New York’s courts are reckoning with a second consecutive summer of strikes by public defenders and legal staff who are employed by a constellation of private non-profits represented by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys-UAW Local 2325.  The ongoing strikes at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and Bronx Defenders are much smaller than the stoppages […]

The post Why Bronx and Harlem Public Defenders Walked Off the Job appeared first on The City Reporter.

Nearly a decade after New Yorkers with disabilities sued the MTA in federal court over allegedly insufficient upkeep of subway elevators, the two sides have reached a legal peace — as the in-service rate for lifts has climbed to nearly 98%. The pact comes after the 2023 approval of a landmark settlement in two separate […]

The post MTA Settles With Disability Advocates as Subway Elevators Improve appeared first on The City Reporter.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed 13 people to the city’s school board Tuesday, cementing his control over the panel that votes on major policy changes, contracts and decisions to merge or close schools. The appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy bring a range of […]

The post Mamdani Appoints More Than a Dozen People to School Oversight Panel appeared first on The City Reporter.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed every city agency to identify 2.5% in savings ahead of an estimated $6 billion budget hole next year, launching his first full cost-cutting initiative weeks after he and the City Council inked this year’s budget.  The administration said it would survey city workers for inefficiencies across the sprawling city government. […]

The post Mamdani Tells Agencies to Slash 2.5% Ahead of $6 Billion Gap Next Year appeared first on The City Reporter.

The Justice Department announced a $3.85 million settlement with an embattled union and several of its affiliates over allegations they improperly pocketed millions in COVID-era hardship funds. The International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT) and the Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA), as well as two other affiliates and the unions’ welfare fund, […]

The post Embattled Unions to Pay Feds $3.85 Million Over Pandemic Loans appeared first on The City Reporter.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration last week set off a wave of anxiety when it published a list it stated was “related” to a new pied-a-terre tax on luxury second homes in New York.  The list included more than 900,000 properties and was so broad it included the Flushing, Queens, home of Richard Lee, Mamdani’s finance […]

The post Die-Hard New Yorkers Blanche at Mamdani’s Pied-A-Terre J’Accuse appeared first on The City Reporter.

This story was originally published by Healthbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at healthbeat.org/newsletters. Melinda Baron has a story for New Yorkers worried about the Upper East Side Legionnaires’ outbreak: She survived after contracting the disease seven years ago and is grateful for the outcome, but spent many months on the mend. New York City health officials say […]

The post As NYC Probes Legionnaires’ Outbreak Source, Survivors May Have ‘Difficult’ Recovery appeared first on The City Reporter.

When Pingzhu Wan, 77, bought her condominium on the northeastern tip of Staten Island more than 40 years ago, hers was the only Chinese family among the 100-odd units in the apartment complex. Her neighbors were mostly Italian and Jewish, and the nearest Chinese grocery store was across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, in southern Brooklyn. She […]

The post ‘We Can Hear Chinese Anywhere Now’: Behind Staten Island’s Immigrant Boom appeared first on The City Reporter.

“We are all going to be the worst off for temporary protected status ending, and specifically Haitians in New York City. 40,000 New Yorkers are going to be losing their protections, their work authorization, and their legal protections today, and it is just gutting. It is a community that has been thriving, and now you’re […]

The post LISTEN: ‘40,000 New Yorkers Lost Their Protections Today’ appeared first on The City Reporter.

The rebuilding of an East Harlem rail structure from the 1890s has arrived at its destination five years ahead of schedule, officials announced Monday — without disrupting passenger service along Metro-North’s main artery in and out of Grand Central Terminal. Gov. Kathy Hochul donned a hardhat and stood with MTA executives to ceremonially knock “golden […]

The post Major Metro-North Connector Rebuilt 5 Years Early Thanks to Prefab Pieces appeared first on The City Reporter.

For nearly a decade, the Jacob Riis Bathhouse in the Rockaways has been promised a makeover. This summer was supposed to be when a semi-private beach club finally opened inside the 1930s Art Deco building, including a pool and lounge for paying members. There’s a $750 joining fee, and a standard annual membership will run […]

The post At Jacob Riis ‘People’s Beach,’ Pushback Grows as Iconic Bathhouse Turns Into Ritzy Clubhouse appeared first on The City Reporter.

Part of an embattled flood protection project in Lower Manhattan will need a redesign after local condo owners and a state entity couldn’t reach a deal on access to private areas during construction — keeping public space closed for longer and delaying a climate resilience effort that’s been in the works for more than a […]

The post Property Dispute Forces Redesign of $2B Flood Wall for Battery Park City appeared first on The City Reporter.

Blake Nelson has been photographing weddings in New York City for six years, including as many as 10 weddings a year at the City Clerk’s office. Couples who reached out to him to shoot their civil ceremonies often made two requests. “They want the green couch, and they want their exit photo at the yellow […]

The post Where Is the Love? NYC Marriage Bureau’s Iconic Gilded Doors Vanish — For Now appeared first on The City Reporter.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s charter revision panel approved five ballot proposals Thursday for the November election, including moves to speed up the creation of bike lanes and outdoor dining setups. The other measures would accelerate the city contracting process for nonprofits and small businesses, simplify permitting for construction projects and set a target for the city’s […]

The post Mamdani’s Government Efficiency Panel Approves 5 NYC Ballot Proposals appeared first on The City Reporter.

Four Upper East Side buildings that tested positive for live Legionella bacteria were not in compliance with a city law requiring property owners to submit monthly test results of their cooling systems to the health department, records reviewed by The City Reporter show. The bacteria is usually found in water towers that are part of […]

The post Four UES Buildings With Live Legionella Were Out of Compliance With Testing Rules, Records Show appeared first on The City Reporter.

A $400 million renovation of a major Brooklyn transit hub has yielded little for locals looking for jobs, critics charged Thursday, saying that less than 8% of the 170 hires for the project so far have come from surrounding neighborhoods. The multi-year makeover of Broadway Junction — a sprawling complex that last year served more […]

The post Not Enough Jobs For Locals at Broadway Junction Revamp, Local Pols Charge appeared first on The City Reporter.

Thank you, Argentina. With the final numbers on the economic impact still trickling in, it is clear a sudden flood of fans swelled into New York for the World Cup final on July 19, boosting hotel occupancy and the rates hotels were able to charge.  A Hotel Association of New York City analysis suggests that […]

The post World Cup Final Score: A Win For NYC Hotels appeared first on The City Reporter.

A Manhattan judge has blocked a city law that is designed to shield Uber and Lyft drivers from being abruptly deactivated from the ride-hailing apps just days before it was set to take effect. The preliminary injunction issued Tuesday by United States District Court Judge Gregory Woods pumps the brakes on Local Law 52, which […]

The post Judge Blocks Law Made to Protect App Drivers From Abrupt, Unexplained Firings appeared first on The City Reporter.

Months after scrapping a $9.9 million McKinsey & Co. consulting contract as part of an effort to rein in city spending, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday turned to a veteran McKinsey partner who had worked on that contract to lead New York City’s top economic agency. Mamdani appointed Anthony Shorris — a former first deputy […]

The post Mamdani Tapped McKinsey Partner After Axing $9.9 Million McKinsey Contract appeared first on The City Reporter.

Within seconds, nearly a dozen teenage detainees pour out of their cells and converge on Kalief Browder. Surveillance footage from 2010 captures the relentless beating inside a Rikers Island housing unit. The attack was possible in part because the cell doors, like hundreds of others throughout the city’s jail system, had failed to lock. Browder, […]

The post ‘Bedlam’: Rikers Island Can’t Keep Its Doors Locked appeared first on The City Reporter.

New York City added 40,000 jobs in the first half of the year, far more than expected, as a boom on Wall Street continues to support the economy. The strength of hiring in the financial sector has allowed the city to overcome the cost of tariffs that squeezed small firms, inflation that exceeded the national average […]

The post Surprise! NYC Nets 40,000 New Jobs on Wall Street Surge appeared first on The City Reporter.

Inside a New York City immigration courtroom at 26 Federal Plaza on Friday morning, 90 people had cases before a single immigration judge. People described hastily making plans to get to court, some from hundreds of miles away, having learned about their new hearing date only days in advance. By the end of the morning, […]

The post Deportation Orders Soar in NYC as Trump ‘Mega Master’ Hearings Accelerate appeared first on The City Reporter.

More than a third of positions in the health department unit dedicated to testing the city’s water supply for the Legionella bactria are unfilled, The City Reporter has learned, as health officials scramble to deal with a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak that has so far killed three people and infected dozens.  Only 35 water ecologists — […]

The post More Than a Third of Water Inspector Slots Unfilled Amid Deadly Legionnaires’ Outbreak appeared first on The City Reporter.

Other than the extreme heat, smoky air, flash flooding and deaths from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, it’s remained a lovely summer in New York City — including for night fishing. FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss all that and much more, including “shark” Zohran Mamdani’s aggressive early plans for […]

The post The Tide Is Out and NY’s Old-Guard Dems Are Beached appeared first on The City Reporter.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Thousands of New York families might be leaving millions of dollars on the table when it comes to summer food benefits. To combat hunger while schools are closed, the state’s Summer EBT program sends eligible families $120 per child in food benefits. Last year, […]

The post How NYC Families Can Use Summer EBT Benefits To Put Food on the Table appeared first on The City Reporter.

The union representing the city’s public health professionals and scientists says that units dedicated to testing the city’s water supply are critically understaffed — complicating New York’s ability to control a Legionnaires’ outbreak that has so far killed three people and spread to the air conditioning cooling towers of at least 76 Manhattan buildings. Members […]

The post Legionnaires’ Outbreak: Health Workers Say They’re Burnt Out, Understaffed appeared first on The City Reporter.

A corner of Monica Carrasco’s kitchen has metal shelves stacked with a toaster oven, a microwave, two hot plates and an air fryer. For more than three years, she’s relied on them to cook family meals — but using only two at a time for fear of tripping the electric system. Carrasco’s family and the […]

The post After Years Without Cooking Gas, First Run of Induction Stoves Arrive in Co-Ops appeared first on The City Reporter.

If America is all these different cultures coming together in one land, that’s kind of what I wanted the books to represent… The best conception I can have of our country is different people coming together to make something bigger, and that’s kind of what I wanted to represent in my books by using these […]

The post LISTEN: An American Quilt of Civil Wars and Sunday Funnies appeared first on The City Reporter.

On primary night in June, democratic socialist wins in New York congressional races garnered national attention, but lower down on the ballot, a quieter sea change was taking place in Brooklyn. Reform-oriented candidates with the New Kings Democrats and Brooklyn Can’t Wait flipped eight of nine contested district leader races, bringing their coalition to 22. […]

The post Brooklyn Reformers Set to Oust Embattled Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn appeared first on The City Reporter.

The City Council voted unanimously to approve a one-time $10,000 payment to most of the public school paraprofessionals on Thursday, an effort to boost retention and recruitment for the badly-needed – but low-paying – jobs with students.  But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who could try to stop the bill, said it is in “direct violation” of […]

The post Council Approves $10k Perk for Public School Paraprofessionals appeared first on The City Reporter.