Today is Monday, February 16th, 2026
Today’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, with a high of 40. The rest of the week is a mixed bag: highs in the 40s straight through the weekend, with rain and drizzle forecast for Wednesday and Friday.
Today is the holiday most of us call President’s Day, but technically speaking, we’re wrong: Both at the federal level and in New York State, the official holiday is Washington’s Birthday, designated by an act of Congress in 1879 to honor our first president, George Washington. Popularly — and officially, in some states — it’s called Presidents Day and, depending on whom you talk to, celebrates either Washington and President Abraham Lincoln, or all U.S. presidents. By the way, Washington’s actual birthday was February 22nd, and used to be celebrated then, but after the Uniform Holiday Act of 1968, it was moved to the third Monday in February to give federal employees a consistent three-day weekend. The post office is closed today, as are most schools, banks, and government offices.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Hands Off NYC and UWS Allies are holding an ICE Readiness Workshop on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive. They’ll be discussing how to spot ICE, and what your rights are if you do. No RSVP necessary.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Central Park’s famous coyote couple, Romeo and Juliet, made the news not once, but twice on Friday. But the stories had very different angles.
amNY did a Valentine’s Day story featuring both the coyote couple and the human couple, Jacqueline Emery and David Lei, who have been photographing them for several years; they talked about their observations of the coyotes, describing what happened when the coyotes encountered an owl, and the pair’s reaction to the New Year’s Eve fireworks in the park. (“The coyotes booked it as fast as we’ve ever seen them run,” Emery told amNY.)
City News Service, meanwhile, did a story with an ominous headline: “New York City is Poisoning its Wild Celebrities. Will Romeo and Juliet Be Next?”
That piece focused on the poison used in the city’s war on rats, which kills the rodents by causing them to bleed internally. But once ingested, it can take up to a week to kill the rats, and if they’re eaten by a predator in the meantime, it can poison that predator as well. The most famous example of such secondary poisoning involved a young coyote nicknamed Hal, who captured the city’s attention in 2006 when he led police on a two-day chase through the park. He was eventually captured but died unexpectedly shortly before he was to be released back into the wild. Tests determined that rat poisoning was a significant factor.
“What we can say definitively is that rodenticide poisons cause extreme and excessive animal suffering,” Nadia Steinzor, carnivore conservation director at Project Coyote, told the news service. The organization is focused on protecting wild carnivores.
While no one knows whether Romeo and Juliet have ingested rat poison, “it may be telling that the couple have cycled through two mating seasons in the park without being spotted with offspring,” the news service said, quoting Paul Stapp, a wildlife ecologist.
“Obviously [rodenticides] çan affect body condition, which affects reproduction,” Stapp said. “There could be some indirect effect, especially at a high level of exposure.”
Read amNY’s story about Romeo and Juliet — HERE and City News Service’s story — HERE.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the Astor in this space, after Community Board 7 turned down the condominium’s request to convert two parking spaces in front of the building into a loading zone.
Now, the building is back in the news, with the condo board threatening to sue the investment firm CIM Group, which owns the Astor, according to Crain’s New York.
The group was one of the lenders on an ambitious renovation project of the luxury building, led by HFZ Capital Development. When the developer ran into problems, the investment firm foreclosed.
In a two-page document filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the board says CIM needs to pay the board at least $10 million for problems related to construction on and operation of the building. However, the paperwork did not specify what the problems were, Crain’s said.
However, it likely would elaborate at such a time as it filed a full lawsuit, the publication added. The paperwork filed was “a brief and vaguely worded 2-page summons, a court document that usually precedes a lawsuit,” Crain’s said.
Read the full story — HERE.
For 40 years, vendors have been selling clothing, crafts, home decor, antiques, and other items at the UWS’s Grand Bazaar, making it the longest-running weekly market in the city.
In honor of the anniversary, Fashion Week Daily recently did a piece on the market, which it describes as “part shopping destination, part cultural crossroads,” and a place that “plays a quietly influential role” in the fashion world.
The bazaar, at Columbus and West 77th Street, donates proceeds to local schools.
“Grand Bazaar is quintessentially NYC,” the bazaar’s executive director, Dara Lehon, told the publication. “Think: authentic New Yorkers, different cultures, diverse offerings, best-in-class artisans, artists, dealers, and character making that very special New York vibe.”
Read the full story — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- Valentine’s Day 2026 is over, but the New York Post’s story on the UWS doorman who set up two residents of the building (and later attended their wedding) is still a charming read. Find it — HERE.
- This week’s NYT’s real estate section featured a first-time homebuyer’s search for the perfect apartment on the UWS for under $1 million. (Hint: She found one.) Read about it — HERE.
- Eyewitness News recently ran a story about 9-year-old UWS piano prodigy Alexander Zhou. Read/watch the piece — HERE.
- The UWS’s beloved H&H Bagels is opening an outpost in Miami. Read about it — HERE.
ICYMI
Here are a few 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.)
Miniature Metropolis: A Giant’s Glance at the Upper West Side
2 UWS Buildings Named Among ‘Most Distressed’ in New York City
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How long has the scaffolding around the Astor been up?
Over 12 years and no one seems to have answers. The building is a complete mess and now it’s turned into a full homeless encampment.
About 10 years. Has always seemed like a sketchy conversion.
Seems like they want their cake and to eat it too!
Relatedly…..the encampments under the scaffolding seem to be growing.
Over the past few weeks some neighborhood acquaintances contacted 311 seeking help for the individuals.
Examples? Have not noted any encampments under sheds in my part of the UWS.
For weeks there have been encampments under scaffolding on Broadway 75-76 – unless something has changed recently
The encampments under the scaffolding on the West side of Broadway btw 75/76 are still there and have been expanding.
You mean individuals sleeping on the sidewalk under the Astor’s construction shed? Not exactly an encampment. Many move for the day.
Why use poison that causes such long term suffering? What is wrong with us?
Hal wasn’t the only victim of rat poisoning. Who can forget Flaco?
Years ago on WSR I suggested that the UWS team up with the RATS club in Brooklyn, a club made up of terrier owners who go rat hunting, and someone said that was cruel. Letting a rat bleed internally for weeks before dying sounds much more cruel than having a dog snap its neck with death taking place within seconds.
The placement of poison in the parks needs to be stopped. That is horrible and cruel. Animals are not ours and they should be allowed to live and thrive just as we do. This is pure speciesism and is unacceptable.
Grand Bazzar is mostly an overpriced joke. Most of the stuff is easy to find elsewhere for less.
20 years ago it was an interesting fleamarket.
No, Flaco the eagle-owl is the most prominent victim of indirect rat poisoning
Sans rat poison he would not have colided with a building, severely injuring himself.
Yes why all the glass towers are an issue yet urbanists want more of them, they do not like nature, they want to weaponize it for their own gain
Please cart away and dump these snow piles.
Please let the Astor renovate.
Meaning convert to apts for the very well off.
The “full story” on the Astor lawsuit is behind a Crain’s paywall.
Really we want to have ICE riots like the dim wits in the north. I can see these folks blockading Broadway daily for car checks like the folks in Michigan.
The current H&H has nothing to do with the original+the bagels are nothing special. Cheap flour is part of the issue.