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FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2025

Dear New Yorkers,

The complex at 20 Hudson Yards is a shopping mall for the ultra-wealthy: Tiffany, Cartier, Piaget, Bulgari and Patek-Philippe all have glittering stores at the luxury emporium.

The high-profile commercial property is one of many that receives large property tax breaks from the city. Hudson Yards gets a 40% break, which amounted to around $78 million from 2020 to 2024.

Seems like a pretty good deal, right? But that hasn’t stopped them from filing appeals against the city claiming that they’re actually overtaxed.

For six out of the last eight years, the real estate giants behind 20 Hudson Yards have filed lawsuits challenging the decisions of the Tax Commission to try and change the city’s valuation of their holdings.

And in New York, that’s completely constitutional.

Given the opportunity for a second bite at the apple, developers already benefiting from a tax break take it.

Read more here about the real estate companies with the biggest tax breaks who are challenging the city for more.

Weather ☔

Rain! Highs in the upper 40s.

MTA 🚇

The Flushing-bound 7 train skips 82 Street, 90 Street, 103 Street and 111 Street starting at 11:45 p.m. tonight and through the weekend. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, April 11.

By the way…

Flood Sensor Aunty, a quirky new play about a flood sensor with big dreams, has just announced more show dates. We covered the play here — learn about flood preparedness, drink some chai and leave with a free head lamp and flood alarm.

Our Other Top Stories

The city’s youth lockups are failing vulnerable detainees, according to a new state audit. The two juvenile detention centers are plagued by chronic absenteeism, a massive spike in contraband, and a failure to properly report thousands of serious incidents of violence and abuse. The New York City Council is gearing up for a legal battle over the city’s sanctuary laws barring local authorities from assisting in federal immigration enforcement. They passed a resolution on Thursday allowing Speaker Adrienne Adams to sue the mayor — and potentially even the president — over the issue.  A perk of running as an independent? You get to pick your own ballot line name. In this week’s Ranked Choices election newsletter, we talk about line names past — ”Fix the MTA,”  “No Amazon,” and “It’s Time. Let’s Go.” — and discuss Eric Adams’ recently announced party line. Spoiler: it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

SPONSORED Keep This in Mind to Help Avoid Scams: How to Pay When Buying From Someone You Don’t Know  Credit cards, debit cards, cash, checks, wires or sending money to others using a P2P (person-to-person) payment app are examples of the many ways consumers can pay for everyday transactions. To help protect their money from scammers, it’s important for people to understand that how they pay matters, especially when buying something from someone they don’t know or trust. Here, Chase Community Manager Jane Wu shares some tips: Never make checks out to “cash,” use permanent ink, and write the amount in numbers and words.  For person-to-to person payments, if you are purchasing goods or merchandise, including things like concert tickets, a credit or debit card that offers purchase protection may be a better option.  When using credit and debit cards, two-factor authentication can help block anyone who gets your banking information from using it, and setting up credit monitoring helps you know if your card is used fraudulently.  For wire transfers, never provide your bank account details to unfamiliar or suspicious individuals and avoid wiring money to people or businesses you are unfamiliar with, especially if prompted by suspicious phone calls or emails.    Learn more about protecting your finances at chase.com/digital/resources/privacy-security

Reporter’s Notebook

No Tariff-Spurred Inflation — Yet

Consumer prices in the New York area were virtually unchanged in March as retailers sold inventory they had stockpiled in expectation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The increase of 0.1% over February was held in check by a sharp decline in gasoline prices and housing costs that did not go up for the first time in 38 months. The Elliman Report on apartments showed rents stable in Manhattan but up sharply in Brooklyn. Both were near or at record levels.

However, economists expect prices to rise as goods reflect the first wave of tariffs, the 125% tariffs on China that remains in effect as well as the benchmark 10% tariff applied to all goods coming into the country.

And the pain will be worse in the New York areas since inflation here remains higher than the rest of the country. Prices here rose 3.8% in the last year while increasing 2.4% nationally.

— Greg David

Things To Do

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

Saturday, April 12: Don’t let cherry blossoms have all the fun: see the annual Tulip Festival at the West Side Community Garden on the Upper West Side. Saturday, April 12: Join “neighbors, artists, skaters and weirdos” birding in McGolrick Park! Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 9 a.m. Saturday, April 12: Enjoy live music, baseball clinics and games, local food trucks and arts and crafts at the 4th Annual Jackie Robinson Day Festival! Jackie Robinson Park, Harlem. 12 p.m.

THE KICKER: And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into — the Empire State Building.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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