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Dear New Yorkers,

One of the first things retired jail guard Gloria Murli tells Rikers Island visitors is to watch where they walk. “Just be careful,” she says, “They leave you little presents.”

The gift-givers are feral cats that live in alleys between trailers, under crawlspaces and inside emptied jail complexes across the island’s 413 acres.

As Murli drove by on a winter morning, two cats watched from outside a handbuilt shed. One lay atop a cushion pad on a patio, unbothered.

The Department of Correction couldn’t say exactly how the island got its feline squatters. But Murli, a retired corrections officer, said a number of them were dumped there by visitors, contractors and even staff. Those cats reproduced, causing the population to balloon to around 1,000 at its peak in the early 2000s.

Now, as the city is moving towards closing the jails of Rikers, Murli is pushing for the department to build a sanctuary where the remaining cats can be gathered, spayed and neutered. The cats in that colony would then either get adopted or live out their last years on the island. Detainees and inmates, for their part, would get to participate in a program to train in veterinary technician skills and care for them.

“It’s the lowest thing on the totem pole,” Murli said of the sanctuary. “But it’s a problem,” she continued, referring to the feral cats.

“And if you don't take care of this problem, it is just gonna get worse and it's gonna multiply and multiply.”

Read more here to meet Sphinx, Cruella, Blue, Patrick and more — the cats that roam Rikers.

Weather ☀️

Warming up a bit, but still plenty of wind with the sunshine. Stay bundled!

MTA 🚇

No J train between Crescent Street in Brooklyn and Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer in Queens starting at 11:45 p.m. tonight through Monday morning. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, Jan. 10.

By the way…

Housing vouchers like CityFHEPS can be life saving for low-income or homeless New Yorkers — but the process of actually finding an apartment and securing the voucher is often an uphill battle. Here’s our guide on how to find housing with a voucher in NYC.

Our Other Top Stories

A group of cannabis dispensary operators called on Gov. Kathy Hochul Thursday to forgive tens of millions of dollars of high-cost loans that they say threaten the viability of their businesses. The loans were made by a social equity loan fund created by the Hochul administration to provide capital to dispensary owners, but that has instead “perpetuated many of the economic inequities it was designed to combat,” the group said.  Mayor Eric Adams presented his State of the City address on Thursday, sharing his vision to make raising a family in the city easier — but with few details on how. Adams unveiled his goal of building 100,000 new apartments in Manhattan, alongside funding for youth programs and new housing to curb street homelessness. However, many of his big announcements — like a proposal to eliminate personal income taxes for New Yorkers making under a certain amount — would require buy-in from the state legislature to become reality.  Are you a parent in NYC? Do you want to get more involved with local education policy? Here’s the lowdown on serving on one of the city’s Community and City Education Councils (CECs) from our friends at Chalkbeat. The CECs are largely advisory bodies, but give parents the opportunity to help determine policy across their district and the city. The application opens Monday and closes on Feb. 16.

SPONSORED How Harlem showed the way from community banking to community building Five years ago, JPMorganChase opened its first-in-the-nation Community Center Branch on 125th Street in Harlem, focused on community outreach and financial health education. In the years since, the bank has opened 18 similar branches across the country, including locations that opened last year in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and on East Fordham Road in the Bronx. The new approach is working: New Yorkers at the Harlem Community Center Branch have increased their personal savings balances by 73% and the number of small business clients there has grown by over 50%. Learn more about how JPMorganChase is going from community banking to community building in New York and beyond.

Reader Christina C. recently asked THE CITY to explain “exactly what — and what is not — recycled” in NYC, and “what to do with tricky materials, like coffee cup lids.” Thanks for writing — we’re working on that! As we put together a guide, help us: What are your recycling-related questions? Send your head-scratchers to ask@thecity.nyc. We’ll have answers soon.

Things To Do

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

Saturday, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12: It’s Mulchfest’s Chipping Weekend! If you bring your Christmas Tree to one of the free Mulchfest drop-off sites this weekend, you’ll get to take home a bag of mulch. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Saturday, Jan. 11: Watch a free showing of Grease, presented by the New York Public Library at their largest circulating branch. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, 455 Fifth Ave. 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12: Ice skating on Roebling Rink is free for Brooklyn residents from 10 to 11 a.m.  Visit the rink in Brooklyn Bridge Park this month before its Feb. 2 closure.

THE KICKER: As we all anxiously watch the catastrophic events in Los Angeles, we want to recognize the efforts of our friends at nonprofit newsrooms there, particularly LAist and CalMatters. They’re doing essential coverage keeping their neighbors informed in a terrifying moment. Give them a read, and support them if you can.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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