WORLD WORLDWIDE US USA - New York NY - New York City NYC - THE CITY SCOOP - Buying out NYC below sea level.

 

[thecity.nyc/home]

Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

Dear New Yorkers,

For decades, people living on the border of Brooklyn and Queens have dealt with the unique effects of living in a basin.

They’ve coped with swampy flooding, bumpy streets, illegal dumping and leaky septic tanks — because they aren’t connected to the municipal sewer system. Their roads are named for jewels — Amber, Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald — but the area may be better known as The Hole.

And it is now unique in another way: It’s becoming the first place in the five boroughs where New York City will offer to buy flood-prone homes from homeowners — proactively, rather than in response to a disaster.

Read more here about how homeowners in The Hole might be made whole.

Weather 🌤️

Mostly sunny, with a high near 69.

MTA 🚇

In The Bronx, Manhattan-bound 6 trains skip Longwood Avenue, E. 149th St., E. 143th St., Cypress Avenue and Brook Avenue from 9:45 p.m. to 5 a.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, Oct. 3.

By the way…

If you’d like to come to our community conversation on affordable housing in The Bronx on Oct. 15, sign up here.

Our Other Top Stories

Magdalena Morańda’s family fought in the Solidarność movement against the Communist Party, and her parents left Poland. Morańda now canvasses for Mamdani — and belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America. That part she keeps quiet. "My parents do not know I’m in DSA. I don’t think they’d approve of me being in a socialist organization," she told THE CITY. Read more about the children of families who fled Soviet socialism knocking on doors for a (democratic) socialist candidate. New York officials ripped into the Trump administration’s move to pause billions in federal funding for the Second Avenue Subway over what it claims are "unconstitutional" DEI practices. Standing outside a subway information center on 125th Street, Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs denounced the freeze as "retaliation, pure and simple." Investigators are looking into whether a safety system failure in the boiler of a Bronx public housing building allowed gas to build up inside the boiler chamber and travel up a 20-story chimney, a breakdown that triggered a massive explosion when a technician flipped the switch to turn it on, THE CITY has learned.

Things To Do

Here are some free and low-cost things going on around the city this week.

Friday, Oct. 3: Watch "Wicked" under the stars in Morningside Park. Free, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4: Experience the 2025 Korean Festival and Parade in Koreatown, on 32nd St. between Broadway and 5th Ave. Free, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4: Participate in the City of Forest Day with a guided walking tour of Randall’s Island. Free, from 9 to 11 a.m.

THE KICKER: In this city, runners have to race to sign up for races. And they’re off!

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

Love,

THE CITY

PS. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom is powered by 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.