Good morning and Happy Hanukkah. The weekend weather is spilling over into Monday with sunshine, clear skies and bitter cold! Layer up and have a great week…

New York landlords, including a major Hell’s Kitchen management company, are moving to put the brakes on e-bikes — with buildings increasingly banning the technology over concerns around fire safety, following a series of battery-fueled blazes. Read more…

An e-bike delivery in Hell's Kitchen

The New York Times wrote about my extended stay in the UK yesterday. The US Embassy has not responded to my lawyer’s request (as well as those of so many W42ST readers — THANK YOU!) for a Supervisory Review of my visa renewal rejection. I won’t be home for Christmas, and the most likely course of action will be a new application in January — which will take 6-8 weeks to process. The only thing I can say is that most of the time I am smiling (unlike the picture below) — and I will be back. I can’t wait to walk the streets of Hell’s Kitchen again next year.

Phil O'Brien New York Times

What we’ve been reading

In opposition to Broadway League, theater unions back the idea of a Times Square casino. (Broadway World)

A view from San Francisco about Mayor Adams’ scheme to remove mentally ill people from New York’s streets — “any plan that doesn’t actively fund these needed investments is simply grandstanding.” (SF Chronicle)

Young New Yorkers are still facing high unemployment rates. (NYS Comptroller)

UFO sightings are up in New York City. (New York Post)

Our dream of a white Christmas might yet come true… (PIX11)

Freeze Frame

Maura Lynch MPHC

Thanks to Maura Lynch for this fabulous picture of the Manhattan Plaza Health Club holiday party. According to Maura, synchronized swimming is the perfect accompaniment to a glass of eggnog!

Belated birthday wishes to Ian Llano — and happy birthday today to Julio Carrillo and Murat Yilmaz.