Good morning and Happy Thursday. It’s feeling a little like groundhog day as we again report on a fire in an apartment block above a Ninth Avenue restaurant. Two blocks, two nights, two fires!
FDNY spent a second night putting out a fire and rescuing residents from an apartment building on 9th Avenue. The alarm was raised just before midnight for a blaze in a 5-story apartment building on the corner of W48th and 9th Avenue — just 2 blocks away from a fire the previous evening at W50th and 9th Avenue. More here…
Mayor Bill de Blasio has again pledged to move homeless residents from local hotels back to congregate shelters by the end of July — providing New York State gives approval. More here…
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Opening night of Speakeasy marks the re-opening of “Broadway’s Best Restaurant”, Bond45. Speakeasy runs from June 25-July 31. Details & Tickets…
What we’ve been reading
The reasons that restaurants cannot find staff. (Grub Street)
There’s been a slow start for NYC’s political races, as less than 1% of registered voters went to the ballot box last weekend. (Intelligencer)
The number of people cycling on New York bridges is higher than pre-pandemic levels. (Streetsblog)
Less than 1% have got “Save Our Stages” funding. (Gothamist)
New York Parks are being renamed to honor Black educators, civil rights leaders, pioneers in the LGBTQ+ community, entertainers, novelists, playwrights and abolitionists. (Eyewitness News)
Freeze Frame
Readers have seen whales, sea horses and seals in the Hudson River — but has anyone spotted an Oyster Toadfish? Hudson River Park report that “oyster toadfish are benthic ambush predators in the Hudson River Estuary. This means that they live on the bottom of the river, waiting for prey like crabs and smaller fish to pass in front of their hiding places. Then, the toadfish springs into action, using their large and powerful jaws to capture their prey. You can see that toadfish also have a set of teeth that help them to crush through shells and hold on to slippery food items.” Yikes…
Happy birthday to Vicky Kuperman, Rebecca Pollock and Annika Sweetland.