Today is Monday, February 23rd, 2026.
Do we even need to say it? Today’s forecast calls for — insert scream emoji here — more snow. It should begin tapering off around lunchtime, but — insert another scream emoji — there’s a bit more expected on Wednesday, followed by wintery mix on Thursday. The good news: With the exception of tomorrow, temperatures should climb above the freezing mark every day this week.
On this day in 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against the polio virus began, using a vaccine developed by Harlem-born virologist Jonas Salk.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
The Public Design Commission’s meeting to review the redesign of the River Run Playground, originally scheduled to be held both in person and online this morning at 11:30, will, because of the weather, now only be held online. Members of the public can give testimony; register — HERE. Link for the meeting, on Microsoft Teams platform, is — HERE; the meeting also can be accessed by calling 1-332-910-6701 (phone conference ID: 422 658 002#).
If you’re interested in serving on a community board, the deadline for submitting your application is 5 p.m. this Friday. Apply — HERE.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
A bench just inside the West 96th Street entrance to Central Park was the rallying point last week for a group honoring the memory of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
At noon on Monday, the second anniversary of Navalny’s death in a Russian prison, members of Team Navalny NY met outside the Russian consulate on East 91st Street, then walked across the park to the bench, where they laid flowers, lit candles, and held a minute of silence, ending with chants of “Russia will be free!”
The Russian government attributed Navalny’s death to natural causes, but that has been disputed by his widow and, separately, by a coalition of European governments, which announced in a joint statement last week that toxicology tests found a rare and lethal toxin derived from the skin of a South American poison dart frog in the 47-year-old Navalny’s system. “Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia,” the Europeans said.
After his death, the Russian consulate in New York was the site of frequent demonstrations. Protestors, including many Russian exiles now living in the city, left piles of flowers and photos of Navalny across the street from the consulate. However, the tributes were always promptly removed by the consulate, so Team Navalny NY raised money to affix a memorial plaque to a bench in Central Park in fall of 2024. The choice was not random: In one of his popular video investigations, Navalny used another Central Park bench plaque as the jumping off point for a corruption probe that aired on YouTube.
“With Central Park management we have an agreement to use a bench with a plaque in memory of Alexei as a permanent memorial,” organizers wrote in Russian on the group’s Facebook page. “Flowers and portraits of Navalny can be left there and they will remain there much longer than in the Russian consulate. We want more people to be able to see them and remember Alexei.”
The Central Park bench plaque reads: “In memory of Alexei Navalny. Never give up.”
It seems the UWS is getting a reputation for — how to put this delicately? — dog poop. Or, to be more specific, dog owners who don’t pick the stuff up, in direct violation of city law.
The subject made the news not once, but twice last week, with Gothamist reporting that the UWS — specifically Riverside Drive in the vicinity of West 106th Street — has the dubious distinction of being the third-worst block in the city in terms of dog feces, according to 311 call data. (There were 14 complaints about the block since the January 25th snowstorm, though the “winning” block — 49th Street between Third and Fourth avenues in Sunset Park, Brooklyn — had twice that number.)
The New York Post, meanwhile, profiled UWSer Olivia Bannerman, a software designer and part-time model, whom the publication dubbed “the poop fairy” because she’s made it her mission to pick up after not only her own dog, but other dogs as well, “in a task she’s likened to a disturbing ‘Easter egg hunt.'”
(“She’s gotta do what she’s gotta doo doo,” quipped the publication, adding that there’s so much waste to pick up that Bannerman goes through an entire roll of poop bags in 15 minutes.)
“It’s not selfless,” she told the Post. “In turn, I get to walk around a slightly poop-less area. But I think that it’s just important that we remember that we’re all connected.”
Sanitation department spokesman Joshua Goodman told Gothamist that dog owners are legally required to pick up their dog’s waste, “regardless of the weather or conditions on the ground. It is irresponsible and just gross to leave this behind anywhere, whether it’s a sidewalk, a patch of grass or a snow pile.”
Pet owners can be fined $250 for failing to pick up their dog’s waste, but, unfortunately, an enforcement officer has to witness it in order to write the summons, Goodman said.
“The chances of someone not picking up after their dog while an enforcement officer is watching is very, very slim. So slim, that we issued just two summonses for failure to remove canine waste in 2025,” Goodman said. “It is clear that people only leave piles behind when they know no one is watching.”
Read the Gothamist story — HERE; the New York Post story — HERE; and, ICYMI, a guest essay that we ran on the subject earlier this month — HERE.
The city’s oldest cycling club is suing the city, claiming the new 15 mph speed limit for bikes in Central Park was implemented illegally.
“It’s not that I am saying the city doesn’t have the right, but it has to follow the proper procedure; they need to do it via a rule change or legislation,” Paul Beadle, attorney for the New York Cycle Club, told StreetsBlog.
Instead, shortly before he left office, Mayor Eric Adams announced the speed limit was being lowered under something known as Sammy’s Law. Named for Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12-year-old boy who was struck and killed by car in 2013 on Prospect Park West, the law gives the city the power to drop the speed limit as low as 10 mph on certain roads as long as it gives 60 days advance notice and the opportunity for community boards to comment.
However, the cycling group argues in court papers filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that the law applies only to motor vehicles and not to bicycles.
“It’s unfortunate and absurd that this challenge is having to be brought by cycling groups because Mayor Adams chose to pervert the meaning of Sammy’s Law and circumvent the city’s own rule process,” Beadle said.
But Vin Barone, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Transportation, said the city is confident the 15 mph limit will hold up in court.
“The new speed limit in Central Park — which applies equally to bikes and essential vehicles—aligns with the speed limit for e-scooters and e-bikes on city streets,” he said. “This new speed limit reduces confusion, promotes safety, and helps ensure the park remains a comfortable place for everyone—from families and runners to daily cyclists. We are confident in this policy and look forward to defending it in court.”
Read the full story — HERE.
Holden Nagelberg, owner of the new Harrys Shoes, reached out to ask the Rag to pass on his thanks to the UWS customers for helping to make the store’s December “Fight Hunger And Save” fundraiser a huge success.
The company recently wrote a check for nearly $19,000 to West Side Campaign Against Hunger.
“We do a promotion we call “Fight Hunger And Save” every Black Friday through Christmas,” Nagelberg said. “During this period, we offer a small discount on any shoe purchase if the customer donates at least $1. We then match all of these contributions 100% and donate all the proceeds to a food bank.”
“We chose West Side Campaign Against Hunger as our local food bank … based on their long standing presence in the community, their commitment to provide fresh produce and other healthy food options to their customers, their excellent Charity Navigator rating, and of course their close proximity to our store,” Nagelberg wrote. “It really is a wonderful organization, and we’re so happy to be able to join with our customers to make such a significant contribution.”
In Other UWS News
- The Columbia Spectator recently took a look at the mayoral appointees from the neighborhood and its surrounds, and it turns out there are a lot of them. Read the story — HERE.
- Esri, a company that develops geographic information system software, recently did a fascinating story for its website on New York City’s use of contraceptives to attempt to control its rat population. Why, you ask, would a software company be writing about this? It turns out that Python — the coding language, not the snake — was part of the solution. Read the story — 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.)
A Less-Than-Enlightening Update on the Possibility of Wegmans Opening on the Upper West Side
UPDATE: What’s Going on With the 174 Yards of Sidewalk Shed Over The Astor on the Upper West Side
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Do we need to fix Russia in order to fix America?
“Pet owners can be fined $250 for failing to pick up their dog’s waste, but, unfortunately, an enforcement officer has to witness it”
The Poop Police are about as effective as the city’s Violence Interrupters.
I’m old enough to remember when Harry’s Florsheim was just Florsheim. There was a vestibule one could walk into and see show displays in a freestanding glass case, in addition to what was behind the glass on both sides of the vestibule. Now, as far as I know, it’s an entryway like every other.