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Friday, June 5, 2026

Craig Campanella installs nets on basketball hoops in parks around Queens, May 31, 2026. (Katie Honan/The City Reporter)

Dear New Yorkers,

When Jackson Heights resident Craig Campanella spots a missing basketball net in a city park, he springs into action.

Equipped with a foldable ladder, miscellaneous tools and a healthy stock of fresh nets, he zips from court to court to mend the naked hoops.

"Hoops without nets make me sad," he told The City Reporter. "I figured, life’s been good to me, so I can spare the bucks and I can do it."

Campanella has been on this mission for years, starting in Morningside Park, where he said hoops went months without being fixed. He recently accomplished his goal of replacing 25 nets this year, then set a new one of 50.

"Putting nets on hoops isn’t going to necessarily solve the world’s problems," Campanella said. "But … it makes me smile, and it makes other people in the park smile."

Read more about his passion project here.

Weather ☀️

Today: It’s getting hot! A high around 91 and mostly sunny in the daytime, a low near 72 and partly cloudy at night. An air quality advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. for sensitive groups due to ground-level ozone pollution.

This weekend: Daytime temperatures are forecast to stay toasty, with possible showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday.

MTA 🚇

In Queens, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 52nd Street, 69th Street and 103rd Street-Corona Plaza. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, June 5.

By the way…

New Yorkers now have until Sept. 7, 2026 to apply for reimbursements for official city trash bins.

Our Other Top Stories

A sergeant for a county prosecutor’s office in New Jersey was charged with theft for allegedly stealing more than $10,000 in equipment from a photographer injured during recent clashes at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in Newark. Hot town, summer in the city: Don’t miss our weekly seasonal newsletter Summer & The City! This week’s edition was about, what else: The Knicks, hoops and the love of the game.

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Reporter’s Notebook

More Service on Match Days

The MTA plans to boost service along some key subway lines on World Cup match days to connect soccer aficionados with commuter trains or buses running to games being held in the New Jersey Meadowlands and to fan events in Queens.

With eight World Cup matches in the region between June 13 and July 19, officials said Thursday that additional trains will run on the C and No. 1 lines to Penn Station so fans can connect to New Jersey Transit service to MetLife Stadium. Post-match service will also increase on those lines, as well as on the F.

"Mass transit is what makes it possible for us to have these huge events, without changing New York, without telling people to stay home," said Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive. "And the other theme is, this is not our first rodeo."

To handle anticipated crowds at a World Cup fan fest at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center across from Citi Field, the MTA also will increase No. 7 line service at the Mets-Willets Point station.

— Jose Martinez

Officials Face Questions on Violent Shelter

Top homelessness officials testifying before the City Council had little to say Thursday about any substantive plans to address high rates of violence and other emergencies at a long-dysfunctional shelter in Downtown Brooklyn for women with mental illness and addiction.

When asked by general welfare committee chair Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn) whether the size of the 200-bed Tillary Street Women’s Shelter influenced those conditions, Acting Department of Homeless Services Administrator Christine Fellini said the agency would "have to look into" it.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Erin Dalton chimed in to say the situation at Tillary presents an "opportunity" to shape "longer-term" plans for the city’s shelter system, "if it turns out that smaller shelters for people with serious mental illness are clinically more appropriate."

Gothamist previously reported Tillary’s rate of the most serious health and safety incidents was more than double the citywide average for single-adult shelters last fiscal year. Homeless advocates often cite the large, congregate-style nature of shelters like Tillary — where around eight or more women share each dorm room — as a key reason why the residents face assaults, fights and other dangers that make it harder for them to get the care and housing they need.

— Andrew Giambrone

Things To Do

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

Friday, June 5: The Whitney kicks off Pride Month with a ticket giveaway in partnership with the Manhattan borough president’s office. Free, registration required, the Whitney, 1 to 5 p.m. Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6: Listen to the Fort Greene Orchestra perform Vivaldi’s "Four Seasons" with a special light design. Tickets start at $55, St. Mary the Virgin Church, 8 to 9 p.m. both days. Saturday, June 6: Celebrate Pride the Brooklyn way as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays series. Free on a first-come, first-served basis, registration recommended and includes museum general admission, Brooklyn Museum, 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 7: An outdoor brass performance by the New York Scandia Symphony launches this year’s three-concert Scandinavian Music Festival. Free, Fort Tryon Park, Billings Lawn, 2 to 4 p.m.

THE KICKER: Some immigrant New Yorkers are marking the upcoming World Cup by collecting decades-old stickers and albums featuring famed soccer players, our friends at Documented report.

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

Love,

The City Reporter

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