Is Normalcy Coming?

Good morning. Apparently, National Margarita day passed me by yesterday, is that different than Tequila Day? My GF asked, “is that a Hallmark holiday?” — the days just pass as a blur (with or without the booze!)

Part of my day is spent monitoring over 160 New York news feeds to keep on top of what’s happening in the city. Yesterday’s feed was dominated by one number — 500,000 — the shocking death toll in America from this awful virus. It’s a number we will never forget, especially for those who have a relative or friend included.

On a personal level, I kept in touch with UK news during the day. Boris Johnson was announcing the plan for how the UK lockdown will be lifted — my family back there are frustrated and deeply bored. There is a hope that “no earlier than 21 June, all legal limits will be removed on mixing and the last sectors to remain closed, such as nightclubs, will reopen. Large events can take place.”

In the past 24 hours, I’ve noticed the word “normalcy” appearing in press reports. It was in a New York Post headline and also a New York Times opinion piece that said: “We might be able to achieve normalcy by summer. Our leaders should embrace the possibility.”

Governor Cuomo announcing that movie theaters can open at 25% capacity seemed like a step towards that normalcy. My friends were quick to relate that to Broadway coming back. I’ll raise a glass of anything to that…

Hell’s Kitchen’s sidewalks are always a talking point. Whether it was playing dodgeball with tourists pre-COVID or slaloming between garbage bags and dog poop on the streets.

Local activist Christine Berthet wrote an opinion piece for Streetsblog yesterday headlined: “Pedestrians Are Second-Class Citizens — And Snow Proves It”.

Christine says: “Recent snowstorms showed once again that there is no equity between drivers and pedestrians/bus riders/cyclists in New York City. All lanes of vehicular traffic for cars were cleared of snow in 12 hours, while bus stops, bike lanes, corners and sidewalks were impassable. We should not be surprised: the New York City Sanitation Department calls its mission ‘restoring the blacktop’.”

If you want to help, start by filling in the survey that Christine has created with her colleagues at Community Board 4 (CB4). It will take 5 minutes (I just did it). https://tinyurl.com/SidewalkState

The survey reminded me that if you have issues in the community that are not being resolved by calling 311, you should connect with CB4. Email the District Manager, Jesse Bodine, at jbodine@cb.nyc.gov or call (212) 736-4536.