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Dear New Yorkers,

Every summer, the Mayor’s Office hires a tiny group of high school and college students to spy on city agencies.

The group of multilingual interns — often five to 10 students, on summer break — are called “secret shoppers.”

Their job? To go undercover into city service centers and pretend they do not speak English.

The assignment? To covertly evaluate how centers are meeting language accessibility standards.

The shoppers are each assigned a character and a backstory. They walk in to sites from the Chinatown Medicaid Office to the Fort Greene Sexual Health Clinic to Bronx Family Court, and they ask a simple question to the staff, often about a form or program eligibility.

Those questions range from “Can my uncle get a permit for a barbecue” to “Do I qualify for this health care program?” While waiting to be helped, the shoppers also determine if interpretation services and translated documents are available.

Last month, for the first time, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs released data on how agencies performed in undercover trials in 2023, across 148 service centers in the city.

Half of the service centers were in some violation of New York City’s language access law, according to the data.

Read more here about the centers and the secret shopper program.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Wednesday's Weather Rating: 5/10. Warmer (again) with high temperatures in the lower 90s. Partly sunny and a bit of a breeze, but rising dew points are not working in our favor. The vibes are getting a bit more uncomfortable ...

Our Other Top Stories

Gov. Kathy Hochul came to Manhattan on Tuesday to declare a reboot of the city’s rocky retail cannabis industry — but not everyone was swayed. A crowd of dozens of protesters gathered outside of the governor’s Midtown office bearing handouts that read “Hoodwinked by Hochul,” with a link to a THE CITY’s investigation about what critics call a “predatory” loan program launched over objections from Hochul’s staff.  The City Council and the mayor are moving to revive tax lien sales as more than $1.8 billion in city real estate and water bill charges sits uncollected. For many years, the city sold outstanding debt from property taxes and water bills to third parties, but that system expired after some Council members and community advocates voiced concerns about the risk of people losing their homes because of economic hardship. Now, proposed new tax lien program legislation includes some measures its backers say would protect property owners and tenants. But some advocates remain skeptical of tax lien sales at all. The Dyckman Basketball Summer Tournament in Inwood launched in 1990 with a few guys, two hoops, a court, a basketball and some paint. Now known as the “Red Carpet of Streetball,” the tournament has grown far beyond one court. It attracts NBA players, celebrities and major sponsorships, while remaining a neighborhood scene. At dozens of courts across the five boroughs, countless players have chucked basketballs at hundreds of steel hoops handmade by blacksmiths in a Department of Parks and Recreation workshop. “The circle doesn’t just form itself — we form it,” said 36-year-old blacksmith Giovanni Romano. THE CITY visited Romano and other city blacksmiths at their welding workshop to see how hoops — and lifeguard chairs, and barbecue grills — for city parks get made.

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S.I.’s Historic Black Cemetery Gets Landmark Status

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved landmarking the Frederick Douglass Memorial Park on Staten Island — the only nonsectarian burial ground for Black New Yorkers.

The park opened in the 1930s in response to racial segregation at cemeteries, according to the conservancy which maintains the space. One of the founders, Rodney Dade, had said he wanted to name the area in memory of the “greatest man of my race, Frederick Douglass.”

The area is the final resting place for thousands of Black New Yorkers, including jazz trumpet player Tommy Ladnier and journalist Floyd J. Calvin, who worked in newspapers around the country before creating his own news service.

“Frederick Douglass Memorial Park offered a dignified and dedicated space for the Black community to honor those who transitioned,” Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday in a statement.

“Today, our administration plays its part by commemorating those who stood up against injustice and by officially designating Frederick Douglass Memorial Park a landmark.”

Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat who represents parts of Staten Island and chairs the Council’s Landmarks Committee, told the Staten Island Advance in April that this landmarking is part of a larger recognition for African American burial grounds around the city.

Brandon Stradford, the memorial park board’s president, told the newspaper about possible landmarking: “The bodies are dead. The bodies have expired; the dreams haven’t. We don’t hear them speak, but their dreams still live in their descendants.”

— Katie Honan

Things To Do

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

Thursday, June 20: Create a glass suncatcher for your window in this guided arts and crafts class. Free from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Ozone Park Library, 92-24 Rockaway Blvd. Friday, June 21: Head to the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park, where you can see artists Ana Tijoux and Ambar Lucid take the stage from 7 to 9 p.m. Free with RSVP. Saturday, June 22:  Celebrate community and liberation through the arts with the Fortune Society in Long Island City. Enjoy family-friendly festivities, including art-making workshops, live music, and more.  Free from 1 to 6 p.m.

THE KICKER: Today is the summer solstice! And it’s the earliest one in 228 years.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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