Today is Monday, January 5th, 2026
The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, high 32°F. The good news is that the rest of the week should be significantly warmer, with highs in the low- to mid-50s on Wednesday and Friday — but the bad news is that there’s a possibility of rain or drizzle every day except today.
On this date in 1896, the discovery of X-rays by German physics professor Wilhelm Roentgen was announced to the world by an Austrian newspaper, changing medicine forever. Five years later, in 1901, Roentgen would be awarded the first Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Here’s the UWS Dish is on hiatus until next week.
Earlier this fall, City Councilmember Gale Brewer collected ideas from UWS residents to present to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with whom she met last weekend. If you’re curious as to what UWSers think Mamdani should tackle, check out her spreadsheet — HERE. (She notes that she “may or may not agree” with all of the ideas, “but I believe in civic engagement!”)
As 2025 drew to a close, so did MetroCards, which were discontinued as of December 31st. If yours still has a balance, you can transfer it to an OMNY card at the new Customer Service Center in the West 96th Street subway station on the 1-2-3 line.
Instead of putting your Christmas tree out on the curb for trash pickup, consider dropping it off at one of the three UWS locations listed below between now and next Sunday, January 11th, so the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation can turn it into mulch. (Please don’t wrap it in plastic.) Here are the collection sites on the UWS; the two marked “chipping site” will be giving out free bags of mulch next weekend.
- Central Park (drop-off only) West 67th Street and Central Park West (north side of Tavern on the Green entrance)
- Central Park (chipping site) West 81st Street and Central Park West, at the bridle path
- Riverside Park (chipping site) West 83rd Street and Riverside Drive
More information — HERE.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Litter is a fact of life in cities such as ours, but what does it say about us and the way we live?
To find out, The New York Times recently sent writer John Leland and photographer to five Manhattan neighborhoods — including the UWS — to document in words and pictures the detritus of daily life.
“In each of the five neighborhoods we visited, litter often sat just feet from one of the 23,000 trash cans managed by the Sanitation Department,” wrote Leland. “Random clusters seemed like prompts for short stories.”
For instance, an abandoned soccer ball found near an UWS elementary school suggested a favored form of recreation in our neighborhood, while in Kips Bay, another ball found on the street — this one a tennis ball that had been cut open — told a different story: It was “surely from the base of an aluminum walker.”
Another takeaway: The Upper West Side may be a bit cleaner than some neighborhoods. “If you walk five blocks and spot only a flier for a handyman and a sticker for Andrew M. Cuomo’s unsuccessful mayoral campaign, chances are that you are on the Upper West Side,” Leland wrote. “If you find a plethora of discarded cannabis packaging … well, you could be anywhere.”
“Some patterns held from neighborhood to neighborhood,” Leland said. “Packaging from cannabis prerolls outnumbered that for vapes or edibles, and Corona bottle caps outnumbered all other brews. Outside the numerous Dunkin’ shops we passed, sidewalks were uniformly spotless; everywhere else, it seemed, Dunkin’ litter ruled.”
This despite the Department of Sanitation’s fleet of 450 street sweepers, which typically collect up to 3,000 pounds of debris apiece during an eight-hour shift. “It’s definitely a Sisyphean task,” Joshua Goodman, deputy commissioner of public affairs for the sanitation department, told the Times.
Read the full story, and see photos of what the Times found, litter-wise, in our neighborhood and others — HERE.
A year ago today, New York became the first city in the country to introduce congestion pricing, levying hefty $9 tolls on passenger vehicles entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below during peak hours, and even higher tolls for commercial vehicles.
How’s it working? The business news magazine Fast Company recently took a comprehensive look at the data and concluded that “Manhattan looks markedly different.”
In 2025, about 23.7 million fewer vehicles entered the congestion pricing zone than passed through the same area in 2024.
As a result, traffic delays are down by 25 percent, with commuters saving up to 21 minutes on a one-way trip. Bus routes have gotten faster — some as much as 25 percent faster — and school buses are encountering fewer delays. “They’re on time 72 percent of the time, up from 58 percent” in 2024, Fast Company reported. In addition, traffic-related 311 complaints — such as those related to honking horns — are down 45 percent.
And a Cornell University study released last month found that air pollution in the congestion relief zone has dropped 22% — and it’s dropped in the outer boroughs as well.
“This tells us that congestion pricing didn’t simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic,” Timothy Fraser, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement. “Instead, folks are likely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether, like riding public transportation or scheduling deliveries at night.”
Congestion pricing still faces legal challenges and Trump administration threats to kill the program, but Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Planning Association, a nonprofit that advocated for congestion pricing, told Fast Company she remains optimistic that it’s here to stay.
“I think at this point it will be hard to remove it, because it is delivering benefits for people,” she said. “The money is going back into the public transit network. And our region absolutely needs the transit network to work for our economy to thrive,” Slevin says. “I don’t think eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars for public transit spending is going to be very popular.”
Read the full story — HERE.
Coyote sightings in Central Park aren’t exactly news; as far back as 2011, we were reporting them in the Rag, and in the past year, a male and female have become such a familiar presence near the Delacorte Theater — home to Shakespeare in the Park — that they’ve affectionately been nicknamed “Romeo and Juliet.”
Yet somehow, spotting one still brings a thrill, as photographer Michael Silverstone can attest. He spotted one trotting across the ice at Turtle Pond on a morning shortly before Christmas and pulled out his camera. The resulting video went viral, not just here in the city, where it aired on ABC7 and Fox 5 New York, but also on news sites as far away as Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, and the UK.
“Relieved when I found out this was a wild coyote and not somebody’s actual pet on the loose,” Silverstone – who more typically photographs wedding proposals — wrote on Instagram when he posted the video. “The things you see in NYC!”
Check out the video — HERE.
If this picture looks familiar, it’s because we ran it last week, to accompany a story about 2025’s priciest condo sales. (At $46.7 million, the condo, in the Extell development at 50 West 66th Street, was No. 7 citywide.)
This week, the property is once again making real-estate news, because its first resale apartment — a five-bedroom on the top floor — just hit the market with an asking price of $22.5 million. (Monthly maintenance: $6,190.)
“This is a one-of-a-kind combination home that was masterfully redesigned by an incredible architect and designer, Clive Lonstein,” listing agent Leslie Singer of Brown Harris Stevens told BehindtheHedges.com, a site that covers luxury housing. “It was over a year in the making, almost two, in which every single inch was thought about. Doorways were moved and widened to capitalize on natural light, among many details.” The ceilings, she told the publication, are 12 feet high, and the kitchen seats 16.
The building also was mentioned — along with The Henry, another new building on the UWS — in an article about the amenities developers are including in high-end buildings in an attempt to lure buyers. (Both the aforementioned UWS buildings feature private bowling alleys.)
Read the full story on the apartment resale — HERE. And the piece about bowling alleys and other amenities in luxury buildings is — HERE.
ICYMI:
Okay, we doubt you missed the New Absolute Bagels story below, but if you read it on the day we posted it, you wouldn’t have had access to the bonus audio story, posted by author Claire Davenport the next day. It’s linked at the bottom of the story:
They are ‘Absolutely’ Back and Some Early Customers Say the Bagels Are Still ‘10 out of 10’
And here are a few more stories we think are worth a look if you missed them last week — or a second look if you saw them. (Note that our comments stay open for six days after publication, so you may not be able to comment on all of them.)
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
There’s always a pile of Christmas trees in the island on Riverside around 99th, is that an unofficial drop spot?
“Tree-cycle” (from December 26 – January 31)
Recycle your Christmas tree in Riverside Park! Drop your tree at any park entrance and we will bring it to our chipping site to be “Tree-cycled”. The woodchips from your tree will be used as pine mulch, spread on pathways and street tree pits throughout the park. You can even take home a bag of mulch to provide warm winter protection for the street tree in front of your apartment. No need to register – drop off anytime in this timeframe.
https://riversideparknyc.org/event/nyc-mulchfest-2026/
I think the bikes should have the same rules as cars if they are going down a one way street they should go the same way as cars . People get hit when not used to looking the other way.
I also think they should not have congestion pricing on weekends.
If congestion pricing is working as they’d promised, why did transit fares go up? Where is all that increased revenue going? And I’ve yet to be walking in midtown Manhattan when I haven’t seen monstrous traffic jams on every avenue! I’m wondering where all of the positive information/statistics are coming from regarding faster commute times.
OMNY is private venture capital. They want profit, not providing a cheap and effective service. Hope this helps
Transit fares increases have been below the rate of inflation, so they are down in real terms. Additionally, congestion pricing revenue is allocated to capital projects, not ongoing operations.
The income from bus fares that the new Mayor wants to eliminate: does it currently go towards capital projects or operating expenses?
His plan is for replacing the bus fare with city funding, not having the MTA suffer any losses.
Keep in mind that the city and the MTA are separate government entities.
Operating expenses, and for the record I think free buses is a bad idea .
And I think the fees go up this year.
Litter on the UWS is most apparent when you see overflowing garbage cans and feces on the sidewalks. We get the privilege of seeing both every day on almost every side-street and corner.
I’ve been cautiously optimistic about the first year of Congestion Pricing. It’s nice to see that there’s data behind what I’ve noticed anecdotally!
What happened to all those people who were going to park here and take the train to avoid the toll? That was always a ridiculous notion.
The Extell resale data is just more evidence that NYC property taxes are fundamentally unfair. If you assume 75% of the monthly maintenance is for property taxes, the property tax rate on this luxury condo is 0.25% … as compared to the 0.8% to 1.2% being paid by owners of ordinary condos in smaller buildings (or single family homeowners).
I think the maintenance doesn’t include the property taxes. This appears.to be the listing, click on Apt 17F. The property taxes are 6,753 a month.
https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/central-park-west/50-west-66th-street/72771
We should be encouraging people to come to New York, not discouraging.
Encourage them to come by public transport 🙂
If you do put your Christmas tree out on the curb it isn’t for “trash pickup”. It is taken with the compost.
Glad to see congestion pricing has been such a success as I and many others expected, I only wish the rates were set at the original $15 contemplated we might have seen even more dramatic improvements in air quality and traffic.
UWS Dad,
Wondering about your opinion on littering issues?
And thoughts on the new schools chancellor?
(next WSR article)
Litter is bad!
Afraid I don’t know much about the new chancellor, so no comment until I see what he does in this new position.
Banning Uber and Lyft for trips wholly within Manhattan south of 96th Street would do a lot more than charging a fee. This is not about air quality or traffic, but you seeing people who don’t want to think exactly the way you do as beneath them!
Think however you want to! But if you’re going to bring noise, pollution, slower emergency response times, injuries, and deaths to our neighborhood be prepared to pay a modest fee to cover the costs you impose on the rest of us.
I pick up litter several times a week during my Riverside Park walks. The things that really annoy me:
– Dog owners who add their poop bags to already overflowing trash cans. You can’t carry it until you reach one that’s not over-full? You do realize that a Parks worker will have to deal with that, right?
– People who prop an entire bag of food leftovers on top of a can with a small opening, thus blocking anyone else from using it. Either push it through, or if that’s too icky, carry it out of the park to a street receptacle.
– On a macro level: Restaurants have outsourced their trash to the city. They don’t care how many plastic tops, napkins, ketchup packets, mini cups of sauce, or straws they add to an order. Not their problem. People finish their meal and are left with a plastic bags full of other plastic items, all of which the city has to pay to dispose of. (Oh, and the rats love this.)
By the way, if you want a cleaner city, you too can start picking up trash. Buy a box of plastic gloves. Save plastic bags from your online orders (it’s shocking how many you’ll have even after the bag law). It’s great exercise, and you’ll feel good when your neighbors say thanks, which they do!
(And, yes Corona caps are the most common. I will also add that the babies of the UWS are prone to yanking off shoes, socks and mittens and dropping them over the sides of their strollers. Caregivers, get off your phones and pay attention!)
I’m sure glad I don’t encounter you when I’m in the park, Lizzie. Believe me, I despise litter and lament it daily, but you seem extremely judgmental and awfully rigid about your opinions of others’ behavior.
As of July 31, 2023 restaurants are not supposed to provide utensils, condiments, and napkins unless requested. Local Law 17
Why is bagged dog poop left on top of a full bin any worse than any other garbage left on top? It is in a bag. If the bins are overflowing often perhaps the solution is to get more bins.
Thank you for helping to keep our community clean. It’s something I have started to do as well. And when I see someone drop litter on the street, I just say “ excuse me, you dropped something” . Some people pick it up and some people just keep walking, but I don’t think we should be silent when people throw garbage on the street.
NYC as garbage can…. I can’t understand why everyone wants to live like this? Too bad civic-minded people are a dying (well, mostly DEAD!) breed…..
Hear hear!
“Please hire a school chancellor who will more carefully protect our children from big tech. NYC schools are using EdTech programs recommended by Microsoft and other big tech companies, before the technology has been thoroughly tested. Yes, there are clear benefits of some of these programs, like iReady, but even that program collects data on our children, adds to or creates attentional deficits, and requires that elementary school children have internet access in the classroom before there are any DOE wide checks that schools are safeguarding the devices so kids cant access porn, violence, and other inappropriate content. There is ample emerging data that the AI used by the DOE has racial bias, that all EdTech learning is not retained as well as in-person or book learning, and it is not clear that the pros outweigh the cons.”