While my family and I were playing tag in the baseball field along the FDR, we came across a pile of about 12-14 syringes scattered in the dugout. We called 311 and they didn't give us much confidence that they would clean that up. I am horrified. We need to make people aware that this is happening in places where children play and that 311 isn't terribly concerned.
And in news you likely read about yesterday, Mayor de Blasio announced that the City's Open Restaurants program will be extended year-round and made permanent. The extension also applies to Open Streets: Restaurants, which provides restaurants expanded space on 85 car-free streets citywide on certain days.Here are some particulars from the city's press release about how restaurants will able able to protect diners from the winter-time elements:
Heating
As cooler weather arrives, the City will allow restaurants to incorporate heating elements into their outdoor dining setups. Electrical heaters will be allowed on both sidewalk and roadway. Propane and natural gas heaters will be allowed on sidewalks only; they will remain prohibited in roadway seating. Propane will require a permit from FDNY and compliance with FDNY regulations for outdoor use, handling and secure outdoor tank storage overnight. Official guidance on what will be considered approved installation and use of heating elements will be released before the end of September, and restaurants are prohibited from installing heating elements until guidelines are released and followed.
Tents
Restaurants will also be permitted to use tent enclosures to keep diners warm. In partial tent enclosures, at least 50 percent of the tent’s side wall surface area must remain open and electrical heaters are allowed. In full tent enclosures, the tent’s side walls may be closed but occupancy limitations will be capped at 25 percent of capacity, and indoor dining guidelines must be followed; electrical heaters will also be allowed. Enclosed structures, such as plastic domes, will be allowed for individual parties and must have adequate ventilation to allow for air circulation.
It's that lovely time of year when neighbors get together to celebrate the cultural vitality of their community in our beloved Tompkins Square Park.In addition to speakers, information tables with local crafts, we will have the following musical talents:
> The Acute
> Evil Kim Evil
> Acorn Slim (with Dead Dean)
> Jennifer Blowdryer Soul Experience
> Skitzopolis
> SEWAGE (with Spike Polite)
> The Love Pirates
> Grace The Enemy
> Ruckus Interruptus
> Soul Cake
> Rebelmatic (with surprise guest CV)
AND: Seth Tobocman (WW# Illustrated) will do a slide show with Eric Blitz and John Wagner.
Local resident Harkness Granger is hosting a comedy show "for the plants and the people" this afternoon at the 11th Street Community Garden, 422 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A.
The show is at 4 p.m. There's a suggested donation of $5. And masks are mandatory for the limited capacity event.
Early this morning, State Sen. Brad Hoylman spotted this moving truck with anti-Semitic graffiti parked on First Avenue between Third Street and Fourth Street.
Just saw this on the west side of 1st Avenue between 2nd and 3rd streets. Sickening. The perpetrators must be found and held accountable.
— Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) September 25, 2020
Go to hell, Nazis. pic.twitter.com/VzrRZ5Urns
It's 2020 and we are all stuck inside somewhere ... This year's festival is dedicated expressing our situation through art ... sharing the reality of what is going on in our lives
All the exhibits will take place behind the garden fences with the audiences on the sidewalks.
The audience will be moving, fluid. The art stationary. We want to foster our wild variety of sentiments through our art. We are all politically bent, given the times and election. Vote with your ART too. Let people know how you feel.
This as an Art exhibit and the gardens are the Green Museum.It's perfect for touring audiences to visit and enjoy our community gardens.
Nomad, a North African and Mediterranean restaurant in the East Village, shut down in March after the pandemic engulfed New York City, leaving its owner unable to pay the full $11,500 rent for months.
After opening for outdoor dining in June, the owner, Mehenni Zebentout, has struggled to pay 70 to 80 percent of the rent. But he had to cut his staff from nine full-time employees to four part-time workers. And his landlord still wants Mr. Zebentout to pay what he owes from the spring.
"We're just hoping for some miracle," he said. "I believe, according to my experience, two out of three restaurants will close by December, and I'll be one of them if there's no help from the city or the government."
Protests broke out around the city — and elsewhere in the country — yesterday after the news that none of the three officers involved in Breonna Taylor's death were charged with her killing. 
You can catch a livestream of Cults on Oct. 1 from (Le) Poisson Rouge. Find the details here.
