WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - New parking holiday, migrant survey, Queens radiological contamination

 

Dear New Yorkers,

New parking holiday, migrant survey, Queens radiological contamination

Won’s office estimates there are 61,000 New Yorkers who celebrate Losar – including Tibetans, Bhutanese, Highland Nepalese, Sikkimese, Mongolians, Monpas.

Losar would become the 38th city parking holiday, joining Diwali, Tisha B’Av, Juneteenth, Three Kings’ Day and many more.

Read more about Losar and other alternate-side parking holidays here.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Friday's Weather Rating: 4/10. A decent start, with partly cloudy skies and high temperatures in the low 40s. Increasingly windy throughout the day. Clouds move in late, and some light snow is possible very late tonight into Saturday morning. The vibes remain wintry out there!

After World War II, the federal government contracted with a Queens business called the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company to develop nuclear weapons. Decades later, the feds are working to eliminate the radiological contamination that resulted from that effort. Listen to the third episode of Hazard NYC, a four-part limited series from FAQ NYC, and scroll through an immersive digital story to explore how the recent and not-so-recent history shapes the future of the area.

Hazard NYC is sponsored, in part, by Brooklyn SolarWorks.

Our Other Top Story

Nearly a thousand migrants waiting for a new shelter cot spent a recent night on the streets or in trains, according to an internal poll conducted by city officials and obtained by THE CITY. The survey asked 377 migrants who’d reapplied for shelter placements where they’d spent the night. The results, according to the materials reviewed by THE CITY, were “representative of the entire guest waitlist” — which at the time was 3,874 people. This week, City Hall credited a recent drop in the number of migrants in city shelters (from 69,000 in early January down to 65,600 in mid-February) to shelter eviction policies. But that drop does not appear to account for the 3,500 people who were waiting for a shelter placement.

Reporter’s Notebook

Grow Your Own

The state Cannabis Control Board will meet in Troy, N.Y., today to approve more licenses to grow, process and sell marijuana as well as new sets of regulations — including rules guiding how New Yorkers can legally grow their own weed at home.

The proposed home-growing regulations will allow adults ages 21 and over to grow up to six plants and possess up to five pounds of cannabis in their private residences.

According to the agenda, the board is expected to approve 38 retail licenses that already have a location ready to open. This is still far short of the hundreds of licenses Gov. Kathy Hochul expected the Office of Cannabis Management’ board to approve in January. The governor directed the board to cancel its meeting last month, in frustration that just three proposed retail shops were on the agenda after systemic delays.

The board is also expected to give the green light to New York’s first 26 “microbusiness” licenses, which will allow their holders to both grow and sell their own small-batch cannabis —  an exception to New York’s strict system of separation between cultivation and retail sales licenses.

— Rosalind Adams

Better Budget News

The city’s budget outlook, so dire in November that Mayor Eric Adams instituted a series of headline-grabbing cuts to city services, keeps getting better.

Not only did Mayor Eric Adams cancel some of the cuts when he issued his preliminary budget last month — now the Independent Budget Office says that the surplus at the end of the current year on June 30 will be almost $3 billion higher than the mayor projected in January. The added money could allow the mayor and the City Council to more easily agree on a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 with only modest cuts.

Tax revenues continue to exceed forecasts and costs, especially for asylum seekers, are less than expected. In its analysis released Thursday, The IBO also projects deficits for the next three years will total $18 billion, which it calls well within historical range for future estimates.

However, the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission continues to warn of hard times ahead.

“We remain very concerned that planned spending is significantly short of what is needed to continue current services and urge the administration to be as transparent as possible by including the full costs of all programs in the budget and identifying which would have to shrink or stop due to lack of revenue to support them,” said research director Ana Champeny.

— Greg David

Heads up, Scoop will be taking a break on Presidents Day. We'll be back with more news on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Things To Do

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

Thursday, Feb. 15: A conversation at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on how to join a community garden. Free from 6 to 8 p.m.  Saturday, Feb. 17: Live Mini-Portraits by Manny Vega, whose iconic mural and mosaic art is currently featured in Byzantine Bembé: New York by Manny Vega. The artist will draw portraits of museum-goers for free, which will be displayed for a limited time as part of the exhibition. Free with admission at 1 p.m., at the Museum of the City of New York. Sunday, Feb 18: “Fly With Me” Film Preview & Discussion, a screening and talk about a new documentary film about trailblazing flight attendants. Free from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

THE KICKER: The popular Hulu show “Only Murders in the Building”  — about a group of New York neighbors who solve mysteries — will not film its next season in the city, reports West Side Rag. The show’s fourth season will be set in Los Angeles instead of on West 86th Street.

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

Love,

THE CITY

Love,

THE CITY

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