Good morning and happy Monday. We have a beautiful summer week ahead of us with lower humidity and temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s. There is a small chance of showers in the afternoon and early evening. Enjoy this transition from July to August.
They’re now a part of the city skyline, but the rise of New York’s “supertalls” is a fairly recent and often controversial phenomenon in urban architecture. Where did such stark skyscrapers come from? Is there a chance that New Yorkers will grow to love the pencil-like glass towers in the same way that they now revere the once-controversial Chrysler Building? Author Eric Nash has the answers as he dives into the past, present and future of Midtown’s most notorious structures in his book Sky-High: A Critique of NYC’s Supertall Towers from Top to Bottom. Read more…
Catie Savage has lived in New York for more than half of her life — with pretty much all of that time spent in Hell’s Kitchen. She’s best known as the neighborhood’s “Trash Queen”, leading her Litter Legion on regular cleanups. Read Catie’s West Side Story…
What we’ve been reading
* Stories that might be behind a paywall are marked with a 💰
Airbnb RVs get removed in city clampdown on short-term rentals. (New York Daily News💰)
Questions have been raised about the $432m no-bid contract awarded to a medical services company to handle asylum seekers in NYC. (New York Times💰)
Citi Bike could be riding back into city ownership. (Hell Gate💰)
Indiespace gets a $150k award and more resources to support new space in Hell’s Kitchen. (Broadway World)
An illustrated guide to the cats of New York City. (Washington Post💰)
Freeze Frame
The spotted lanternflies have moved from nymphs to flying pests. In 2021, we spotted our first one in Hell’s Kitchen in mid-August. Last year, it was early August when they took hold. This year, they’re flying around the neighborhood in July. We’re going to find out where they are most concentrated locally with a survey from now through August. Just save the link w42st.info/spottedlanternflies2023 — and if you squish one, send a pic and tell us where you killed it.
Happy birthday to Chris Welty.
