night of Singing. Wagner College is located at 1 Campus Road off Howard Avenue in the Grymes Hill neighborhood of Staten Island NYC. For details and $18, $23 & $25 tickets see - https://wagner.edu/performing-arts/theatre-season-2-2-4-2/
Sunday, November 19, 2023 from 12 noon to 5 pm - Westerleigh Folk Festival aka West Fest 16. A popular neighborhood folk music festival featuring a number of talented local artists. There's also crafts vendors, face painting, food and beverage. Free admission. At Immanuel Union Church at 693 Jewett Avenue in the Westerleigh / Castleton Corners Neighborhoods of Staten Island.
The photo at right, taken in a prior year, shows that there's a lot more than balloons to watch. Various performance groups participate in the parade. As of Friday, November 17, 2023, the weather forecast for Thanksgiving Day is dry, with a high below 40 and the lows in the high 20's.
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Staten Island holiday markets & shops SI NYC. This weekend St. John's Lutheran Church and Great Kills Moravian Church Holiday Fairs.
CLICK this link to view upcoming Staten Island Holiday Events & Things to do NYC. Updates this week include for the National Lighthouse Museum and Monsignor Farrell High School holiday events.
*** Be sure to visit our Queens holiday markets page, as it contains related holiday events with a shopping element to them.
*** For links to holiday events and markets in all five boroughs of NYC scroll down to the bottom of this report.
EDITOR NOTE. While it seems we've turned the corner on the CoVid pandemic, remember caution is the better part of valor. Try to maintain some social distance, when in a crowded place consider wearing a mask and if you're not feeling well, give yourself a break and enjoy some time at home.
How The Queens Holiday Events Page on this Page are Organized
These holiday events on Queens are organized as follows:
1. BY NEIGHBORHOODS OF QUEENS
2. BY DATE (not always as it depends on when the info comes in)
Watch carefully as some locales have multiple dates, and all dates for a given locale are shown at the time the venue is first listed.
3. ALL OF THESE ARE FREE UNLESS FEES ARE SPECIFIED.
4. Note QUEENS HOLIDAY MARKETS are published on a separate page - the links to which are posted above and at the bottom of this page, along with links to holiday events in other boroughs.
The holidays are a special time of the year. In ancient times there were harvest celebrations to give thanks and enjoy the bounty after a long growing and harvesting season aka a year of work.
Holiday lighting festivals and ceremonies have been on the rise in Queens in recent years. While some date back many years, most are traditions that started within the past five or ten years.
What does an increase in holiday lightings mean? It means you have ample opportunity to go yourself, or with friends, or to take your kids to one or more of them to learn a bit more about your own culture or the culture of others.
Each lighting is a bit different, as some are community and business-oriented, some are religiously oriented, a few have arts organizations behind them, and some are backed by non-religious cultural organizations. Please feel free to send us a notice of your holiday lighting event if it's not posted herein.
Queens Christmas, Hanukkah & Kwanzaa Holiday Events Begin in Earnest
This is not meant to be a complete list, but rather a list of the holiday lighting events, many of which I’ve attended one or more times since late 2007. The holiday lighting events are organized individually by each Queens neighborhood including Astoria, Long Island City LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica and Whitestone. Many include the serving of some beverage like hot chocolate and generally something to munch on like cookies.
Veterans Day Parades & Commemorations, Comedy Festival, Baltic Film Fest & Bryant Park Winter Village Shops in Manhattan; Vets Parade & Off the Wall Affordable Art Fair in Queens; Folk Music Festival in Brooklyn; Vets Parade on City Island in the Bronx; Vet Commemoration, Holiday Markets & Events begin on Staten Island ... more coming later today
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 50's on Friday and Saturday, descending to the high 40's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low 40's on Friday, dropping into the mid 30's on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity will fall from 50% - 70% on Friday to 50% - 60% on Saturday and Sunday. The winds will range from 3 - 9 mph all weekend. No rain is expected after 9 am Friday. Sunrise is at 6.37 am and Sunset is at 4.47 pm.
We're still working on adding holiday markets and things to do this weekened [and future weekends] which will be added to the pages for which the links are provided below for each borough.
Things To Do This Weekend in Manhattan NYC
Flatiron District / Midtown _ Saturday, November 11, 2023 from 9.30 am - 12.30 pm [NOTE the earlier time this year 2023] - The Veterans' Day Parade & ceremonies commence prior to the parade, ending with a wreath laying at the Eternal Light Monument in Madison Square Park at 5th Avenue at 24th Street. Then the parade steps off at 9.30 am marching up 5th Avenue to 47th Street, ending about 12.30 pm. Midtown Manhattan parades & street fairs Manhattan NYC.
South Street Seaport _ Saturday, November 11, 2023 from 12 noon to 4 pm - Taste of the Seaport - At Piers 16 & 17 at 89 South Street along the East River at the South Street Seaport. Entertainment, kids activities and about 40 food & beverage purveyors with proceeds going to "seaport public schools" which in the past they had specified as PS 343 Peck Slip School & PS 397 Spruce Street School - but it wasn't specified this year. For details and $10 tickets for a student taste / $55 for six tastes at https://www.tasteoftheseaport.org/.
Friday, November 3, 2023 thru Sunday, November 12, 2023 at various times and at various locations - New York Comedy Festival. This happens at locations around Manhattan including Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre and Gotham Comedy - among others. For details and tickets [prices vary by show] see - https://nycomedyfestival.com/
Midtown _ Wednesday thru Sunday, November 8 - 12, 2023 at various times - The Baltic Film Festival. At Scandinavia House at 58 Park Avenue in Midtown just south of Grand Central Station. Tickets are $60 for a five movie pass or $125 to see all films. For details see - https://www.scandinaviahouse.org
Friday, October 27, 2023 thru Tuesday, January 2, 2024 daily from 11 am to 8 pm, except Saturday & Sunday when they open at 10 am - Bryant Park Winter Village. Approximately 180 mostly local vendors of unique arts and crafts. For details see - https://bryantpark.org
There are also two more holiday markets in Manhattan this weekend only - Grace Church in the West Village and Renegade Craft Fair in Chelsea. CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming Manhattan holiday markets & shops MHTN NYC. WORK IN PROGRESS.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS - See the Manhattan Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. This remains broken. We're working to fix it.
Things To Do This Weekend in Queens NYC
Sunday, November 12, 2023 from 12 noon - 3 pm - There's a Veterans' Day Parade beginning at 80th and marching down Metropolitan Avenue to Christ the King Church at 69th Street in Middle Village, where there will be a commemorative ceremony ending at 3 pm.
From Saturday, November 4 - December 17, 2023 - Off the Wall Affordable Art Fair. Over 100 local Long Island City Artists [aka LICA] feature their works for sale at Culture Lab LIC at 5-25 46th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens.
NEXT WEEK
Saturday, November 18, 2023 beginning at 7 pm - Queens World Film Festival Listening Tour. Described as follows, " ... The Listening Tour is a program of Queens World Film Festival that brings small groups together to video tape their thoughts on Hope and Resilience. The program launched in September 2021 and has produced 46 segments featuring school children, the kitchen staff of local diners, artists, teachers, community organizers, 8th grade environmental activists and many other of our Queens neighbors. Join us as we share segments featuring community members from Rockaway to Flushing...". At the Local 1302 44th Avenue in Long Island City. Free w/ popcorn and chocolate while supplies last. To rsvp [required for admittance] see - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1e534qAdZojy7dzMiSFlpO77AardRWiZdydbbI7cImUBXtQ/viewform.
Sunday, November 19, 2023 beginning at 12 noon - Diwali Celebration at Flushing Town Hall at 137-35 Northern Blvd in Flushing. Folk dance and musical performances, as well as exhibits of Indian clothing, decoration and food. For details and $10 - $22 tickets see - https://www.flushingtownhall.org.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS - See the Queens Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. This remains broken. We're working to fix it.
Things To Do This Weekend in Brooklyn NYC
November 10 - 12, 2023 at various times - Brooklyn Folk Festival at St. Anns & the Holy Trinity Church at 157 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. For details and $35 / $17 [kids] tickets see - https://www.brooklynfolkfest.com/ or https://www.jalopytheatre.org
The Brooklyn Veterans Day Parade was held in Crown Heights on October 28th.
Sunday, November 12, 2023 beginning at 12 noon there's a Veterans Day Parade that steps off from East Tremont and Lafayette Avenues, marching to Veterans Memorial Park in Throggs Neck. Veterans Day parades in the Bronx NYC.
MEMBER CALENDAR EVENTS. 11/14/23 Human Rights Talk at the Bronx House and November 19 Turkey Giveaway while supplies last. See the Bronx Member Events Calendar for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. The new member sign up function is currently broken. We're working to fix it.
Things To Do This Weekend on Staten Island NYC
Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 11 am, Veterans will gather at Ocean Breeze Cemetery to pay honor to those who served our nation in the military services. Speeches, taps and a rifle volley are part of the program. Last year the group then proceeded over to Frederick Douglass Memorial Park, which is the only African American cemetery in NYC, to pay their respects to a member who is buried there.
SI MEMBER EVENTS CALENDAR. See the Staten Island Events - Member Events for free posts made by arts, cultural and community groups. This remains broken. We're working to fix it.
Have a nice weekend.
* Exclusive: One on One Interview with the Mayor
The Eric Adams Story - Part I
Mayor Adams is a Complicated Man, Who Rose from Poverty, to the Highest Office in NYC
November 6, 2023 / NYC Government & Polltics / NYC Neighborhoods / Gotham Buzz. News Analysis & Opinion by Michael Wood.
This past summer, while working on another story in collaboration with the Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media [aka MOECM], I entered into discussions with the MOECM, about the possibility of an exclusive interview with the Mayor. The Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media was created a couple of years ago, to enhance local media access to the goings on at City Hall, in order to better inform the public. Under the Adams Administration, part of that program included providing greater government official availability to somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 local media outlets.
Famod Konneh, Associate Director for Outreach and Engagement collaborated with me to make arrangements for the interview, which took place on Friday, October 20, 2023. It's worth noting that every reporting story done live, is a collaboration of a sort, between the journalist and the subject(s) covered.
The photo at right shows Jose Bayona, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media [aka MOECM], at the MOEDM operations cener which is in the basement of City Hall, while he was setting up the video conference.
Interview Preparation - Doing My Homework
I did a considerable amount of research into the Mayor's past, while preparing for the interview. I did all this prep work, even though Famod had told me I would be limited to 20 minutes via a Zoom video call, as I was pitching him for more time. When I first first started the research, I did it in preparation for the interview, but, as sometimes happens with the kind of reporting I do, the more I learned, the more I became interested in learning even more about the Mayor and his life story.
Initially I thought I would do a standard hard news interview about key topics of the day including immigration, crime, the public schools and the budget. But, as I journeyed into the Mayor's past, I became more intrigued with the idea of doing a different story.
The Adams Administration's Unheralded Herculean Effort Managing the Immigrant Influx
As I conducted my research, I decided that NOT to inquire about the Mayor's - seemingly unappreciated or underappreciated - Herculean effort to manage the huge influx of immigrants into NYC. This situation, turned crisis, began when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing immigrants from Texas border towns, beginning in August 5, 2022, to NYC. Governor Abbott began transporting immigrants here without any communication nor coordination with NYS Governor Hochul or NYC Mayor Adams.
Nonetheless, Mayor Adams somehow found enough lodging for somewhere between 65,000 - 125,000 immigrants bussed in since then, who arrived in the city within the past year or so. The Mayor also managed to carve enough funding out of the NYC budget to provide security, food, healthcare and logistics for the newcomers, with what - until fairly recently [the past three months or so] - appeared somewhere between scant and lagging help from the likes of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and NYS Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY), respectively.
In spite of this gargantuan challenge, Mayor Adams made sure NYC didn't miss a step. His Administration kept the influx of immigrants mostly off the streets, and appeared to ensure they were't coopted into criminal activities by providing for them, in spite of laws which forbade them from earning a living. This nearly heroic effort has mostly gone unheralded by the corporate media.
The photo above right shows the Mayor pondering a question I posed to him, during our Zoom interview. He's in the Mayoral limo enroute to his next event.
Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year, so there are likely to be a number of events that hit the preceding weekend. Here's a listing of some of the fun Halloween parties and events open to the public in Queens.
There are a lot of parties planned for Halloween Weekend and Halloween Day this year. There are costume parties and live music for adults, and parades and parties for the kids. This report will provide you with a sampling of party opportunities for adults in the borough of Queens surrounding the Halloween holiday. And this page also includes links to the kids Halloween parties in Queens, as well as Halloween parties in other boroughs.
The photo to your right was taken of a Halloween party crowd in Queens in an earlier year. Halloween allows the latent artist and theatrical actor in us all, to come out of its inhibition. In earlier times it was said that masquerade events were to give the upper and lower classes a chance to mingle without being scandalized - as everyone was in costume.
*** For links to holiday events and markets in all five boroughs of NYC scroll down to the bottom of this report.
*** WORK IN PROGRESS. THIS WILL BE UPDATED WEEKLY OR MORE OFTEN THRU NOVEMBER. WATCH ASTERISKS AND DATES.
Queens Holiday Markets Getting Underway
The growth in the number and size of Holiday markets has risen in Queens and New York City over the years. While some date back many years, most are traditions that started within the past five or ten years.
What does an increase in holiday markets mean? It means you have multiple opportunities to go holiday shopping yourself, or with friends, or with your kids or the whole family. Oftentimes the local markets offer unique items made locally, which you may not find anywhere else.
Each Queens holiday market is a bit different, as each of those listed in this posting are organized in collaboration with arts organizations and / or with religious or cultural organizations. Please feel free to send us a notice of your community organize Queens holiday market if it's not posted herein.
This is not meant to be a complete list of Queens holiday markets, but rather - as mentioned above - a curated listing of Queens holiday markets run by community organizations. The Queens holiday markets are organized individually in each Queens neighborhood including Astoria, Long Island City LIC, Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills, Flushing and Jamaica. Many of these markets may also host holiday tree lighting, menorah lighting or Kwanzaa candle lighting events in Queens.
The One Things that was Clear, Amidst a Number of Rapidly Shifting Trends, was that the Times They are a Changing
October 23, 2023 / Queens Neighborhoods NYC / Queens Business NYC / Queens Buzz.
Last Tuesday, on a fairly nice October day, I visited the Museum of the Moving Image, to attend the LIC Summit which was organized by the Long Island City Partnership [LICP]. According to their website - at https://www.longislandcityqueens.com - the description and mission of the Long Island City Partnership is as follows:
"... [The] Long Island City Partnership(LICP)is the neighborhood development organization for LIC [Long Island City]. Our mission is to advocate for economic development that benefits the area’s industrial, commercial, science and technology, cultural, tourism, and residential sectors. The goal is to attract new businesses to LIC, retain those already here, engage residents and visitors, and promote a vibrant and authentic mixed-use community. LICP also operates the LIC Business Improvement District and LIC Industrial Business Zone (LIC IBZ), providing business services and assistance...".
The photo at right shows that it was a packed house at the LIC Summit this year at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria / LIC in Queens.
I believe the first Long Island City Partnership Summit was held in 2014 [also at the Museum of the Moving Image], which we reported on at the time. Based on their outreach this year, the purpose of the event remains largely intact, which is as follows, " ... to shape the future of the neighborhood, focusing discussions on LIC’s public spaces, sustainability and resiliency, as well as the challenges and opportunities of NYC’s fastest growing neighborhood ...".
So, while a lot has changed in Long Island City, Queens, NYC - and for that matter the world - their goals and efforts remain constant amidst this changing world. Likewise, many of the key issues of nearly a decade ago, haven't gone away. These include the scarcity of affordable housing, the need for public space and accessible transit, and the challenge of curating an environment where local small businesses can create and operate viable business models. And ... to be sure ... we are also facing new challenges, which include the time sensitive need to transition to renewable energy, and build and sustain resilient infrastructure - particularly in low lying and waterfront neighborhoods.
What follows are some excerpts from the participants of the Keynote panel at the LIC Summit. The participants included Moderator Carl Weisbrod, Senior Adviser at HR&A; and panelists Justin Ginsburgh, Managing Director Infrastructure Jet Blue; Donovan Richards, Jr, Queens Borough President; and Maria Torres-Springer, NYC Deputy Mayor of Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce for the City of New York.
A week ago from last Thursday, I attended a celebration of the President's Society at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City Queens. The LAGCC President's Society is an innovative program designed to help high potential students reach their full potential. The event was held at Boyce Technologies, which is located nearby and designs and manufactures mass transit security and communications equipment.
The reason it was held at Boyce Technologies, is because they and LaGuardia Community College have developed a symbiotic relationship, whereby the school has become one of Boyce's leading suppliers of human talent [reportedly about 20% of their employees], while Boyce has become a significant employer of LaGuardia Community College graduates.
About 200 of the roughly 600 LaGuardia Community College President's Society members, who enrolled in the program over the past ten years, attended the event. This is a particularly remarkable number, when one considers that a number of the attendees came from other parts of the country just to attend this one evening event, and that LaGuardia is a two year public college, not a four year one.
The photo above was taken at the LaGuardia Community College President's Society tenth anniversary reunion at Boyce Technologies in Long Island City on Thursday, September 28, 2023.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 70 on Friday and Saturday, and around 60 on Sunday and Monday. The temperature lows will be around 65 on Friday and then around 50 for the rest of the weekend. The winds will be around 5 - 10 mph on Friday and Monday, and around 10 - 15 mph on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity will be around 90% on Friday, dropping to 75% - 85% on Saturday, and then around 60% on Sunday and Monday. There's a 40% to 90% chance of about an inch and a half of rain between 9 pm Friday and 4 pm Saturday. The rest of the weekend looks dry right now. Friday Sunrise is 6.57 am and Sunset is 6.30 pm.
This report contains a listing of some of the things to do in Queens over the Columbus Day Weekend including art museums, theaters, live music / comedy / dance venues, sporting & social events, and restaurants for Queens NYC.
Columbus Day Events In Queens
Click here to obtain information about things to do Columbus Day Weekend in Queens. This events calendar is updated monthly with about 100 different Queens fun / cultural events.
Astoria _ Saturday, October 7, 2023, assembly at 11 am and parade kicks off at 12 noon - 2 pm - 46th Annual Columbus Day Parade - Kicks off from Kaufman Astoria Studios at 34-12 36th Street, marches north on Steinway, west on 30th Avenue and then turns north on 33rd Street ending at Columbus Triangle at Astoria Blvd around 1 pm where there's an ending ceremony. Rain or shine. Organized by FIAO which is the Italian Federation of Queens.
Queens Public & Private Parks & Public Indoor Swimming Pools
Queens has one of the best collection of parks and golf courses in the NY Metro area, if not the best. Queens has at least 17 great parks. Click here for a listing of the Queens Parks including maps showing their locations along with a bit of park history.
NYC public indoor swimming pools are open [unconfirmed].
Golfing In Queens - Columbus Day Weekend
Queens has four golf courses and all of them are open this weekend. Click here for details about Queens Golf Courses including maps and links to the operators' websites.
Nearly two weeks ago, on Wednesday, September 13th, I headed into the New York Academy of Medicine at 1215 5th Avenue on the Upper East Side to attend a ceremony - a celebration actually - honoring Living Donors of Mt. Sinai's kidney and liver transplant program.
To be frank, when first approached to cover this event, I wasn't sure of what to expect. But after mulling it over, and perhaps with a bit of deference to my Mother, who had signed away her organs on her driver's license [and likely elsewhere], I decided to go to see what I might learn.
New York Academy of Medicine on the UES
The ceremony was held at the New York Academy of Medicine, which is located along 5th Avenue at 103rd Street. The NY Academy of Medicine was founded in 1847 by a number of NYC doctors, most notably the Presidents of the NYU School of Medicine, the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Medical Society of the City and County of New York. The Academy has played an influential role in shaping public health policy in NYC, NYS and the U.S.
The building in which the New York Academy of Medicine is located, as well as the location of the Mt. Sinai Living Donor Ceremony, was built in 1926 and is also home to the NY Academy of Medicine's library of various aspects of medicine, which was first started in 1847, opened to the public in 1878, and continues to be accessible to the public to this day. Generally it's dedicated to those wishing to do research and one has to make an appointment to use it. For more information and to make an appointment see - https://www.nyam.org/library/connect/visit-library/
The Mt. Sinai Living Donor Ceremony event was held on the third floor of the building what seemed a library reading room turned into a theater. The room had 20 foot high ceilings [possibly higher], nearly floor to ceiling windows overlooking Central Park, and I'm no expert, but I believe the bookcases in the front of the room were made of oak. The Carnegie Foundation donated about one million to the NY Academy of Medicine to build this building back in the 1920's.
My point in telling you all of this, is to provide a feeling and sense of connection to the past, the early roots of scientific healthcare in this country, which I assume was part of the consideration in selecting this location for the event ... as well as its proximity to the Mt Sinai Hospital campus on the Upper East side, which is located along 5th Avenue between 98th Street and 103rd Street.
The official / unofficial kick off to the month and a half of Oktoberfest events in NYC begins in Manhattan with the Steuben Parade. This report identifies a number of Oktoberfest events around NYC beginning mid September and running through the end of October.
The photo at right shows one of the floats in the Steuben Parade celebrating the consumption of bier, which in tandem with consumption of bratwurst, is an integral part of Oktoberest. One thing the photo doesn't show is the music, that also goes hand in hand with Oktoberfest.
A Brief History of Oktoberfest in NYC
Coming with time. We've posted a number of Oktoberfests in this report, but a few more are coming. Also watch the front page, as this year [only] they are likely to be posted there first.
Fall is just around the corner, which means the San Gennaro Festival is about to begin in Little Italy in Manhattan. See the front page or the parades & festivals page or click into the story for details of the San Gennaro Festival of 2023.
A Very Brief History of Little Italy Manhattan
Little Italy is just north of Canal street, across from Chinatown, which lies to its south. SoHo lies to its west, across Lafayette Street. While the Bowery is just east of it along Mott and Bowery Streets, and Nolita [North of Little Italy] lies to the north of it, across Broome Street. This is something of a downsized area from the original Little Italy of a century ago.
Little Italy was an important destination for Italians arriving in New York City in the late 1800's and early 20th century. It was generally a poor, working class neighborhood at that time, filled with laborers, and shopkeepers who traded food, wine and clothing. And the community was fairly self-sufficient with its own doctors, lawyers and bankers accoding to a Wikipedia account of an NYT story in 1896.
Little Italy's size and population peaked in the early 20th century, aat about 10,000, as Italians left for greener pastures in other parts of the city, including East Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Nonetheless, Little Italy remains somewhat intact, as a very popular tourist destination, the peak of which is celebrated in tandem with the San Gennaro Festival.
This weekend, there are a number of events around the five boroughs commemorating the losses of 911. The following are a few of those events.
The collection of photos at right shows an cultural performance at Lincoln Center honoring the victims of 911. The performance returns Monday at 8.05 am.
911 Remembrances / Commemorations NYC
Ongoing _ Daffodil Project in NYC Parks. For details see - https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/sept-11-memorials
On a sultry Labor Day Monday morning, I set out for the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Crown Heights. The former, covers some of the area in Brooklyn known as Little Caribbean and it was to be the ending point for the Jouvert parade, which serves as the warm up for the larger West Indian American Day Parade.
Be advised that I was not aware of this distinction - two parades by the same group on the same day - until I had arrived and started making inquiries about when and where the actions was.
The Jouvert puportedly started at 11 am inside Prospect Park either at the entrance to the Kids Zoo [still not certain about this, but I'm getting closer to being precise] on Flatbush Avenue or based on a map I saw on the NYPD website, the Jouvert started at Grand Army Plaza, at the north end of Prospect Park. I'll be following up on this, and make the changes here when I get them.
The photo above right was taken at the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn on Labor Day. Many different island cultures celebrate the carnival in unison. The flag in the lower right corner of the photo is Jamaican.
The Jouvert then marched east along Empire Boulevard before turning south on Nostrand Avenue and terminating at Winthrop. I arrived a bit before noon, at Empire Blvd and Nostrand, where the Jouvert Parade had already passed. The Jouvert Parade involves participants adorning themselves with paint and powder, sometimes sharing it with others in a style that reminded me of the Indian Holi celebration.
Speaking of Indians, the West Indies got their name after Columbus discovered them for the Spanish throne. They were called the West Indies, in order to differentiate them from the East Indies, with which the Portuguese had opened up trading routes in the 15th century just prior to Columbus's discovery. The East Indies comprises the islands that lie south of India, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea and north and west of Australia.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 80 on Friday and Saturday, rising to about 90 on Sunday and Monday. The temperature lows will be in the low 60's on Friday, the high 60's on Saturday and about 70 on Sunday and Monday. The winds will be 4 - 8 mph on Friday and Saturday, falling to 3 - 6 mph on Sunday and Monday. The humidity will range from around 50% to 65% on Friday and Saturday, rising to 55% to 70% on Sunday and Monday. Sunrise is approximately 6.23 am and sunset in 7.29 pm as of Friday 9/1/23.
The photo at right shows the relatively new stadium at the USTA where the U.S. Open is held.
ALSO SEE FRONT PAGE FOR THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND IN QUEENS.
Special Events on Labor Day Weekend in Queens NYC
The biggest Labor Day event in Queens, is of course, the U.S. Open which begins next Monday, August 28th, 2023 and runs past the Labor Day weekend, ending the following week on Sunday, September 10, 2023 [see photo at right].
The Surf Music Festival has been moved up a week this year [2023] to Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 25, 26 & 27, from 5 to 9 pm nightly at Shorefront Parkway and 97th Street by the beach in the Rockaways in Queens. Last year the festival was one of the biggest Labor Day weekend events in Queens, and was a part of the Rockaway Bazaar concerts.
CHECK THEIR WEBSITE AS THINGS HAPPENING ON LABOR DAY TOO.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 25, 26 & 27, 2023 from 5 to 9 pm - The Rockaway Beach Surf Music Festival. A whole weekend of music near the beach. Last year the festival was one of the biggest Labor Day weekend events in Queens, and is a part of the Rockaway Bazaar concerts. FREE.
Contact. https://www.rockaway-bazaar.com/
Location. At the Rockway Bazaar Beach Pavilion at 9701 Shorefront Parkway and 97th Street by the beach in the Rockaways in Queens.
Labor Day Events In Queens
Click here to obtain information about other things to do in Queens beyond the Labor Day Weekend. This events calendar is updated monthly with about 100 different Queens fun / cultural events. We hope to have this updated by the Labor Day Weekend.
U.S. Open - Monday, August 28 - Sunday, September 10, 2023
The U.S. Open is being played out in Flushing Meadows Corona Park at the Billie Jean King / U.S.T.A athletic complex. The two week event is well attended by people from around the nation and around the globe.
Queens Public & Private Parks
Queens has one of the best collection of parks and golf courses in the NY Metro area, if not the best. Queens has at least 17 great parks. Click here for a listing of the Queens Parks including maps showing their locations along with a bit of park history.
Golfing In Queens
Queens has four golf courses and all of them are open this weekend. Click here for details about Queens Golf Courses including maps and links to the operators' websites.
Just over a week ago, Governor Hochul announced that she and NYC Mayor Adams had received a lease agreement from the Biden Administration, regarding the terms for leasing the Floyd Bennett Airfield for temporary use as a migrant center. The airfield is expected to be capable of providing temporary shelter for about 2,500 immigrants.
Floyd Bennett Field is a Part of the Gateway National Recreation Area
Floyd Bennett Airfield is located at the south eastern end of Brookyn and is part of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife sanctuary, as you can see from the map at right. The airport became a part of the National Park Service in 1972 when the Gateway National Recreation Area was established to protect important natural resources within / near NYC. Sandy Hook New Jersey is also a part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, while the rest of it is located in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn, as previously implied.
Floyd Bennett Airfield - NYC's First Airport - Opened 1931
Four years ago, on August 31, 2019, I visited the Floyd Bennett Airfield with the intention of doing a story on it, which - until now - I had not had an opportunity to do. On that visit, I biked the airfield, took photos in both the museum and peeked through the dusty windows of the hangars and warehouses on the airfield, to photographed our recent past.
Given that the airfield is about to be transformed into a sprawling migrant center, I thought folks might want to take a look at it as it was four years ago, before it is repurposed into something quite new. Along with this story, I'll also take you through a brief history ...
... as the Floyd Bennett Airfield was NYC's first airport, predating LaGuardia which according to Wikipedia opened on December 2, 1939 and JFK which opened as New York International Airport [nicknamed Idlewild] in July 1, 1948. Floyd Bennett Airfield opened on May 23, 1931.
The NYC Mayor & First Deputy Mayor have Set Out on an Ambitious Effort to Prevent Crimes Before They Happen through the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force [GVPTF]
Last Thursday I headed down to City Hall to hear a presentation by First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and Andre T. Mitchell of Man Up! in Brooklyn, who are the Co-Chairs of the Mayor's Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. The Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media [MOECM] had organized the roundtable presentation at City Hall, and there were a bit more than a couple of dozen local media reporters in attendance.
The photo at right top shows two characters in the CBS TV series Person of Interest who spend their time trying to prevent crimes before they happen. The photo bottom right shows the Mayor & First Deputy Mayor, who are working to reduce and prevent crime in real life.
If one sets aside the drama, theatrics, rule bending & breaking, and the sensationalism of the TV series, there are some interesting parallels between what the folks in real life are trying to do, vis a vis what the imaginary characters of the TV series were trying to do. We'll have more on this later in the report.
Behind the Scenes at City Hall with Sheena Wright
The First Deputy Mayor, Sheena Wright, provided an overview of what the Adams Administration has quietly been working on - mostly behind the scenes - in the neighborhoods in NYC most wracked by violent crime.
Since June of 2022, Wright, Mitchell and the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force have been laying the ground work to try to prevent crime in the high violence communties, before it starts. She described it as going upstream to root out the underlying causes of violent crime.
The Task Force has taken a holistic approach to the problem, rather than taking the historic / authoritarian approach to violent crime, which had further oppressed the people in the affected communities, by over policing them. For example during the Bloomberg Administration, the NYPD was instructed to stop and frisk people, seemingly at will.
This is not to say that the Adams Administration has reduced policing in these neighborhoods, because they have not. In fact they have increased policing in these neighborhoods, BUT they have concurrently begun reinvesting in these neighborhoods, which for decades, they told us, have experienced significant community disinvestment. I have not yet independently verified the disinvestment claim, but believe it is directionally correct.
The photo at right shows Jose Bayona, Executive Director of the MOECM; Sheena Wright, First Deputy Mayor and Andre T. Wright, Founder of Man Up! at a Round Table meeting at City Hall.
This report contains the opening dates, times / hours, items / selection, as well as links to online maps of all major Queens farmer markets, including address locations in Queens.
The Queens farmers markets on this page are located in or around the Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica and Glendale in Queens NYC.
Enjoy shopping and eating the fresh and natural foods and product of our local farmers and food manufacturers.
Queens offers easy access to a wide range of recreational swimming pools. The following is our first attempt to provide you with a view of the range of public swimming pools available in the parks of Queens. We encourage you to make use of these facilities because they provide healthy, fun, and frequently free or inexpensive entertainment for both individuals and families with children.
Queens outdoor public pools will open Thursday, June, 29, 2023. A few of the indoor pools will be closed this summer to allow for construction and improvements.
Generally pool hours are from 11 am - 7 pm daily, with a one hour break between 3 and 4 pm for cleaning. Bring a padlock for your locker and proper swimming trunks are required [for boys this means not shorts as trunks must have liners]. Don't bring food, glass bottles, newspapers, electronics, floaters and no or as few valuables as you can bring to minimize your risk because the park isn't responsible for your losses. Free sunscreen will be made available while supplies last.
As of this posting 6.28.23, masks are no longer required for indoor activity including in the locker rooms, but stay tuned as it's possible that could change.
Queens Free Things To Do - Free Concerts In Queens NYC 2023
Free Summer Concerts In Queens - Free Summer Concerts In The Park In Astoria, LIC, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica
Summer has unofficially begun. A number of community groups in collaboration with the NYC Parks Department and frequently with some measure of various levels of government funding, have put together a summer full of music with free outdoor concerts in the parks. The music and concerts listed below are designed for young and old alike and generally they're FREE unless otherwise noted.
Free Things To Do In Queens, Free Shakespeare in the Park in Astoria, LIC, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica NYC
Summer is hitting full stride. A number of community theater and dance groups in collaboration with the NYC Parks Department and frequently some measure of government funding, collaborate to provide Queens neighborhoods with a summer that includes free theater in the parks. The theatrical productions listed below are designed for young and old alike and they're FREE.
Editor's Note - Note that ASTERISKED events have NOT been updated to 2023. Pay attention to the performance dates / years. We will be updating / adding this summer theater report through the summer, so check back periodically for updates which you can note by the date changing above.
Summary of What to Expect When Scrolling Down 2023
Many of the free summer theatrical productions in Queens are performed by Hip to Hip Theater Company in Woodside and sponsored by the Theater Development Fund and hosted by the NYC Parks. At present they have mapped out their summer program which starts in August.
The theater performances are scheduled to be held outdoors at various parks around the borough including Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria / LIC, the Voelker Orth Museum in Flushing, Sunnyside Gardens Park, Cunningham Park, Gantry State Park in LIC, Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Crocheron Park. While no Hip to Hip Theater performances are scheduled for Athens Square Park in Astoria, they oftentimes find a way to make concerts and sporadically ancient and modern Greek theater performances possible.
Scroll Down for Free Theater Events or Check Out Other Free Summer Things to do in Queens
Current Queens Things To Do. Click here to view a listing of current Queens things to do or click here to view our member submitted Queens events calendar.
Two weeks ago, on Monday, June 26, 2023 I attended a meeting in City Hall hosted by the Adams Administration. It was raining fairly hard as I approached City Hall on this warm June afternoon.
The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the achievements being made in providing healthcare to New Yorkers. The focus on this day, was the progress being made toward providing healthcare to those who cannot [fully] afford it, by enrolling them into the NYC Care insurance program.
The meeting was arranged by the Mayor's Office of Ethnic & Community Media. I arrived a bit early and spent time catching up with some of the other reporters while waiting for the meeting to begin.
The photo at right shows the NYC City Hall on a warm, rainy mid afternoon in late June.
What is NYC Care?
In the meeting we were told that, while the NYC Care program is a healthcare / insurance program that focuses on minorities, immigrants and those for whom English is a second language, it is available to everyone - including Whites - assuming all candidates for the insurance program meet the same preconditions.
Enrollees in the NYC Care healthcare insurance program need only meet three criteria to be eligible: 1) must be 21 years old, 2) they must have a valid government ID from the U.S. or a valid passport from their nation of origin, and 3) they may not be eligible for any other private or public health insurance program [such as Medicaid / Medicare]. There used to be a proof of six months of NYC residency requirement, but it was later rescinded.
NYC Weather Update 7.4.23 - On July 4th the humidity will remain about 80%. Unfortunately the winds will have died down to 3 mph. The temperature high will be in the low 80's and the temperature low will be in the low 70's. There's a 1/3 inch of rain expected - mostly between the hours of 11 am - 7 pm - so by dusk, which is after 9 pm, the temperatures will be in the 70's, no rain but it will be humid.
Temperature highs will range from the low to high 80's through the July 4th holiday on Tuesday. The tempeature lows will range from the mid 60's to the mid 70's, rising a bit reach day. The winds will range from 5 - 10 mph from now through Tuesday. The humidity will range from 60% - 70% Friday, then rising up to 80% for Saturday, and then staying there for Sunday and Monday, before falling back to 60% - 70% on Tuesday. Rain. Between a quarter and half inch of rain is expected on Sunday, and a quarter inch on Monday. While there may be clouds on the other days, rain is not expected. Air Quality. We continue to experience some of the unhealthy conditions from the Canadian forest fires caused by climate change which is caused by carbon emissions from folks' gas guzzling autos & other carbon emitting machinery. To stay abreast of the air quality in NYC copy and paste this link into your browswer bar - https://www.airnow.gov.
All of these fireworks displays are FREE.
This just in - Thursday, June 15 beginning at 9.15 pm, Fireworks in Cunningham Park in Queens following the New York Philharmonic Concert.
1. Bayside Independence / 4th of July Fireworks 2023 in Fort Totten Park Queens NYC - Tuesday, 6/27/23
This Independence Day celebration begins Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 6 pm with musical entertainment and food trucks vending. The fireworks begin at 9.15 pm. Parking and admittance opens at 5 pm. This is a non-alcholic event and containers will be inspected. Free.
Use links below for additional 4th of July festivities 2023 in all five of NYC boroughs.
2. Astoria Independence / July 4th Fireworks on the East River Queens NYC - Thursday 6/29/23
The Astoria Park Fireworks will happen on Thursday, June 29th, 2023. The festivities begin at 7.30 pm and the fireworks usually go off around dusk which is about 9.30 pm. The best viewing location is from the Great Lawn, but be advised that each year these fireworks become more popular. Free.
This fireworks display is also put together by the Grucci Brothers, the same fireworks company doing the Macy's 4th of July fireworks along the East River on July 4th, in NYC. The Astoria Park fireworks in Queens will be shown on Wednesday evening and provide a pastorial view from Astoria Park right alongside the East River.
The Central Astoria Development Coalition sponsors the annual fireworks display in Astoria Park and the Queens Symphony Orchestra warms up the crowd beginning around 7.30 pm by playing classical music from the 19th & 20th centuries on a stage overlooking the East River in front of the great lawn of Astoria Park [between the pool and Hellgate Bridge].
Contact. For details see - https://centralastoria.org/
The following page contains between a half dozen and dozen different 4th of July fireworks celebrations in the five boroughs of NYC, including best viewing locations in Queens for the Macy's 4th of July fireworks, and four other fireworks shows in Queens which precede those on the 4th of July, which include the above.
Click to view a story about the Astoria Park Fireworks show of 2013 in Queens. The photo at right shows the July 4th / Independence Day fireworks in Astoria Queens in a prior year.
Click here for the rest of our report about the 4th of July Fireworks in Queens NYC & nearby areas, including times and locations for the Macy's 4th of July fireworks in Manhattan NYC, the Coney Island fireworks in Brooklyn NYC, the Orchard Beach fireworks in the Bronx NYC, the Coop City fireworks in the Bronx NYC, the Jones Beach fireworks on Long Island and the Perth Amboy fireworks in New Jersey [across from the Confence House in Tottenville on Staten Island NYC].
Queens Free Things To Do: Free Summer Movies In Queens 2023
Free Things To Do In Queens - Free Films & Summer Movies In Astoria, LIC, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica
This weekend summer begins in earnest. A number of community groups in collaboration with the NYC Parks Department and frequently some measure of government funding, have put together a summer full of films and free summer movies in the parks. The foreign films and free movies listed below are designed for young and old alike and they're MOSTLY FREE.
Editor's Note - Note that ASTERISKED EVENTS have NOT been updated to 2023. Pay attention to the movies dates / years. We will continue updating / adding movies between now and the end of the summer. So check back periodically for updates which you can note by the date changing above.
Current Queens Things To Do. Click here to view a listing of current Queens things to do or click here to view our member submitted Queens events calendar.
The things to do in Queens on Memorial Day Weekend include art exhibitions, theater, live music, comedy, dance, shopping, outdoor activities such as soccer, kyaking, baseball, parades, street fairs, museums and dining in the Astoria, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Long Island City, LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jamaica, Forest Hills, Flushing, Corona neighborhoods in Queens NYC.
Be sure to check our Memorial Day Weekend things to do, which we post on Friday afternoon leading into the Memorial Day Weekend in Queens NYC.
Brief History of the Memorial Day Holiday in Queens NYC
Memorial Day first started out as Decoration Day in Waterloo, New York on May 30, 1866 - a year after the Civil War - to honor those who fought in it. In the 1880's the day came to be known as Memorial Day.
According to a May 25, 2012 report in Time Magazine, ten states - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee also officially observe some version of a Confederate Memorial Day, sometime between late April and early June [in Texas it's in January]. It's been reported that unofficially most of the former Confederate states still commemorate it, but not without some controversy as to the former Confederate diaspora it's to honor their ancestors, while to the former diaspora of the slaves it seems a remnant of these states racist past.
About ten percent of the nation travels more than 50 miles over the weekend. Memorial Day differs from Veterans Day which is held on November 11th of each year. Veterans Day began by honoring those who fought in World War I which ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Both honor those who served in the U.S. Military. Veterans Day coincides with a similar holiday in Europe for the same reason, which is called Remembrance Day and Armistice Day.
Things to do in Other NYC Boroughs Memorial Day Weekend
Happy Mothers Day Weekend, TEFAF Show, Indian Film Fest & Japan Parade in Manhattan, Eight Tales of Pedro, Taste of Queens Tuesday & Jamaica Jazz Fest Friday in Queens; Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Open Stages & BAM Dance Africa Festival in Brooklyn, Bronx Week in the Bronx; Arts & Crafts Show at the Staten Island Mall & Updating Open Calls
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 90 on Friday, falling to 80 on Saturday and about 75 on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the mid 60's on Friday, falling to about 60 on Saturday and possibly into the mid 50's on Sunday. Winds will be about 5 - 8 mph all weekend. The humidity will fall from 50% on Friday to 40% on Saturday and between 30% - 40% on Sunday. No rain is in the forecast for this weekend
The photo at right shows a rainy day this past week. It was nice to see some moisture return to the area, as up until very recently, it had been lacking thus far this year.
May 10, 2023 / Queens Neighborhoods / Queens Real Estate / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz.
NYS Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubrey has sponsored a bill to allow a billionaire to build a casino on Queens parkland. Why can't the billionaire buy his own land to build the casino? And why has Aubrey supported this public park land grab?
Mother's Day is fast approaching. It's a good day to let your wife or mother or daughter know you appreciate their efforts in the most important role of their lives. Flowers, gifts and brunch or dinner are always welcome, as is any thoughtful gesture that provides some measure showing your recognition of her efforts in her role as mother of some children. After all, without mothers, we would all cease to be.
It's best to book a restaurant reservation early for Mother's Day brunch, as on Mother's Day in Queens, many restaurants are full. So if you're thinking about eating out at a restaurant this Mother's Day in Astoria, LIC, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Woodside or Flushing; it's best to do your research early, and call ahead to book Mother's Day restaurant reservations.
Remember, restaurants also have additional capacity since the pandemic began, via all of those outdoor shanties built during the pandemic, which greatly increased overall space / seating capacity. And with the weather warming - the temperature is expected to be near 70 degrees on Mothers Day without rain, so outdoor dining is a pleasant, even welcome option.
But as the saying goes, the early bird gets the [worm] better seating, so book early.
Mother's Day History - Restaurants In Queens
The origins of Mother's Day in the United States began with the efforts by Anna Jarvis to honor her own mother. According to Wikipedia, Anna began the campaign in 1905 - the year her mother died - and in 1910 West Virginia was the first state to adopt Mothers Day as a holiday. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson made the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to honor mothers.
Click this link to view a brief guide of Mother's Day restaurants in Queens 2022 where you will find links to Queens restaurants we've reviewed. The restaurants we've reviewed include a mix of high, medium and budget priced restaurants that are spread throughout the borough and offer a large variety of ethnic cuisines.
Cinco de Mayo, Janes Walk and 5 Boro Bike Ride in all 5 Boros, Cannabis Parade & Festival in Manhattan, Eight Tales of Pedro in Queens; Luna Park in Brooklyn, Kentucky Derby at the Bartow Pell Mansion in the Bronx; Yankee Peddler Day on Staten Island & Moving Open Calls
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 60 on Friday, then rising to 70 on Saturday and Sunday. The temperature lows will be around 50 on Friday rising slightly to the mid 50's by Sunday. Winds will be about 5 mph all weekend. The humidity will fall from 60% to 70% on Friday, to about 50% on Saturday and Sunday. No rain is in the forecast for this weekend
The photo at right shows a rainy day this past week. It was nice to see some moisture return to the area, as up until very recently, it had been lacking thus far this year.
Sikh Day and Greek Independence Day Parades & Anitquarian Book Fair in Manhattan, Eight Tales of Pedro, Irish & West Ghanaian Concert & Queens Symphony in Queens; Prospect Park Tour, Street Naming for MTA Member in Midwood & Luna Park in Brooklyn, Bronx Arts Ensemble Concert at the NYBG in the Bronx; Staten Island Ferry Hawks Home Opener All Weekend & Outdoor Markets on Staten Island, Moving Open Calls & Met Gala Monday
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 60 all weekend long, while the temperature lows will be around 50 all weekend long. Winds will be 10 - 15 mph all weekend. The humidity will rise from 60% to 70% on Friday, rising to the mid 70% to mid 80% on Saturday, and rising to 80% - 90% on Sunday. There's about 2/3 of an inch of rain expected Saturday and another inch between 11 am - 11 pm on Sunday.
The photo at right, of the Greek Independence Day Parade, was taken a number of years back. The cultural pageantry references the lore of the heroics and democracy of ancient Greece.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be / Weather coming tomrorrow.
I never thought I would become one of the 'old timers' covering the LIC Partnership Real Estate Breakfast. But I think that perhaps I am. I hadn't covered one of these breakfasts since before the pandemic, so I found myself looking to regain my balance, vis a vis my Queens real estate sea legs.
But some things are like riding a bike, meaning they come back to you quickly, and covering the LIC Real Estate Breakfast seemed to fit that bill. As I sat there listening to the panel assembled to discuss the current state of affairs, I noticed a number of folks from prior gatherings, and while the issues were largely the same, the current state of them is constantly changing.
Earth Day Weekend Events, Persian Day Parade in Manhattan; Ofrenda Fest in Queens; Invisible Dog Art Center & Luna Park in Brooklyn, 'Diamond' at Pregones & the Last Weekend for the NYBG Orchid Show in the Bronx; Jazz Concert & Jacques Tibetan Museum on Staten Island & Open Calls
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid 60's all weekend long, while the temperature lows will be in the mid 50's on Friday and Saturday, falling to the high 40's on Sunday. Winds will be 10 - 15 mph all weekend. The humidity will rise from the mid 50% to mid 70% on Friday, rising to the mid 70% to mid 80% on Saturday, before falling back to around the mid 50% on Sunday. There's about 2/3 of an inch of rain expected Saturday after 6 pm and ending before 6 am Sunday. Otherwise, for the other parts of the weekend, no rain.
The photo at right captures some of the beauty and mystery of planet Earth. It was taken along an ancient Inca Trail in the Andes in Peru, not far from Macchu Picchu. We can learn a lot from the Incas, who were environmentally compatible engineers.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will rise from about 60 on Tuesday, to the mid 60's Wednesday and Thursday, to the low to mid 70's on Friday and Saturday. The temperature lows will be in the mid 40's on Tuesday and Wednesday, rising to the mid 50's on Thursday and Friday. The winds will be about 10 - 15 mph on Tuesday and Wednesday, dropping to 5 - 10 mph on Thursday and Friday. The humidity will be about 40% on Tuesday and Wednesday, rising to 60 - 70% on Thursday and Friday. No rain is in the forecast all week long.
PRC [People's Republic of China] Caught Operating a 'Secret Police' in Chinatown in Manhattan
In October of 2022, the FBI obtained a search warrant to investigate an office on Broadway in Chinatown believed to be a 'secret police' station set up by dictator President Xi Jin Ping's Peoples Republic of China in order to control the behaviors of Chinese people living in the U.S. Two men were charged in the case. According to the Department of Justice, the two men who were arrested yesterday, are "... “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan ...".
The 'secret police' office was closed after the two men discovered that the FBI was watching them. When conducting the search, the FBI reported that the memories of the two men's communications devices [aka evidence] were erased. The men are presumed innocent in this country until proven guilty. This is very much unlike the process we've seen in China, where one is guilty of whatever dictator president Xi Jin Ping decides they're guilty of.
I always marvel at the dishonesty of dictators who attempt to control what everyone thinks, because the truth can be deadly to them and their regimes. For example calling China the PRC - People's Republic of China - when the people have no say in who their leaders are, can be imprisoned or even terminated for speaking their minds, and can only own or operate a significant business if it's given a blessing by the dictator president. The PRC should be called the XDC - Xi's Dictatorship of China. Where everything is designed to suit one man, and nobody, and nothing else, matters. As dictator president Xi seems to say by his actions, "... It's all about Me, Me, Me, Me or Xi, Xi, Xi, Xi ...".
Orthodox Holy Friday & Easter Sunday in Queens, Brooklyn & Manhattan, International Auto Show, Tartan Day Parade in Manhattan; Lavender Laughs & Queens Night Market in Queens; Luna Park & BK Museum Pop Up Market in Brooklyn, Bronx Doc Film Editing Workshop Weekend, the Diamond at Pregones & NYBG Orchid Show in the Bronx; Staaten Eylandt Day, Cottage Curiosities, Iftar in the Park & Conference House Opens on Staten Island and , & Ramadan Ends Thursday
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will fall from the high 80's Friday to the mid 60's Saturday and the temperature lows will fall from the mid 60's Friday to the mid 50's by Sunday. The humidity will rise from a very dry 30% - 50% on Friday into the 70% - 80% on Saturday and Sunday. Winds will be 5 mph all weekend. There's a below 50% chance of rain on Saturday and the amount of rain is forecast to be a quarter of an inch or less, and spread out over the entire day, so you might get a little damp while out, but not soaked by any means. And on Sunday the expectations are well below 25% probable and the amount is less than 1/20th of an inch.
The photo at right was taken a few years back of the Greek Orthodox Holy Friday Procession at St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria Queens. It's an interesting cultural event and, in my mind, is one of the many diverse cultural events that makes NYC so interesting. See details regarding the event tonight [Friday] in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan below.
The Easter Bonnet Parade, Pickleball Court Opens at Wollman Rink, Auto Show at Javits, Final Week of Chain Theatre Performance, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit at FIT in Manhattan; Chocolate Factory, Climate Change & Easter Egg Hunt & Party in Queens; Brooklyn Cyclones Home Opener & Rachel Wren Exhibit in Brooklyn [also Easter Egg Hunt on Governors Island], Easter Egg Hunt at the Mansion & NYBG Orchid Show in the Bronx; Easter Egg Hunts and Bonnett Tea Party on Staten Island, Easter Sunday and Passover & Ramadan Continue
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will fall from the high 50's Friday to the mid 50's Saturday and into the low 50's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be around 40. The winds will fall from 10 - 15 mph on Friday, to 5 mph on Saturday and to 5 - 10 mph on Sunday. The humidity will rise from about 35% on Friday, to 50% on Saturday, and ranging from 40% to 60% on Sunday. No precipitation is in the forecast.
The photo at right was taken at the Orchid Show at the NY Botanical Garden a few years ago.
Editor's Note. We're going to add more events that are happening this coming week on Monday, because NYC Public Schools are on Spring Break from Monday through Friday, April 10 - 14, 2023.
Very Brief Introduction to Christian Easter Traditions
On Friday, April 7th, Christians observe Good Friday, which is when the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross. On Sunday, April 9th, Christians celebrate the Biblical account of Jesus rising from the dead.
Emperor Constantine became the Roman Emperor in 306. In 324 Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. In 1054, the Great Schism occurred, wherein Christianity split into two different sects - Roman Catholic Christians [primarily in Western Europe] and Orthodox Christians [primarily in Eastern Europe]. The traditions have much in common, but one of the differences is in how they calculate the time of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The Western European Christians [Protestants and Catholics] use the Gregorian Calendar which was created in the 16th century and made the official calendar by Pope Gregory, while the Orthodox Christians use the Julian Calendar which was made law in the Roman Empire in 45 B.C. by Julius Caesar.
Thus there are years where the Western European and Eastern Orthodox Easter events fall at the same time, and there years where they do not. This year [2023] the celebrations of the two traditions are separated by a week, with the Western European Christians celebrating next weekend and the Orthodox Christians celebrating a week later.
AIPAD Photography Show, Chain Theatre Performance Continues, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit at FIT in Manhattan; Chocolate Factory & Armstrong at LeFrak, and Next Week Sculpture Center Gala & Mets Home Opener in Queens; Luna Amusement Park Opens & Rachel Wren Exhibit in Brooklyn, Pregones Music Fest Ends Friday, Bronx Art Space Exhibit Closing Reception Saturday, NYBG Orchid Show in the Bronx; 5K Run on Staten Island, Palm Sunday, Passover Wednesday & Ramadan Continues
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will rise from 50 on Friday, to 70 on Saturday, falling back to 50 on Sunday. The temperature lows will range between the mid and high 30's all weekend. The winds will range from 10 - 15 mph all weekend. The humidity will fall from about 80% Friday, to 70% Saturday to 40% Sunday. There will be scattered thunder showers Saturday ending around noon and with a brief return between 7 and 9 pm Saturday night, otherwise lookin' good.
The photos in this report were taken at an AIPAD show in a prior year. See below for details.
Queens Street Fairs begin the first weekend in April. We've compiled one of THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCHEDULE of QUEENS street fairs including street fair TIMES & PHOTOS & maps, some street fair names & sponsors, and street fair maps to help you find your way around during the spring, summer and fall of 2023.
*** SPECIAL NOTICE HOLIDAY OUTDOOR MARKETS & HOLIDAY EVENTS. CLICK here to view our Queens Holiday Markets NYC page and CLICK here to view our Queens Holiday Events NYC page - both of which we will be updating weekly through the holidays.
How This Queens Street Fair Page is Organized
The Queens street fairs and festivals on this page are organized:
1) BY MONTH & WEEK and
2) BY NEIGHBORHOOD.
So you can now look through all of the Queens street fairs on a given weekend, and see where they are in each neighborhood.
The Queens street fair dates that have been updated with 2023 designations reflect the current 2023 St Fair events.
ASTERISKED street fairs have NOT been UPDATED. The street fairs with prior year dates, reflect the information regarding that fair in a prior year.
UNCONFIRMEDS. The 'UNCONFIRMEDS' represent street fairs held in a prior year, which we believe are returning, but which we have not yet confirmed details for 2023.
UPDATES. The asterisked street fairs of prior years and the UNCONFIRMEDS will be updated as new information comes in.
Also check our Queens Events calendar and / or our Queens Farmers Markets section for updates and other things to do.
Street Fairs Begin, Chain Theatre Performance Continues, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit at FIT in Manhattan; Bayside St Patrick's Day Parade & Rough Draft Festival continues at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center Queens; Bay Ridge St Patrick's Day Parade, Rachel Wren Exhibit & Final Performance of Lorraine Hansberry Play Tonight in Brooklyn, March is Music Month at Pregones, Bronx Art Space Exhibit about Homosexuality in Nature, NYBG Orchid Show & Yankees Home Opener in the Bronx; on Staten Island & The Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan Began Thursday
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be around 50 on Friday and Saturday, rising to 60 on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low to mid 40's all weekend. The wind will be 5 - 10 mph on Friday, rising to 10 - 15 on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity will be 40% - 50% on Friday and Sunday, popping up to around 80% on Saturday. There will be about a half inch of rain on Saturday, spread out over the course of the day from around 9 am to 11 pm, so you can likely do whatever you plan to, without any serious rain interruption.
The Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan began yesterday [Thursday 3/23/23] and will continue until Friday, April 21. Ramadan is a month where Muslims fast, pray and reflect on their lives. Not unlike the Christian Lent.
St Patrick's Day Parade, Chain Theatre Performance Continues, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit in Manhattan; 40 Shades of Irish Green & Rough Draft Festival at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens; a Half Marathon Race, Lorraine Hansberry Play Performances & Rachel Wren Opening Art Reception in Brooklyn, an Art Exhibit about Homosexuality in Nature & the Orchid Show in the Bronx; St Pat's Weekend Irish Stout Concert and St Pats Weekend Bar Crawl for All on Staten Island & the First Day of Spring Comes Monday
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 50's on Friday, the low 50's on Saturday and the low 40's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low 40's on Friday, and the low 30's for the rest of the weekend. The winds will be 5 - 10 mph on Friday, and then 10 - 15 mph the rest of the weekend. The humidity will drop from 50% - 70% on Friday, to 40% on Saturday and between 30% - 40% on Sunday. No precipitation is expected this weekend.
The first official day of Spring is Monday, March 20, 2023. In the yogic tradition, spring is considered a time of renewal and transformation.
The photos included with this report are from a Manhattan St Patrick's Day Parade in an earlier year. Erin go Bragh which means Ireland Forever. Have a good one, which means a safe one, which means being respectful of others.
In 2017 I attended a Community Board meeting in Astoria where our urban planners talked about new improvements coming to LaGuardia Airport. Since then a number of those plans have come to fruition. But one of them, what at the time was called the third phase, the Air Train to LGA, has not. Use the link to see the thinking nearly six years ago when the plans had been drafted and the construction was about to begin. I'm happy to say that we flagged and reported to you a number of the issues with the LGA Air Train early on, which we've included in the list below.
The photo at right shows the CTA [Chicago Transit Authority] subway that runs along the Kennedy Expressway from downtown Chicago to O'Hare Airport which vies with Atlanta for the title of the busiest airport in the U.S..
The Former Emperor [Governor Cuomo] had No Clothes [Sound Public Interest Rationale]
On Monday, Governor Hochul announced what was already well known and expected, which was that the Air Train shuttling between LaGuardia Airport and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, would not be built.
There were any number of good reasons why the LGA Air Train should not have been built, such as: 1) the costs of building the train would cost more than five times the original estimated cost of under $500 million to over $2.5 billion, 2) then, implicit in a number of alternatives, there was the idiocy of connecting the LGA Air Train, to the second most trafficked subway line [the #7] in NYC, which was already nearing peak capacity pre-pandemic, 3) the politically and billionaire preferred alternative destination, Willets Point on Flushing Bay, had just been cleaned up after decades of environmental pollution, and would again be threatened again, and to top it all off, 4) the politically and billionaire preferred Willets Point alternative required all of the people traveling to and from LaGuardia on public transit, to travel out to Flushing first, before circling back around to LaGuardia Airport. The billionaires who would have benefitted from this include billionaire real estate developer Stephen Ross and [now minority interest] Mets Club billionaire owners Saul B. Katz and Fred Wilpon. The new Mets baseball team owner, Steve Cohen, is also a billionaire.
Daylight Savings Time Sunday 2AM, Performance of a Lorraine Hansberry Play, a Pop Up Market & Poets Workshop in Brooklyn; Chain Theatre Opens Original Play, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit in Manhattan; Rough Draft Festival at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Workshop for Women About EmPowerment, MFTA Art Opening & 40 Shades of Irish Green in Queens; Two St Patrick's Day Parades, a Concert, a Queer Nature Art Exhibit & the Orchid Show in the Bronx; Two Concerts [one Folk & one Classical], a Pre-Oscar Screening, a Staged Reading & Glass House Tour on Staten Island
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 40's and the temperature lows will be in the low to high 30's all weekend. Winds will range from 5 - 13 mph on Friday and Saturday and fall to about 7 mph on Sunday. The humidity will range from 60% - 80% on Friday, and then settle into the 60% - 70% range for the rest of the weekend. There will be about an inch of precipitation between 4 pm Friday and 9 am Saturday, and the rest of the weekend should remain dry.
The photo at right was taken in McCarren Park in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn a while back.
There are a lot of celebrations planned for St Pat's Day in Queens. There are a at least three St Patrick's Day Parades in Queens, but they are generally held on the weekends before or after the actual St. Patrick's Day feast on March 17th.
The photo to your right was taken on St. Patrick's Day weekend in 2019 at Donovan's Pub in Woodside.
This report contains a number of brief suggestions for St. Patrick's Day bars, restaurants and Irish pubs in Queens, including in Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside [near Jackson Heights], Bayside [near Flushing], the Rockaways [near Jamaica] and in Maspeth / Ridgewood which are near Kew Gardens and Forest Hills. At the end of the report we've included links to St. Patrick's Day celebrations in other boroughs.
Please drink responsibly and let someone else drive if you're impaired. St. Patrick's Day is a bit like New Years Eve, in that the amateur consumers of alcohol of all ethnicities come out to celebrate, and if they are not properly managed / or cared for, accidents may occur, and some of them with life changing consequences.
At a later date we'll add a bit of history of St. Patrick's Day.
Lorraine Hansberry's Play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music & Brooklyn Poets Readings in Brooklyn, the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College, Fresh, Fly & Fabulous Exhibit, Purim Celebration & the Harlem Blues in Manhattan, Cryptochrome at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center & Two St Patrick's Day Parades in Queens, Queer Nature Opens at Bronx Art Space & the Orchid Show in the Bronx, & Lisa & Lori at Historic Richmond Town and the last Remaining Homophobic St Patricks Day Parade in NYC on Staten Island
NYC Weather. There will be about an inch of rain on Friday beginning between 5 - 8 pm, ending by Saturday 8 am. The rest of the weekend will be dry. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 40's all weekend, while the temperature lows will be in the mid to high 30's. The winds will be 10 - 20 mph on Friday, 5 - 15 on Saturday and about 10 mph on Sunday. The humidity will be 50% - 80% on Friday, 70% on Saturday and 60% on Sunday.
The photo at right was taken late Monday night. It seems someone made good use of their time, and built what is likely one of the few NYC snowmen of this entire winter.
This is a Look at All of the Upcoming St Patricks Day Parades, Including Photos of those We've Covered Over the Years with Links to a Page Containing Photos and Descriptions of Some of the Best Irish Pub in Each Borough
NYC Weather. The temperature highs start at about 40 on Tuesday, rising to 45 Wednesday and 55 on Thursday, before falling back to 40 on Friday. The temperature lows start in the low 30's on Tuesday, rise to the low 40's on Wednesday, before falling back to the mid 30's on Thursday and rising again to about 40 on Friday. The winds on Tuesday range from 5 - 15 mph, then fall back to 5 - 10 mph on Wednesday and Thursday before kicking up to 15 - 20 mph on Friday. The humidity will range from 75% - 85% on Tuesday, then fall back to 65% - 75% for the rest of the weekdays. There's a 50% chance of a scant amount of precipitation Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, before a real chance of an inch and a quarter of either snow or rain on Friday. Most of Saturday and Sunday should be clear.
The photo at right was taken at the St Pats for All Parade in Sunnyside Queens. This St Pat's Parade was created to allow LGBTQ folks to march in a St Patricks Day parade at a time when all of the others banned LGBTQ from marching in their parades.
Each Borough Has its Own Parade
Parades, Pubs and Restaurants in Each Borough. Each borough has at least one or more St. Patrick's Day parade. As we've covered most of them, we've included links to our reports of each St. Patricks Day Parade to provide you with further details of the experience of attending. We've also included links to some of the best or oldest Irish pubs and restaurants in each borough. As this is by no means a comprehensive list, and we will continue refining this report as we learn more about the Irish pubs and restaurants in each borough of NYC.
How this page is organized. We've organized this page first by borough and then by date. The parades span the month, even though the official feast date for St. Patrick is March 17th, which is also the date of the Manhattan parade which is by far the largest.
The LGBTQ Parade Participation Issue Appears to be Abating. In 2020 the St Pats for All parade was begun in Sunnyside to protest the banning of gays from marching in the Manhattan St Pats Parade. In 2015 the Manhattan Parade opened up its participation rules to allow gays to march. In 2020 the Throgs Neck parade opened up its participation to gays. At present only the Staten Island parade continues to ban LGBTQ community members from participating in the parade as openly gay people. The Staten Island ban continues in 2023.
Black HerStory at Lincoln Center, African Poetry Society Film Festival in Queens, Lorraine Hansberry's Play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Performance of the Play Insignificant at the Bartow Pell Mansion in the Bronx & African American Lighthouse Exhibit Opening on Staten Island
NYC Weather. The temperature high on Friday was 46 degrees, falling to 34 on Saturday, before rising to 51 on Sunday. The temperature lows will rise from the low 20's on Friday, rising to the high 20's on Saturday, and the low 30's on Sunday. The winds will be between 10 - 20 mph Friday, dropping to 4 - 7 mph Saturday and then rising again to 8 - 12 mph. The humidity will be in the 40% to 50% range on Friday, 55% t0 65% on Saturday, and between 50% to 60% on Sunday. No precipitation is expected.
The photo at right was taken at a production of Black Wall Street at the York College Bassin Performing Arts Center in Jamaica Queens quite a while ago.
NYC Weather. The temperature high hit 61 degrees on Monday, and will fall to the mid to high 40's for the rest of the week. The temperature lows will range from the mid 30's to the low 40's until Friday, when the temperature drops into the mid 20's. The winds will range from 5 - 10 mph until Friday, when we'll experience a gusty 15 - 20 mph. The humidity will range between 60% - 70% through the week, before dropping to 40% on Friday. Less than a quarter inch of rain is expected on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The image at right is of Langston Hughes, a writer in the 1920's and 1930's of the Harlem Renaissance. It seems like African Americans are continuing the process of asserting their influence in American culture, a process that began going mainstream in the 1920's / 1930's.
Highlighting Black History Month in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens & Staten Island NYC with Reports about African American History and Culture
We've covered a number of interesting theatrical performances and art exhibits exploring African American history and the African American experience in the five boroughs over the years. Some of them feature the African American experience front and center, while others include or reference the African American experience. This is a compendium of most of them, with links to the full stories. Think of this as a work in progress as it is far from complete, and in some measure, reflects how long each of our web magazines has been open / covering events in each of the boroughs. At this time I have not included many of the black and brown events reflecting immigrants' cultures, vis a vis the African American cultural experience.
Valentines Day Weekend Cocktail Party NYC, Lunar New Year Parade Manhattan, Photo Exhibit Opening Reception & Comedy in the Bronx, Classical & Gregory Porter Concerts in Brooklyn, Play in Queens & Lighthouse for Lovers on Staten Island,
NYC Weather. The temperature high on Friday actually hit 61 degrees this morning, breaking a record. On Saturday and Sunday, the temperature high will be about 50 on both days, while the temperature lows will be in the mid to high 30's throughout the weekend. The winds will be between 5 - 13 mph all weekend. The humidity will be between 40% and 50% on Friday and Saturday, rising a bit to between 50% to 60% on Sunday. There's a small chance [30%] of a small amount of rain [1/10th of an inch] on Sunday night.
Over the past few years I've come to enjoy a number of PBS programs that delve into our collective African American ancestoral roots. One of the shows is hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. wherein he researches various celebrities' ancestoral roots, digging up photos, slave ownership records, and connections to other celebrities by tracing DNA trails. The journey can lead to any number of surprises, such as when Gates found that one of actress Carol Burnett's ancestors joined the Confederate Army, and then deserted a couple of years later. Or when Gates uncovered that TV Producer / Writer Larry David of Seinfeld is a distant cousin to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
But for my money, the treasure trove of programming on PBS may be found in its rich collection of documentaries - both old and new. And among those documentaries are a wide number of films exploring the contributions and history of African Americans.
PBS Documentaries During Black History Month in NYC
I'm only going to touch on one of them now, and at a later date will return to engage in a deeper conversation about others. The documentary I watched on PBS this month, was entitled, The Blinding of Isaac Woodard. It was about how an innocent African American veteran was attacked by a white southern police chief [Lynwood Shull] from South Carolina who beat out Woodard's eyes and permanently blinded him in February 1946, while Woodard was changing buses at a bus stop. That's a mighty nasty way to welcome a WWII veteran home and thank him for risking his life to defend us.
Nonetheless, eight years later, the search for justice was fulfilled ... in a way. Of course the all white South Carolina jury let off Police Chief Shull. But that action so enraged President Harry S. Truman, that he ordered a federal investigation into the case. And actor / radio host Orson Welles, took up the cause too, helping make it known what sorts of racial injustices were being perpetrated upon African Americans living and working in the south.
NYC Weather. We're going to have wintry cold from about 6 pm Friday to about 1 pm Saturday, when the temperatures fall below 20 degrees. Then it's back to our dry, global warming non-winter.
The temperature highs will be in the low to mid 20's on Friday and Saturday, rising significantly on Sunday to about 50 degrees. The temperature lows will be about 8 degrees Friday, rising to the mid 20's on Saturday and the high 30's on Sunday. The humidity will be about 30% on Friday, 40% on Saturday, and 50% on Sunday. Winds will be 20 mph Friday, and then 5 - 10 mph for the rest of the weekend. No precipitation is expected this weekend.
The photo at right was taken inside of City Hall last month. It's a beautiful building, as you can see.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs Friday, Saturday and Sunday will range from the high 40's to the low 50's, before rising on Monday into the high 50's. The temperature lows will fall to 30 on Friday, rising to 35 on Saturday, to 45 on Sunday, before descending into the high 30's on Monday. No precipitation is forecast. It's going to be a fairly windy weekend, with the winds at 20 mph Friday, falling to 5 - 10 mph on Saturday and Sunday, and then rising again to about 10 mph on Monday. The humidity will be 50% - 60% on Friday, falling to 40% - 50% on Saturday, rising to 50% - 70% on Sunday, before falling back to about 50% on Monday. Click for Queens Weather.
The photo at right was taken at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island which commemorates Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 speech declarating the inalienable rights of all people. The four freedoms are 1) Freedom of Speech, 2) Freedom of Worship, 3) Freedom of Want and 4) Freedom of Fear.
Presidents Day is a federal holiday when all local, state and federal government offices are closed, which generally includes public schools - unless the district uses the holiday to make up a snow day, which is highly unlikely this year since there hasn't been any measureable snow.
Presidents Day is a time to reflect on the performance of our current presidents and legislators, to see how they stack up versus their historical peers. And in that reflection it's worth asking ourselves what we've done to contribute or detract from the national conversation.
Brief History of Presidents Day Holiday in NYC
A day commemorating Lincoln's birthday was first passed in Buffalo, New York in the early 1870's. Presidents Day originated as Washington's Birthday which was a holiday narrowly prescribed for federal government offices in Washington, D.C. in 1879. The holiday was dedicated to honoring the memory of the first American president, George Washington who was born on February 22, 1732.
In 1885 the holiday was expanded to include all federal government offices around the nation. In 1951 there was a push to create a Presidents Day holiday [vs a George Washington's birthday holiday] to include President Lincoln whose birthday is February 12, 1809 and was also celebrated by localities, but it didn't pass.
In 1971 the holiday was moved off of George Washington's birth date to being the third Monday in February. Thus while it never falls upon Washington's birthday 2/22, the official name of the holiday remains Washington's Birthday. But today, most folks refer to it as Presidents Day and to recognize the presidents who honored the U.S. Constitution and served the interests of the people.
New Play at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Boat Show at the Javits, Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory, The Chinese New Year Celebrations Continue, Winter Jazz Festival & the January Arts Festival Ending, 1st Irish Festival in LIC & Artists Open Call in the Bronx
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 40's on Friday and around 50 the rest of the weekend. The temperature lows will be in the low 30's on Friday, rising to about 40 the rest of the weekend. The humidity will be between 50% - 60% on Friday and Saturday, rising to 60% - 70% on Sunday. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph all weekend. No precipitation is expected this weekend.
In the photo at right is the NYC skyline in Midtown, looking west from Queens. We've gone 324 days without measureable snow, the second longest period on record. The longest was 332 days set in 2000. Based on the most recent forecast, we're going to break that record and may go the entire winter without measureable snow. This is not good news. We all need to do whatever we can to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. And, however small it may seem, if you multiply it by seven billion [people on the planet], it won't seem so small. Every little bit of carbon reduction counts.
Valentine's Day is three months away. It's a good time to let your loved one know you care. Flowers, gifts and dinner are always welcome treats, and / or some thoughtful gesture that shows that the lady [or man] you're with, still means a lot to you.
The photo at right shows a main entree at a restaurant in Astoria.
This report provides an update on who's open and taking reservations, but also highlights a few local restaurant closures.
All events that have been asterisked are from 2022. Those restaurants without an asterisk have been updated to 2023, so watch the dates / year for 2023.
Unlike last year, there aren't any state CoVid guidelines for indoor dining. And the challenge of getting a reservation at the restaurant of your choice, is likely back to normal, which means if dining on the day of or the weekend before is imporant, you might want to act now.
Given Valentine's Day is on a Tuesday, it may be fair game to make your VDay reservation on Valentine's Day or any day of the preceding weekend. Also, many restaurants have retained thier outside dining capacity - so depending on the weather - NYC restaurants may have more capacity for Valentine's Day weekend than they did versus prepandemic.
But a number of restaurants were casualties of these pandemic times, so if you're thinking about doing something this Valentine's Day for dinner in or around Astoria, LIC, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside, Woodside or Flushing; it's best to do your research early, and call or go online to make the reservations as soon as you can for this Valentine's Day .
Valentine's Day Brief History - Queens Romantic Restaurants on V Day
The origins of Valentine's Day are not well documented. It's believed to have been named after Saint Valentine who was apparently a Catholic martyr who died over 1500 years ago. Today the holiday is not associated with religion so much as flowers, candies, cards and romantic dinners. And the holiday spokesperson is now Cupid, a Roman god of desire, and quite a mischief maker.
The restaurants we've reviewed include a mix of high, medium and budget priced restaurants that are spread throughout the borough and offer a large variety of ethnic cuisines. Click this link to view a brief guide of Valentine's Day restaurants in Queens / V Day events & romantic restaurants Queens NYC where you will find links to Queens restaurants we've reviewed. Enjoy.
Things to do This Weekend in NYC & Boros
The Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory, The Chinese New Year of the Rabbit Begins, Winter Jazz Festival & the January Arts Festival continue
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 40's throughout the weekend, while the temperature lows will be in the mid 30's on Friday and Saturday, rising to about 40 degrees on Sunday. Winds will be about 5 - 10 mph all weekend. The humidity will be about 50% - 60% on Friday and Saturday, rising to about 85% Sunday afternoon as the rain pours in. No rain is in the forecast until Sunday, when a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of rain is expected starting around 3 pm.
The photo at right shows folks walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, even amidst the dreary weather.
NYC Things To Do This Weekend
There's outdoor skating at Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center in Midtown, and at Wollman Rink in the southeast corner of Central Park and at the Harlem Meer in the northeast corner of Central Park. Also in Prospect Park and Coney Island in Brooklyn, Cloves Lake on Staten Island, and in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. For details see https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/iceskating
Employment Steady, Inflation Subsiding, Consumer Confidence Up, Government Stimulus Fading, Fed Tightening 'Should' Stop After .25% Increase at Next FOMC Meeting, Most Global Supply Side Issues have been Corrected, Oil Prices Below a Year Ago, and the Dollar is Strong
January 17, 2023 / NYC Business News / New Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC / 469.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 40's and the temperature lows will be around 40, dropping to 35 degrees on Friday. No rain is expected EXCEPT on Thursday, where up to an inch of rain will fall during the day. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph on Tuesday and Thursday and will be 10 - 15 mph on Wednesday and Friday. Humidity will rise from 45% to 80% on Tuesday, fall back into the 60% range on Wednesday, rise into the 80% range on Thursday with the rain, and fall back into the 60% range on Friday.
I. Economic Background - CoVid Disruptions of Global Supply Chains and U.S. Government Fiscal & Monetary Policy Responses
In recent months I have spent a fair amount of time catching up on what's happening in the economy overall, in an attempt to guage what lies ahead. It's important to realize where we are in the business cycle, in order to figure out what to expect going forward.
* Since March of 2020, we've been in a bit of a pandemic spin. The 2020 pandemic essentially halted most hospitality businesses and softened demand for some services, but drove high demand for both durable and non-durable goods. This is on the demand side. Meanwhile on the supply side, businesses were closing down, or working at far less than capacity, because of the health impact of the pandemic. For example in China, they didn't just appear to shutter businesses, but almost entire cities, to curb the spread of CoVid. China is where much of our electronics are made so this impacted the availability / supply of electronics at a time when Americans were spending more on them, because they weren't traveling, vacationing or even eating out much, so they had extra cash to spend on items, most notably electronics.
The U.S. federal government [as did many governments throughout the world] kept many businesses afloat through expansive monetary policy and generous fiscal spending via CoVid Relief packages which put money in the hands of local businesses, governments and individuals. The fiscal stimulus / excess government spending began in 2020 during the Trump Administration, and ended in early 2021 under the Biden Administration.
The first chart above right shows the federal government excess fiscal spending during the pandemic. Both Trump and Biden temporarily increased government spending in order to keep the economy rolling through the pandemic.
Friday the 13th, Many Martin Luther King Day Weekend Events, Winter Jazz Festival & the January Arts Festival continue, Closing Reception, Play about Patriarchal Power & Skating
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 50's on Friday, the high 30's on Saturday and the mid 40's on Sunday and Monday. The temperature lows will be in the low to mid 30's all weekend. No precipitation is in the forecast. The humidity will be in the 60% range on Friday, the 50% range on Saturday, the 40% range on Sunday and Monday. The winds will be 12 - 17 mph on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, dropping to 5 - 10 mph on Monday.
The photo at right was taken a week ago at City Hall, where Mayor Adams opened himself up to a wide range of questions from the local press. This week the Mayor released the Preliminary Budget for NYC for 2024.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 50's on Friday, the high 30's on Saturday and the mid 40's on Sunday and Monday. The temperature lows will be in the low to mid 30's all weekend. No precipitation is in the forecast. The humidity will be in the 60% range on Friday, the 50% range on Saturday, the 40% range on Sunday and Monday. The winds will be 12 - 17 mph on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, dropping to 5 - 10 mph on Monday. Click for Queens Weather.
Brief History of Martin Luther King Holiday in NYC
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist Minister who became the leading voice for African Americans' non-violent civil rights movement beginning in the mid 1950's through to his assassination in 1968. In 1983, the third Monday of every year was set aside to honor Martin Luther King for his service to the nation. The third Monday was chosen, as it was the nearest Monday to the anniversary of King's birthday, which was January 15, 1929.
Martin Luther King Day has grown to take on an even larger meaning, as it is oftentimes referred to as a day on, versus a day off. Organizations around the city and nation have used the day to call people into action to address the needs of the community through volunteering and service.
As Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday, it's worth keeping in mind that many / most federal offices will be closed, along with a number of businesses.
Martin Luther King Holiday Special Events in Queens NYC
On Friday, January 13th, 2023 from 5 pm - 9 pm there's a closing reception at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning at 161-04 Jamaica Avenue in the Jamaica section of Queens. The exhibit is called The Art of Women and the Sacred Landscape of the Divine Feminine. It's free but you should rsvp at https://www.jcal.org/.
On Friday & Saturday, January 13th & 14th, 2023 beginning at 7 pm there's a performance by Compass [dance group] about the evolution from patriarchal power at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center . Tickets are $15 at http://lpac.nyc.
On Sunday, January 15, 2023 beginning at 3 pm, there's a talk by an NYT journalist, musical performance by a top jazz singer as well as other speeches in the LeFrak Concert Hall at the Queens College Kupferberg Center, located at 65-30 Kissena Blvd off Harding Expressway on the Queens College campus. Admission $20 at https://kupferbergcenter.org
On Monday, January 16, 2023 from 11 am - 1 pm there's a MLK Day event at the Queens Botanical Garden at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing. It's designed for kids and there's a $5 suggested donation.
The venues below may also have MLK Day programs, or other cultural and historic programs.
On Monday I made the trip to the Mount Sinai Medical Center between 5th and Madison Avenues and between 99th and 101st Street on the Upper East Side. Mt Sinai is the hold out in completing negotiations or even resuming them with the New York State Nurses Association union or NYSNA.
By last Friday, January 6, 2023, New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Maimonides Medical Center and Richmond University Medical Center had reached tentative agreements with the NYSNA union that included improvements in safe staffing and wages.
By Saturday, January 7, 2023 the NYSNA tweeted that BronxCare Health System and Flushing Hospital Medical Center had "reached tentative agreements that will improve safe staffing levels and enforcement, increase wages by 7%, 6%, and 5%, and save their healthcare benefits."
By Monday, January 9, 2023 about 7,100 pf the 42,000 nurses in the NYSNA union were set to go on strike at Mt Sinai in Manhattan and Montefiore in the Bronx. When I arrived around noon time at Mount Sinai in Manhattan on Monday, the NYSNA had a strong showing by their members. And the vehicular traffic appeared to be highly supportive of them, which you will see in the video I shot when I post it later today. The strikers were stationed primarily on Madison Avenue at about 99th Street, and there was a speaker there, but I really couldn't hear what she had to say with all the surrounding commotion, you'll see that too.
So I found a few nurses talking things over a bit away from the crowd, and I spoke with them. They told me that the strike is primarily about two issues: 1) staffing levels and 2) compensation. I learned a couple of things I didn't hear reported in the corporate media, which I'll share. But please note that I've not yet had a chance to confirm these findings with either of the hospitals still on strike.
The first thing they told me is that the staffing levels vis a vis patient loads are and remain the primary cause of the strike. They said that in the last union negotiation the hospitals agreed to put in recommended grids for staffing levels per patient for the various hospital units, which was a good first step. The problem is that the new staffing grids were not made enforceable.
Thus, because the staffing grids per patient remain unenforceable, I was told that they are exceeded too often. The trouble with this, they told me [and remember these are not the official spokespeople for the union, but rather rank and file union members, and I haven't yet cross referenced these findings with either hospital - see below] is that when you exceed the recommended staffing levels for prolonged periods of time, the probability of staff mistakes rise [dispensing meds and providing treatments], and hence this isn't just unsafe for patients, but it also puts the licenses of the nurses in jeopardy, should they make a mistake.
The second thing they told me was that the corporate media tells New Yorkers that the striking nurses are holding out for higher percentage pay increases vis a vis the nurses at the other hospitals who have reached tentative deals. They thought this characterization was incomplete - if not unfair - as the nurses at Mt Sinai and Montefiore have lower pay scales than the nurses at the other NYC hospitals.
First Full Weekend of the New Year - 2nd Anniversary of the Trump Insurrection, Three Kings Day Parade, Greek, Ukrainian & Russian Orthodox Christmas, Shabbat Dinner, January Under the Radar Festival Begins, Mulchfest Ending & Skating & a Couple of Holiday Market Sales
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 40's on Friday and Saturday, descending to the low 40's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low to mid 30's all weekend. The humidity will be 70% on Friday, 60% on Saturday and between 50% and 70% on Sunday. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph all weekend. A scant amount of precipitation is expected early Friday morning, as well as late Sunday night. It appears to be something one needn't worry too much about.
In the photo at right, taken last week in Manhattan, you can see Macy's in the background, in all of its holiday glory.
For all of us, today starts the beginning of a new year.
If we stay the course with vaccinations, masks, social distancing and hand washing, we should be able to continue the transition from pandemic to endemic - assuming we're not already almost there - given that there are likely to be lingering long term CoVid effects and that we may never return to a pre-CoVid normal.
The rest of this report is about some of the things you can do personally to make 2023 a better year for you.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs descend from the mid 50's Friday, to about 20 on Saturday, rising to about 30 on Sunday and Monday, which is a holiday. The temperature lows fall like a rock to about 10 degrees Friday night, before rising to 15 on Saturday, 20 on Sunday and 25 on Monday. The humidity drops from 70% on Friday to 50% by the end of the day, and then remains in the 40% - 50% range for the rest of the weekend, including Monday. As of the time of this post, there's a 70% chance around midday of about 1/10 inch of precipitation. The winds will fall from a blustery 20 mph + on Friday, to 15 mph on Saturday, to 10 - 15 mph on Sunday, down to 5 - 10 mph on Monday.
The photo at right was taken earlier this month at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. The crowds are back, but there might not yet, be as many foreign tourists as in the past.
NYC Weather. There's going to be some semi-serious precipitation [at present 2 plus inches] beginning Thursday afternoon around 4 pm, continuing until Friday about 4 pm. The temperatures are expected to rise to well above freezing, so it's almost certain to be rain in the city. As for the rest of the week, no rain Monday through Wednesday, and none is expected Saturday and Sunday, as folks head home for the holidays.
The temperature highs will be around 40 from Monday through Wednesday, rising into the low 50's on Thursday and possibly hit 60 on Friday, before descending into the mid 20's for the Christmas weekend, so Santa and his reindeer won't overheat as they make their appointed rounds. The temperature lows will be around 30 Monday through Wednesday, rising to 50 on Thursday, before falling to into the high teens on Friday, where the low will remain for the rest of the weekend. Monday thru Wednesday winds will be around 5 - 10 mph, rising to 15 - 20 on Thursday and then 25 - 30 on Friday, before falling back to 15 - 20 mph on Saturday and then 10 mph on Sunday. The humidity will be 50% - 65% on Monday thru Wednesday, rising to 75% - 85% on Thursday, and then falling on Friday from 75% to 50% on Friday, before settling into the weekend at between 40% - 50% for a dry weekend.
I. The Tripledemic - RSV How Real & How Scary?
As you likely heard, we are in the midst of experiencing a 'tripledemic'. The triple refers to CoVid, flu and RSV. RSV is short for respiratory syncytial virus, which is a virus that causes symptoms like those associated with a cold, but which can cause serious negative health issues for infants and the elderly. As usual, the TV news teleprompter readers and their writers appear to report whatever they're told, without actually thinking about the information they're conveying. And since they're in the business of attracting viewers' and readers' attention, they seem to have a tendency to sensationalize almost everything they report, including the weather.
So, let's start with RSV [respiratory syncytial virus], which to date, appears to have peaked the week ending November 12, 2022 [see chart]. According to weekly reporting by NYC Health, an NYC government website, there were three RSV related infant deaths since the peak this season, and they all occurred on the same week. As of the NYC Health report on December 17, 2022, there were nearly 30,000 cases in NYC so far this fall. So three infant deaths is a 0.01% RSV death rate in NYC. Given the low death rate, one has to wonder whether there were other complicating factors also at play?
RSV prevention is certainly worth paying attention to in order to protect your loved ones - especially infants, the elderly and immuno compromised. But that said, it rarely appears to be fatal, as you can see by the statistics noted above. RSV cases have been on the decline since the November 12th peak, but as in reporting on all health issues, things can change without notice. So stay tuned, knowing that what we're dealing with generally isn't lethal.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs descend from the high 40's on Friday to about 40 on Saturday and then into the high 30's on Sunday. The temperature lows drop from the mid 30's on Friday, to about 30 on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity drops from between 70% and 80% on Friday, to about 60% on Saturday and then into the 50% range on Sunday. The winds will be 12 - 16 on Friday and then about 10 mph for the rest of the weekend. About a half inch of rain is due Friday, ending about 4 pm in the afternoon, and thereafter the weekend should be dry.
The photo at right was taken last week along 6th Avenue, near Bryant Park in Midtown. The city is again entertaining fair crowds of tourists and New Yorkers.
Early last week I caught wind that there was an impending strike coming to the New York Times. It was a snippet of a news story, but seemed important, given the prominence and influence of the Times. The Times is one of the two most prestigious papers in the nation along with the Washington Post, and one of a small number of such influential newspapers in the world.
NYT Strike on Thursday, December 8, 2022
So, when I heard that the strike was actually happening on Thursday late afternoon, I dropped everything and headed down to the New York Times office building in Midtown Manhattan. I had a hunch that the strikers would be disbanding - if not gone - by the time the TV news ended at 7 pm.
It turns out I was right, as I arrived right around 7 pm and there wasn't a striker in sight. I walked completely around the block, covering all street exits of the Times office building, including 8th Avenue and 40th and 41st Streets. The strikers had been there, just not for a very long time.
I asked several people coming out of the building about the strike. Most of them shrugged me off, in a surly sort of manner. One of them responded telling me that the strikers were there in the afternoon, marching along 8th Avenue. But, as mentioned, there wasn't a striker in sight, and no trace that they had been there. Unless they had slipped into Wolfgang's Steakhouse for drinks and dinner [see photo below].
The photo above right was taken outside of the Times office building in Midtown Manhattan around 7 pm on December 8, 2022 - the day of the one day strike. The picketing appears not to have lasted the day.
A reported 1,100 members of the News Guild of New York gave up a days pay, to stage the one day walk out on Thursday, December 8th. The union represents 1,450 NYT employees, of which 1270 are newsroom personnel, according to the Wall St. Journal. Based on the coverage I saw by other news organizations of the strike, far fewer folks picketed on Thursday, than the number of those who didn't show up for work and gave up the day of pay. My guesstimate of the number who picketed was in the low hundred(s).
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low to mid 40's, and the temperature lows will be in the low to mid 30's, all weekend. About 1/3 inch of precipitation is expected on Sunday between the hours of noon and midnight. Winds will be about 7 - 10 mph all weekend. The humidity will rise from 40% - 50% on Friday, to 50% - 65% on Saturday, to 70% - 80% on Sunday.
The photo at right was taken this week along 5th Avenue, which was fairly crowded Thursday evening with tourists and New Yorkers.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 40's on Friday, the high 50's on Saturday and descending back to the low 40's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low 40's on Friday, descending to the low 30's on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity will climb from 50% to 60% on Friday, to 55% to 77% on Saturday before descending back to 50% to 60% on Sunday. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph on Friday, rising to 10 - 15 mph on Saturday and then falling to 5 mph on Sunday. About a quarter inch of rain is expected between 7 am and 1 pm on Saturday, otherwise it's a dry weekend.
The photo at right was taken last week. What strikes me about this photo, and other scenes in the city like it, is the lingering foliage and color we're still seeing at this late date in the season.
This weekend we could top 60 degrees, which as you know, is unseasonably warm. Even the birds and insects are confused by this weather. For example at a Thanksgiving Day dinner in Connecticut I noticed there were insects hovering around the table, and in Queens - just yesterday - I walked past a bevy of trees which were alive with the noise of what seemed an entire flock of tweeting birds. It was fairly cold yesterday, so I thought perhaps their beaks were chattering, like we humans do when it's very cold.
*** Be sure to visit our Queens holiday markets page, as it contains related holiday events with a shopping element to them.
*** For links to holiday events and markets in all five boroughs of NYC scroll down to the bottom of this report.
EDITOR NOTE. While it seems we've turned the corner on the CoVid pandemic, remember caution is the better part of valor. Try to maintain some social distance, when in a crowded place consider wearing a mask and if you're not feeling well, give yourself a break and enjoy some time at home.
How The Queens Holiday Events Page on this Page are Organized
These holiday events on Queens are organized as follows:
1. BY NEIGHBORHOODS OF QUEENS
2. BY DATE (not always as it depends on when the info comes in)
Watch carefully as some locales have multiple dates, and all dates for a given locale are shown at the time the venue is first listed.
3. ALL OF THESE ARE FREE UNLESS FEES ARE SPECIFIED.
4. Note QUEENS HOLIDAY MARKETS are published on a separate page - the links to which are posted above and at the bottom of this page, along with links to holiday events in other boroughs.
The holidays are a special time of the year. In ancient times there were harvest celebrations to give thanks and enjoy the bounty after a long growing and harvesting season aka a year of work.
Holiday lighting festivals and ceremonies have been on the rise in Queens in recent years. While some date back many years, most are traditions that started within the past five or ten years.
What does an increase in holiday lightings mean? It means you have ample opportunity to go yourself, or with friends, or to take your kids to one or more of them to learn a bit more about your own culture or the culture of others.
Each lighting is a bit different, as some are community and business-oriented, some are religiously oriented, a few have arts organizations behind them, and some are backed by non-religious cultural organizations. Please feel free to send us a notice of your holiday lighting event if it's not posted herein.
Queens Christmas, Hanukkah & Kwanzaa Holiday Events Begin in Earnest
This is not meant to be a complete list, but rather a list of the holiday lighting events, many of which I’ve attended one or more times since late 2007. The holiday lighting events are organized individually by each Queens neighborhood including Astoria, Long Island City LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Flushing, Jamaica and Whitestone. Many include the serving of some beverage like hot chocolate and generally something to munch on like cookies.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low to mid 50's all weekend, while the temperature lows will rise from around 40 on Friday and Saturday, to 50 on Sunday. The humidity drops from 60% - 70% on Friday, to 50% - 60% on Saturday, and then rises again to 70% - 80% on Sunday. The winds will be around 15 mph Friday, falling to 10 mph on Saturday and Sunday. There's a slight chance of a slight amount of rain before noon Friday, none on Saturday and then about a half to two thirds inch of rain on Sunday between 11 am and 9 pm.
The photo at right was taken at a Thanksgiving dinner I attended yesterday. I ate so much of the dinner, that I didn't dare have any dessert for fear of exploding ... a similar memory of which, I also have as a child.
NYC Weather. The temperatures will be in the mid to low 40's during the day and the mid to low 30's at night. Humidity will be fairly low ranging from 35% to 50%. No rain is in the forecast. The winds will range from 10 - 16 mph, so fairly windy.
As hard as it is to believe, the holidays have arrived. Last weekend the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree arrived. It's an 80 foot spruce which will be lit on Wednesday evening November 30th.
Following the lighting at Rockefeller Center, there's a new street program entitled Fifth Avenue for All. It starts Sunday, December 4th, continuing Sunday, December 11th and ending Sunday, December 18th whereby 5th Avenue will be closed to automobile traffic from 49th to 57th Street, from 12 noon - 6 pm. There will be food vendors, musicians, pedestrians and others, who will take over the street.
And of course the holiday events and holiday shopping seasons have begun as well. We're working on holiday markets as we speak, and we expect to continue updating through the weekend. But you can use the links below in the Holiday Markets report filed earlier this week, to see how far we've gotten in posting the holiday markets which have begun opening.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid 60's Friday, dropping to the mid 50's Saturday and down to the mid 40's Sunday. The temperature lows will plummet from the low 50's Friday, to the low 330's Saturday and into the high 20's on Sunday. The humidity will fall from 90% Friday, to 80% Saturday, to 65% 80% on Sunday. Winds will be a blustery 7 - 15 mph all weekend. Rain is in the forecast, with about a quarter inch to fall tonight, and then 1/10th inch of rain early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday - so it shouldn't stop you from going out.
The NYS election is today, Tuesday November 8th. On the ballot are the following races: U.S. Senate, Governor, Other state level positions such as Attorney General, State Assembly, State Senators and Ballot measures.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 70's all weekend, while the low will be in the mid 60's all weekend. No rain is in the forecast, but it will be a very humid weekend for this time of year ranging from 70% to 85% all weekend. Winds will be about 10 mph all weekend.
The photo at right was taken at the Queens World Film Festival in a prior year. The festival returned to the Museum of the Moving Image this week and runs through the weekend.
The graphic below right shows the course of the NYC Marathon this Sunday.
Thanksgiving Day History - Thanksgiving Food Shops, Dinners & Restaurants in Queens
The origins of Thanksgiving Day in the United States began with one of America’s first settlements, founded by the risk-taking, resource-pooling, hardworking, spiritual community of Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were early English settlers who arrived on American shores in the early 17th century [1600’s]. They came here because they wanted a measure of freedom and self-determination that they were forbidden in Europe or what was called the ‘old country’. The Pilgrims wanted to practice their faith, unencumbered, in a way that differed from the established Church of England. They pooled their money to obtain a ship, the Mayflower, to cross the Atlantic in mid September of 1620, landing on America's shores at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts on November 9, 1620.
The Pilgrims Receive Help from the Native People of a Strange Land
Per Wikipedia, the Piligrims survived a hard winter in 1621 with the help of the Wampanoag, an American Indian tribe. The Pilgrims were the immigrants, and the first Americans, the Indian natives, welcomed them. The Wampanaog taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels, and how to grow and harvest corn. Thus the Pilgrims ended 1621 with a good harvest which they celebrated and shared with their new friends, expressing their thanks to a higher power, aka God, for the success of their endeavors.
Thus it was that the first Thanksgiving celebration happened in America. There's some dispute to this account, which we'll address in a future post, near Thanksgiving Day.
October 31, 2022 / Things To Do NYC / Gotham Buzz. This section contains our Things To Do reports for each weekend in the month of October in all five boroughs of New York City.
What follows below is an example of the beginning of one of our weekend reports about things to do during the month of October.
Things To Do This Weekend in NYC & Boros
Halloween Weekend in All 5 Boroughs; some outdoor Farmers Markets & Street Fairs still open
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 60's all weekend, while the temperature lows will be in the low 40's on Friday and Saturday, rising to the mid 50's by Sunday. Winds will be 3 - 8 mph all weekend. Humidity will be 45% - 65% on Friday and Saturday, rising to 60% - 80% on Sunday. No rain is in the forecast this weekend.
The photo at right was taken over a decade ago in Queens. I recently came across it while doing some website content management work. The photo captures a moment in time of a young woman with an alluring gaze.
Your best bet is to click the link above for the full Manhattan Halloween magilla.
On Friday night the Whitney Museum in the Village is throwing a 'Hallowteen' event, while there's a Halloween party at the Museum of the City of New York on the UES and the McKittrick Hotel is throwing a big Halloween Party down in Chelsea. Stage 48 in Midtown is throwing a Monster Ball on Friday and a Halloween Parade After Party on Monday. There's also an old silent movie being shown, accompanied by a live organist, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The Merchants House Museum in the East Village is hosting haunted tours in the evening on Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday the Meatpacking BID is hosting a number of family friendly Halloween events and programs in the West Village, while E's Bar is throwing a party on the UWS. On Saturday and Sunday, Lincoln Center is hosting an Open House and Family Day. Capitale in SoHo is hosting a big Halloween bash on Saturday.
On Sunday the Irish Arts Center in West Midtown is throwing a kids event midday. The Slate Bar, Bar 13 and Webster Hall all have Halloween events on both Saturday and Monday. Also on Sunday in the Flatiron District there's a Halloween themed history tour.
What have the Democrats & the Biden Administration Accomplished?
Does Biden have Washington Working Again, in Spite of Narrow Democratic Majorities in Both the Senate & House? Why are Democrats Not Running on Their Collective Record?
October 26, 2022 / Local Government & Politics / National Government & Politics / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
The midterm elections are on Tuesday, November 8th.
While President Biden's poll approval is below 50%, I believe it is because there's a yawning gap between perception - as provided daily by the billionaire controlled TV networks - and reality.
So here's the reality piece of it, since you've already been inundated with the ratings-driven TV networks view of things.
September 30, 2022 / Things To Do NYC / Gotham Buzz. This section contains our Things To Do reports for each weekend in the month of September in all five boroughs of New York City.
What follows below is an example of the beginning of one of our weekend reports about things to do during the month of September.
* Things To Do This Weekend in NYC & Boros
First Day of Autumn began Thursday Evening, Global Citizen Concert Returns Saturday, Fall for Dance Celebration Begins, Feast of San Gennaro ends Sunday; Great Irish Fair, Oktoberest at Fort Hamiltion & Local Play in Brooklyn; Hispanic Day Parade, Bell Blvd Stroll & Oktoberfest and Durga Puja Begin next weekend in Queens; Hip Hop Museum Opens, Native American Festival, Bronx Night Market, Stage Garden Rumba in the Bronx; Local Play on Staten Island; Rosh Hashanah Begins Sunday ... also Farmers Markets, Street Fairs & more
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid 60's on Friday, about 70 on Saturday, rising to the mid 70's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be around 50 on Friday, rising to the mid 50's on Saturday and to about 60 on Sunday. The winds will be about 15 mph on Friday, falling to 5 - 10 mph the rest of the weekend. The humidity will rise from 40% - 50% on Friday, to 40% - 60% on Saturday, and then up to 60% - 80% on Sunday. No rain is in the forecast until after 4 pm on Sunday, when there's a 50% chance of about a tenth of an inch of rain.
The photo at right was taken earlier this week at the United Nations while President Biden was delivering a speech about protecting our democratic institutions and rule of law. This means helping other democracies, in order to preserve and protect our way of life from autocrats and dictators who inevitably steal power and wealth away from everyone else in society.
The first day of Autumn began Thursday evening 9/22/22 around 9 pm.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins Sunday evening and ends Tuesday evening.
Things To Do This Weekend in Manhattan NYC
The photo at right was taken earlier this week at the United Nations. Those two people traversing the rooftop of the building aren't roof repairmen.
From Saturday, September 17 through January 1, 2023 - Death of a Salesman at the Hudson Theatre at 141 West 44th Street in West Midtown. This celebrates the Black Theatre Day on September 17th, in honor of the first African American theater, African Grove Theatre, which opened 9/17/1821. Tickets cost $64 - $313. For more details and tickets see https://www.thehudsonbroadway.com/
On Saturday, the Global Citizen Concert returns to the Great Lawn in Central Park which lies between 5th Avenue and Central Park West and between 72nd Street and 86th Street. The gates open at 2 pm and the concert begins at 4 pm. You must bring printed tickets as mobile tickets are not being accepted. Admission $250 - $299 via www.ticketmaster.com. For further details on the concert see https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/festival/nyc/2022/
Thursday - Sunday, September 15 - 25, 2022 times vary - The San Gennaro Festival. This is an 11 day Italian festival that runs through Sunday, September 25th. There's a canoli eating contest today 9/16 beginning at 1 pm and tomorrow 9/17 there's a procession through Little Italy that starts at 2 pm. See their website for details of all events - https://sangennaronyc.org/
The Fall for Dance Festival began on Wednesday, September 21 at the NY City Center at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. The program runs through next week, ending Sunday, October 2, 2022. Performances begin at 8 pm each night, except this coming Sunday & Monday, September 25th & 26th. Tickets are $20 and performances last about an hour and a half. For details and tickets - https://www.nycitycenter.org/
The NY Film Festival begins next Friday, September 30th at Lincoln Center and runs through Sunday, October 16th.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 80's on Tuesday & Wednesday, dropping to the low 70's on Thursday and the mid 60's on Friday., The temperature lows will rise from the mid 60's on Monday & Tuesday to the low 70's on Wednesday, and then fall into the mid to low 50's on Thursday and Friday. The winds will be 10 - 15 mph all week. The humidity will be 55% - 65% all week, except on Friday when it falls to 45% - 55%. There's a small chance of a small amount of rain in Thursday, with the probability gone by mid afternoon.
NYC White Collar Office Workers Continue to Resist a Full Return to the Office
As we noted last week, in our update, people are returning to mass transit. While weekend ridership on the subways has reached about 90%, weekday ridership lags behind at about 65% of prepandemic levels. One of the main drivers of the lower weekday ridership is that folks haven't yet resumed embraced a full return to the office at anywhere near prepandemic levels.
For about the past six months, only about 10% of white collar office workers in Manhattan, go to the office daily. But the number of people in the office each day has risen from about 38% to 49%, according to Parnership for New York City, a non-profit dedicated to primarily promoting the economic interests of NYC. Also, the percentage of workers staying fully remote dropped from 28% to 16% over the same six month period [April - September]. Nearly four out of five employers [77%] indicated that the preferred business model [demanded per employees] is now ready to accommodate folks who only want to travel to the office three of the five days in a work week.
Nobody is yet saying this, but it's my guesstimate, that over time, employees who are in the office more frequently are going to win out over those who are working remotely. And because of that phenomenon, I also guesstimate that over time, more folks will start spending more time in the office. But this may take years to play out.
There's a flip side of the coin above, which is that employers who accommodate remote workers, especially women who want to spend time rearing their children, could, over time, attract and retain some of the best and the brightest, even if they don't pay top dollar. For some, including myself, money matters - but it isn't everything.
As I look at what I've just written I see a potential lawsuit - discriminatory pay based on gender. But could it be discriminatory pay based on remote working? This discussion might have some parallels to the discussion below about dictatorships vs democracy and about valuing loyalty over talent.
Ultimately, time will tell, and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. One thing is clear, many of us - if not all - are not going back to the status quo.
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the high 70's and the temperature lows around 60. It will be sunny the rest of the week, with humidity ranging from 40% - 60%, which is fairly dry. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph, falling as the week wears on. No rain is expected between now and Friday evening, nor through the coming weekend.
So, a lot has happened since we last posted a news update. At right is a photo of one of the outer borough subway stations this summer. As you can see, mask wearing compliance has diminished.
MTA: Ridership Hits Post Pandemic High of 3.5 Million Weekday Riders on the First Day of the Reopening of NYC Public Schools & Governor Hochul Drops the MTA Mask Mandate
On Thursday, September 8th, the first day of the NYC public schools reopening, the MTA transported 3.6 million people. That's the highest ridership number since the pandemic began two and a half years ago in March of 2020.
In our August 9th report [see below] we suggested the MTA drop the mask mandate or enforce it. At the time we noticed that less than half of the passengers on the subway seemed to be adhering to the mask mandate. On September 7th, NYS Governor Hochul rescinded the mask mandate on the MTA, making masking optional, but still recommended that we continue masking on the MTA as we enter the colder months, when folks go indoors, where the probability of infection by airborne viruses like CoVid and the flu increases. The guidance is particularly relevant to those who are older or have underlying conditions, but it's also not unwise for everyone else too.
Shootings Down in NYC in August - In August 2022 There were 115 Shootings vs 165 in August 2021
This Follows the Passage of Federal Gun Restrictions by Congress in June, Biden's April Executive Order in Requiring Ghost Gun Sales be Handled in the Same Manner as Gun Sales & Mayor Adams & the NYPD's Effort to Remove Illegal Guns from NYC Streets
On June 25th, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This is legislation that passed both the Senate and Congress earlier in the month. A number of moderate Republicans crossed the aisle in both the House and Senate to vote with the Democrats, on reigning in the gun violence free-for-all that we've been witnessing the past couple of years.
The federal gun legislation was the first of its kind to pass both houses and be signed into law in about 30 years. Among other things it enhances background checks for younger gun owners [under 21], and provides law enforcement with additional authority and responsibility to thwart potential shooters by empowering them to curtail a gun owner's rights if there's reason to believe that person poses a risk to the general welfare of the community. Added funding was also provided to incent law enforcement to pay more attention to problematic gun owners.
The Biden Ghost Gun sale regulations went into effect on August 24, 2022, following a failed court challenge to block the President's April 2022 Executive Order requiring ghost gun sales to be treated the same as other firearm sales.
In addition to the actions taken at the federal level, Mayor Adams has been working with the NYPD to reduce shootings through changes in NYC law enforcement to take illegal guns off the street. Year to date [as of end of August 2022], the NYPD had removed 4,880 illegal guns from the streets of which 405 of them were removed in August.
Other NYC crime statistics rose 31%. And NYS Governor Hochul passed a number gun regulations in response to the Supreme Court ruling overturning a century old NYS gun law.
We'll have a few more items to add, including on NYC public schools, on Wednesday 9.14.22. In the meantime, I hope you're having a nice week.
NYC Catholic Schools Open September 7th & NYC Public Schools Open on the 8th
Ode to Some of the Great Teachers I've Known, Who've Been Guides on the Trail of Life
In Words & Deeds, We are all Students & We are all Teachers, be it Consciously or Not
On Wednesday, September 7th the Catholic schools in NYC reopen for the new school year.
On Thursday, September 8, 2022 NYC public schools reopen. Many of the CoVid guidelines of the prior public school year have been modified, so copy and paste the following link for an update. https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/health-and-wellness/covid-information/health-and-safety-in-our-schools.
Thinking of Those who Made a Difference
As I contemplated the upcoming school year I thought back to all of the great teachers who made a difference in my life. And so it is to them that I dedicate this column. Generally I'm going to discuss the school teachers as they chronologically entered my life, and discuss the other teachers in my life who taught me things outside of school, in reverse chronological order. Also please note that this is by no means a complete list, but really rather a first attempt at thanking some of the teachers who made a difference in my life, while passing on a few of the golden nuggets I learned from them.
The High School Teachers Who Made a Difference
It started at Abbott Pennings high school in DePere, Wisconsin where I grew up. Father Frigo was our freshman or sophomore history teacher. He was also a coach of the football and basketball teams which won state championships, and as such, was perhaps treated a bit too familiarly, even irreverently, by some of the star athletes in our class. What Father Frigo taught me was that historical narratives change over time, and that, " ... you have to pay attention to whether you're looking at primary sources or secondary sources ... " to truly understand the nature of events.
He taught us that, " ... revisionist history is a secondary source, but also plays an important role in our understanding of the past ...". He noted that pressure to conform to the prevailing cultural norms and narratives of those in power at a given time can distort and obfuscate the truth. But cultural norms and those in power change over time, so that oftentimes, at least in a free speech democracy, the passing of time permits a more honest appraisal of past events. We can see this playing out currently, as the Civil War 'heroes' of the Confederate south are more appropriately treated in historical terms as traitors to the republic, and as champions of a harsh, cruel system of enslavement of a large portion of the American population at the time. Likewise, in dictatorships, narcissitic despots often use and distort history to provide support for their violent aggression. We saw this scenario play out in Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 1940's, and we're witnessing it today in Putin's Russia.
My junior year I came up against a tough nun, Sister Janet, who for some god forsaken reason, took it upon herself to make sure that I understood algebra. I fought her tooth and nail throughout the year, but over time she broke me down and taught me the beauty of the logic inherent in algebraic equations, for which there is no wiggle room between getting it right and getting it wrong.
And lastly, at Abbott Pennings high school, I was taught an even larger lesson by Father Meehan, in religion class. I questioned some of the basic beliefs of Catholicism in class. He patiently answered my questions, and in the end told me something that I will always remember, when he said, "don't stop questioning ... question everything". Little did I know that that was both a blessing and a curse, as I have continued to question everything ever since.
August 31, 2022 / Things To Do NYC / Gotham Buzz. This section contains our Things To Do reports for each weekend in the month of August in all five boroughs of New York City.
What follows below is an example of the beginning of one of our weekend reports about things to do during the month of August.
Things To Do in NYC This Weekend
1) Blues & BBQ Fest, Summer Streets NYC, Dominican Parade, Macbeth, Little Shakespeare Fest & Asian American Film Fest continue in Manhattan
2) India Day Celebration, Festival of Cinema continues & Free Fan Tickets to U.S. Open Trials become Available in Queens,
3) Coney Island Sand Sculpting & a Rum Festival Return & Hip Hop Film Festival Continues in Brooklyn;
4) SummerStage Concerts at Crotona Park Amphitheater, Dinosaurs at the Zoo & Piazza di Belmont in the Bronx;
5) Summer Concert on Staten Island;
6) also Free Outdoor Concerts, Movies & Theater, Farmers Markets, NYC Public Outdoor Swimming Pools, Street Fairs, Public Beaches
NYC Weekend Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 80's and the temperature lows in the mid 60's all weekend. The humidity drops to 40 - 50% all weekend except Sunday when it begins rising again to about 60%. The winds will be 4 - 10 mph all weekend. No rain is in the forecast.
In the photo at right is a hip hop performer who is a part of a troupe that performed outside the entrance at Christies New York [an auction house] last weekend. The performance was part of a citywide dance festival [we only posted a couple of events], and also a tie into Christies' current online auction of early Hip Hop memorabilia which expires on August 18th, 2022.
Things To Do This Weekend in Manhattan NYC
Saturday, August 13, 2022 from 1 - 9 pm - Blues BBQ Festival. Free summer concerts at Pier 76 near Chelsea Piers in Midtown Manhattan NYC. Free admission, with food not included. For details see - https://hudsonriverpark.org/visit/events/event/blues-bbq-festival-2022/
Saturdays, August 6, 13 & 20, 2022 from 7 am to 1 pm - NYC Summer Streets - There will be street closures to autos and trucks along Lafayette starting at the Brooklyn Bridge, going north to 4th Avenue in the Village, which merges into Park Avenue at Union Square, ending at 72nd Street. People are welcome to bike, stroll, skateboard and whatnot. Motorists will have access to some major cross streets which you can find listed by cutting & pasting this web address into your browser - http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/html/about/neighbors.shtml.
On Sunday, August 14, 2022 beginning at 1 pm there's a Dominican Parade that marches up 6th Avenue from 38th Street to 56th Street in Manhattan.
Thursday, August 4 - Sunday, August 14, 2022 - The Little Shakespeare Festival. It's called 'little' because each production contains only four or five actors. 1) August 4 & 6 - As You Will - at 9 pm and 7 pm respectively, 2) August 5, 7, 11, 12 & 14 - Romeo & Juliet - at 7 pm weekdays and 5.30 pm and 4 pm respectively on Sundays, 3) August 6, 10 & 13 - Unspoken Garden - at 2 pm Saturdays & 7 pm weekday, 4) August 9 - Fights of Shakesepeare & As You Will [double feature] - at 7 pm and 5) Brawls & Burlesque, August 13 at 7 pm & 14 at 2 pm. At the Frigid Theater NYC which performs at Under St. Mark's Theater which is located in the basement at 94 St Marks Place [=8th Street] at 1st Avenue in the East Village - www.frigid.nyc / Tickets are $25 / $20.
August 3 - 13, 2022 - Asian American International Film Festival. This year [2022] they're back with live events and in person screenings at the Asia Society & Museum on the Upper East Side. The Asia Society & Museum is located at 725 Park Avenue at East 70th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan NYC. Tickets are $16 / $10 - For details see www.aaiff.org.
The second NYS primary election is on Tuesday, August 23rd. On the ballot are the U.S. Congressional races and the NYS Senate races, which were not on the ballot on June 28th.
Reason for the Second Primary this Summer & Races to Watch
The reason there were two NYS primaries this year is that the electoral districts drawn up by the Democrats were so gerrymandered, that an upstate court ordered the NYS Legislature to redraw them more fairly. The decision was upheld on Appeal, but due to the timing - the Appeal decision came down in April - there wasn't enough time to redraw the maps in time for the June primary. Hence a second primary today.
The biggest contests to watch coming out of this election is the one pitting two longtime Congresspeople against each other in District 12 - Jerry Nadler of the Upper West Side and Carolyn Maloney of the Upper East Side. And there's a tight race just north of the city in Westchester where Alessandra Biaggi is challenging Sean Patrick Maloney in District 13. Earlier this summer, former Mayor de Blasio dropped out of the congressional race in the newly redrawn 10th District which encompasses part of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Click on the image above to access the poll finder website, so you can easily find where to vote in your neighborhood. Remember this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, and many of our ancestors died for our right to elect our leaders. A similar struggle for freedom from oppression is going on in Ukraine right now. So in as much as you can, do your homework before voting for those you choose to represent you / us. There's still time to do some research on candidates on the web.
The New York State election is Tuesday August 23rd, and polls are open from 6 am - 9 pm. Click on the graphic above, to find your poll site.
Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 90's today, falling into the mid 80's for the rest of the week. The temperature lows will be around 70 all week. The humidity will rise from the mid 50's early Tuesday to the mid 70's by Wednesday, falling back to about 60% on Thursday and a comfortable 50% on Friday. There's a 50% chance of a 1/10th inch of rain between 5 - 10 pm Tuesday, and a 50 - 75% chance of about a half inch or more of rain between 11 pm Wednesday and 9 am Thursday. By Friday it's a very nice day, leading into a very nice weekend.
CoVid Containment in NYC - MTA Should Either Enforce the Mask Mandate or Withdraw it
This past weekend I noticed that half or less of the passengers on the subway appear to be following the mask mandate. To the MTA I suggest either enforce the mandate, or withdraw it. You weaken the government's credibility and ability to enforce compliance, when you mandate something and then do not follow through by properly / evenly enforcing it. Every good parent knows that.
The BA.5 variant of CoVid grew rapidly from under 10% at the beginning of June 2022, to above 80% by the end of July. Cases rose briefly during that period, before falling back again. About 79% of all Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 68% have received two or more. In NYS 91% of New Yorkers have received at least one dose, while 78% have received two or more doses. Because the population has finally come around to getting vaccinated, the hospitalization rates for CoVid are fairly low, with only a small percentage of hospital beds being utilized for CoVid patients, most of which are occupied by the non-vaxers.
Bear in mind that it's the summertime, which is the off season for the disease, because folks are outdoors.
We're working on some of the stories we referenced in our report last week. It's taking us a bit longer to catch up on analyzing the data than we expected. So rather than rush through a report, we're going to skip the Monday / Tuesday report this week and post the Weekend Things To Do report a bit earlier than usual.
We'll resume our regular reporting schedule next week.
In the meantime, there are plenty of things going on in NYC, as you can see below. Enjoy.
1) Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, Greek Festival, Pow Wow & Jamaica Jerk Festival in Queens, 2) Shakespeare at Bronx Music Center, Bronx Night Market, Piazza di Belmont & the Bronx Dominican Parade returns to the Bronx; 3) Gallery Players, Piper Theater Performances, Burlesque at the Beach and BRIC Concert Series continues in Brooklyn; 4) Songwriters Showcase, Ailey Moves & St. Lukes Concert, Mame Opens at the Victory Theater, Much Ado about Nothing, Final Movie / Concert at the Lighthouse Museum on Staten Island; 5) SHENYC continues, Dance Intensive, Twelfth Night & NY Asian Film Fest ending, Movies and MacBeth Begins in Manhattan, and Free Outdoor Concerts, Movies & Theater, Farmers Markets, NYC Public Outdoor Swimming Pools, Street Fairs, Public Beaches
NYC Weekend Weather. The temperature highs will be in the mid to high 80's and the temperature lows will be in the low to mid 70's. Winds will be 5 - 10 mph all weekend. The humidity will fall from 50% - 70% on Friday, to 50% on Saturday, rising to 50% - 65% on Sunday. There's a chance of about a quarter inch of rain sometime between 10 pm Friday night and 4 am Saturday morning. All in all not a bad weather weekend.
The photo at right is of the dragon festival in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The festival returns this weekend.
Things To Do This Weekend in Queens NYC
Thursday - Sunday, July 28 - July 31, 2022 - Thurs / Fri / Sat / Sun - 5 pm to 11 pm - St Irene Chrysovalantou Church - This Astoria street fair is along 23rd Avenue from 36th Street to the Amtrak trestle. Traditional Greek food, music, and folk dances every night, as well as rides for the kids and a marketplace. The feast day celebration starts with a mass on Wednesday at 7.30 pm inside and continues with various religious services through the end of the feast on Sunday.
On Friday, July 29, 2022 beginning at 7.30 pm / Hip to Hip Theater Free - Pericles - There's a performance of Shakespeare at The Voelker Orth Museum is located at 149-19 38th Avenue in Flushing.
On Sunday, July 31, 2022 from 2 - 5 pm - there's a performance by Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York Guelaguetza Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park which is located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd at Broadway in Astoria / LIC.
Friday through Sunday, July 29 - 31, 2022 - There's a Pow Wow at the Queens County Farm at 73-50 Little Neck Parkway in Bellerose Manor / Little Neck neighborhoods of Queens. Performances run from 7 - 10 pm Friday; 12 noon - 5 pm and 7 - 10 pm Saturday; and from 12 noon - 5 pm Sunday. The Grand Entry of tribes is at 7 pm Friday, 1 pm and 7 pm Saturday and 1 pm Sunday. Gates open at 6 pm Friday, and 10 am on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets run $15 / adult and $8 / kids 12 and under [discounted rates for full weekend passes].
Saturday & Sunday, July 30 & 31, 2022 - from 9 am - 5 pm - Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival at Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Live boat races, food, shopping and entertainment. Free admission. www.hkdbf-ny.org. Free admission.
Sunday, July 31, 2022 - Jamaica Jerk Festival - From 12 noon to 8 pm - Carribean Food Festival with music at Roy Wilkins Park 177-01 Baisley Blvd at Merrick in Jamaica. Admission $45 advance / likely more at door / Children under 10 Free. Tickets at www.jerkfestivalny.com.
Use the links below to see details about the concerts, theater and movie events above, as well as for details on the freesummer concerts, theater and movies for the rest of this summer in Queens. For example next Monday free summer movies in Astoria Park, free performances of Shakespeare in Queens parks, a free movie in Rufus King Park on Friday 7/29 in Jamaica, a paid movie with workshop at the Queens Botanical Garden this Saturday 7/30, free concerts and dance performances in Athens Square Park on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Astoria, live music and dance in Travers Park in Jackson Heights on Sunday 7/31 and a free concert in Gantry State Park in Tuesdays.
We've mostly been trying to stay abreast of all the summer events this past month. Event schedules changed, some schedules have been reduced, and some venues have closed or remain on hiatus. But by and large, most venues are back up and running on some kind of level, while trying to protect the health and safety of their associates as well as the general public vis a vis CoVid.
So as we remained focused on staying abreast of the many summer events easily accessible to most of the denizens of NYC and NYS, we did not take our eye off of the more serious issues swirling around us. The following is a list of events we've been monitoring and researching along the way, which we intend to delve into in the coming weeks, and perhaps months.
Untimely Death: Two Russian Oligarchs Live on Ivana Trump's Block
I have a few unanswered questions regarding Ivana Trump's sudden, unexpected, accidental death.
Ivana Trump lived in a building in Manhattan on the Upper East Side in which Donald Trump reportedly still owns a total of five units. It just so happens that Ivana's residence is also on a block where two Russian Oligarchs own large residences, and for a time, where the divorced wife of a third Oligarch, lived. The wife of the third Oligarch is Dasha Zhukova who was married to Roman Abramovich. Zhukova became fast friends with Ivanka Trump, after being introduced by Wendi Deng, the former wife of Rupert Murdoch [Fox News / WSJ / NY Post] sometime around 2007.
The Russian Oligarchs who own residences on the same block where Ivana Trump lived, are Oleg Deripaska and Len Blavatnik. Deripaska's residence is just across the street from Ivana's residence, which if he were to be a spy, would be an ideal a location. Dasha Zhukova [the former wife of Abramovich] lived in Deripaska's residence in 2018, apparently departing from that residence sometime before September 2019.
Zhukova moved ten blocks north of Ivana's block into a large four townhouse development upon which Zhukova's former husband, Roman Abramovich was working. According to a March 12, 2022 report in the Mercury News, Abramovich transferred the real estate, valued at $92 million, to Zhukova in 2018. In 2022 the Russian Oligarch sanctions hit, and now there's a question of whether transferred wealth to relatives [like former wife Zhukova] should also be sanctioned.
According to a March 17, 2022 report in the New Yorker, "... [Russian Opposition Leader Alexei] Navalny has described Abramovich as “one of the key enablers and beneficiaries of Russian kleptocracy...”. Abramovich is considered one of Putin's most trusted Oligarchs, having survived Putin's Oligarch purge after Russian President Boris Yeltsin's fall.
Abramovich must be an incredibly skillful manipulator - not just of Putin - but Abramovich was also the only Russian Oligarch who Ukrainian President Zelensky asked the U.S. not to sanction. Zelensky claimed it was in order to unencumber Abramovich to broker a Russian / Ukrainian peace deal in Turkey [see link below for further details]. The pact never even came close to happening. Separately, the two nations recently cut a deal to allow free passage of food through the Black Sea and Bosporous Straits, which less than 24 hours later Putin 'honored' by bombing the Ukrainian port of Odessa, from which the Ukrainian food is to be shipped.
The deal providing two of the world's largest food producers [Russia & Ukraine] safe passage of food through the Black Sea and the Bosporous Straits was brokered - not by the Russian kleptocrat Abramovich - but by the UN and Turkey. The Bosporous Straits is a Black Sea bottleneck, which is controlled by NATO ally Turkey, per an international agreement made decades ago.
Back to Ivana's Trump's residence and her sudden, unexpected and accidental death. So Ivana's daughter, Ivanka Trump, became quite friendly with Abramovich's former wife, Dasha Zhukova. They became such good friends that they began interacting socially at very public events well over a decade ago. The first social event I found documented was in 2014 when Zhukova reportedly invited Ivanka and Jared to a fundraiser organized by her husband, Roman Abramovich, for a Jewish Museum he founded in Moscow. In 2016, as Donald Trump was running for President, Ivanka, Wendi Deng and Zhukova were also photographed at the the U.S. Open in Queens. And in 2017 Dasha Zhukova was reportedly invited to the Trump Inauguration weekend celebrations. Apparently there have been many other interactions, in between those public appearances and since, including some Abramovich investments placed in Jared Kushner's brother's [Josh] company.
My point in all of this, is that the Russians could have had social access to Ivana Trump's residence and / or were in a position to have access to Ivana Trump's residence via more nefarious means. Given Trump owned so many units in the building, and probably owns the building management company, a lot of the independent context surrounding Ivana's death would be hard to obtain by the authorities without strong cause. I heard nothing about any review of any building video footage on the property itself, nor from the surrounding buildings. After the funeral, Ivana's body was subsequently delivered to a Trump golf course in New Jersey, which is private property, owned by Donald Trump.
The details of Ivana Trump's autopsy were scant. The reporting of them had an uncertain quality to them. None of the reports indicated who called in the death. Not by name, not by association and not by any role. I find that odd. The first cited cause of death was "cardiac arrest" and then later the cause of death was said to be from 'blunt' injuries suffered in the fall. Ivana Trump was an athlete, and only 73 years old, so falling down the stairs, and dying from the fall, while believable, is also unbelievable.
It's worth noting here, that accidental deaths are reportedly a Putin specialty. A Russian media baron, Boris Berezovsky, who was on the outs with Putin, reportedly suddenly, unexpectedly and accidentally died in his own bathroom at the age of 67 in 2013. The police determined that the cause of death was "unexplained", but it was surmised that it could have been caused by chemical, biolgical or nuclear material.
The timing of Ivana's death, coincidentally worked in the Donald's favor, as the NYS Attorney General was about to follow through with depositions with the Trump children. Because of Ivana's death, all of the Trump children depositions were postponed by the NYS Attorney General. The Trump family funeral also provided an opportunity for Donald Trump to meet with his children without being asked any questions. I mention this because it's been suggested that Trump may have tried to tamper with a witness for the Congressional Hearings on the Trump Insurrection.
We know from Trump's campaigning in 2016, as well as from the January 6 Congressional Hearings of the Insurrection, that Donald Trump is not above encouraging others to do violence, when it serves his purposes. Ivana Trump reportedly kept contact with the Donald, even after their marriage ended, but the divorce was reportedly fairly hostile, although it also appeared that their relationship settled down, and might possibly have healed, over time.
Ivana and Ivanka Trump were reportedly close, as the only two women in that iteration of the Trump family. So, given the above as backdrop, what I found of particular interest, was the body language between the Donald, and Ivanka and Jared, at Ivana's funeral. They did not look each other in the eye, and Ivanka and Jared seemed to flee the rest of the family immediately after the funeral. Given the many funerals I've attended, that didn't strike me as normal.
These are just some unasked and unanswered questions that came to mind while I watched the Trumps mourn one of their own. I suspect neither Trump nor Putin will let up with their shenanigans, because right now both of them are losing, and by the time the 2024 election rolls around, both of them might become desperate. Stay tuned.
Last Saturday there were a few Pro Choice rallies in NYC. Most notable among them were the one that started at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn, marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to Foley Square. And there was another group that gathered in Union Square which also marched to Foley Square.
I have some video and photos, but possibly the most interesting part of this report are the perspectives I picked up along the way, which provided me with a deeper understanding of the issues, primarily from a women's point of view.
First there's the science ...
Hi. Following up on the conversations I had and overheard led me to a lot of new information that I'm still processing. I hope to return to finish this sometime in the summer.
Russia Ukraine War Report Series - March - May 2022
Updated April 4, 2022 / International News NYC / Gotham Buzz.
This section contains our Russia Ukraine War Report Series which we began in March of 2022. We hope it will end by the end of May, but who knows how long it will take the Russian people to rise up against the oppressive Putin dictatorship / regime.
De Blasio Decides Not to Run for NYS Governor, Hochul's Fundraising Haul, NYC Violent Crime Up Slightly in 2021, but NYC Homicides Still Below the National Average & To Be or Not To Be - do we want to Politicize the Guns / Violent Crime Problem or Solve it?
This morning, January 18, 2022, former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he will not seek the Governor's office on Twitter.
De Blasio mentioned some of his accomplishments during his eight years as Mayor including Universal Pre-K, building hundreds of thousands affordable housing units, implementing some police reforms at the NYPD to make policing fairer, and efforts to transition NYC to cleaner energy. He didn't say what his future plans were, only that he would be announcing them from his neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Governor Kathy Hochul is well positioned for the NYS Governors race this year. Hochul received the very early endorsement of the NYS Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs in October of 2021, and has raised $21.6 million since she announced her candidacy in August of 2021. It's a record for the five month period, and about the same amount of money that former Governor Andrew Cuomo had to ward off challengers in 2018. NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and 3rd District [Nassau County] Congressman Thomas Suozzi have announced their candidacies. In December of 2021, Attorney General Letitia James withdrew her candidacy, in favor of running for reelection in her current post.
On the Republican side of the race there's former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who is running against newcomer Andrew Giuliani, who's primary claim to fame is that he is the son of Rudy, the former NYC Mayor with the same surname and Lee Zeldin, a Congressman from Long Island.
In fundraising as well as in polling, Hochul seems to have all the advantages at this point in the campaign. Her nearest competitor in polling recently done by Siena would have been de Blasio, who had 12% of the vote versus Hochul's 46%. NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was next with 11% and Suozzi with 6%. The Suozzi campaign has about $5 million in campaign funding, $2 million of which was transferred from his congressional campaign. Republican Astorino has about $1.3 million, and none of the other contestants released their funding.
A number of snide comments were made in the wake of Hochul's record haul and competitive fundraising position for the upcoming June primary. She was compared to Cuomo with allusions to the possibility of corruption, but nothing specific was provided to support those insinuations.
De Blasio's announcement came as I was working on an update report on NYC crime. Unfortunately, the NYPD doesn't publish a December monthly report, like they do every other month, so it's more challenging to do a year end tally. Hence, this report won't be as comprehensive as some of the others I've done the past couple of years, and will instead focus mostly on shootings and the murder rate.
NYC Crime Statistics for 2021
Thefts Down Significantly / Murders Up Slightly & Still Below the National Average / Most Other Crimes up in Low to Mid Single Digits with Some Exceptions ...
The outlier in the year end crime stats, which were up slightly from 2020, was that thefts were down almost 19%. This may have something to do with the fact that fewer people are out and about, so thieves have fewer to prey upon and the victims have fewer distractions and events where thefts may occur.
As for other salient changes in the main categories, Grand Larceny was up about 12% while Grand Larceny Auto was up 14%, Other (than rape) Sex Crimes were up 30%, Misdemeanour Assault was up 10%, and Hate Crimes were up 93%. It's worth noting that only murders and hate crimes are counted in the hundreds - not thousands.
The murders in NYC were up slightly in 2021 versus 2020. Note that the graph at right is for the entire nation and in 2020 - not 2021. The purpose is so that you can have context in evaluating where we are and what's going on.
In 2021 the preliminary murder rate in the U.S. was about 6.6 per 100,000 people [21,750 / 330M], while the murder rate in NYC was 5.5 per 100,000 people [485 / 8.8M]. Prior to the pandemic, in 2018, the murder rate in the U.S. was 4.96 per 100,000 people [WorldPopulationReview.com], and the murder rate in NYC was 289 victims [8.4M population] or 3.4 per 100,000 people, which was the lowest on record. In 2012, during former Mayor Bloomberg's last year as NYC Mayor, the murder rate had fallen to 414 [8.2M] or about 5.0 per 100,000 people.
So with our larger population [8.8M vs 8.2M], NYC experienced a bit higher murder rate in former Mayor de Blasio's last year in office, versus former Mayor Bloomberg's last year in office. And for de Blasio this was in the midst of the pandemic amid record gun sales.
The Great Supply Chain Crisis 2021: Hype vs Reality
TV & Murdoch News Sensationalized the Great Supply Chain Crisis of 2021 - Telling us for Months on End No Pumpkins for Halloween, No Turkeys for Thanksgiving, No Trees for Christmas & No Cream Cheese in NYC
But How Much of that Hyping was a Murdoch Inspired Perspective in Pursuit of Political Profit & Fear Mongering Ratings at the Expense of Reporting What's Really Happening?
The closer I pay attention to what's happening in our mass media, the more concerned I get. Nearly half of our daily nationally branded news media is controlled by one man, Australian born billionaire Rupert Murdoch - who strikes me as either a sociopath or psychopath. Based on the seven years I've been covering Murdoch, it appears as if he doesn't care about anything other than enriching and empowering himself, even at 90 years of age [his mother lived to 103 so he's likely going to be with us for a while].
What Those Who Know Murdoch Say About Him
In Australia - where Murdoch has been operating all his life - former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described,
"Murdoch's media empire as a cancer on democracy".
And in Britain, a Parliamentary Report stated that,
[Murdoch] "was not a fit person" to exercise stewardship of a major international company].
Keith Rupert Murdoch, controls the Wall St. Journal, Fox News, the NY Post, Harper Collins Publishing, MarketWatch, Barrons - and along with two of Fox News largest shareholders - Murdoch appears to have a controlling interest in Disney / ABC by virtue of what seems his proximity to their relatively new CEO. Murdoch's influence appears to be manifesting itself in personnel moves being made since he became one of their largest shareholders in March of 2019. The personnel moves are in their news and related programming areas, and ultimately impact what ABC News presents to the public. I just witnessed one of many subtle changes on Sunday, while watching This Week with George Stephanopolous. I'll say more about this at the end of this report.
Fox News Lyin' Laura Ingraham, earned that moniker, as you can see in the image above. Fox News has repeatedly used misleading photos and images to lend deceptive and misleading support to their news accounts, which appear designed to influence the unaware and low information voters, in order to get them to vote for billionaire Murdoch's favored pols and against the very government officials who are trying to help the manipulated victims.
For all of us, today starts the beginning of a new year.
If we stay the course with vaccinations, masks, social distancing and hand washing, we should be able to make the transition from pandemic to endemic - at which point things begin to really change to a better normal, but likely not back to a pre-CoVid normal.
A year ago I thought by now we would have mostly normalized, but I had failed to take into consideration the significant resistance to vaccinations by the people who rely upon Rupert Murdoch's overwhelming share of nationally branded daily mass media 'news'.
Rupert Murdoch controls Fox News, the NY Post, the Wall St Journal and he, along with the two largest investment groups owning Fox, control Disney / ABC News. So that's half of U.S. network news and two the largest daily newspapers in the nation. He controls other media outlets as well, like MarketWatch and Barron's and Harper Collins Publishing, but the first four mentioned above are instrumental in shaping Americans' view of things. And the unsuspecting members of Murdoch's audience aren't aware enough, nor paying attention enough, nor educated enough to detect the very sophisticated news manipulations that Murdoch and his minions seem to do every day to sculpt and present the reality they want their viewers to see - which is not reality at all, but a VoldeMurdoch version of it.
Other media outlets and moderate Republicans and pretty much all Democrats need to start calling Murdoch out into the public space so people can see who he is and what he does and what he takes in exchange for it. They need to do it, because regardless of whether they do or not, Murdoch's incessant media attacks will keep coming, so by not addressing him and it, they are only aiding and abetting it, like all those who let Goebbels do the same in Germany in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's.
The rest of this report is about some of the things you can do personally - not politically - to make 2022 a better year for you.
Moderate Democrat Eric Adams sailed to victory Tuesday to become NYC's second African American Mayor. Democrat David Dinkins was the first. With 78% of the precincts reporting Adams won 676,481 votes to Sliwa's 293,127.
Democrat Jumaane Williams was re-elected Public Advocate, garnering 598,810 votes which was nearly 69% of the total, with 93% of the scanners reporting.
Progressive Democrat Brad Lander won the NYC Comptroller position, winning 604,000 of the votes, or 70% of the vote with 93% of the scanners counted.
And Democrat Alvin Bragg won the Manhattan District Attorney office, garnering 183,000 votes or 83% of the total.
Four of the five Borough Presidencies were won by Democrats. In Manhattan Mark Levine handily won the borough presidency with 181,000 votes or 85% of the total, with 93% of scanners counted. In Queens Donovan Richards handily won re-election, winning 160,000 votes or 66% of the total, with 79% of the precincts reporting. In Brooklyn Antonio Reynoso also won handily, winning 217,000 votes or 73% of the total, with 78% of the precincts reporting. In the Bronx Vanessa Gibson took in 80,000 votes which was 80% of the total, with 72% of the precincts reporting.
And on Staten Island, the only Republican to win a Borough Presidency, Vito Fossella, won 60,000 votes or 60% of the total, with 87% of the precincts reporting.
NYC Public Schools Open Monday, CoVid Guidelines Tightening in order to Avoid Illness and Closures & to Keep the Economy Running, Broadway Reopens, U.S. Open Ends with a Youthful Women's Contest & Medvedev Foils What Could Have Been Historical Men's Final by Djokovic, 911 Subway Series - Yanks 8 / Mets 7, Yom Kippur, and 911 Media Blindspot on how the Wars on Terrorism Mutated to a War on Democracy & Truth
Weather. Generally good with highs near 80 Saturday and near 90 on Sunday, with the lows around 70 both days and no rain. Humidity will be around 60% and the winds will be 5 - 10 mph.
The image at right shows Murdoch's Fox faking the news about CoVid. Notice how they try to pin labels on CNN [masquerade], the Democrats [politicize / scam], other media [hysteria] and scaremonger about 'other' lockdowns. In the case of the labelers, they are oftentimes accusing someone else of doing exactly what they are doing. In psychology this is called projection, where they project their traits onto others in order to distract whomever they are communicating with, from noticing those traits in them.
NYC Public Schools Open Monday with CoVid Guidelines in Place
Mayor de Blasio announced that not only teachers, but also school staff in the NYC Public School system, will be required to have at least one vaccine dose by September 27th.
While there isn't a mandate for children over 12 to be vaccinated [yet?], all NYC public school children are required to wear masks, social distance at three or more feet, and may be subject to health screenings [testing]. The Catholic schools in NYC are not requiring vaccines for teachers or students, but are requiring the wearing of masks.
Additionally the NYC Indoor Vaccine Mandate, announced on August 17th, will begin enforcement on Monday, September 13th. The mandate requires both employees and customers to get vaccinated in order to work at or patronize dining, fitness and entertainment venues when indoors. The mandate will not be enforced by the NYPD, but rather by a slew of other city agencies / departments that already oversee the operations of these businesses.
Vaccination Rates & Mandates for NYC Employees. According to a July 26, 2021 report by Intelligencer, Mayor de Blasio mandated that all municipal employees get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. At the time the NYPD reportedly had a vaccination rate of 43%, and the NYFD had a vaccination rate of 51% and Corrections had a vaccination rate of 41%. By September 10, 2021 the NYPD vaccination rate had increased to 53%, and the overall municipal employee vaccination rate was 65%, which was in line with the average for New Yorkers generally, where 67% have been vaccinated according to a September 10, 2021 AMNY report.
This Report Provides an Update on Why the Downward Trend in CoVid Infections Swung Back Up, the Science Behind the Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, the Lamda & Delta Variants, the Precautionary Wisdom of Continuing to Wear Masks & the Impact of Murdoch Controlled News Outlets Continuous Stream of Mass Media Disinformation
Is it the Patriotic Duty of Every Eligible American to Get Vaccinated?
August 9, 2021 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC during the CoVid Pandemic / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
I reckon we all wish it weren't so, but CoVid 19 has been resurging with a vengeance these past couple of months, fueled largely by the Delta variant, which at the beginning of May 2021, accounted for less than 10% of U.S. new cases, while today it accounts for more than 90% of all new U.S. CoVid infections. What's most disturbing about this new trend is that even fully vaccinated people can catch the Delta variant, which was largely NOT the case with the original strain [alpha] of CoVid. The infections that are picked up by fully vaccinated people are called 'breakthrough' infections, because they have broken through the immunity protection provided by the vaccines.
In the graphic at right, note the large light blue at the right of the graphic, which denoted the Delta variant of CoVid which grew from almost nothing in May, to almost every new CoVid case in the U.S. in August.
The Delta Variant has Changed So Significantly, Hence the New CoVid Reign of Terror
I found a chart that I found of great interest in an August 5, 2021 story in the Gothamist, which was acquired by NPR in 2018. The chart shows how the original CoVid is almost non-existent in the U.S. today, while the Delta variant has risen to represent over 90% of all new cases.
The vaccines were developed to address the original CoVid stain, as the Delta variant - as noted above - didn't become a real factor until about May of this year. Thus, the vaccines efficacy in preventing CoVid has been significantly reduced, but thankfully the vaccines are still very effective in preventing the worst possible outcomes which are hospitalizations and death.
My next stop was the Viva La Comida Festival at Dunningham Triangle at 82nd Street in Jackson Heights. This event had originated as a food truck event about a half dozen years ago, and has continually been morphing into something more.
Each year the configuration changes and this year they had sprinkled picnic tables throughout the venue to enable folks to sit and enjoy the food fare after purchasing it. In prior years the picnic tables were not as plentiful and as I recall many standing in the same area.
The benefit was a more accommodating eating venue, as well as a more integrated social one. There was a cost, and that was that that the foot traffic didn’t move as quickly as the picnic table occupied some of the space. All tolled it seemed a good trade.
As I made my further in, there was music coming from a stage near the Triangle. I had arrived about 5 pm and the Salsa Marsala was entertaining one of the biggest crowds I had seen at this event. Again part of this was owing to a better configured use of the space. And over the years the event has also become a showcase for Jackson Heights performance talent.
While listening to the Salsa Marsala I met a man from the Queens Council for the Arts. He told me how the QCA organization had helped the band with a grant, as well as in providing the group with some of their arts and cultural organization expertise. The band is about to release a new album this fall called Jackson Heights Block Party.
As mentioned above, Viva La Comida has evolving and includes a number of cultural offerings. There was a booth there run by the Queens World Film Festival, with founders Katha and Don Cato on hand to talk about all of the programs that their organization has undertaken.
Also, not far from the stage, there were a couple of booths associated with the John Lennon Bus Tour. Last year they did an event in Travers Park, and this year they were doing it in conjunction with the Viva La Comida festival. The John Lennon Bus Tour brings along buses that have a lot of equipment that their staff introduces to kids interested in pursuing an arts or cultural occupation.
As I made my way back to the subway I was disappointed I couldn’t stay longer. Perhaps next year.
On Saturday I made my way east to Flushing to watch the Chinese New Year Parade. It was a nice sunny day with temperatures in the 30's, and a fair wind blowing, adding to the chill. But that doesn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the large crowds that come to attend and witness one of the world's most ancient cultures on full theatrical display.
The sidewalks in Flushing along Main Street had been widened this past year, enabling a far better flow of pedestrian traffic than in prior years. I headed south toward the Flushing branch of the Queens Library, to find an opening into the street where I could - for the first time - take video of the colorful, musical parade.
For all of us, today starts the beginning of a new year.
If we stay the course with masks, social distancing and hand washing, we should be able to make it to getting vaccinated - at which point things begin to really change to a better normal, but likely not back to a pre-CoVid normal.
The impact of the vaccinations isn't going to happen quickly as Trump's Operation Warp Speed has turned out to be Operation Super Retarded. But Biden takes the reins in another 18 days, and will likely put things back on track, which means we have another six to twelve months before things will begin feeling somewhat normal. The six to twelve months is how long it's estimated that it will take to manufacture, distribute and vaccinate the majority of the 330 million people who live here. The vaccination process alone takes about two months, as there are two shots and a lag time for your body to build the anti-bodies.
This weekend only, there's the performance of an avante garde theatrical production entitled The House We Never Lived In at the Tiny Box Theater which is performing at the 11th Street Arts Center in Long Island City Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
The production is something totally interactive, meaning we were guided through the play by our hosts - CoDirectors Joy Tomasko and Sarah Murphy - but each of us embarked on our own unique journey wearing headsets and making choices which would ultimately determine how the play ended ... for us ... alone ... or shared - but only shared if others had made the same choices that we did. If you're not totally understanding this, that's ok, because until it was over, neither did I.
The photo at right shows several members of the audience in the foreground, pursuing their own journey in the play, while the Co-Directors, Joy Tomasko at left and Sarah Murphy at right in the background, look on.
The play takes us on a journey from a tiny apartment in NYC, to purchasing a fixer upper home upstate, and then going there ...
You will need a fully charged cell phone to attend the play, as that will be plugged into your headset which they provide. The cell phone is then used to scan the recordings you'll hear, which are chosen based upon the choices you make, which you then use as a guide - along with the assistance of the Co-Directors, into a world that is new and strange.
The play is well written [or at least based on the choices I made], containing a number of near poetic insights, and the experience is reality ... virtually ... ? ... dunno ... as I'm still processing it.
This weekend only - performances at 4.30 pm, 6 pm, 7.30 and 9 pm on Friday and at 3 pm, 4.30 pm and 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets cost $20 and you can purchase them at www.tinyboxtheater.com. And remember to bring a fully charged cell phone.
Seating is very limited, so if you want to see this play, waiting isn't an option. This play was funded in part through a grant from the Queens Council on the Arts.
I attended the Jamaica Just My Style Fashion Show last Friday at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens. The show highlights some of the great shopping opportunities in downtown Jamaica as it is organized and hosted by the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District [BID].
In the lobby there was food and shopping opportunities, and in the auditorium there was a show not to be missed, featuring the clothing and designs offerred by about a dozen downtown Jamaica retailers which are listed at the end of the video below, along with the Jamaica Center sponsors.
There wasn't any multi-media going on in the background as in previous years, which at first I thought might be a liability. But I found instead, that I soon lost myself in an undistracted focus on the models and the clothing coming down the runway.
There were also about a dozen and a half models, about two thirds of which were female, and all of whom did a great job of keeping our attention on their sculpted forms, theatrical poses and dancer flair. Click the video below to feast your eyes on fashion, form and function and a bit of show biz, provided by rapper Roxanne Chante. A photo of entertainer Destiny Johnson is also included at the end of the video.
I traveled down to Jamaica town on Tuesday afternoon to see a short preview of the upcoming Jamaica Just My Style Fashion Show. The show is organized by the Jamaica Center BID and Executive Director Whitney Barrat was on hand to talk about the upcoming show. The gracious Barrat talked about the vibrancy of the downtown Jamaica business district, the excitement of the upcoming show, and commended Jamaica Center BID Associate Valerie Stevens for her efforts in organizing the event. The designs by Michele Walden Mcphee were alluring, complementing the models' shapely figures in an artistic display of finely chosen fabric.
The show begins at 6 pm Friday at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center on Jamaica Avenue at 153rd Street. There will be food, music and plenty of fashion not just on the stage but in the crowd as well. It's free but you must rsvp at the Jamaica Center BID website - using the link below.
On Sunday, September 29th, the NY Mets played their last game of the 2019 Major League Baseball season. The Mets came in third in the National League East, behind the Atlanta Braves [#1] and the Washington Nationals [#2]. Their record of 86 wins and 76 losses represented a solid improvement over the 2018 season, where they won 77 and lost 85 coming in fourth place that year.
The Mets new slugger Pete Alonso, broke the rookie home run record on the second to the last game of the season on Saturday 9/28/19. Pete Alonso hit his 53rd home run of the season against the starting pitcher [Mike Foltynewicz] for the National League East Champion Atlanta Braves, besting the record set by Yankee Aaron Judge in 2017. Aaron had hit 52 home runs that season.
The Mets Pitcher Jacob Degrom also had another good year, after a slow start, and seems to be a favored contender for the Cy Young Award for the second year running. Jacob Degrom has been with the Mets since 2014, having picked him in the 9th round draft.
And Mets Manager Mickey Callaway's fate is apparently undecided at this point in the season. Mickey Callaway became the Mets Manager in October 2017, and had a disappointing first season after the strongest start that season, in Mets' history. The 2019 season was much better at .531 vs .475 in 2018.
So while the Mets season may be over, the Yankees are still in it. The Yankees enter the post season with some handicaps [lost a pitcher due to domestic abuse allegations], but that said they've been fighting handicaps all season. Stay tuned.
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5 Boro Bike Ride Returns Sunday
Bike New York Organizes NYC Bike Ride & Bike Expo New York
This story includes information about the upcoming 5 Boro Bike Ride on Sunday, as well as the Bike ExpoNew York which precedes it on Friday & Saturday in Red Hook. As of this report, the temperatures are expected to be in the 60's and the chances of rain appear slim. But bear in mind that the forecast probability of 20% chance of rain last Friday, turned into rain on Saturday evening, so check the weather as we get closer in.
Bike New York 5 Boro Bike Ride Route
Since 1977, every first Sunday of May, Bike New York has organized and promoted the 5 Boro Bike Ride. The ride begins in lower Manhattan, sweeps northward across the Harlem River Bridge to the Bronx, circles back across the Third Avenue Bridge to Manhattan, where it begins its southward trek crossing the Queensboro Bridge into Queens, heading south to Brooklyn after a quick stop north to Astoria Park, and then comes down past the Brooklyn Navy Yards, continuing southward along the west side of Brooklyn, to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge where it crosses over to the Fort Wadsworth neighborhood in Staten Island before terminating in the St. George neighborhood at the Staten Island Ferry.
Proceeds from Non-Profit New York Bike Ride go Toward Sustainable Transportation Efforts
The now famous bike ride was capped at 32,000 riders I believe sometime in the 1990’s, where it still stands today. One report noted that the 5 Boro Bike ride is one of – if not the largest - non-profit bike rides in the nation. The proceeds go to Bike New York programs which are designed to teach people about sustainable transportation, most notably bicycle riding and bike maintenance and safety. Another report noted that the NYPD had considered [don’t know the outcome] charging the organization $1 million for erecting, maintaining and terminating road closures during the New York 40 mile family-friendly bike ride.
Bike New York Bicyclist Outreach in all Five NYC Boroughs
Bike New York has offices in all five NYC boroughs. In 2015 their cyclist safety and bike maintenance programs reached 15,000 New Yorkers. And they are the organizers of the Bike ExpoNew York being held at Pier 12 in Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday [see details in rest of this story].
The 7th annual World Maker Faire was held last weekend at the NY Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I had been meaning to attend the festival since it had first opened years ago, but never quite squared away the time. Thankfully, that was not the case this year.
The World Maker Faire is billed as a fair of, “invention, creativity, and curiosity [that] showcases … more than 600 projects … focused on making for social good, health, technology, electronics, 3D printing & fabrication, food, robotics, art …”.
The faire really surprised me on the upside. While I had heard of it for years now, I had the impression that it was a bit of a nerd fest. And while there’s certainly some of that embedded in the program, it goes way beyond that. It was like attending an old time county fair, but instead of seeing rides, rodeo contests and animal exhibits, we saw robotics contests, robotics exhibits and feats of mechanical / AI prowess. A bit nerdy, perhaps, but as you will see from the video below – far, far more than that.
One of the first exhibits to catch my attention was a good old-fashioned cock fight – where the roosters were replaced with robots. It seemed kind of an adolescent use of all those majestic brainwaves, but I have to admit that I, along with the rest of a large crowd, found it pretty entertaining.
CLICK here later this afternoon to see rest of our report about NY Hall of Science hosts the World Maker Faire in Flushing Queens NYC, including video of many of the exhibits / events.
Farmers Mkts, Street Fairs & Member Events Calendar
Last weekend, on Saturday, I ventured out to enjoy the beautiful weather. I was not alone, as for the first time in a month and a half there were a number of people moving about the neighborhood.
I headed down to the farmers market to see what that looked like under the new normal. The food looked fresh, and there was plenty of it - although this was in mid morning.
The experience wasn't much different than what you'd expect. People wore face masks and there were lines created by social distancing. I was glad to see that farmers markets are essential businesses, as it augments a strained food supply chain, and provides folks with an opportunity to get out of the house in about as safe an environment as you can get. Here's a link to the dates, times, locations and selection of the 2020 Queens farmers markets, Staten Island Farmers Markets, Brooklyn Farmers Markets, Manhattan Farmers Markets and Bronx Farmers Markets.
I can't say people were smiling, not just because their faces were covered by masks, but there's been a gradual mood deterioration as we pass the second rent due date of the CoVid pandemic. Many people aren't standing in the farmers market social distancing line, but rather standing in food pantry lines. And for many, their economic fates are up for grabs, as we collectively try to navigate our way back to work. Many believe that economic activity is likely to be dampened by the CoVid pandemic for some time to come.
On the bright side, the Governor and the Mayor announced plans to begin daily sanitization of the MTA subway system beginning Wednesday, May 6th. The plan is to close the terminal stations of the subway lines from 1 am to 5 am, daily - providing shuttle buses to and from the last stop for passengers. And then, in those four wee hours of the morning, the NYPD and NYC social services will swoop into clear out the homeless population that has started making the subway their new home. It seems a good and humane plan.
Sanitizing the subway lines should go a long way toward preparing us to get back to the new normal by helping to dampen - if not eradicate - the transmission of the CoVid virus. This collaborative effort by both the Mayor and the Governor will help all of us to get back to work and play. So things are moving in the right direction, albeit not at a viral pace.
Have a nice weekend. The weather is going to be in the 70's during the day and 50's at night. And no rain, but some clouds.
Last Saturday was a great day to be out and about. The temperatures had finally cooled down a bit and the humidity had subsided. The Business Improvement Districts of Jackson Heights and Flushing were prepared to take full advantage of the changing seasons with event programming designed to draw crowds into their shopping and dining districts.
I arrived at the Flushing BID fair on a two block stretch that included Prince Street and 40th Road off of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue. Like many things in Flushing Queens Chinatown, it was crowded with all sorts of people – from the very old to the very young.
The very young were enjoying themselves inside inflated romp a rooms, while the adults were busy shopping or grabbing a quick bite to eat. I made my way up Prince Street past many of the shopping stalls and then headed east along 40th Street to take a closer look at many of the offerings.
Behind all the activity are a few of the restaurants serving the Chinese food for which Flushing is well known, but on today’s outing, I forewent that pleasure in favor of the open air.
Perhaps what caught my eye most on this trip was the variety of shopping options, more than the food. I had expected the event to be more food oriented, as other events done by the Flushing BID were. But today it was the shoppers who appeared to have won out, as there was a myriad of offerings, from pots and pans, to fishing gear, to cosmetics, clothing, various foods and all sorts of unique Chinese and Asian objects.
It was a little like traveling through a real Chinese market, complete with sounds and smells, that was only a subway ride away.
The furniture stores located on the southern end of Steinway Street in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens seem to have something to offer to just about everyone. This part of Steinway is a furniture shopper's mecca, offering plenty of choices from classical colonial, to urban apartment living to bedding to suit nearly every spine.
I took a quick trip there, which is easily accessible via the N, W, G, R or V subway lines and within a sturdy walking distance from Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside and Woodside. Just up the street from Steinway is Broadway and two blocks further north is 30th Avenue, where you'll find a number of great Queens restaurants where after a good morning or afternoon of shopping, you can kick back in an enjoyable ambiance - or in the good weather along one of the sidewalk tables - ane enjoy a bit of coffee and some delicious food. Click here to learn more about the furniture stores in Astoria Queens.
Esquire Men's Clothing Store continues to serve the greater Astoria and Queens area, as it has for over thirty years. The shop is owned and managed by Frank and Kevin Adhami, and their father, who is in his eighties, still visits the store on an almost weekly basis.
Esquire is located along Steinway Street between 30th and 31st streets. The store contains a wide selection of men's coats, suits, casual wear, shoes and men's accessories like belts and ties.
This story will provide some information about the store itself as well as fashion recommendations for the Spring and for job hunters.
Jackson Heights was the first year 'round farmers market in Queens, Forest Hills was the second year 'round farmers market, and Sunnyside was the third year 'round farmers market in Queens. So now Queens has three farmers markets operating year 'round and nearly a dozen seasonal farmers markets.
Click the link below to see a listing of the Queens Farmers Markets operating during the 2021 season including links to maps. Click the other link below for an updated list of Queens Street Fairs schedule of 2021 through the first couple of months of the 2021 season which this year began in June, including dates and maps showing their locations. We will continue updating and adding to the street fair calendar throughout the season.
Click here for our updated posting of Queens Street Fairs - Queens NY. Click here for a listing of the Queens Farmers Markets. You will always find both street fairs and farmers markets for the current month in the Queens Events section of the site [see top tool bar for button / link]. Click here to view the map of the Jamaica farmers market. Click here for Bronx street fairs.
Economic Snapshot NYC & US
In spite of Non-Vaxers’ Negative Impact on the Recovery, Generally the Economy Appear to be Steadily Improving
It’s been a while since I have done an economic update, and as we head into the Fall, it seems a good time to look through the tea leaves to figure out where we are and what risks lie ahead between now and the New Year.
The graph at right, created by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, shows employment in the U.S. from 1940 to date. To the far right of the graph, you can see the huge dip in employment in the Spring of 2020, as the pandemic hit. Since then U.S. employment has recovered, but not yet completely.
Unemployment Back to Normal Levels & Stimulus Winding Down
Unemployment continues to decline, and the unemployment rate reflects a growing economy and a tight labor market. One debated theory about the tight labor market, is that it was fueled in part by some of the generous government spending programs, designed to cushion folks from the pandemic, which some believed kept workers out of the employment market. As of this posting, we’ve not seen any good study that proves or disproves that hypothesis. So for now, I recommend you consider that hearsay, at least until you or I find one or more reliable studies that proves or disproves that hypothesis.
In any event, a good measure of both the federal and states stimulus programs have begun to wind down. Beginning in late Spring / early Summer, both states and the federal government began reducing or withdrawing the funding for extra [federal] and extended [states] unemployment benefits.
While we found these neighborhoods mirrored / trailed many of the national trends, we found some interesting differences, including differences from neighborhood to neighborhood.
The Sunnyside Yard development effort began on February 9, 2015, when Mayor Bill de Blasio presented a vision for the development of Sunnyside Yard in his first State of the City Address. The first effort in the project was a Feasibility Study, which began soon thereafter.
Two years ago, on April 18, 2017, I attended a session where the NYC Economic Development Corporation presented the results of the Feasibility Study to the Community Board in Sunnyside regarding the building of a deck over Sunnyside Yard, in a fashion similar to what was done over a century ago, when the rail lines heading north from Grand Central Station were decked over and Park Avenue was paved over them. Click here to read our series on the History of Sunnyside Yard.
The photo to your right shows Park Avenue between 1910 - 1920, being decked up above NYC infrastructure.
Sunnyside Yard Public Meetings: Moving Along the Development Curve
Last year, on October 24, 2018, the NYC Economic Development Corporation hosted an estimated 375 people at the NYCEDC's first Public Meeting at La Guardia Community College in Long Island City. I was told that they had modified the process and expanded the venue there in order to accommodate the community interest. The goal of the meeting was to obtain community input on how to utlize, the largest publicly controlled space in New York City, likely to be developed in our lifetimes.
The photo at right shows some of the elevated roads traversing Sunnyside Yard, in the same manner as some of the east / west roads traversed Park Avenue in the early 1900's. The plan is to deck it over to make use of the nearly 180 acres that encompass the space.
And on March 26, 2019 the NYCEDC held their second Public Meeting at PS 166Q Henry Gradstein Elementary School in Astoria. At this meeting the NYCEDC and the committee presented the findings of the first Public Meeting, and then oversaw breakout sessions by topic for anyone interested in contributing input into the direction of the Sunnyside Yard development project.
Sunnyside Yard Development & Community Input: Three Categories
The breakout sessions centered around three primary topics: 1) Urban Design, 2) Transportation and 3) Open Space. I chose to attend the transportation session, as it represents the underlying infrastructure - but I must admit that I would have also liked the opportunity to sit in on the two other sessions, as each has its own set of opportunities and costs.
More coming later today. I also placed a request earlier this morning with the NYCEDC as to the timing of next steps, as the information was not available on their website.
NYS Rent Regulations up for Renewal
NYS Assembly and NYS Senate to Strengthen, Renew or let Expire NYS Rent Regulation Laws
On Saturday I attended an event discussing the upcoming legislation pending in the NYS government in Albany concerning NYS rent regulations. Currently about 2 million of the 8.5 million people who live in NYC will be affected.
The primary topic of the event was MCI or Major Capital Improvements, which is a loophole in rent regulations that allows landlords to initiate projects within their buildings and then pass along the project costs to their tenants, in such manner as to provide the landlord with an incremental revenue increase that lasts into eternity, and which encourages landlords to get creative in originating projects in an effort to raise the rents of their regulated apartments at an accelerating speed in order to grow the monthly rent beyond the legal limit of regulation.
What happens then, is that a significant number of longstanding tenants in regulated housing, are priced out of their homes and neighborhoods. Some of the displaced tenants even become homeless. This is why homelessness nearly doubled under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg - who looked the other way as NYS rent regulations were being renewed.
The event was held in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, where hundreds - if not a thousand - people came to particpate in the discussion.
Donald Trump proclaimed Wednesday, December 5, 2018, as a National Day of Mourning for former President George H.W. Bush. Out of respect for the 41st President of the United States ... and consistent with the Presidential Proclamation, the United States Postal Service will suspend regular mail deliveries, retail services and administrative office activity on December 5, 2018.
The U.S.Postal Service informs us that they,
"will provide limited package delivery service on that day to ensure that our network remains fluid and we do not experience any impacts to our package delivery operations that might negatively affect our customers or business partners during the remainder of our busy holiday season."
Small Business Week in Queens
NYC Small Business Services Commissioner in Sunnyside
Tuesday afternoon, the NYC Small Business Services Commissioner, Gregg Bishop, visited the Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District [BID]. It was the SBS Commissioner's first visit in five years.
NYC City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Sunnyside Shines Board Chairman John Vogt and Executive Director Jaime-Faye Bean were on hand to meet the Commissioner. Jaime welcomed Gregg to Sunnyside, noting the progress that has been made by the Sunnyside BID over the past year [see Sunnyside Shines BID story for details].
Jimmy Van Bramer spoke next, quipping that it's always sunny in Sunnyside, as the sun was out today and the temperatures hit 80 degrees. Jimmy went on to note that he's allocated taxpayer dollars to support the BID in its efforts to promote and aid small businesses in the area. He also mentioned that some improvements were coming to the iconic Sunnyside marquee that stands at 46th Street and Queens Blvd.
Gregg closed out the public comments, applauding the efforts by the BID organization and the councilmember in helping maintain a robust small business sector in Sunnyside in spite of macro trends weighing in against small business. He told us that there are 230,000 small businesses in New York City and that they employ 3.7 million people which using the last census figures constitutes 45% of all New Yorkers' employment.
The Sunnyside BID organizers then hosted the Commissioner on a whistlestop tour of a few of the nearby businesses so that he could hear more about the issues they are facing and learn more about how NYC Small Business Services can help.
In the photo above in the front row, NYC City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer is third from left, Sunnyside Shines Executive Director jamie Faye-Bean is fourth from left, NYC Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop is fifth from left. Sunnyside Shines Board Chairman John Vogt is in the second row standing between Gregg and Jaime.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015 - in Bill de Blasio's first State of the City Address in Manhattan - the Mayor unveiled a vague vision for for the development of Sunnyside Yard in Queens. Following Mayor de Blasio's announcement, the city initiated a feasibility plan to investigate the issues associated with developing the space atop what is now the open space of Sunnyside Yard. Sunnyside Yard lies near the eastern side of Long Island City and the western side of the Sunnyside neighborhood.
Prior to the Mayor's announcement, and continuing to this day, western Queens - but most specifically Long Island City - has been under siege by real estate developers. They have bid up the prices on old buildings and empty lots, and following the purchase of them, have then erected tall skyscraper buildings at a rapid, mind-boggling pace. By the early 2020's, NYC real estate developers will have added tens of thousands of residential units to the Long Island City neighborhood alone, in less than a decade and a half.
In the photo at right, Mayor de Blasio talking to members of the press and audience, following his first State of the City Address in 2015 in Manhattan.
A Changing & Evolving Landscape in Queens
Like all change - there are winners and losers and there are good things and bad things - that come of any change. I've tried to capture a bit of both in my reporting of Long Island City's growth over the past decade or so, but for the purpose of this report, I will leave a discussion of the many issues associated with change, here.
In October of 2018 there was a community meeting at LaGuardia Community College regarding future plans for Sunnyside Yard. Over 300 people came to watch the slide show, view the exhibits, and interact with the NYC Economic Development [EDC] team that is spearheading the effort to include community sentiment and address community issues in any future development of Sunnyside Yard.
This is the beginning of an 18 month long process to engage the community in identifying and managing issues associated with the development of Sunnyside Yard.
In the photo at right are various members of the Queens community who came out to view the exhibits and slide show put together by the NYC EDC regarding the future development of Sunnyside Yard.
WORK IN PROGRESS - more to come later this week.
NYC & NYS Continue to Have Lower Murder Rates Than the Rest of the Nation
The Past Couple of Months, NYC Murders have been Below 2019 Levels, and NYC Shootings are Down Double Digits versus 2020, While Gun Arrests Have Doubled vs 2020
This is news you're not likely to find in Australian born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's NY Post, Wall St. Journal nor Fox News because it doesn't fit with Murdoch's self-enriching, propagandistic narratives of blaming Democrats for the increase in violent / gun crimes. He appears to use such narratives to get the politicians who will give him tax breaks, and allow him to continue deregulating his industries, so he can make ever more money at the expense of American Democracy.
The NYPD has been working hard to rein in the out-of-control sales and trafficking of guns in the nation, because of the absence of an intelligent debate on national gun control legislation to combat the growing gun violence, and in particular the mass shootings, that started rising again during the Trump Administration and continued rising in the wake of the CoVid pandemic.
Year To Date Murders in NYC are Below the National Average & Have Begun Falling Versus 2020
So we're going to take a look at a number of the NYC crime statistics, and then follow up with an analytical look at some of the issues driving gun related violence, before closing with a look at the distorted, deceitful and destructive coverage provided by Murdoch's Fox News & Propaganda.
As you can see by the chart at right, with the exception of GLA or Grand Larceny Auto and YTD / Year To Date Shootings, all NYC crime is either in the single digits or down, versus last year. It's important to note however, that in July shootings dropped by 35% versus prior year [up 17% YTD], while gun arrests were up 134% versus the prior year [up 68% YTD], so the NYPD continues to make good progress in this regard. And murders were down 49% in July versus prior year and down 10% year to date.
The chart at right shows the NYPD Crime statistics for the month of July 2021 and Year To Date 2021. I have also included comparisons to 2019 as 2020 was an unusual year all the way around - including for NYC crime.
The Iron Pipeline - Interstate 95 - is used to Transport Guns from Primarily Red Republican States with Lax Gun Laws
The graphic at right shows what is called the 'Iron Pipeline' which is Interestate 95 which runs from New York to Florida. This interestate highway is used to transport guns / weapons across state lines from mostly red Republican controlled states with lax gun control laws to blue states that have passed stronger gun control laws.
Once the guns arrive here, they are illegally sold and are the root of the gun violence and murder problem in New York City and New York State. Thankfully, Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner Shea and the NYPD are on top of things, and have been working hard to rein in the problem, even in the absense of national legislative help.
I think President Biden should look into the possibility of using federal powers regulating interstate commerce, to curtail the transport and sale of guns into states that have tighter regulatory frameworks surrounding the sale of murder weapons. And perhaps the district attorneys in our city and state should consider naming the people who sell these guns, as accessories or even accomplices, to the crimes committed with them.
The Trouble, Fear, Pain & Relief of My First CoVid Vaccination
As More New Yorkers are Vaccinated, the Pressure Grows on Those Who've Not Yet Received a Shot, Also the Role of Limiting Eligibility in Effecting a Smoothe Transition & Effective Tuesday 3/23/21 Folks Aged 50 plus Become Eligible for the CoVid Vaccination
So I've been putting off getting a CoVid vaccination ever since I became eligible earlier this year. At first I held off was because there were intermittent shortages of the vaccine, then rumors of long lines to get them, and finally I had to wrestle through the various websites offering a shot, at a time and place that 'easily' worked for me.
Finding a Vaccination Center Near You in NYC
But this past week I hit the proverbial CoVid vaccine jackpot, after spending what was probably a couple of hours online trying to navigate my way to an appointment. One of the issues are the numerous websites out there, offering vaccines. There's both NYC and NYS vaccinations centers and I waded through each looking for specific locations, specific vaccinations [J&J, Pfizer & Moderna] and specific times.
Let me make it simple for you, as I oftentimes ended up on this site.
Movie Theaters, Taxi Drivers, Gun Arrests, the NRA Russia & Trump, Central Park & Bronx Golf Course Concessions Bidding Deadline March 19, 2021, CoVid Testing, Vaccination Stats & Daylight Savings Time Two Weeks Away
Weather. Friday won't see any rain, but on Saturday there's nearly a 100% chance of a small amount [a quarter inch] of rain in the morning. Saturday afternoon should be clear. On Sunday there's also a high probabilty of a half inch of rain, most likely to fall around midday, with a lingering probability lasting the rest of the day [40% - 60%]. Temperature highs will be in the mid 40's to low 50's throughout the weekend and the temperature lows will be in the mid 30's on Friday and hovering around 40 the rest of the weekend. Humidity will rise from the 40% range to near the 70% range on Friday and then stay between the 70% - 80% range the rest of the weekend. Winds will be 50 - 10 mph all weekend.
Things To Do, News Briefs & Updates
- NYC Movie Theaters Can Reopen March 5, 2021
Governor Cuomo announced that movie theaters will be able to reopen at 25% capacity March 5th, 2021.
-Taxi Driver Blockade Brooklyn Bridge in Support of Medallion Debt Restructuring
One story that seemed to receive little attention was a taxi driver blockade of the Brooklyn Bridge on Wednesday afternoon on February 10th. They were making a statement, following a City Council hearing on loan forgiveness / restructuring for taxi driver medallion debt, earlier in the day. The 25,000 member taxi driver union was supportive of the action. NYC government officials are trying to find a way to help taxi drivers, but are constrained by the current fiscal challenges arising from the CoVid crisis.
- January Gun Arrests Up 75% & Full Year 2020 were Up 29%
At the end of January, NYC Police Commissioner Demot Shea said that 417 gun arrests had been made that month, up 75% versus a year ago. He also noted that last year gun arrests were up 29% versus 2018. He rhetorically asked the question, "what's changed that there are so many guns making their way into NYC?"
- The NRA, Guns, Russian Cash & the Trump Money Laundromat
According to an April 2, 2018 report in Rolling Stone, the NRA President, David Keene, was an honored guest in Moscow at a 2013 event hosted by The Right to Bear Arms group. Prior to and during the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia courted the NRA, including hosting members at all expense paid events.
According to the report, the Russian group was deceitfully presented as 'grassroots' organization, led in part by Maria Butina, seeking comraderie with like minded gun enthusiasts. The reality appears to be that they were working under the influence of the Russian government, in an effort to infiltrate politically conservative groups in the U.S., to become what was alleged to be money laundering conduits for campaign cash to the Trump and other Republican political campaigns.
The NRA was founded in 1871 in New York and recently moved its headquarters to Texas. In February 2019 NYS Attorney General Tisch James filed a lawsuit against the NRA seeking to dissolve it because, the brief contended, it had become so corrupt and self serving and had failed to comply with numerous laws.
In August 2019 the two Republican members of the Federal Election Commission [Caroline Hunter & Matthew Petersen] blocked an investigation into whether Russia had used the NRA as a money laundering machine to funnel [$30 million] cash to Trump and Republicans in the 2016 election. In the 2016 election NRA donations spiked $35 million which was believed to have come from Russian government influenced agents, like the Russian oligarchs. According to an August 20, 2019 report,
" ... The [FEC] split 2-2 vote fell along partisan lines, with the FEC’s two Republicans voting against any further inquiry into whether Alexander Torshin, a sanctioned Russian official, and Maria Butina, a convicted Russian agent, grew close to the NRA in order to help direct the group’s 2016 political donations...."
See earlier reports we did on Mitch McConnell which identify Russian oligarch funding he, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and other top Republicans received from the Russian oligarchs in 2016 as reported by Open Secrets which is a non-profit group that 'follows the money' of election campaign contributions.
On Saturday morning around 11 am a Blue Lives Matter parade began on Greenpoint Avenue and 39th Street in Sunnyside Queens. I arrived shortly after it began and followed it up to Joseph Sabba Park where several people were to give speeches to the parade participants and attendees.
As the parade arrived at Joseph Sabba Park they were met by a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who were kneeling on the sidewalk holding placards making Black Lives Matter statements. The Blue Lives Matter parade participants paused as they came in direct contact. As I sat there video recording the ‘confrontation’ I wondered whether things might take a turn for the worse and go badly.
Blue Lives Matter Parade & Speakers Queens NYC
Whoever was leading the Blue Lives Matter parade, wisely led the Blue Lives Matter parade around the Black Lives Matter protesters - rather than risking walking through them - where someone on one side or another might have escalated the tension to a higher level.
The Blue Lives Matter parade participants and attendees settled in the middle of Joseph Sabba Park and the speeches began. The first speaker, whose name I didn’t catch, spoke supportively of the police and the important work they do in the community. He struck a human chord, noting that the men and women who serve in the police force are dedicated to serving the community, among whom are their own families and children. He ended saying we’re all human.
The second speaker struck a more passionate Blue Lives Matter tone, remarking that the ‘Diaphragm’ Law hindered police from doing their jobs. The Diaphragm Law allows police officers to be subject to a misdemeanor if they constrict a person’s diaphragm in the process of making an arrest.
What I recorded of both of these speeches will be shown in the video.
The signs of the Blue Lives Matter parade participants also showed a range of thoughts and emotions, ranging from striking a supportive and yet harmonious chord, while others were defiantly in support of the police – seeming to ignore the validity of the Black Lives Matter social unrest. They included Enough with the hate, respect goes both ways, to Reform is for criminals, drug addicts and sex offenders.
911 / The War in Afghanistan is Over - but the War on the Truth that put us there - Continues
TV News People Provided Superficial, Dimwitted, Gossipy Accounts of the Withdrawal, & Unfortunately, Far too many of the Print Reports Weren’t Much Better
Somehow amidst the din of Murdoch mass media hyped criticism, the real headline was buried.
"The War is Over. The Twenty Year War in Afghanistan is Over. "
This was one of two Murdoch Wars - So his Outlets Seemed to Disminish or Ignore the Human & Taxpayer Costs - Over 170,000 Human Lives & Over $2 Trillion and Counting - and so did the Knuckleheads at the Other News Outlets
Where are the parades? Where are the celebrations? Where are the Congressional and Senate committees and hearings to investigate how we got into the Afghanistan war in the first place? And then why we stayed so long? Who incited this war and then profited from the $2 trillion in spending that the U.S. taxpayer took out loans to pay?
About 2,461 American soldiers died in the Afghanistan War. According to an August 17, 2021 report by the Associated Press, another 3846 American contractors lost their lives, as well as 72 journalists. The Afghanis suffered significant fatalities as well, as 66,000 Afghani military and police died, 47,000 Afghani civilians and 51,000 Taliban fighters.
TV News Provided Scant Real Insight, Information or Understanding Surrounding America's Withdrawal from Afghanistand to the Viewer
In the reporting over the past month or so I DID NOT SEE EVEN ONE REFERENCE TO THE RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL from Afghanistan in the 1980’s. NOT ONE! Why does that matter?
Because if you’re going to evaluate how effective the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was, you MUST look at prior history, and the Russian withdrawal is the closest, realistic assessment of what the costs of withdrawal from Afghanistan could, would or should be. I watched with something bordering between disgust and horror, as the gutted out nationally branded TV ‘news’ organizations ‘informed’ the American people as to what was happening as the American withdrawal from Afghanistan took place before our eyes in real time.
I. The Pied Piper Framed a Dishonest & Negative Narrative about President Biden's Handling of the Withdrawal via his WSJ, then Echoed it with the Nearly Half of the Nationally Branded U.S. Daily Media he Controls, which the Lazy and / or Incompetent Competition then Parrotted
Australian born billionaire, Rupert Murdoch - as is too often the case - led the rest of the mindless mass media, like the Pied Piper. On August 15, 2021, the Wall St. Journal published an OpEd by the ‘Editorial Board’. The ‘Editorial Board’ appears to be the pen name of billionaire Rupert Murdoch who owns and controls the paper. The ‘Editorial Board’ said published the narrative that Biden was incompetent and had messed things up, with scant reference to history or a holistic presentation of the facts.
Ever since that narrative was published, it has been used by many of the rest of the mass media, to contextualize or frame presentations made by the corporate press in discussing the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not everyone in the mass media was so incompetent or so lazy that they used the mendacious Murdoch’s narrative – thankfully. But eyeballing things, I’d estimate that more than half of them did. I suppose the good news is that there are still a few real, independent-minded journalists operating in our midst.
Murdoch used his Wall St. Journal brand to lead the narrative, because it has a history as a respected publication. Even though respect for the brand seems to have been diminishing ever since Murdoch’s took control of the paper in August of 2007. After the announcement many of the real journalists who could leave, did. Barron’s was included in the acquisition and remains a Murdoch brand today.
He Seems to Favor Charter Schools & They Seem to Favor Him, He's Pulled in the Most Real Estate Cash & He has Indicated He'll Reverse Course a bit on Police Reform & ...
Last week I did a report snapshotting what I know about Scott Stringer's political career that leads me to think he's not to be trusted.
Stringer takes big public stands on what I would call generic Democratic issues over which he has little influence - gender equality, race and climate change - while speaking with forked tongue on issues over which he has considerable influence - like real estate developments, local education, public libraries and the pension fund investments - that significantly impact the local communities, neighborhoods and unions.
In that report I also noted how Stringer seems opportunistic in compromising his stances [for example in education and the public library system] in order to capitalize on what he seems to think are self enhancing career opportunities. And Stringer also seems to have used the power and authority of government positions entrusted to him by the people, to aid those who fund his campaigns, possibly trading what's good for the people, in exchange for what's good for Scott Stringer.
Stringer hit my radar nearly a decade ago, while Eric Adams only hit my radar a few years ago. So I'm less familiar with Adams career than Stringer's. But in doing the research, I found that Eric Adams appears to be a slow steady hand, whose positions have evolved over time ... and I would add that generally they appear to have evolved carefully.
1. Eric Adams - Public Schools & Education
Pro Charter Schools & What that Means
FOR PROFIT Charter Schools, don't seem to solve the failing schools problem, but rather split and shift the problem burdens, while privatizing and gutting a significant portion of the public school system. I began reporting on education during the Bloomberg era, wherein Bloomberg's Administration seemed to split public schools into two smaller entities, and then parcel out the achieving students / families via charter recruitment to the privately run for profit charters, while leaving the lower performing students / families in the care of unions and the general public. It seemed to me they didn't really solve anything, and sucked needed capital out of the public school system, putting it in the hands of the venture capitalists who were funding them.
This situation appeared to me not unlike what the insurance industry had done prior to Obamacare - whereby the insurance companies recruited healthy people for health insurance, and avoided signing those who weren't healthy in order to enhance their economic performance. To me this goes against the grain of what America is all about - which is equal opportunity for all. The privatization of the public schools by the predatory for profit charters would turn the public education system into the haves and have nots.
*** It's worth noting that NON-PROFIT CHARTERS evolved for different reasons and provided a healthy challenge to the union run public education system and I view far more favorably than the for profit charters.
A Look Back at the NYC Municipal Primary Election Results of 2021
Females Won Big, But Because of Ranked Choice Voting, the Results Trickled in Over the Past Month, & Real Assessments of the Changed Landscape have yet to Follow
The June 22nd election primary for NYC municipal offices has long passed, but a solid look at the overall results of the election has not yet followed. What I will attempt to do today, is to offer provide a top down summary of the results, along with some interpretation of what this means going forward.
Women Won Big in the New York City Council Democratic Primaries
One of the biggest changes to municipal government likely to occur following the November election is that the NYC Council will move from less than a third women, to over half women for the first time in NYC history. This assumes most or all of the Democrats win their seats in the general election. This usually happens in a heavily blue state like New York, just as Republican primary winners in Alabama become the likely winners of the general election in that heavily red state. Somewhere between 29 and 31 of the Democratic primary winners in the NYC Council races were women out of a 51 member municipal legislative body.
How the President, a Former NYC Mayor and Murdoch's Fox News Seemed to Incite the Capitol Insurrectionists
Rudy Giuliani, Nicknamed America's Mayor by Murdoch's Fox News, Appears to have Helped Incite the Band of Simpleminded Trumpsters to Insurrection
Updated January 11, 2021 from 1.8.21 / US Politics / NYC Neighborhoods / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
Rising Film Star [Barat2] and Former NYC Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, appears to have devolved into something of a national freak show or farce over the past five years. Perhaps longer. But in the past few months, he's become something of a national disgrace.
Fox News seems to use nicknames for their propaganda assets, like referring to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the 'Iron Lady' and President Ronald Reagan as the 'Gipper'. Rudy Giuliani seems to be yet another Fox propaganda asset and, as such, is oftentimes referred to as America's Mayor by Fox pundits.
This is not unlike how Murdoch's Fox News nicknames themselves America's Newsroom. This was a trick used by Hitler and Goebbels, using words and images to create the illusion that they, the Nazi Party [in this cae the Fox Nation with red, white and blue colors] was the same as the state - and thus represented all that was right and just. But remember - just because Murdoch's Fox News says it's so - doesn't make it so [like they used to call themselves 'Fair & Balanced' before they started fearing a lawsuit for false advertising]. But, the Australian born billionaire's overwhelming control and / or ownership of America's television media [see our special section on Murdoch and the 21st Propaganda Press on Gotham Buzz] does give him a leg up in attaching and making both good and bad labels stick to people, places and things.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Rudy Giuliani joined Donald Trump and Donny junior at a Trump rally in Washington, D.C. near the White House. The Donald had promoted this gathering as something 'wild' and related to his seemingly phony stop the steal / election fraud fundraising claims. At the rally Trump told his supporters, numbering about 5,000 [per the park permit] to march down to the Capitol and that he'd be there with them.
I think it's safe to say that the Trump supporters who came to this event came prepared to continue to be misinformed and misled by the con men standing on the stage in front of them. After the speeches the audience mindlessly did as Trump had instructed them, and began marching toward the Capitol - but without their fearful leader [bonespurs acting up again?]. The Trumps and Giuliani were not to be found when the group arrived at the Capitol. What a surprise!
When the Trumpsters reached the barricades in front of the Capitol, the police in charge of protecting it, seemed to give way. What exactly transpired at this juncture we'll find out eventually, but one thing we do know for certain is that Trump didn't deploy as many of the National Guardsmen as he did for his tear gassing photo op with the Bible last summer. So Vice President Mike Pence had to step in to call up more National Guardsmen who eventually secured the Capitol - but not until after it had been ransacked [including one report of defecation].
Australian born Billionaire, Rupert Murdoch Seems to use the Wall St Journal, NY Post & Fox News to Create the Illusion that Trump has Some Sort of Economic Magic Touch, but the Truth is $6 Trillion in New Debt & $3 Trillion in Federal Reserve Bond Purchases
Few real journalists - if any - have ever honestly accused Rupert Murdoch and most of the large media brands he controls in our nation, of being bastions of truth. In fact, it would seem, quite the opposite - including by some of the people who work for him.
When Murdoch purchased the Wall Street Journal in 2007 [fact check], there were concerns that he would turn it into another one of his propaganda rags. Shortly after the acquisition, a number of Wall Street Journal reporters fled to Bloomberg News. In fact dozens of them. Those journalists that remained at the Wall Street Journal, had to learn how to operate for an Australian born billionaire who seems to delight in misleading the masses - rather than informing them - in order to profit from the audience's ignorance, to which Murdoch media appear to contribute greatly. Murdoch is kind of like a street hustler whose propagandists do sleight of tongue [hand] tricks, while his political accomplices [puppets like Trump & McConnell] pick the pockets of the audience [Americans].
Not Your Father's Wall Street Journal - A Murdoch Propaganda Rag?
This summer over 280 journalists at the Wall Street Journal, became concerned that Herr Murdoch - like Nazi propagandist Herr Goebbels before him - was corrupting the Wall Street Journal into a propaganda outlet, in advance of the election this November. While Murdoch's distortion of the truth in the Wall Street Journal appears to have been going on for years, the event that immediately precipitated the letter, was a misleading - even deceptive - Op Ed by Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence.
In the letter they had a few simple requests. A July 21, 2020 report in the Wall St Journal states,
"... [The WSJ's] Opinion’s lack of fact-checking and transparency, and its apparent disregard for evidence, undermine our readers’ trust and our ability to gain credibility with sources ...”
" ... The letter cites several examples of concern, including a recent essay by Vice President Mike Pence about coronavirus infections ... "
“.. [and that] WSJ journalists should not be reprimanded for writing about errors published in Opinion ..."
"... suggests removing opinion pieces from the “Most Popular Articles” and “Recommended Videos” lists on the website, and creating a separate “Most Popular in Opinion” list..."
" ... letter highlighted was an opinion article titled “The Myth of Systemic Police Racism,” which the letter’s authors said was one of the paper’s most read articles in June. The article argued that the “charge of systemic police bias was wrong during the Obama years and remains so today.” The letter says the piece “selectively presented facts and drew an erroneous conclusion from the underlying data...”
i have reported on similar truth distortions by Rupert Murdoch's media, including Fox News, the NY Post and many other media outlets controlled by him in our section about Rupert Murdoch and the Rise of the 21st Century Propaganda Press, which you can find by clicking this link.
Triumph of The [Rupert's] Will: How Murdoch Manipulates Voter's Perceptions & Public Policy
Australian born Billionaire Appears to use his Media Outlets to Shape Voter's Views, Loading them with Misconceptions, So They'll Elect Compromised Fox Nation Pols, Who Upon Assuming Office, Seem to Reward Murdoch's Media Support, by Crafting Public Policy to Conform to Murdoch's Will, Favoring his Business Interests
As mentioned previously, I've been doing a fairly deep dive into learning as much about the Third Reich and Nazi Germany as time permits, in order to more fully understand what's happening in present day events.
Media Manipulation for Fun & Profit
I began noticing similarities between Australian born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's manipulative use of his large share of Amerian media in 2016, to what Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda for the Nazis, did beginning in the 1920's until his end in 1945. On May 1, 1945 Goebbels poisoned his children, his wife and himself as the Allied forces neared his home. Hitler and his companions had committed suicide the day before, as Allied forces invaded Berlin. None of them had the courage to stand trial for their crimes against humanity ... although like Mussolini, they may not have made it to court.
1. Did Fox 'News' Attempt to Protect the Reputation of a Propaganda Asset via Omission?
So today, we're going to look at just a few of Murdoch's media manipulations made in just the past couple of months - and I'm nearly certain that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, I don't have the resource to fact check what is the largest misleading news content producing organization in the nation, and possibly the free world.
Let's start with the first two photos on this page. This story broke in the Guardian on July 7, 2020.
The first photo shows Fox News 'reporting the news' regarding the sexcapades of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell. In the first photo, Fox News conveniently cropped out Donald Trump. In the second photo [at right] we have the 'full picture' aka the truth.
The man who calls everyone else a 'sleezeball' is seen with Melania 'being best', and two of the people alleged to be among some of the sleeziest on the planet [Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell]. Do birds of a feather flock together?
So we must ask why Rupert Murdoch would crop Donald Trump out of the photo? Is it to avoid portraying the Donald in a negative light in order to keep him - a Murdoch asset - in office?
Trump appears to have been a boon to billionaire Murdoch through massive billionaire tax cuts funded by debt to be paid for by America's children and unborn? Or is because Trump's actions in the Middle East vis a visIsrael seemed to serve to legitimize Murdoch's investment in Genie Energy in the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights? Or was it because Trump loosened up the FCC ownership limits for mega media companies like Murdoch's thus allowing the few to control our media, which givens them the power to influence the national democratic conversation - and in Murdoch's case - it seems the power to corrupt it in order to profit from it. Or was it because Trump famously fired all U.S. Attorneys, including Preet Bharara - who was investigating Murdoch's companies for sexual harrassment and phone hacking - less than 24 hours after Sean Hannity on Fox News told him to do just that? Perhaps most importantly, Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr, greenlighted the merger of Disney / ABC, which was an inverted takeover resulting in Rupert Murdoch becoming Disney / ABC's largest shareholder.
As far as I know, nobody has ever accused Rupert Murdoch of running an unbiased news operation. In fact, it's seems just the opposite, as countless people have found countless significant reporting errors by his mammoth news operation, which in the U.S. alone represents about half the large corporate branded news content viewed by Americans including Fox News, the Wall St Journal, the NY Post, Barron's, MarketWatch and increasingly ABC News where Murdoch is the largest shareholder.
What is most disturbing, is how the pinocchio propagandists on some Murdoch media outlets appear to omit key facts, in order to put forth narratives that are at odds with the truth, which are then imprinted on the minds of the millions upon millions of viewers who watch and believe what they see and hear on Fox News.
Manipulating what ends up in people's minds is exactly what Joseph Goebbels did as the Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 1940's. As in Nazi Germany, Herr Murdoch's propaganda ministry in the U.S., appears to use the media to favor some people or groups at the expense of other people and groups in its reporting. Oftentimes the groups Murdoch appears to favor break along race and economic class lines. We're going to look at how Tucker Carlson appears to have put forth a false Fascist narrative that further victimizes the African American victims of unnecessary violence at the hands of rogue policemen, whose errant behavior is defended far too often by the police unions.
To be sure, those who fall prey to such mass media manipulation, are also responsible for their own ignorance and subsequent behaviors, including their voting.
Thomas Jefferson said,
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.”
We saw this pretension of ignorance and denial of responsibility by many Germans following World War II, including from those operating in influential posts with access to top levels of the Nazi high command. They pretended their ignorance, but generally the truth wills out.
I'll make my case regarding Murdoch's Fox News and Tucker Carlson's reporting of African Americans appearing to be victimized by rogue policemen on Fox News Tucker Carlson's nationally televised show. I identified a couple of shows, which were broadcast over American airwaves using a high number of FCC licenses, reaching millions upon millions of Americans who appear to have been disinformed in what seems a systematic effort by Australian born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's media to provide distorted reporting with respect to incidents of police brutality vis a vis the African American community.
Fox News & Tucker Carlson Twist the Facts to Make a Trap for Fools?
The first incident we're going to review, is Tucker Carlson's Fox News coverage of the Rayshared Brooks shooting in Atlanta on Friday, June 12th, 2020. Rayshard Brooks was a 27 year old African American and father of three who was found misparked in a Wendy's parking lot, apparently sleeping. He was found to have a blood alcohol of nearly .11 which is above the legal limit for driving of .08. Brooks was not stopped while driving, but rather after he had misparked his car in a Wendy's drive thru queue.
Election 2020: Which Queens Borough President Candidate?
Five Pols are on the Ballot and Three Appear in Contention
June 17, 2020 / Queens Neighborhoods / Queens Politics & Government / News Analysis & Opinion / Queens Buzz NYC.
On Tuesday, June 23rd, we go to the polls to exercise our hard fought right to choose those who will represent us in the halls of power. The majority of the people around the world have not yet won this right, and their governments don’t respect them enough to allow them a voice in the debate of public policy, let alone a seat at the table.
I attended a couple of Queens Borough President candidate forums, to try to make an assessment of the pros and cons associated with each of the candidates running for this office. Following the debates I did a bit of research to add to my perspective. The following is a brief synopsis of what I learned. The photo at right was taken at a March Queens Borough President Forum - seated left to right Constantinides, Richards, Miranda and Crowley. Yin was not in attendance.
There are five pols who will be listed on the ballot, as former Queens Assistant District Attorney James Quinn suspended his campaign sometime around the arrival of the CoVid pandemic, which coincided with the postponement of the election. The candidates are Dao Yin, Anthony Miranda, Donovan Richards, Elizabeth Crowley and Costa Constantinides.
Funding & Support: Who’s Really in the Running?
I started by researching their endorsements and campaign contributions. According to a June 16, 2020 report in City & State recently shows that of the five candidates, two of them – Dao Yin and Anthony Miranda – each raised less than $100,000 in private contributions. Neither of these two candidates has held publicly elected office, and neither of them appears to have significant community / organizational support. So votes for them may send some kind of message, but they are both long shots to win.
That leaves us with three highly competitive candidates: Donovan Richards, Elizabeth Crowley and Costa Constantinides. Richards and Constantinides each raised close to $300,000 from private contributions, while Crowley raised nearly $500,000 in contributions. A closer look begins to hint at what kind of Queens Borough Presidents each will be.
Elizabeth Crowley - Backs Amazon Billion$ Tax Breaks
For example Crowley has the backing of a number of construction related unions because she appears to support a real estate development agenda. She’s been pushing for new rail lines in Queens and she was also very supportive of the proposed Amazon deal which would have given a $ billion plus in tax breaks to one of the largest corporations and one of the richest men in the world. The deal was done behind closed doors. Crowley is also the cousin of former Queens Democratic Party Chairman Joe Crowley, who endorsed his cousin and likely has been advocating her candidacy with these construction unions who used to endorse him.
Donovan Richards fundraising kicked up a bit later in the game, as likely the Democratic Party Machine, which has endorsed Richards moved into action. Richards has the backing of a number of Queens Democratic Machine allied unions. Richards has worked with real estate developers in his district for many years, taking credit for the real estate developers doing things ‘for’ the community as they began erecting new buildings and improving the infrastructure. Like Crowley, Richards was also supportive of the closed door, tax break laden, Amazon deal. And like Crowley, he too appears to be a pro-development candidate.
Folks in the Jamaica neighborhood are likely in the 'sweet phase' of gentrification, when the community gets all sorts of upgrades for 'free'. But they should beware, because there's no such thing as a free lunch as the folks in western Queens found out. After the freebies ended in western Queens, the rents skyrocketed and landlords have reportedly been making attempts to harass rent stabilized tenants out of their apartments - even though it is illegal to do so.
Costa Constantinides - Stands up to Amazon & Developers
And then there’s Costa. Unlike the two primary Queens Borough President candidates above, Costa’s support doesn’t come from organized groups who appear to be positioning themselves to profit from a candidacy, but rather from non-profit groups attempting to address community issues and causes, focusing their efforts on improving the opportunities and quality of life in the communities they serve. These include groups like the National Association of Social Workers, the Stonewall Democrats [LGBTQ], the Hispanic American Voters Association, the South Asian American Voters Association, the New Queens Democrats [younger], the Muslim Entrepreneurs Association and a host of Progressive government officials around the city.
Costa wasn’t one of the leading voices opposing the Amazon deal - but unlike the two candidates referenced above, he did oppose the deal - which was best explained in a November 14, 2018 Democracy Now interview. In that interview Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim accused Governor Cuomo of bypassing the legislature in order to allocate billion(s) of taxpayer funds, to a company controlled by the wealthiest man in the world. Kim went on to correctly predict that the Governor was subsidizing expansion plans that likely would have occurred with or without the subsidies. [Editor’s Note: Amazon has since made significant investments in growing its footprint in NYC, but without the billions in taxpayer funded credits and grants].
Renters vs Land Lords and Developers?
A Washington Post November 13, 2018 report [the Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos] outlined who were expected to be the winners and losers. The 'winners' would have been [western Queens] property owners and developers and highly skilled workers, while the 'losers' would have been renters, low income residents, commuters due to increased transit volume, some small businesses and rival tech companies.
Winners and losers is a competitive description of what's going on right now. Those who look out for their own interests and act to enhance or preserve them generally win - and those who don't - eventually end up losing. In the case noted above, the 'winners' actually lost and the 'losers' actually won because the would be 'losers' took swift and decisive action with the aid of local pols to thwart the behind closed doors giveaways . Other pols who came out to fight against what seemed an unnecessary billionaire tax break included Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, NYS Assemblyman Ron Kim, NYS Senator Michael Gianaris and NYC Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer.
So, on Tuesday, if you back tax breaks for billionaires and real estate developers, you may want to vote for Donovan Richards or Elizabeth Crowley. But if you want pols to negotiate tougher deals, you might want to cast your vote for Costa Constantinides.
Click the link for the poll finder website, so you can easily find where to vote in your neighborhood. Be brave, but also be careful. Many of our ancestors died for our right to vote. Remember this is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The New York City election is Tuesday June 23rd and polls are open from 6 am - 9 pm.
We received this missive today from the Van Bramer campaign, which explains why he didn't attend the Queens Borough President Forum in Jamaica on Sunday [see related report below].
Dear Friends,
I love serving the people of Queens as a Council Member, which is why I was excited to continue that work as Queens Borough President.
My family is the reason I love this borough and its residents; they are the ones who instilled Queens values in me and inspired me to be an advocate for working families. But family circumstances have been weighing on me for some time, causing me to reconsider the timing and feasibility of this campaign.
Prioritizing my responsibilities as a son and brother is where my attention needs to be right now. And so I am ending my campaign today. While this is a difficult decision, this is the right one for me and my family at this time.
I will, of course, continue to fight for the working people of our borough and city every day on the New York City Council and beyond.
I want to thank all of you -- our campaign’s amazing supporters, volunteers, and donors for your faith in me and our shared vision to build a brighter future for Queens.
In May I had the opportunity to attend the Queens District Attorney debate at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. It was the second event, featuring the candidates running for the Queens District Attorney's office, that I attended. This time I focused more intently how well versed each candidate was on the issues to be addressed by the person winning that position, and what qualifications, experience and vision they might bring to the office.
I have noted my first impressions below, which were gleaned while attending a forum in April, to which all candidates were invited to participate at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center. In the second debate, some of these impressions were altered and some of them were confirmed.
The photo above shows the two leading candidates [based on endorsements] running for the Queens District Attorney office - Melinda Katz and Tiffany Caban. The photo below shows the other two leading candidates running for the Queens District Attorney office - Gregory Lasak and Rory Lancman.
Tiffany Caban has, by far, received donations from more small contributors than any of the candidates. Melinda Katz leads in fundraising, with strong support from the real estate development community for which she spent years [2009 - 2013] working as a lobbyist.
Gregory Lasak and Rory Lancman have also been competitive fundraisers - but neither matching Tiffany Caban's small donor support, nor Melinda Katz's big donor support.
The following video captures about 17 minutes of highlights from the three hour long debate. I decided not to give equal time because many of the statements made were either repetitive or laden with platitudes. Thus former Justice Gregory Lasak and Public Defender Tiffany Caban received the most air time, as they provided real world anecdotes, as well as real world insights into how our criminal justice system functions and how it can be reformed.
Jumaane Williams Wins Public Advocate Election
Williams Bests 16 Other Candidates to Take Second in Succession to Mayor
Jumaane Williams appears to have won the election for Public Advocate. According to Ballotpedia, with 88% of the precincts reporting, Williams had received 120,000 or 33% of the vote.
The sole Republican, Eric Ulrich, received 70,000 votes or 19%, which was the second highest total of votes. The other Democrats included former NYC Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, who received 40,000 or 11% of the votes, was followed by Michael Blake with 29,000 or 8%, Ydanis Rodriguez with 22,000 or 6%, Dawn Smalls with 15,000 or 4%, Rafael Espinal 12,000 or 3%, Ron Kim 11,000 or 3%, Daniel O'Donnell 11,000 or 3% and the others each had less than 10,000 votes with 88% of the precincts reporting.
Jumaane Williams is shown in the photo at right in June 2018, campaigning on the steps of the New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan, for Lieutenant Governor. Williams lost that election in November, but quickly rebounded, winning the position for NYC Public Advocate in February of 2019.
According to a NY Times report Jumaane has eight months before he's up for election again, as this special election - to replace Tish James because she was elected NYS Attorney General - only lasts until the next regularly scheduled election. Congratulations Jumaane.
Weather. The Temperature highs will be in the high 60's on Friday, dropping to the high 50's on Saturday and low 50's by Sunday. The temperature lows will be around 40 on Friday & Saturday, dropping to the low 30's by Sunday. Rain is in the forecast for Friday ONLY, likely gone by 11 am. It will be cloudy later in the day on Saturday only. Winds will be 15 mph on Friday, dropping to between 5 - 10 mph for the rest of the weekend. The Humidity will be around 70 on Friday dropping to about 40% for the rest of the weekend. Click for Queens Weather.
MTA / Public Transit / Click here for the MTA Weekender.
The photo at right shows some folks riding the subway this week who've taken the precaution of wearing surgical masks to prevent getting infected by the Corona Virus - see details below.
Corona Virus - A Brief History of Growing Awareness
The Corona Virus outbreak was first reported by the World Health Organization on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan in China.
By January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared the Corona Virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
On Saturday, March 7, 2020 Governor Cuomo called a NYS State of Emergency in an effort to get out ahead of what at the time was the Corona Virus epidemic, as there was a rapid spike in the number of reported cases in NYS. At the time NYC had reported about a dozen known cases.
On March 10, 2020 Governor Cuomo ordered a quarantine of a neighborhood in New Rochelle.
On March 11, 2020, Mayor de Blasio followed suit, and declared NYC in a State of Emergency in an effort to get out ahead of what was called a pandemic by the World Health Organization on the same day.
And today, March 13, 2020, last but not least, Donald Trump declared a State of Emergency in the United States in order to accelerate the nation's slow response to the evolving public health crisis.
Corona Virus Precautions - Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
By now you'd have to be blind, deaf and mute not to have heard that you should thoroughly wash your hands and not touch your face without having cleaned your hands.
In a March 11, 2020 report, the Sacramento Bee, which is a well respected news outlet run by McClatchy Newspapers, informed us that the National Institute of Health conducted a study that shows that the Corona Virus can remain alive for up to three days on some surfaces under the right conditions.
As such you should also step up your cleaning practices, specifically with respect to things and places that you touch regularly - like the TV clicker or your mouse and keypad and cell phone and keys.
Corona Virus Transmission by Air
And that same National Institute of Health Study also showed that the virus could remain alive in the air for a few hours. This discharge would have to come from an infected person, most likely with a cough, but I reckon just talking and breathing could do it too.
This is why scientists recommend we keep some distance - some six feet - from one another. Especially people coughing and that is why ill people are advised to remain home until they feel better - so that they don't infect the rest of us. But that said, infected people may take between two and fourteen days to show signs of the illness and thus realize it. The median incubation period for the Corona Virus is five days, 98% of the people who contract it show signs by 12 days, so by 14 days it is believed that those who have contracted the Corona Virus will show it. This is why most places have been shuttered for two weeks at a minimum.*
Some say masks won't necessarily prevent infection, because the masks aren't built to filter out the micro organisms one might inhale and the masks are not tightly fastened to the face. They may be correct, but the masks can't hurt and may reduce what you breathe in. There's a secondary problem with the masks in that some folks have been hoarding them, making it more difficult for health professionals who are working on the front line of this crisis, to obtain them.*
The disease is believed to be highly transmittable, with conflicting reports on whether it is more or less transmittable than the flu. Live Science, states that it's more than two times more transmittable than the flu, while another source says it's not as transmittable as the flu. This discrepancy may be due to the fact that there are two strains.*
The Corona Virus is Potentially Lethal - but Skews Older
At present, it is estimated to have a 2.3% death rate versus something like a 0.1% death rate for the flu. So that means it's over 20 times more lethal than the flu, and at present without any existing cure nor vaccine. Which is why there's so much concern.
But that said, to put this in context, a March 7, 2020 Live Science report informs us that,
" ... So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide. But that's nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ... "
According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that the risk for people varies according to age, as it is believed people who are ill, have pre-existing conditions or compromised immune systems are most likely to die from the disease - see chart at right.
Living Your Life in the Age of the Corona Virus
So, as part of the NYS State of Emergency both the Governor and the Mayor are in agreement that all events of 500 or more people are presently banned. Governor Cuomo also issued an order to close CUNY and SUNY effective March 18, 2020 for the rest of the semester.
The Mayor and Governor have decided to keep the primary and secondary public school system open, but advise anyone who is not feeling well to stay home. While tests reportedly show that children can contract the disease as easily as adults, you can see by the chart above, that children don't die from it at anywhere near the same rate as older people. I know - not dying from a disease - isn't exactly comforting.
But, unlike better resourced private institutions, the students attending public school aren't as able to 'go remote' and conduct classes and homework electronically. Another part of this equation is that these students parents aren't in a position to stay home with them, and many of their parents are critical to the healthcare, educational, law enforcement, fire and emergency response and transportation infrastructure.
I've provided the above information to help folks better understand the complexiities the Governor and Mayor are dealing with in making these decisions. And this doesn't include how badly the small business entities are getting hit, which closing things only makes worse. This affects them paying the rent, paying their employees - all of whom have to make ends meet ... somehow.
Things to Do This Weekend in Queens?
Not much really. Here's a link to the things to do in Queens last weekend, which contains a number of web addresses, should you want to look for yourself, but most institutions are taking the position of exercising an abundance of caution and thus have closed.
Farmers Mkts, Holiday Markets & Member Events Calendar
We work very hard to help keep you informed by providing you with independent news coverage, as well as information about events in the arts, culture and business in the borough.
You can help us continue to provide you with independent, first-person, fact-based, contextural reporting by purchasing an annual subscription. As it's voluntary, there are a variety of price options, one of which should fit within your budget.
November 24, 2023 / 
CLICK this link to view details of this and other current & upcoming 
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming 
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming 
November 17, 2023 / 
The photo at right, taken at a Thanksgiving Day Parade in a prior year, shows a very famous native New Yorker dressed in costume, floating above the crowd ... like he always does. The parade returns next Thursday.
The photo at right, taken in a prior year, provides some perspective on what's involved in being the human anchors for these huge balloons as they parade down Central Park West and Midtown.
CLICK this link to view this and other current & upcoming 
The photo at right, taken in a prior year, shows that there's a lot more than balloons to watch. Various performance groups participate in the parade. As of Friday, November 17, 2023, the weather forecast for Thanksgiving Day is dry, with a high below 40 and the lows in the high 20's.
November 10, 2023 / 
Sunday, November 12, 2023 from 12 noon - 3 pm - There's a Veterans' Day Parade beginning at 80th and marching down Metropolitan Avenue to Christ the King Church at 69th Street in Middle Village, where there will be a commemorative ceremony ending at 3 pm.
As I conducted my research, I decided that NOT to inquire about the Mayor's - seemingly unappreciated or underappreciated - Herculean effort to manage the huge influx of immigrants into NYC. This situation, turned crisis, began when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing immigrants from Texas border towns, beginning in August 5, 2022, to NYC. Governor Abbott began transporting immigrants here without any communication nor coordination with NYS Governor Hochul or NYC Mayor Adams.
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The Jouvert then marched east along Empire Boulevard before turning south on Nostrand Avenue and terminating at Winthrop. I arrived a bit before noon, at Empire Blvd and Nostrand, where the Jouvert Parade had already passed. The Jouvert Parade involves participants adorning themselves with paint and powder, sometimes sharing it with others in a style that reminded me of the Indian Holi celebration.
Four years ago, on August 31, 2019, I visited the Floyd Bennett Airfield with the intention of doing a story on it, which - until now - I had not had an opportunity to do. On that visit, I biked the airfield, took photos in both the museum and peeked through the dusty windows of the hangars and warehouses on the airfield, to photographed our recent past.
Queens offers easy access to a wide range of recreational swimming pools. The following is our first attempt to provide you with a view of the range of public swimming pools available in the parks of Queens. We encourage you to make use of these facilities because they provide healthy, fun, and frequently free or inexpensive entertainment for both individuals and families with children.
In 2017 I attended a Community Board meeting in Astoria where our urban planners talked about 
February 28, 2023 / 
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January 1, 2023 / 
As you likely heard, we are in the midst of experiencing a 'tripledemic'. The triple refers to CoVid, flu and RSV. RSV is short for respiratory syncytial virus, which is a virus that causes symptoms like those associated with a cold, but which can cause serious negative health issues for infants and the elderly. As usual, the TV news teleprompter readers and their writers appear to report whatever they're told, without actually thinking about the information they're conveying. And since they're in the business of attracting viewers' and readers' attention, they seem to have a tendency to sensationalize almost everything they report, including the weather.
So, when I heard that the strike was actually happening on Thursday late afternoon, I dropped everything and headed down to the New York Times office building in Midtown Manhattan. I had a hunch that the strikers would be disbanding - if not gone - by the time the TV news ended at 7 pm. 
November 18, 2022 / 
The origins of Thanksgiving Day in the United States began with one of America’s first settlements, founded by the risk-taking, resource-pooling, hardworking, spiritual community of Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were early English settlers who arrived on American shores in the early 17th century [1600’s]. They came here because they wanted a measure of freedom and self-determination that they were forbidden in Europe or what was called the ‘old country’. The Pilgrims wanted to practice their faith, unencumbered, in a way that differed from the established Church of England. They pooled their money to obtain a ship, the Mayflower, to cross the Atlantic in mid September of 1620, landing on America's shores at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts on November 9, 1620.
October 28, 2022 / 
October 26, 2022 / Local Government & Politics / National Government & Politics / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
September 23, 2022 / 
On Saturday, the Global Citizen Concert returns to the Great Lawn in Central Park which lies between 5th Avenue and Central Park West and between 72nd Street and 86th Street. The gates open at 2 pm and the concert begins at 4 pm. You must bring printed tickets as mobile tickets are not being accepted. Admission $250 - $299 via www.ticketmaster.com. For further details on the concert see https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/festival/nyc/2022/
NYC Weather. The temperature highs will be in the low 80's on Tuesday & Wednesday, dropping to the low 70's on Thursday and the mid 60's on Friday., The temperature lows will rise from the mid 60's on Monday & Tuesday to the low 70's on Wednesday, and then fall into the mid to low 50's on Thursday and Friday. The winds will be 10 - 15 mph all week. The humidity will be 55% - 65% all week, except on Friday when it falls to 45% - 55%. There's a small chance of a small amount of rain in Thursday, with the probability gone by mid afternoon.
September 13, 2022 / 
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The outlier in the year end crime stats, which were up slightly from 2020, was that thefts were down almost 19%. This may have something to do with the fact that fewer people are out and about, so thieves have fewer to prey upon and the victims have fewer distractions and events where thefts may occur.
January 3, 2022 / 
September 13, 2021 / 
Mayor de Blasio announced that not only teachers, but also school staff in the NYC Public School system, will be required to have at least one vaccine dose by September 27th.
August 9, 2021 / 
I found a chart that I found of great interest in an August 5, 2021 story in the Gothamist, which was acquired by NPR in 2018. The chart shows how the original CoVid is almost non-existent in the U.S. today, while the Delta variant has risen to represent over 90% of all new cases.
September 21, 2021 / 
August 31, 2021 / 
So we're going to take a look at a number of the NYC crime statistics, and then follow up with an analytical look at some of the issues driving gun related violence, before closing with a look at the distorted, deceitful and destructive coverage provided by Murdoch's Fox News & Propaganda.
The graphic at right shows what is called the 'Iron Pipeline' which is Interestate 95 which runs from New York to Florida. This interestate highway is used to transport guns / weapons across state lines from mostly red Republican controlled states with lax gun control laws to blue states that have passed stronger gun control laws.
March 22, 2021 /
February 26, 2021 / 
Somehow amidst the din of Murdoch mass media hyped criticism, the real headline was buried.
In the reporting over the past month or so I DID NOT SEE EVEN ONE REFERENCE TO THE RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL from Afghanistan in the 1980’s. NOT ONE! Why does that matter?
Australian born billionaire, Rupert Murdoch - as is too often the case - led the rest of the mindless mass media, like the Pied Piper. On August 15, 2021, the Wall St. Journal published an OpEd by the ‘Editorial Board’. The ‘Editorial Board’ appears to be the pen name of billionaire Rupert Murdoch who owns and controls the paper. The ‘Editorial Board’ said published the narrative that Biden was incompetent and had messed things up, with scant reference to history or a holistic presentation of the facts.
May 17, 2021 /
August 3, 2021 / 
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Rudy Giuliani joined Donald Trump and Donny junior at a Trump rally in Washington, D.C. near the White House. The Donald had promoted this gathering as something 'wild' and related to his seemingly phony stop the steal / election fraud fundraising claims. At the rally Trump told his supporters, numbering about 5,000 [per the park permit] to march down to the Capitol and that he'd be there with them.
September 4, 2020 / 
So today, we're going to look at just a few of Murdoch's media manipulations made in just the past couple of months - and I'm nearly certain that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, I don't have the resource to fact check what is the largest misleading news content producing organization in the nation, and possibly the free world.
February 26, 2019 / 
