WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - THE CITY SCOOP: 5Pointz Artwork Lives on in Spooky Queens Afterlife, But Its Days Are Numbered

 

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If you know anyone who might like this newsletter, send it to them. If this was sent to you by someone else, subscribe here — it's free!  Dear New Yorkers, An aerosol-painted Addams Family stares blankly at a Long Island City parking lot. Next to it, a mural of the IT clown looms over pedestrians passing through on Vernon Boulevard. Further down that same dark green wall, a pumpkin patch sits on an illustrated graveyard where the names of graffiti artists appear on a tombstone. On this vacant building — with “HALLOWEEN IN LIC” spray-painted in white and green — lives the work of artists who’d been part of 5Pointz, the former LIC-based mecca for graffiti artists and their work.  But even the Halloween murals may not survive much longer. For years, developers have angled to rehabilitate the building. And earlier in October, the city announced a “holistic community planning” effort that would culminate in a rezoning plan for an area that includes the graffiti site. They had tagged the wall for free about a decade ago with the permission of the building’s owners and at the request of local restaurant owner Gianna Cerbone, who said she is inspired by the 5Pointz artists who continued to pay respect to the neighborhood — even when it had failed to do the same for them when developers destroyed the legendary graffiti site. Through “all the trauma,” of losing 5Pointz, Cerbone reflected, the artists used the Halloween murals, “to give back again to a community that shunned them … They let it go, and they went on to make something that was beautiful — and scary.” Read more about the LIC Halloween murals here. And, here are a couple of other tips for New York Halloween: the city has made more than 100 streets and plazas car-free for this evening, for the safety of young people and trick-or-treaters. Plus, THE CITY can confirm that the Board of Elections is once again handing out their popular, limited-edition Halloween-themed “I voted” stickers at the polls today — even more reason to head over to cast your ballot. (Thanks to reader Ryan S. for bringing this to our attention!) In other news: OMNY-presence in Subway Stations The MTA flipped the switch Monday on the subway system’s first OMNY card vending machines. While the transit agency says that almost half of all subway riders now use “tap-and-go” technology to pay for trips with mobile devices or bank cards, newly activated vending machines being tested at six stations — 86th St. (4, 5, 6), Atlantic Ave-Barclays Ctr (2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, Q, R), Bowling Green (4, 5), Fordham Rd (4) and Fordham Rd (B, D), and Junction Blvd (7) — now offer the option to buy and reload contactless OMNY cards. “We’ve gotten use of tap-and-go for OMNY up to very significant levels … nearly 50% on the subway, 30% on the bus system, 2.3 million taps in one day last month, which is a record,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction and Development, said Monday while unveiling a new machine at Barclays Center. Installation of OMNY vending machines at all 472 subway stations is set to continue through 2024, when the MTA expects to phase out the MetroCard, which was introduced in 1994 as a replacement for the token. — Jose Martinez   City ‘Doing the Best We Can’ Starts Putting Kids in Tents Migrant families with children newly arriving in New York City will soon be sent to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.  City officials led a gaggle of reporters around the site Monday morning, showing off the “semi-congregate” dormitories, where the cavernous tent area was subdivided into cubicles for 128 families. All told, 500 families can live at the site across four tent dormitories. The former airfield is extremely remote, and during the day the city will run shuttle buses every 90 minutes to the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Subway stop that’s a 20-minute drive away.  Except for a brief time after Hurricane Sandy, this will be the first time that homeless families with children are housed in something other than private rooms in decades. The city’s emergency management commissioner Zachary Iscol thanked the federal and state governments for allowing use of the swampland, but conceded the situation was far from ideal. “We are doing the best we can with what they have given us,” he said.  — Gwynne Hogan Some other items of note: Top officials from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) were grilled at a joint subcommittee meeting in Albany yesterday, as state lawmakers questioned the agency’s efforts to manage the unlicensed cannabis shops that have proliferated across the state. OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander — who said earlier this month that it was “never OCM’s mission to do this type of enforcement” — testified that he was skeptical that fines would help: “Even at the $20,000-a-day limit, for some of these folks who own multiple operations across the city or state — it is still the cost of doing business at times,” he said.  Speaking of, here is the correct link to THE CITY’s story about OCM’s pause of enforcement hearings for illegal cannabis storefronts. The story was included in yesterday’s Scoop, but with the wrong link. Our apologies! The Queens Public Administrator, which manages the estates of people who die without wills, plans to depose a trio of real estate speculators accused of predatory practices. Back in July, THE CITY published an investigation revealing how the ring of real estate investors and many other generically named LLCs operate; later in the summer, a judge nullified the deed sales through which the trio claimed partial ownership of a Queens house. The depositions, set for Nov. 8, will delve into allegedly forged signatures that were used in the sale of that house and of other properties, which were first revealed by THE CITY’s investigation. On the latest episode of FAQ NYC, co-hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss migrant kids in tents, City Hall’s crude insult comedy, Mayor Eric Adams’ strong political hand and much more. Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Tuesday's Weather Rating: 6/10. A nice improvement this morning, with partly cloudy skies and low humidity. A bit chilly, but high temperatures reach the lower 50s this afternoon. Clouds and a few showers may move back into the area tonight. The vibes are alright! Things To Do Here’s what’s going on around the city this week. Tuesday, Oct. 31: Halloween. Here are 41 places to take kids trick-or-treating in the city, as compiled by Gothamist. Saturday, Nov. 4: Fall Splendor Tour, a leaf peeping event at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Free with admission, 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.  Saturday, Nov. 4: Break down your decorative gourds at the Hudson River Park’s Pumpkin Smash. Bats, hammers and shovels are available for use. Pier 84 at W. 44 St. in Manhattan. Free from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m THE KICKER: Do you know where you live? Are you sure? The New York Times put a lot of work into surveying New Yorkers to figure out the true neighborhoods of the city — with some data help from one of our favorite bygone local news sites, DNAInfo. RIP. Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Tuesday. Love, THE CITY P.S. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom runs on support from readers like you. Donate here.

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