EVG Etc.: The end of mandatory broker fees; the return of congestion pricing

An evening stroll on 2nd Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue 

• City Council passes bill that shifts broker fees to landlords (ABC 7 ... The Associated Press) 

• Congestion pricing plan returns with new reduced tolls for Manhattan (ABC News ... Politico) 

• RIP Cowboy Ray Kelly, sculptor, leader of the Rivington School, and co-founder of the performance space NoSeNo (Legacy.com) 

• The latest from the Daniel Penny trial (Gothamist) 

• City announces 'Drone as First Responder' program (NYC.gov ... Daily News) 

• Brush fires reach historic levels across NYC (The City) 

• Recently arrived immigrants from Africa are turning to Instacart outside places like Wegmans on Astor Place with few other options for work (Streetsblog) 

• Knickerbocker Village on the LES was the only district in Manhattan where Trump received the majority of votes (The Post) 

• Post-election therapy in the form of Post-it notes in an underpass at the 14th Street subway complex (Hyperallergic)

• A look at four co-named streets in the neighborhood (Village Preservation) 

• At the Swiss Institute Benefit Gala (Cultured) 

• What to eat at YongChuan, a 2-month-old restaurant that opened at 90 Clinton St., above Delancey, that is the lone restaurant in Manhattan focusing on the cuisine of Ningbo, a port city in the Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai (Eater) 

• Almost time for "A Christmas Carol at the Merchant's House: Charles Dickens in New York, 1867" (Merchant's House Museum)

• Two chances to see "Downtown 81" on a big screen (Metrograph)

• About a local resident's AI wingman (Observer) 

... and if you're a Bluesky person, we set up on that platform this week...