Dear New Yorkers, As evening-rush commuters zipped through the 42nd Street subway passageway that links the Times Square and Port Authority stations last week, a mother of four young sons tried making her voice heard inside the city’s busiest transit complex. “Chicles, chocolates, galletas,” she said repeatedly in Spanish. She clutched a small cardboard box with $2 packs of chewing gum, M&Ms and Oreos, as three of her boys sat on the floor, crowding around the screen of a mobile phone. Two months after arriving in the United States the 35-year-old Ecuadorian woman — who did not want to be identified by name — told THE CITY that she has followed the path into the subway of other newly arrived asylum seekers from Central and South America who try to make a few bucks by selling sweets and fruits. More than 67,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since last year, according to City Hall, with the majority coming from countries in Central and South America. In the last week alone, 5,800 asylum seekers have arrived in New York, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday. An unknown number are now setting up shop in the subway. “You don’t have to make a huge investment,” said Hildalyn Colon, deputy director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, a Queens-based organization that provides jobs training and other help for the newly arrived. “You buy a package of candy and sell it.” Read more here.
Some other items of note: New York City’s Human Resources Administration is looking to move more than 700 tech support employees into Liberty Bklyn — a warehouse building near Industry City that was recently vacated by Bed Bath & Beyond. It’s part of a real estate development project receiving millions in tax breaks. Now, HRA and two other city agencies — the Administration for Children's Services and the Department of Finance — are seeking a total of 214,000 square feet of space. A proposed lease is set to be considered by the City’s Planning Commission at a public hearing today. Courts officers in Queens may have tainted up to three dozen cases — and sent at least one man to Rikers — according to an affidavit filed by a former juror. In the sworn document, Aaron Narraph Fernando, 22, alleges that court officers told him and other jurors to avoid “long debates” — along with other instructions that a legal expert called “irregular” and “improper.” On the latest episode of the FAQ NYC podcast, hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss Eric Adams’ new account of being arrested when he was young, City Hall’s plan for housing migrants, this summer’s lifeguard shortage and much more. On Thursday, June 1, THE CITY’s Gwynne Hogan will moderate a candidate forum for City Council District 43, which includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach. The forum is co-sponsored by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Asian Pacific Americans Voting & Organizing to Increase Civic Engagement (APA Voice) and diverse AAPI member organizations. RSVP here. THE CITY hosted an Open Newsroom session on Thursday, May 11, at the Brooklyn Public Library on mental health resources in New York City public schools and how to get appropriate support for kids. If you missed it, you can watch the video here. Thank you to everyone who attended the Missing Them project’s closing reception at the Bronx Documentary Center on Sunday! Our public art exhibitions with Photoville are on view through Memorial Day weekend. For the latest local numbers on COVID-19 hospitalizations, positivity rates and more, check our coronavirus tracker.
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