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October 8, 2025

Dear New Yorkers,

John Chell is the NYPD’s chief of department, a three-decade veteran known for aggressively asserting police powers and taking to conservative news outlets and social media with scathing critiques of judges and journalists who suggest the police should rein themselves in. But Chell’s three-decade department career will end as Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer himself, winds down his single term in City Hall. Sources say he is putting in his retirement papers, after becoming the public face of stepped up quality-of-life enforcement and a shift in department policy that directed officers to chase suspects who attempted to speed away in cars.

Chell’s vehicle pursuit policy led to a sixfold increase in chases and more than one collision each day on average, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries among bystanders, suspects and officers alike, THE CITY found in an investigation last year.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch then promoted Chell to his current role — but also rolled back Chell’s changes, limiting pursuits to instances where suspects are believed to have committed serious crimes.

Read more here about John Chell’s NYPD.

Weather ☔

Showers, with a high near 71.

MTA 🚇

In Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, there will be no Queens-bound A trains at Spring St, Canal St, Chambers St, Fulton St and High St from 11:45 p.m. to 5 a.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s suspended today, Oct. 8, for Sukkot.

By the way …

Gov. Kathy Hochul has extended her executive order allowing all New Yorkers to access the COVID vaccine. Read our guide if you need help finding the jab.

Our Other Top Stories

City Council leaders joined forces with politically powerful unions Tuesday to urge voters to reject ballot proposals pushed by Mayor Adams that would make it easier to build affordable housing and make minor zoning changes, by bypassing a Council vote. Opponents focused on the threat of losing leverage to demand public benefits. We want to know: Who’s been campaigning in your neighborhood, and how? Plus, a reader question on this November’s ballot questions — in the latest edition of our election newsletter. The Trump administration is using the federal shutdown to pause $18 billion already committed to huge, ongoing New York projects. On the latest episode of City Hall Free for All, the hosts discuss that and a lot more with “Gridlock Sam” Schwartz.

Things To Do

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

Wednesday, Oct. 8: Enjoy live music by Alegba and Friends at the 6th Ave Triangle in Park Slope. Free, from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9: Learn the fundamentals of street-style and competitive jump rope at a double dutch workshop in Washington Square Park. Free, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9: Experience the season finale of the Uptown Night Market in Harlem, from 4 to 10 p.m.

THE KICKER: One person’s heartbreak, another person’s plants? An Upper West Sider leaves her cheating husband's plants out for someone to take.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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