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Polls are now open from 6:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visit nyc.pollsitelocator.com to find your poll site and use this site for other questions.
We are facing the catastrophic loss of thousands of small and micro businesses, the economic and social cornerstones of our communities.
New York is on PAUSE, but the bills have not paused. The rent has not paused. NOTHING has paused except our ability to survive. Without rent relief, untold numbers of storefronts will shutter. For good. Communities will lose vast numbers of jobs, essential services, vitality and more.
We will lose the very fabric of our city.
The City’s Open Restaurants program ... allows qualifying restaurants and bars to expand outdoor seating on sidewalks, curb lanes, backyards, patios, plazas, and Open Streets as New York City begins Phase 2 of reopening. The City has established an expedited approval processes by allowing restaurants and bars to self-certify their eligibility for curb lane and sidewalk seating using a new, streamlined application process at NYC.Gov...
Open Restaurants gives dining establishments five new options. Beginning in Phase 2, restaurants can implement seating in curb lanes and sidewalks. Phase 2 allows reopening and use of as of right outdoor space in backyard and patios. Restaurants can also work with their local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to establish seating in plazas. Beginning in July, restaurants can offer seating on Open Streets on nights and weekends.
Sidewalk seating will be in effect until the end of October. Curb lane seating will last through Labor Day. DOT will work with community groups and partner agencies to identify additional seating within full streets closures in July. Restaurants can work with their local BID and DOT to request additional seating in plazas by emailing Plazas@dot.nyc.gov.
Customers are not permitted to gather outside of establishments. Businesses that repeatedly fail to comply will have their Open Restaurant authorization revoked by DOT, and will be referred to the SLA.
People setting off fireworks from Avenue C and neighboring buildings caused a fire at 1 a.m. on the rooftop of our co-op. Thankfully someone saw it and called the Fire Department and no one was hurt. Our doors were destroyed by the firefighters gaining entry, and an apartment now has considerable water damage as a result of the effort to put out the fire.
According to city data, 849 complaints about fireworks were logged with the city's 311 hotline in the last two weeks alone. That's a nearly 4,000 percent increase from the same period in 2019, which saw just 21 recorded complaints. In the first two weeks of June during the previous five years, there were less than 50 complaints related to fireworks in total.
As with other 311 data, it's not clear that the figures reflect an actual spike in activity. In many cases, the growth of nuisance calls is a better barometer of gentrification than any specific change in behavior. But while illicit fireworks have long served as the sonic backdrop to summer nights in NYC, some residents say the intensity and frequency has been noticeably greater in 2020, with many of the late-night displays appearing strangely professional.
Now, people in the city that never sleeps have a new audio accompaniment to their surreal spring: Booming, amateur fireworks displays that start at sundown and continue deep into the night.
Illicit bursts of fireworks from street corners and rooftops aren’t uncommon in the city’s neighborhoods in the days before the Fourth of July, but the past few weeks has seen an extraordinary surge in such displays.
In the first half of June, there were 80 times as many #nycfireworks complaints compared to the same period last year. Fireworks usually start late June. This year it’s earlier, longer and bigger. Who’s supplying all these professional-grade fireworks? https://t.co/NwoVJI7RQg
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) June 21, 2020
Thanks for the calls and messages regarding the barriers on Avenue B needing to be replaced to ensure safety while the open space is being utilized. The replacement should be up today. Thanks for your patience!#EastVillage #NYC pic.twitter.com/08NKtxE3QK
— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) June 21, 2020