Photo by Ellen Joy of Sunday night’s Manhattanhenge.
July 13, 2020 Weather: Mostly sunny, with a high of 87 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar is full of events you can enjoy from home.
A found gold bracelet listed in last week’s bulletin has been returned to its owner, who learned about it through the Rag!
News:
No COVID deaths were reported in New York City on Friday, July 11th, four months after the city’s first official death from the disease was recorded, on March 11th. But we’re not out of the woods yet, experts told NBCNewYork. “New York’s early experience is a ready-made blueprint for states now finding themselves swamped by the disease. It could also come in handy at home, as the region readies for a potential second wave of infection that experts predict will likely come at some point.” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said, “The big thing, for me, is to shut down swiftly, open up slowly and make sure there’s an infrastructure for communities we know are going to be impacted the most.”
UWS Councilmember Helen Rosenthal has withdrawn from NYC’s 2021 comptroller’s race, and won’t be running for any other office that year, she told Gotham Gazette. The reason is, “she no longer sees a path to victory. ‘I think the campaign was going very well in 2019,’ she said of the initial phase of her run. ‘But at the beginning of 2020, I knew that I had to hit some pretty significant benchmarks in order to have a viable campaign…And the way 2020 unfolded, it became very clear that I wasn’t going to be able to hit those marks.’” In 2021, Rosenthal will be term-limited out of her City Council seat, which she has held since 2013.
Eight branches of the city’s three public library systems, including the George Bruce Library on West 125th Street off Amsterdam Avenue, will reopen today, July 13th, for limited “grab-and-go service,” the NYPL announced. “New Yorkers can access a small area of the open branches to pick up and return checkouts placed online or on the phone (the process will be contactless) …To keep staff and patrons as safe as possible, the three library systems are following guidelines outlined by safety experts, government partners, and library trade organizations. For example, all returned items will be quarantined for 72 hours before being recirculated.”
And congratulations to the UWS’ own Stationery and Toy World (72nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam) for being named by Kev’s Best one of the 5 Best Stationery Stores in New York. We already knew that, and wrote about them here. Kev’s Best said, “Stationery and Toy World is Manhattan’s Upper West Side toy, game, and hobby shop. Their shelves are stocked with an extensive selection of papers and pens. Look no more for other school supply stores because they also have many choices for your needs.”
Correction: We originally wrote that 22 library branches were reopening. In fact, the first eight of 22 branches scheduled to reopen began grab-and-go service today. We will keep you posted about future branch reopenings.
Long live the NYPL!!!
I’m so glad Rosenthal has dropped out.
I had a lot of respect for her until I actually spoke to that woman. Politically vapid and unable to express her support for Joe Biden.
I voted for her many times, never again.
I hope her political career has come to a swift end.
Live , love Stationary and Toys!!!
The photo. How is this possible.
I was on W. 72nd Street purposely to see the hendge last night, Sunday, at 8:21 p.m., only to be met with a big dark cloud coming in from the west. The heavy dark cloud stayed well past 8:21 p.m. I never saw it.
What a relief to learn that Helen Rosenthal can no longer represent the UWS in city council in the next election. Her staff is attentive enough to hear our concerns but nothing gets done. Hopefully the next contender, D or R, will show more concerned about the rapidly decaying quality of life issues UWSiders face. Shuttered storefronts multiplying even pre-pandemic, Broadway being an open-air homeless shelter with clearly deranged people running around and relieving themselves as they please and the city-wide spike in crime that somehow never gets mentioned by the City Council (including its woke speaker – God forbid the next mayor of NYC)
Couldnt agree more. I hope we can elect someone who is fired up about the economic impact of unchecked homelessness, vagrancy, and crime, is more action oriented, and knows how to get things done. Wish her the best of luck.
Agreed. She cared more about ceiling and building heights than the actual humans who live in her district. Good riddance.
Actually, only 8 branches of the NYPL opened today. https://www.nypl.org/about/coronavirus
You’re right, Amanda, thanks. Fixed.
So glad that Helen Rosenthal will be out of office in 2021. She was completely useless in dealing with the fireworks issue. She wastes more time complaining about Trump and Republicans than she does helping her constituents.
Sayonara Helen! The only good thing she ever did was support the Gilder Center expansion. Outside of that, she spent most of her time railing against every other beneficial development, yet had no problem allowing the neighborhood to turn into one big homeless shelter. Good riddance.
Absolutely! Grateful to see people recognize how much Helen Rosenthal’s neglect has caused our immediate neighborhood to be an outdoor homeless shelter with garbage everywhere.
We need to really focus on our votes this year and next year. We need change.
Helen R’s MO at the many community meetings I have attended was to arrive late and air kiss everyone like she thinks she is a rock star and then leave early. Meanwhile other council-persons or public officials were doing all the heavy lifting on the issue of the meeting.
She is also the one who appointed Transportation Alternatives Howard Yaruss, not a fair and balanced appointment to the Transportation Committee of CB7.
A change is truly needed. Please vote and vote wisely.
So happy to hear about Stationery and Toy World. It always has everything one needs.
And the staff are super-helpful!
Thank the Lord Helen Rosenthal is out. There’s hope that the Upper West Side will get cleaned up.
“No COVID deaths were reported in New York City on Friday, July 11th,” This is false even though places such as the NYT have propagated this, unfortunately. Actually as of today 4 deaths in NYC were attributed to July 11, which was a Saturday, not a Friday. The data are here, and the website warns not to use the most recent numbers due to reporting systems. Still that is a really remarkable number.
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page
Glad Helen R is on her way out! We need someone who will stand up for the residents of the UWS, instead of letting this neighborhood devolve into a ghost town of empty storefronts and homeless people.