WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - Retail transit apocalypse, VOTE jobs, school lunch cuts

 

Dear New Yorkers,

Mass transit officials bet on turning the city’s transportation hubs into miniature malls, adding space for shops and restaurants in the hopes of boosting revenue.

But many are still ghost towns.

Shops inside the year-old Long Island Rail Road hub deep beneath Grand Central are likely to remain vacant until 2025.

The Staten Island Ferry’s Whitehall and St. George terminals, whose 20 retail spaces were filled to capacity with small businesses before the coronavirus pandemic, are now looking for four new tenants.

And at the once-bustling Turnstyle Underground Market inside the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station, just six of nearly 40 shops and kiosks were open on a recent weekday morning as riders hustled past to catch the subway.

While just 60 of the 190 retail spaces in the subway system are currently filled, 17 others have tenants whose plans are under review or construction. The remaining 113 will be marketed over the next nine months to a year or have licenses under negotiation.

“Every dollar the MTA receives in revenue is needed,” said Kate Slevin, executive vice president for the Regional Plan Association. “Hopefully, the return of ridership will help bring back some of the businesses that bring riders convenience in their daily lives — the shoe shiners, cleaners, food stores.”

Read more about the city’s retail spaces in transit hubs here.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Monday's Weather Rating: 3/10. A gross drizzle and wintry mix ends this morning, with the storm system responsible finally pulling away. Slight improvements as the day goes on, but it is chilly with highs near 40 and a breeze. The vibes are still suboptimal.

Our Other Top Stories

In New York City, officials have tried what they can to rein in dangerous e-bikes and e-scooters as the poorly manufactured batteries in the devices continue to kill and injure city residents. Safety experts say the only way to truly curb the threat is to regulate them at the source. That will require federal legislation in the most sharply divided and least productive Congress in a generation. But, surprisingly, regulating the devices’ batteries seems to be one of the only issues on which House Republicans and Democrats agree these days. New York City may be known around the world as the center of global finance, but it is scientists, engineers and tech workers who are now primarily responsible for driving jobs and economic growth in the city. According to a new report by the city’s Economic Development Corporation, the number of New Yorkers working in STEM fields surged by 67% between 2011 and 2022, reaching 193,000 — about the same number of people who currently work on Wall Street.  Mayor Eric Adams’ school budget cuts will soon hit New York City students square in the stomach, reports Chalkbeat. A $60 million cut to the city’s school foods budget is forcing the Education Department to thin out next month’s school cafeteria menu by removing a host of pricier items, including student favorites like cookies, chicken dumplings, and bean and cheese burritos.

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Thursday, Feb. 1: The opening reception for The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making, an ongoing New York Public Library exhibition of photographs of Langston Hughes with students, writers, visual artists and performers. Free from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Saturday, Feb. 3: Hands-on History: Victorian Valentines, an arts-and-crafts event for all ages that uses reproductions of historic patterns in Valentine’s Day card-making. Free from 1 to 4 p.m. at King Manor Museum in Rufus King Park in Queens. Saturday, Feb. 3: An in-person book giveaway for anyone over the age of 10. Free (pre-registration required) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brooklyn Book Bodega.

THE KICKER: A rather unusual squirrel has been spotted in the East Village’s Tompkins Square Park, reports EV Grieve.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Monday.

Love,

THE CITY

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