Demanding the passage of state sentencing reform legislation, criminal justice activists and elected officials rallied on November 18 in front of Edgecombe Correctional Facility, a low-security prison in Washington Heights. 

The advocates called for passage of three bills in the 2026 legislative session: the Second Look Act, the Marvin Mayfield Act, and the Earned Time Act. The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) organized the Manhattan rally as well as similar rallies in seven other cities as part of its state-wide Communities not Cages campaign. 

“This is our moment,” said Patrick Stephens, Youth Services Leadership Fellow at CCA, a nonprofit supporting New Yorkers affected by mass incarceration. “After decades of unjust racism, unjust sentencing laws, we are closer than ever to meaningful change.” Out of the more than 30,000 New Yorkers currently incarcerated, nearly three out of four are Black or Brown. 

Speakers at the rally spoke about the high cost of incarceration –  with New York state spending $70,000 yearly to incarcerate a single person in state prison, totaling $3 billion spent annually, funds that many speakers said could be better spent on community services. 

“Can we afford to invest more in incarceration than we do in education? No,” said Senator Zellnor Myrie, citing that New York State spends only $36,000 on education per public school student yearly. Other elected officials who spoke were Senators Jessica Ramos and Cordell Cleare, and Assemblymembers Landon Dais, Latrice Walker, and Monique Chandler-Waterman. 

Formerly incarcerated advocates spoke about how their experiences led them to advocate for criminal justice reform. Father and CCA organizer David Hopper called for the passage of the Marvin Mayfield Act, which would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences. 

When Hopper was convicted, he faced anywhere from eight to 25 years in prison because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. He was offered a plea bargain of five years, but he wanted to go to trial. His lawyer urged him to take the plea deal instead, and when he did, he was sentenced to seven years, in what he called “coercion” to take the deal.

Prosecutors’ “discretion of sentencing, and their eagerness to raise their conviction rate, leaves the accused at a disadvantage,” said Hopper. “The prosecutor’s aim is to look us up, lock us up.” Currently, 98% of convictions come through guilty pleas in New York State. 

The population of individuals in New York State serving life sentences is the third-highest in the country, almost 9,000 people. Advocates hope to change this through the Second Look Act, which would ensure excessive sentences are reviewed by judges. The bill would also give incarcerated people the ability to apply for a resentencing hearing after they have served 10 years. 

Percy West was given a 132-year-to-life sentence at only 19 years old, after declining to accept a plea deal. After serving 33 years, it was revealed that evidence was not presented to the trial judge who sentenced West as a teenager. New York State Supreme Court and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and resentenced him to 25 years to life, allowing Percy to be released immediately on parole at the age of 51. The Second Look Act would make this possible for more people throughout the state.

“We have to make a change,” West said. “These are the people who are languishing in prison after they have already established they are ready for society. We have to get them home.”  

Advocates also called for passage of the Earned Time Act, which would allow all incarcerated people to earn good time and merit time, regardless of conviction, which New York restricted in the 1990s. 

The bills have faced criticism as too “radical” or soft on crime. “We understand firsthand the devastation that crime has in our community,” said Assemblymember Dais. “However, we do understand that we can be tough on crime, and at the same time be just in criminal and social justice reform.” He added that he wanted to see communities come together and heal, but that it can’t happen while many remain incarcerated. 

Senator Ramos responded that the legislation did not come out of abstract ideas, but the knowledge that both people and systems can change. “There’s a humanitarian crisis in our prisons,” said Ramos. “And when there’s a crisis, we don’t look away. We have to fix it.” 

At the John Jay Educational Campus in Brooklyn, outgoing Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who will be the New York City Comptroller, met with voters and volunteers during the Yes on Affordable Housing campaign. The event took place on Election Day, when New Yorkers voted on several city ballot proposals. It included Ballot Questions 2, 3 and 4 which aim to make it easier and faster to build affordable housing in New York City.

As the new Comptroller, Levine said he hopes to invest 1% of the city’s $315 billion in pension fund assets to help pay for affordable housing.

Levine spoke about the housing-related ballot proposals, which he described as a chance to “fix inequality” in how housing is approved across neighborhoods. “Right now, if a community has enough money or influence, they can stop housing development,” he said. “They hire lawyers, they sue and they often win. We need a new system.”

In New York City, every large construction project has to go through a long public process known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. The process gives local community boards and City Council members the power to review, delay, or block new housing proposals. Levine explained that wealthier neighborhoods often use this system to resist affordable housing by hiring attorneys, consultants, or lobbyists to oppose new developments.

As a result, poorer neighborhoods end up with most of the city’s affordable housing, while wealthier ones remain out of reach for lower-income residents. Levine said the housing proposals would help change that by streamlining approvals and focusing new projects in areas that have built the fewest homes. He described them as “a chance to end that era” of stalled development. Levine said, “It will make it harder to kill affordable housing projects and help create more balance across the city.”

At the Brooklyn site, volunteers with Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s campaign spoke about the housing issue.

Matthew Comeau, a volunteer who came from Washington, D.C., said, “This city is too expensive, bottom line. Affordable housing should mean that most of your income doesn’t go to rent.” 

Another volunteer, Karen Ho, shared her view as a former international student. “There’s a misconception that all international students are rich,” she said. “Affordable housing helped me stay in New York and start my career.”

Levine said the city needs to focus on truly affordable rent for all income levels. He pointed to a project in Inwood that combined a rebuilt library with 172 affordable apartments, some costing as little as $680 a month. “It proves that housing can be affordable if we put in the effort,” he said.

Levine hopes the new measure, if approved, will lead to half a million new apartments over the next decade.“If we do this right,” he said, “young New Yorkers won’t have to win a lottery just to live in their own city.

Just months after NYC delivery drivers saw a minimum pay hike go into effect, members of the Los Deliveristas Unidos campaign crowded the steps of New York City Hall on September 12. Deliveristas, along with advocates, rallied in support of legislation that would prohibit delivery apps from deactivating drivers’ accounts without just cause or legitimate economic reason. 

Intro 1332, which was introduced to City Council following the rally, would give protections to the city’s estimated 65,000 delivery workers. After the minimum hourly wage for app-based delivery workers was raised to $21.44 in April 2025, many drivers alleged their accounts were suddenly deactivated, causing them to lose their source of income. 

Workers Justice Project, the organization behind the Los Deliveristas Unidos campaign, began a campaign in 2023 for minimum pay rates for deliveristas, who without wage protections made an average of just $5.39 per hour before tips. The campaign’s pressure on Mayor Eric Adams was successful. In June of 2023, Adams announced that New York City would be the first in the country to implement a minimum pay rate for delivery drivers – starting at $17.96, with gradual raises until the pay scale was fully phased in in April 2025. 

In response to the historic win for deliveristas, Uber, DoorDash, and Gruhhub sued New York City. The apps argued that faulty data was used in determining minimum pay rates, and that the raise would have negative effects on customers and restaurant partners. Each platform filed a temporary restraining order request to block the pay raise from going into effect, an action that was later denied by a New York state judge. 

Since the minimum pay rate was first implemented in 2023, delivery apps have paid drivers an additional $700 million in wages. 

Ligia Guallpa, the co-Executive director of Workers Justice Project, said that the deactivations were another way for delivery apps to “undermine” the pay raise.

Drivers had reported that the platforms had been deactivating them for years without due cause, Guallpa said. But “since we passed minimum pay, they have been more aggressive. Not because they just don’t care about that human being, but because it’s also about protecting their pockets,” said Guallpa. She added, “They continue to pocket millions and billions on the backs of workers.” 

The bill also requires the apps to give drivers 14-day notice before their account is deactivated unless they engaged in “egregious misconduct.” Kassandra Perez-Desir, Doordash Senior Manager of Government Relations, responded in a statement saying this gives drivers who “abuse” the platform the opportunity to continue for the duration of the notice period. 

Freddi Goldstein, who oversees Uber’s policy work, said in testimony to the City Council that Uber only used deactivations in “last resort” situations, and that drivers were given warnings that could be appealed before their accounts were permanently deactivated. Goldstein also cited that in 2025, only 2% of Uber delivery workers in NYC had their account permanently deactivated monthly, mostly as a result of fraudulent activity or theft. 

However, many deliveristas report not receiving any warning before being deactivated. Jose Muños, a deliverist with Grubhub, arrived at a pickup location one day and found himself unable to login to his account. He said Grubhub did not give a reason or any warning for the sudden deactivation. 

Another deliverista, Jose Valdez, stated that as a reward for his dedication to his job, his Grubhub account was deactivated without clear reason or concrete evidence. “The lack of transparency in this process has left me without my primary source of income, directly impacting my livelihood and my family’s wellbeing,” said Valdez. 

In testimony to the City Council, Rebecca Lynch, deputy director of Worker’s rights within the city Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law, said that after minimum pay was implemented the apps began using “algorithmic systems for ‘on-time delivery’ and acceptance of trips, which are used by the companies to rate deliveristas.” She added, “Those ratings, in turn , result in deactivations, often with little or no chance of appeal.” 

Lynch also said that even when drivers get a chance to appeal deactivations, many have difficulty successfully navigating the process, which can drag on for months without resolution. 

This past summer, when the Worker Justice Project tried to contact Grubhub and appeal for 60 drivers who had been deactivated, Grubhub denied the request. That is, until New York City Comptroller Brad Lander wrote a letter to Grubhub, and the workers were reinstated, according to Guallpa. 

Lander also called the deactivations “punishment” for the protections workers had won. The fact that delivery apps would fight a bill that “just gives workers an opportunity to contest an unfair firing, to get a reason, to have some time, that really tells you all you need to know about what these companies are trying to do,” he said. 

“If they’re going to use the gig economy for their own pocketbooks,” said Lander, “then the least that City Council can do is make sure deactivation protections are in place.”

Thousands from New York City’s hardworking class took over Fifth Avenue for the Labor Day Parade and March on Sept. 6. Organized by the New York City Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO), the event saw over 200 unions come together in celebration of their respective organizations. But what shined brightest at the city’s over 140-year-old tradition was the unions that represent the entertainment industry. Members of these unions marched in celebration, but also in protest of political control and advocating for union benefits. 

The event featured labor unions of the entertainment and media sector, including the Actor’s Equity Association, American Federation of Musicians Local 802 (AFM), SAG-AFTRA, the Writer’s Guild of America East (WGA), and the Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).  

“I think it’s fantastic that we’re all out here and that we get an opportunity to just be ‘union strong’ and represent the people that are representing us,” said Diana Coates, a member of the SAG AFTRA Union, since 2017. “Whether it’s financially or just support,  the union provides so much for us on set and even outside when we’re not working […] So, you can’t, you can’t help but be proud.”

The parade allowed these unions the opportunity to celebrate their organizations and highlight their contribution to the arts in NYC. However, the event was also a call to actions, as members also advocated for the specific issues they are facing within their industry. 

“It’s not just about pay scales. It’s more about health insurance and pension. […] Health insurance is very important and very expensive, and so, obviously, is us retiring. So we’re just here today to support people that want to work hard and hopefully get benefits with that with money too.” ,” said Francis Spieldenner, a member of Local 600. “I wish it was everywhere,” that everyone could have these benefits. 

The lack of healthcare benefits isn’t a new issue within these unions, as a survey from IATSE in 2023 revealed depressing numbers. According to the survey, 43% of visual effect workers who operate on the “client side” (directly under a production company) did not receive healthcare benefits, and 85% of VFX workers reported that they did not have an employer-funded retirement fund. 

Outside of union benefits, marchers highlighted recent cancellations and defunding of media companies. In July, CBS canceled  “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” as of May 2026, making this its final season. While the decision was cited as “purely financial,” it also comes after CBS settled a private lawsuit with President Donald Trump that cost the company $16 million. Around the same time, Trump also signed a bill that would cancel $1.1 billion in aid for public broadcasting organizations, NPR and PBS. These decisions have a direct impact on the entertainment unions and were a reason for their presence in the parade. 

“Our union is currently under attack by the current administration […] So, we’re here to fight back and to say that we as a union of writers, as a union of storytellers, and a union of truthtellers are here, no matter what,” said Sasha Stewart, a council member for the WGA East and the incoming secretary treasurer. “Our union is going to protect our members and stand by our members against all threats, both from private equity and financialization of our industry, as well as corporate greed, fascism, and this administration.” 

Despite all the uncertainties surrounding these unions, hundreds of New Yorkers showed love and support by joining in from behind the barricades in chants of “Get up! Get down! New York is a union town!”

For some New York City residents, new murals popping up are simply fresh new pieces of art to brighten a neighborhood, but to others, they represent a deeper, troubling trend, gentrification. High-income neighborhoods like Cobble Hill, Dumbo, and Williamsburg all have rent prices higher than median rent prices in Brooklyn, and New York City as a whole, according to 2023 data from the Furman Center. And The New York City Parks Department Public Art Map shows that these neighborhoods have higher concentrations of public art, including murals, statues, temporary and permanent installations,  than their more affordable counterparts, like East Brooklyn and Canarsie. 

Meres Ones, a graffiti artist born in the South Bronx and raised in Queens is no stranger to how the street art and graffiti scenes in New York have evolved. “ I started in ‘87 as a graffiti artist, which is pretty much all the lettering,” Meres shared. “There really wasn’t a street art movement back then.” 

Meres went on to found and curate 5 Pointz, a collection of graffiti projects created by different artists along the exterior walls of an abandoned factory on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. Despite 5 Pointz’s notoriety in the art world, it was demolished In 2013 amidst the rapid gentrification and industrialization of Long Island City. Now, a high-rise luxury apartment building sits in its place. 

“There have been cases where real estate people, or people that have buildings, didn’t necessarily care and would give legal permission to have artists do lettering. It was easy to get walls at the time.” Meres continued, “In real estate now they’re realizing that you can hire artists to paint, and then those walls that were available to us are now taken away for ads.” 

But graffiti artists aren’t the only ones to notice the link between a rise in corporate street art and changing neighborhoods. In recent years, Bushwick has become prime real estate for artists, but their presence has had negative impacts on longtime residents. According to rental market trends, rent prices in Bushwick have increased by 5% in the last month. 

Among those noticing this trend is Wendy Martinez, a lifelong Bushwick resident, who can still recall a Bushwick before the murals, galleries, and cafes. “The walls that were once covered in graffiti, or were blank, are now covered by “acceptable” graffiti and artwork.”  She noted how Black and Latinx community members were persecuted for graffiti. “I remember police chases happening at night when I was younger because of teens and adults tagging on walls in the neighborhood or spray painting artwork on vacant walls.” 

Now, Martinez says the art that surrounds her neighborhood reflects, and draws, a different crowd, “it was mostly young, white, affluent people that were moving in.” According to Martinez, landlords in the area have taken advantage of these shifting demographics. Her own rent has increased by 58% in the last three years. 

“To see my own community being forced out of their homes while local organizations fight to keep generational families from leaving is really disheartening,” Martinez said. 

For Meres, preventing street art from becoming a force of gentrification is all about creating a balanced relationship between artists and the real estate industry. “You know you want to paint the murals, you want to try to get paid and balance it. But you also don’t want to overly gentrify a neighborhood where coffees are like 12 bucks.” 

Last weekend, the Lower East Side Ecology Center made a trip to 113-43 Farmers Blvd in St. Albans, right in front of the office of Senator Leroy Comrie, as the latest stop of the organization’s “E-Waste Reuse and Recycling Program.”

NYC.gov describes these events as a “convenient way for NYC residents to get rid of their e-waste.” The Ecology Center and the City try to pitch these events as not only beneficial to the environment but also to the residents themselves. Just by surveying the e-waste piled on this St. Albans sidewalk, you see how locals are using this as an opportunity to get rid of their unwanted electronics: three different Hasbro i-Dogs (robotic kids toy manufactured in 2005), clunky computer monitors, old fax machines and printers, landline phones, a Walkman cassette player, and many more outdated pieces of technology that were most likely wasting away in someone’s basement and would otherwise just end up in a landfill.

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a major environmental issue. According to TheRoundUp.Org, there are over 347 Mt (million metric tons) of unrecycled e-waste on the planet, and with rapid changes in technology, change in media, and planned obsolescence, the problem seems to be getting worse and worse. These 347 Mt grow by an average of 2 Mt a year, and the U.S. is among the biggest culprits. Fortunately, there are organizations like the Lower East Side Ecology Center that fight to reduce e-waste and its impacts on the environment. 

LES Ecology Center has been operating its anti-e-waste program since 2003, an effort that has diverted a total of 10.5 million pounds of unwanted electronics from landfill and incinerators. In this war against pollution, the center’s main battle tactic has been their “E-waste collection events.” Every week–sometimes multiple times a week)–the group sends its staff to different places around the city, setting up designated spots for locals to drop off their unwanted electronics. These electronics are collected in trucks and sent to a recycling center where they are evaluated for refurbishing and reuse or shredded and recycled. 

This particular collection event was endorsed and publicized by a number of local elected officials: Council Member Nantasha Williams, Assembly Members Alicia Hyndman and Clyde Vanel, and of course Senator Comrie himself.

“Too often, we think of recycling as just for paper, plastic, and glass, but recycling e-waste is just as essential,” said Comrie. “The Lower East Side Ecology Center has been an outstanding partner in educating New Yorkers about the dangers of improperly disposing of electronic devices and providing accessible solutions for responsible recycling. It is vital that we show our community how these simple actions, like recycling an old computer, can contribute to a cleaner and much healthier city.”

Queens residents are the latest to receive this opportunity to get rid of their unwanted electronics, but they are far from the last. The LES Ecology Center has announced more e-waste collection events coming to Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights this weekend.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29th, Future of Fifth invited the public to an open house at the CUNY Graduate Center on proposed changes to Fifth Avenue between Bryant Park and Central Park. Future of Fifth is a partnership between New York City Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu and multiple city agencies to transform and improve the space for visitors. 

“Fifth Avenue is one of the most famous streets in the world, and yet there has not been a public investment in over 120 years,” said Madelyn Wils, Interim President of the Fifth Avenue Association and co-chair of a future Fifth Avenue ste​​ering committee.

 “It [Fifth Avenue] also generates over 3.9 billion dollars in taxes and what that means is that 4.5% of those taxes actually go back to the city to fund our city improvements,” said Isabel Castilla, an Associate Partner for Field Operations. “So it is really important that we continue supporting Fifth Avenue as an economic engine, which eventually does impact the entire city at large.” 

Home to iconic attractions, including Bryant Park, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue is used by approximately 5,477 pedestrians every day. But, recent survey data presented during the open house shows they typically spend less than two hours on the street, and 75% of people use negative words to describe their experiences. The $350 Million facelift aims to change this by creating more greenspace, wider sidewalks, and design elements that highlight key attractions. 

 “Pedestrians are the number one transportation mode on Fifth Avenue and it’s important to keep people wanting to come to Fifth for a variety of reasons,” said Wils. 

The plan aims to make Fifth Avenue more pedestrian-centered, but there will still be car and bus lanes on the boulevard. The proposal illustrates a three-lane system, with a bus lane in the center, and two lanes for other vehicles. 

There was little mention of bikes throughout the open house presentation. The DOT is studying different bike lane options, including converting an existing bike lane on Sixth Avenue into a two-way bike lane, as well as developing a connection on 59th Street to Grand Army Plaza and Fifth Avenue. But there was no definitive statement on what the future of bikes on Fifth will look like. 

According to an Oct. 17th, 2024 press release,“Fifth Avenue has long been an economic powerhouse for New York City. The avenue is responsible for 313,000 direct and indirect jobs, which in turn generate $44.1 billion in total wages and $111.5 billion in total economic output each year.” 

This is a joint project across multiple city agencies, including The Fifth Avenue Association, New York City Department of Transportation (DOT,) NYC Parks, the Central Park Conservancy, Bryant Park Corporation, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC.) While the project is pedestrian-focused, it also aims to continue to feed the economy of New York. 

Some of the major changes for pedestrians coming to Fifth Avenue include enlarging sidewalks to 33.5 feet wide and shortening crosswalks by more than a third of their current length. Crosswalks will also be raised to sidewalk level.

“What this historically has shown us, as we look at this strategy across the world, is that it slows down vehicles and gives way to pedestrians, creating a much more safer environment,” said Castilla. 

During the open house, Future of Fifth showed recent images of people sitting in front of storefronts because of a lack of benches, and described bright lights that are jarring to visitors. The proposal aims to increase seating space and to control lighting across the boulevard, encouraging people to spend more time exploring the street. 

“We also have a lot of lack of character in this space. The street just feels like a regular street as opposed to our big destination within the city,” said Castilla. “So this is when we see a lot of opportunities to improve that public realm by adding street trees, by adding greenery, by adding social spaces, some seating, that again not only accommodate that large number of pedestrians, but there is also a much more pleasant experience for those on Fifth Avenue.” 

 According to NYC Parks Vital Parks Explorer, only 9% of people living in this area, Community District 05, live on a block “fully stocked” with street trees, and only 4% of the land has a tree canopy cover. These are the lowest data points across all five boroughs of New York. The proposed design includes 231 new trees that will be planted across the avenue.

“We have a once in a generation opportunity to really right size and balance the street to center pedestrians,” said Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu. “Time and time and time again, in all global cities, the data bears out.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt, when you focus and yield space, and create space for vibrant pedestrian traffic, it does wonders for the public space, the quality of life, and it also is an economic development tool, and quite a powerful one.”

Tensions continue in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park between artists and their supporters on one side and Parks and City police on the other, since law enforcement began evicting artists within the park on September 27.

Meanwhile, artists facing warnings of summonses or arrest and eviction for displaying their work point out that drug dealers, known for engaging in illegal activities and drug use, have been able to stay. Washington Square Park is well known for recreational marijuana use. Other  types of drug users continue to be allowed without the scrutiny and harassment artists are currently experiencing, they say. The City Parks Department and the New York City Police Department are both being criticized by artists who claim they are just trying to make a living. 

Washington Square Park has catered to diverse artists and people from all walks of life for decades. However, recent changes in park enforcement have hindered many artists from continuing to show their work, forcing them to either move to other parks to avoid harassment or simply stay away from the park altogether. Inconsistent law enforcement and threats of eviction or arrest have left many artists with little room to maneuver.

“Right now I think they like to have this whole thing of power and fear. What little resistance we can all muster together is what we’re all doing,” said J. Eric Cook, an artist who currently occupies one of only two designated spots for artists along the east side of the Washington Square Park fountain.

Cook, who was recently forced to move from his longtime regular spot within the fountain circle, doesn’t believe in the way these ‘new’ policies are being enforced. “Every day, we’re looking at wild inconsistencies in enforcement where they let it go. They enforced this morning up until about 2 o’clock then they decided, ‘you know what, forget about it,’” he added. 

NYPD Officer Vincent from the Sixth Precinct blamed the problem on a few bad actors. “The problem is the few kind of ruined it, brought some attention along with the people that are selling the marijuana without a license, then causing problems, causing thefts,” said Officer Vincent, who currently works enforcement around Washington Square Park. “It’s nothing against the artists,” he added. 

Activities such as chess games and stage performances are also regular occurrences within the park, though no actions against these have been taken. 

According to the New York Parks Department, “any vending operations on public property must receive the proper approvals from the appropriate City agencies and related partners. Buskers may perform on Parks property without a permit, but must comply with all applicable provisions – a permit is required for use of amplified sound.”

“That’s the law that wasn’t really being enforced, but management changed within Parks Department, so they wanted to start enforcing that,” said Vincent. 

The New York Parks Department released a statement that read, “Our PEP (Parks Enforcement Patrol) officers’ first course of action is to educate parkgoers to our rules; there has been no crackdown in enforcement or change in our policy.”

Crowd congestion has made it more difficult for parks enforcement to see what is going on all the time, affecting their ability to mitigate potential problems. Officers solely using discretion in the past are potential reasons why it wasn’t being enforced before. 

Because the New York City Parks Department is currently understaffed, NYPD helps with enforcement, walking around talking to each artist who is not within one of only two designated areas along the East and West sides of the fountain. Available spots within the park are on a first come first serve basis whereas each city park operates differently. 

“Other parks have medallions that they allow per park which means that you have a little spot set aside for yourself where you can register with your name and pay whatever fee and it’s like, yeah, that’s your spot, but it has to be that spot. To my knowledge, this park doesn’t have that,” said Vincent.

In just over a month since enforcement began, efforts continue to be  made by the artists, urging park goers and local supporters to call 311 to “Stop harassing artists in Washington Square Park” and “I support the independent artists of WSP,”. This however, has caused a counter action by residents in the area, where on Sunday, October 20, Parks officers evicted six artists, citing five 311 calls “complaining about the artists in the fountain circle.”

Oriel “OR1EL” Ceballos, an artist and former educator who continues to support his family by advocating for artists in WSP, thinks more should be done to help clean it up in other areas. “The drug dealers don’t stop, so I’m like; clean that up first ‘cause it’s happening in broad daylight.”

Washington Square Park is currently funded by the Washington Square Park Conservancy along with the New York City Parks Department. Despite attempts to contact them, neither one could be reached for comment.

There was chaos at this year’s 34th annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade last Saturday as at least 20,000 spectators descended on the East Village amidst last minute route changes, crushing crowds, cellular data blockages, and misinformation.  Local news outlets like WABC Eyewitness News and Pix11 published incorrect information about the parade just hours prior to its start, creating confusion for participants and attendees.

Each year dogs and their owners don spooky and striking costumes and parade alongside and through the park celebrating and raising funds for the city’s oldest and largest community dog run, but growing lack of neighborhood support for this yearly tradition threatens to run it into the ground. Its latest organizer, Joseph Borduin, has said this year is his last.

The parade usually concludes inside the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run and ends with the costume contest. But because of construction in the park, it ended on a side street,  and there was no costume contest for this year. Neither was made clear to participants who gathered in the park after the parade anyways.

Nicole Petiet and her dog Wheezy were among those in the park after the parade who were left a little confused. “I was planning on entering the contest, but is there one?” asked Petiet, “I haven’t been able to look at my phone with all the data blockages.”

Michelle Vasquez and her dog, Olive also participated in the parade last Saturday and said that she’d been watching the dog run’s social media throughout the day waiting for updates but those never came.

The parade has become a highly anticipated East Village tradition that attracts tens of thousands of spectators and hundreds of participants, but the event’s own popularity is its curse according to the Borduin, this year’s parade producer, who quit after Saturday.

Borduin says that the parade lacks local community and city support, “I didn’t have my walk-through with the city until 2:30,” Borduin said on Friday, “A lot of the decisions are not made by myself yet I will get the blame for it.”

“The neighborhood has to be involved more,” Borduin said, “The businesses that benefit from 20,000 spectators.”

The parade’s inception was in the 1980s after community members first fought against City Hall to establish the dog run. The parade was initially small and low cost and has increased in size each year since. The money raised goes towards the dog run’s yearly maintenance. The last three years the parade has either lost money or broken even, according to Borduin, causing him to pay out of pocket for this year’s fees and to question the point of fundraising. 

Borduin, a photographer, was volunteering to scoop poop in the dog run in 2020 when the parade’s old producer, “pretty much gave me a stack of papers and said have fun.” 

Borduin had no prior experience in event planning or parade planning but did not want to see the parade canceled. He has been frustrated since with a lack of community support for the only community dog run and has had numerous bad experiences including an incident last year where spectators spit on him after they couldn’t see the costume contest’s stage.

Now Borduin says, “Let a merchant group do the parade and the dog run can do a best in show.”

Officials from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, with the help of the New York Police Department began enforcing new rules in Washington Square Park on Friday, September 27. The new crackdown affects the livelihoods of many artists, as they’re being told they cannot display their art within 50 feet of the fountain or risk getting a summons and having their property confiscated and evicted altogether.

Washington Square Park has long been a common ground for artists and musicians from a wide variety of backgrounds and practices. Buskers and expressive matter vendors have been welcome in the park, but must follow the city’s rules and regulations the same way any park visitor would have to. After many decades without issue, artists currently find themselves in a difficult and what they say is an unfair position.

Eric Cook, an artist who has been creating and displaying his art in the park for close to a decade, like many other artists, is frustrated by this sudden change in regulations. “There’s a rule called the monument rule and it says that you cannot display anything within 50 feet of a monument. Now this entire park is a ‘monument,’ so it’s really the rule to keep artists out of the park,” he said.

According to New York Parks Department, the enforcement policy is to first begin with a period of education, where they explain what the rules and regulations are to new park goers that they find violating them, before moving on to eviction.

Within only a few days, an arrest was made after an artist would not show his I.D., refusing to move when officers asked him to do so. “I watched the park rangers harass [the] artist for hours before they finally took him away in handcuffs and seized his property. The main reason is that he was too close to the fountain but they’ll try and tell you otherwise,” said Cook. “They’re irrationally enforcing a rule that has never been enforced for 20 years,” he added.

As part of NYC Parks’ mission, these rules are in place to help balance all the various ways park goers can use the park; from a quiet place to read and reflect to a concert venue for new musicians.

Washington Square Park is funded by a combination of public tax dollars, private donations, and the Washington Square Park Conservancy. A non-profit organization working alongside NYC Parks and neighborhood groups, the WSP Conservancy ensures that the park continues to be a diverse and historical urban green space by working with volunteers and raising funds to help keep the park clean and safe for everyone. As per WSP Conservancy, there is no legal agreement, operational or otherwise, between the Parks Department and the Washington Square Park Conservancy. The conservancy essentially provides support for the park through
stewardship, financial support, and programming.

For artists, this recent harassment opens up discussion about the lack of enforcement against drug dealers/users who occupy space in only two designated areas within the park where artists are allowed to display their work, albeit while following proper guidelines.

Artist and former educator, Oriel “OR1EL” Ceballos, has been selling and creating his art for a decade. A Brooklyn College, Princeton and Columbia University alumni, he graduated from seminary school at the age of 24 and at 31, began teaching. “Teaching college, that kind of shifted my perspective on what it means to be a successful black man in America,” said Ceballos. “So, all I told them, what I encourage other artists to do – I don’t have any price, I’m displaying art so if you shut me down, I’m still gonna stay here, because as a pedestrian I can be in the park and I can just go to Michael’s and just create an installation while I’m now just live painting here. I don’t really understand why artists are leaving.”

The Conservancy cherishes the park’s history as a center for artists, which is part of why they began an artist residency program to introduce various practices and local artists to the community within regulations. “I got arrested here for selling art this way – and look, I’m still doing it. I sued the city, ended up doing shows… I got a gallery, I don’t really need to be out here,” he added.

“Don’t let them stop your money. You gotta be a little crazy, you gotta have an edge when it comes to your art.

On Thursday, September 5, 2024 a group of immigrant homecare workers protested outside Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong news agency, opposing the publication of articles that the workers say are aimed at dividing the Asian and Black communities that live in Chinatown and the Lower East Side.

The protesters were from a coalition of groups that have fought to end New York City’s 24-hour homecare shifts. The coalition includes immigrant homecare workers who are a part of the “Ain’t I a Woman?!” campaign and organizers from the Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA), and the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side. The groups held a press conference outside Sing Tao Daily. 

The coalition said it believes Sing Tao Daily publicly misinforms its readers and accused the newspaper of spreading anti-Black hatred. Protesters say that Sing Tao journalist Lotus Chau targeted Christopher Marte, the first Afro-Latino council member in NYC, in an article published on Sing Tao. Brooklyn New Service made several attempts to contact Sing Tao, but Sing Tao did not respond to questions. 

Members of the coalition are angry with Sing Tao for its consistent support for the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), whose Chinese-American Planning Council Home Attendant Program (CPCHAP) employs many of the protesters and, according to the protesters, is guilty of wage theft. Brooklyn News Service tried to contact the President of CPC multiple times, but the agency did not answer the calls. It did release a statement on June 27, claiming it always supported the coalition call to end 24-hour work shifts. 

“CPCHAP also tried to decline accepting any more 24-hour cases, but HRA (New York City Human Resources Administration) threatened to terminate our contract if we continued to do so,” said Wayne Ho, President of CPC, in the organization’s  June 27 statement.

Jun Chang, CSWA organizer said, “We are here to speak out against the racist newspaper, Sing Tao. Chinese people are not racist, yet this publication is trying to mislead us with false attacks on the Black community, spreading fear of Black criminality. Putting our communities against each other all while colluding with the real criminals, the sweatshops of Chinese American Planning Council (CPC).” 

Caitlin Kelmar, Marte’s Chief of Staff told the rally that Sing Tao published articles by Lotus Chau that Kelmar believes attempted to defame her, and to interfere with local elections. “After years of racist lies against Council member Marte, I have now become Lotus’s latest target,” said Kelmar. “That’s why today lawyers are sending a letter to Sing Tao and Lotus based on an article that they published on June 4, 2024.” 

In their press conference, members of the coalition demanded that Sing Tao Daily fire Lotus Chau, condemn her allegedly racist remarks, and apologize to the community for spreading what they called misinformation. 

If Sing Tao Daily does not meet these demands, demonstrators and these organizations said they would be back outside Sing Tao on September 29 to demand a full federal investigation against the news agency and CPC.  

TriBeCa’s historic cobblestone streets might have you taking a different kind of ‘trip’ when you visit the neighborhood. After numerous incidents of residents injuring themselves, the city has begun the process of paving over the rugged, ankle-breaking streets. Manhattan Community Board 1 has voiced their concerns and is currently working with the city to prevent any more injuries and allow for the disabled to have a smooth crossing. Six crosswalks across the neighborhood will be paved over in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

John Croce, a 70-year-old TriBeCa resident, tripped over the cobblestones while crossing Harrison Street in October of 2018. Croce suffered multiple broken bones and later died due to complications from his injuries. Manhattan Community Board 1’s Quality of Life & Delivery Services Committee met on March 22, 2022 and reached the conclusion that “The Cobblestone Streets of TriBeCa need to be rebuilt as their current state is objectively dangerous whereby simple pedestrian use has already led to multiple examples of severe injury and one case leading to the death of a local resident from the simple act of walking on the cobbled roadway in its present state.” The sidewalk at the intersection of Hudson and Vestry has already been reconstructed and features non-skid pedestrian ramps on either side, a smooth granite pavement, as well as separated rows of cobblestones that mimic the aesthetic of the original streets.

Cobblestone streets throughout TriBeCa suffer from loose blocks, emerging depressions, and motor deterioration which all result in higher road maintenance costs compared with standard asphalt roadways. Member of the Executive Committee, Patricia L. Moore led the discussion at the community board meeting on cobblestone sidewalk reconstruction and emphasized the importance of safety interventions. “The cobblestone streets are exclusionary and do not permit the safe use of canes, walkers, mobility scooters, wheelchairs, strollers, or bicycles without the threat of tripping, equipment failure and excessive wear and tear,” said Moore.

The committee voted 11 in favor, 0 opposed during the community board meeting on March 22, 2022, to replacing the cobblestone sidewalks with asphalt as long as there are no preexisting historic protections for the streets. The problems and difficulties that arise from the cobblestones are “Inconsistent with the principles of universal access and inclusion that grow from earlier victories with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,” according to the committee resolution. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability within the United States. “These streets need to be safe and accessible to all,” said Moore.

Ethan Messina is a student at Hunter College who grew up in the Lower Manhattan area and is all too familiar with the treacherous cobblestone streets. “I was in middle school at the time and on my way to a friend’s house when I tripped on a cobblestone that was sticking up from the sidewalk,” he said. “I was holding a basketball in one hand my book bag in the other so I couldn’t brace my fall and fell right on my face.” Messina received only minor injuries from the fall but is still confused as to why the cobblestone streets remain. “I get they’re historic and have been there for years, but there’s a reason why they don’t make streets like that anymore,” he said.

The placing of the pavement is currently underway and “So far so good,” said Peter Roloff at the committee meeting, an engineer in charge at the NYC Department of Design and Construction Infrastructure. “We’re really getting into the nitty gritty of the major work and so far, we haven’t had any negative feedback from the community.” At the request of the Community Board, the city is constructing crosswalk upgrades at Jay and Staple Street, Laight and Collister, Jay and Greenwich, Harrison and Greenwich, Vestry and Washington, and Watts and Greenwich.

Safety concerns caused by scaffolding around two elementary schools were the main topic of discussion at a meeting of the Youth and Education Committee of Manhattan’s Community Board 1, held at the city Municipal Building on September 12.

Committee members Rosa Chang and Tricia Joyce were the main speakers. They presented concerns about the scaffolding and improper safety measures at two downtown schools: P.S.150, the Tribeca Learning Center, and at P.S. 234, the Independence School. Pedestrian safety was a particular concern with heavy traffic on streets that do not have necessary safety signs. Both school locations have scaffolding that poses a risk to children and parents, the committee members said.

“The scaffolding is not going to be coming down till spring as per Josh Adams at the SCA (School Construction Authority), which is, you know, really problematic,” said Joyce about P.S. 150. “I think we need to just lean on them a little bit. In terms of the signage, this was supposed to be here.”

“We do need to have a traffic enforcement agent there until we can get the situation with the lights sorted out,” said Chang about P.S. 150, as she explained the outreach attempts for the Department of Transportation (DOT). “But they do think that they can try to help us with at least a signal in that location as a short-term thing, but they are going to have to do a deeper dive into it.”

“We all new we had six years before that school was built,” said Joyce about P.S. 150. “It was approved in 2016 and the number one thing we said when they chose that location was safety and that they would have to build the receiving plaza. They would have to have traffic agents every single day.”

Joyce and Chang both expressed frustration that the scaffolding is taking up one-third of the south sidewalk of P.S. 150, which makes it challenging for parents to pick up their kids because of debris on the ground. They said they’ve never had a permanent crossing guard in place for that school, it’s always been an emergency fill-in. They said there needs to be a safety agent present in the crosswalk intersections to ensure that cars are following the stop signage protocols.

In regards to P.S. 234, it faces similar issues with scaffolding, but it’s in a slightly better situation of having most of its scaffolding scheduled to come down at set times.

“The sidewalk shed around the play yard on the street at 234 is going to come down in October; the sidewalk shed and scaffolding abutting the school will remain in place till May 24,” said Joyce who believes that it will improve conditions for student drop-offs by October.

Community Board 1 of Manhattan has 50 volunteer members who live or work in lower Manhattan. Members of the board are selected by the Manhattan Borough President with half of them recommended by the City Council Members that represent the 1st Council District. Committee and board meetings are held monthly and are open to the public. They go over specific issues relevant to Lower Manhattan such as land use, education matters, local budgets, or monitoring city services.

After much anticipation, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, a new part of the American Museum of Natural History announced in 2014, opened on May 4. 

Scott L. Bok, Chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, shared what the new building has to offer. 

“We are thrilled to open this magnificent new resource and facility, especially as the city is more fully emerging from the pandemic period and people are eager for opportunities to learn, to be amazed, and to be inspired,” he said. 

The center is 230,000 square feet in size, with the project itself costing $465 million. The building features seven floors in total, including six above ground and one below ground.

The building itself was designed by Studio Gang, and features architecture inspired by canyons of the Southwestern United States. 

Jeanne Gang, the founder of Studio Gang, shares about how the design is meant to connect with visitors. 

“The Gilder Center is designed to invite exploration and discovery that is not only emblematic of science, but also such a big part of being human. It aims to draw everyone in—all ages, backgrounds, and abilities—to share the excitement of learning about the natural world,” she said. 

Gang also explained how attendees can experience the center at their own pace.

“Stepping inside the large day-lit atrium, you are offered glimpses of the different exhibits on multiple levels. You can let your curiosity lead you. And with the many new connections that the architecture creates between buildings, it also improves your ability to navigate the Museum’s campus as a whole.” 

The Gilder Center houses the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, which highlights the importance of insects on the planet. Eighteen species of live insects, digital exhibits, models, and pinned specimens are on display, demonstrating the vitality of insects in different ecosystems, as well as their evolution and ways in which they benefit humanity. 

Additionally, the center features the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, a space containing 1,000 live butterflies of 80 different species and information about them. 

Hazel Davies, an expert on butterflies who has worked at the museum since 1995 and been its director of living exhibits since 2005, discusses what the vivarium has to offer. 

“The butterfly vivarium is a really immersive space for the visitors, you come in and you walk around a room full of butterflies, so it’s a really great opportunity to have a personal experience interaction with an insect, and butterflies make great ambassador insects because they’re so popular,” she said. 

Davies went on to describe the necessity of maintaining the vivarium’s conditions.

“The room is kind of like summer in New York, it’s about 75-78 degrees, it’s quite humid. All of the butterfly species we have are from farms in more tropical areas, and so we are approximating their natural habitat, and butterflies generally need to be warm to fly, that’s why you don’t see butterflies flying around in New York in the winter.” 

Davies also talked about the importance of butterflies and what the exhibit can teach people about them. 

“This is a great opportunity to learn a lot of different information about butterflies and insects in general. One of the great things about the space is that we have a wonderful crew of staff and volunteers who are here to answer questions and help you get more out of your visit. We also have a lot of interesting graphics where you can read bits of information to find out more about butterflies,” she said. 

According to Davies, the vivarium serves as a way to observe what butterflies do in their ordinary habitat.

“It’s great that you can see butterflies here doing lots of different behaviors that you would naturally. You can also learn about threats that butterflies face. It’s great for people of all ages, because kids can learn just about their senses, and how they have all the same senses that we have, but in different parts of their body.” 

The Gilder Center is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and is included with admission to the museum. The butterfly vivarium is an additional cost.