“Open Streets: Restaurants” Initiative Expands from Weekends to Weekdays

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sept. 16 the first weekday expansion of the “Open Streets: Restaurants” initiative. In the meantime, restaurant partner organizations have been organizing temporary street closures across the City to facilitate additional, weekday outdoor dining along select corridors. Earlier this month, the administration invited BIDs, community-based organizations, and groups of restaurants to submit applications to expand the existing “Open Streets: Restaurants” initiative that combines the existing “Open Streets” and “Open Restaurants” programs. Previously, car-free hours on streets had been limited to weekends. Expanded “Open Streets: Restaurants” locations in the Bronx which

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On July 31, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule (PDF) that increases fees for certain “immigration and naturalization benefit requests” to ensure that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a service which falls under DHS, recovers the cost of the services it provides. The increases become effective Oct. 2, 2020. According to DHS, unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee funded. Fees collected and deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account fund nearly 97 percent of its budget. As required by federal law, USCIS conducted a comprehensive biennial fee review and determined that the

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sept. 18 that reforms to Alternate Side Parking (ASP) would be in place until further notice. The City first unveiled the reform in June, announcing that non-metered side streets with multiple ASP days would be cleaned once per week, the most dramatic change to ASP in decades. Amended rules pertain to non-metered residential “side streets” and not to commercial areas. Streets with multiple ASP days would be cleaned on the last day of the week, as posted on each street’s currently posted sign. For example, a street with ASP regulations posted

By SÍLE MOLONEY

A Lehman College program (Reentry@Lehman) that serves students who have been affected by the criminal justice system, hosts the fourth and final screening of the PBS award-winning documentary, “College Behind Bars”on Thursday, Sept. 17 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The 55-minute screening will be followed by a panel discussion with film producer, Salimah El-Amin, Lehman College President Daniel Lemons, and Reentry@Lehman members. The documentary is a four-part PBS film series by Lynn Novick that follows incarcerated people through rigorous college programming while exploring how education transforms lives and impacts criminal justice. “The four-hour series, distilled from nearly

By SÍLE MOLONEY

United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on September 15, 2020, David A. Hay, 40, most recently of Brooklyn, New York, entered a guilty plea to a charge of receiving child pornography. Most recently, Hay served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the New York City Chancellor of Schools. According to court filings, in May of 2010, while living and employed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, David A. Hay exchanged emails with a 15-year-old child. During the course of these communications, the defendant received sexually explicit digital images and videos from

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sept. 16 that the City will issue a week of furloughs for mayoral office employees. This action, in addition to savings from the adopted budget, will represent a 12% cut to the FY21 Mayor’s Office budget. “Dedicated public servants have worked tirelessly for our city and their fellow New Yorkers throughout this crisis,” said De Blasio. “This is a painful step, but it shows just how committed we are to responsible budgeting and leading the City through these challenging times. Today’s announcement makes it clear we need Albany to step

By DAVID GREENE

Business is back to normal along a busy shopping strip in Pelham Bay, after a man reportedly left a pressure cooker outside of a funeral parlor. According to residents and workers in the area, members of the NYPD’s 45th precinct, Emergency Services Unit and the Bomb Squad were joined at the location by members of the F.B.I., who arrived on the scene around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The block was quickly shut down along Crosby Avenue, between Westchester Avenue and Roberts Avenue, after a pressure cooker was found in the doorway of Ralph Giordano Funeral Home

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Indoor dining is to recommence in New York City on Sept. 30, at 25 percent capacity. On Monday, Sept. 14, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio held a virtual hearing with interested parties from the hospitality sector and signed the extension of two bills in support of New York City restaurants. The first bill extends an existing ban on charging for unconfirmed phone orders until 90 days after restaurants are allowed to operate at a hundred percent capacity. The second extends an existing cap on fees that delivery apps can charge restaurants until 90 days after restaurants are

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced on Sept. 14, the opening of the Department of Education COVID Response Situation Room—a multi-agency partnership between the Department of Education (DOE), Department of Health and Mental Health (DOHMH), and the Test & Trace Corps—to facilitate a rapid response to positive COVID-19 cases in public schools. The Situation Room provides a single point-of-contact between schools and agency partners responsible for performing both testing, contact tracing, and ensuring the appropriate interventions are being taken by school communities. “The Situation Room is the precise system we need