WORLD WORLDWIDE US USA -New York NY - New York City NYC - the city THE CITY - Mothers’ Day in the Flower District, Greco pay raise

 

Dear New Yorkers,

In the cool before the sun rose, the aromas of lilacs, peonies and hyacinths mingled with the air on West 28th Street.

But for the workers between Sixth and Seventh Avenues responsible for those flowers, there was hardly time to stop and smell the lilies on Wednesday morning: Mother’s Day, one of the Flower District’s busiest holidays, was just four days away.

At the Chelsea block that’s remained the city’s wholesale flower market for nearly a century, distributors hustling to open up shop arrived on the block around 3 a.m. Then came the delivery trucks from Kennedy Airport, which started to trickle in by 4. What had been a quiet street now rumbled with the clinks and clanks of metal carts wheeled between trucks and stores, as runners unloaded boxes of flowers that had passed through customs overnight — freshly cut from the soils of South America, Asia or Europe.

A flock of florists and event planners began to amass bundles of beauties wrapped in brown paper by 6, just after dawn.

Owner Gary Page, who started working on the street in 1984, said the store has imported more than 1,000 boxes for this weekend, about 25% more than its usual stock, to meet the Mother’s Day demand.

Overall, he said, “I’m surprised that the flower market continues to exist where it does.”

Read more about Chelsea’s last wholesale flower sellers here.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Friday's Weather Rating: 2/10. Oof. Cloudy, damp and dreary, with periods of rain expected throughout the day. High temperatures are much cooler as well, only reaching the mid-50s. The vibes are extremely not great.

Our Other Top Stories

Winnie Greco has nearly doubled her salary since Mayor Eric Adams hired her in January 2022, city payroll records show. The mayoral aide returned to work last week after going on leave following FBI raids of her homes in February. She joined the Adams administration at an annual salary of $100,000 two years ago — and while city payroll records don’t name her directly, they record an 85% pay bump last summer for the only senior policy advisor at that salary, boosting her compensation to $185,000. Albany lawmakers passed “Sammy’s Law” last month, a law that allows the city to lower speed limits on some roads, and on Thursday Gov. Kathy Hochul officially signed the bill. Safe-streets advocates are celebrating a victory — but while the law is set to go into effect on June 19, the long campaign to lower the speed limit still faces some roadblocks, including exactly how it will be implemented. Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber is making it clear that while she is an appointee of Mayor Eric Adams, her mission is to investigate without fear or favor as an independent “conscience of the city” — even when focusing on senior officials in the administration. That includes investigating social media posts by top NYPD brass, and micro-purchase contracts that were the centerpiece of a recent takedown of NYCHA employees.

Reporter’s Notebook

60-Day Limit for Migrant Families Is a Mean Mess, New Comptroller Report Claims

The city’s 60-day limit on shelter stays — which have impacted more than 9,000 migrant families with children — is being implemented haphazardly with little written guidance and none of the promised “intensive case management” that was meant to help families “complete their journey,” according to a report released by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander Thursday.

Instead of case management that might help families move out of shelters, they’re just asked repeatedly if they have somewhere else to go, while policies developed on the fly, like giving parents of newborn babies or pregnant women in their final trimester extra time in shelters, weren’t communicated to all the subcontractors implementing them, the report found.

“It was a policy designed to churn people through a system,” Lander said, speaking at a press conference outside the Row Hotel in Midtown Thursday morning. “And to push them out of the shelter system with no regard for where they landed.”

Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for Adams, contested the report and said the city has a clear process to request exemptions to the 60-day limits. “Our 30-and-60-day notices are one tool in our very limited toolbox to help migrants to exit shelter because, as we have repeatedly said, New York City is long past its breaking point,” she said.

— Gwynne Hogan

Things To Do

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

Saturday, May 11: The Forest Park Greenhouse Tour, a once-a-year peek into the Queens greenhouse and nursery where the Parks Department grows thousands of plants to beautify parks in Brooklyn and Queens. Free form 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Forest Park Greenhouse in Forest Park, Queens. Saturday, May 11: Wonderful Warblers, a weekly event hosted by the Prospect Park Alliance with fun games, bird walks, experiments and citizen science projects. Free from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Audubon Center at the Boathouse in Prospect Park. Saturday, May 11: The Street Vendor Walking Tour, an opportunity to meet local vendors and learn about the history of street vending. (Also check out the Street Vendor Project’s citywide scavenger hunt, ongoing through May 17.) Tickets are $10 (light bites are included) and registration is required. The event takes place from 12 to 1 p.m. in Times Square.

THE KICKER: An endangered 50,000-pound, 44-year-old whale was found dead on the hull of a giant cruise ship docked in Brooklyn, reports Gothamist.

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

Love,

THE CITY

PS. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom runs on support from readers like you. Donate here.

Want to view Scoop in your web browser? Click here.

THE CITY's work is made possible, in part, through the support of our sponsors. Interested in becoming a sponsor of THE CITY? Contact us here.  Copyright © 2024 THE CITY, All rights reserved.