Happy Monday. We’re looking forward to tonight’s Harvest Moon — one of our favorite music tracks too! Looks like we’ve had the last day of temperatures over 80 degrees for the year — but today is going to feel pleasantly warm with no humidity. Fab!
Last week, we watched Senator Chuck Schumer take a bow in front of a Broadway audience for his assistance in pushing through the Shuttered Venues Operator Grants that saved our stages. We also reported on an appeal by Brian Keyser from Casellula for Senator Schumer to fully fund the Restaurant Revitalization Fund — which has saved one-third of our local restaurants but left two-thirds struggling for survival.
Today, we have an Op-Ed which pushes for Senator Schumer to help local news organizations, like W42ST, to survive. There is hope that the Local Journalism Sustainability Act might be included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Read more…
Felix Atlasman, the owner of American Home Hardware and More, has become another Hell’s Kitchen small business owner shut down by the pandemic. He’s filed for bankruptcy and the hardware business that’s been on 9th Avenue for 66 years will close. Read more…
What we’ve been reading
MSG has a new crowd — welcome to the stage, the beehives! (New York Post)
When will subway restrooms be open again? (amNY)
Reimagining midtown Manhattan after the pandemic. (New York Times)
Lawsuits are not the way to help New York or its workers. (Gotham Gazette)
Ryan Sutton has updated his Theater District dining list — and there are some Hell’s Kitchen favorites in there, of course! (Eater)
Missing Hell’s Kitchen pup rescued from the Hudson River in Chelsea (W42ST)
Freeze Frame
Today is one year since I took over as sole editor of W42ST. I’ve been supported daily in that work by the love and practical help of my GF and sister — along with readers like Catie Savage, Matt Fox, Holly-Anne Devlin, Lynnette Blanche, Mackenzie Murray, Renee Lutz Stanley and many more in reporting on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen.
Our story last week on the arrival of Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady initially drew joy at a sign of New York life getting back to normal. The subsequent op-ed from Leslie Boghosian Murphy about the environmental impact of these ships drew an opposite reaction.
We’ve subsequently started to research more:
- Mayor Bloomberg in 2012 said that cruise ships had a $200m positive economic impact on New York.
- The Scarlet Lady is the first carbon-neutral ship — whatever it does in Hell’s Kitchen is balanced with carbon offsets in other parts of the world.
- The Friends of the Earth Cruise 2021 Cruise Ship Report Card gives both Virgin Voyages and Norwegian Cruises an F on air polution reduction — while Disney gets an A-.
- The Norwegian Breakaway that arrived yesterday will be berthed here until its departure on September 26.
- It will be joined later today or tomorrow by a Crystal cruise liner (air polution reduction grade D) which will depart on September 24.
We’d love to report more thoroughly on this issue. The idea of “think global, act local” is very dear to our hearts. The New York Times did an excellent piece on cruise ship pollution (in Brooklyn) in 2019. However, we just don’t have the resources to undertake this important work. We are applying this month for support from Report for America to subsidize recruitment of a reporter — if successful, we will have someone on staff in June 2022.
If you can help in the meantime, the link is below. Any support we receive will be used towards more reporting of the important issues that need to be highlighted in Hell’s Kitchen.