Today is Monday, March 16th, 2026
Today’s forecast calls for a high of nearly 60 degrees — but also rain and possibly thunderstorms. Then it flips for two days: No rain tomorrow or Wednesday, but the temperature won’t climb above 40. Hang in there; relief is coming: It should be back in the 50s by the end of the week (though there’s also a possibility of showers …)
Today is National No-Selfies Day, and here are a few reasons you might want to observe:
- After surveying 1,000 Americans, Luster Premium White — a company that produces tooth-whitening products — calculated that the average millennial will take 25,000 selfies in their lifetime.
- The website Finance Buzz then analyzed the Luster findings and concluded that that adds up to 38 hours every year spent taking, editing and posting selfies — time that, if it were instead spent picking up extra shifts at an average hourly wage, would add up to nearly $900.
- More than half of those in the Luster survey said they fixed their hair before taking a selfie, and 47 percent said they practiced their facial expressions before taking the picture.
- Girls post selfies more frequently than boys, and reported greater levels of concern about how they looked and how their peers responded to their selfies than boys do, though investment in how they looked in selfies correlated with levels of depression in both genders, according to a study in the scientific journal Psychology of Popular Media.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Have a passion for, or expertise on a specific area of New York? The Municipal Art Society is looking for volunteers to lead tours — virtual or in person — for Jane’s Walk, which takes place the first weekend in May. However, proposals for the tour are due by Tuesday, March 31. For more information or to submit a proposal, click — HERE. The walk is named for renowned activist Jane Jacobs, who was instrumental in preventing the construction of an expressway that would have run through Lower Manhattan.
Water main replacement is poised to begin on a stretch of Central Park West, and on West 83rd Street and — brace yourself — the project will continue through 2028. Expect delays and detours on Central Park West between West 81st and West 85th streets between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays; on West 83rd Street between Columbus Avenue and CPW, work is scheduled to take place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. You can read our previous story on it — HERE.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is prepared to spend up to $5 million of his own money to help state Assemblyman Micah Lasher win the Congressional seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, The New York Times reported.
Quoting anonymous sources familiar with Bloomberg’s plans, the Times said the billionaire former mayor — who endorsed Lasher last week — plans to “follow up with a spending blitz” on mail, television and digital advertising on Lasher’s behalf.
No clear frontrunner has yet emerged in the crowded race for Nadler’s seat, though recent polls have suggested that candidates Jack Schlossberg, grandson of late President John F. Kennedy, and George Conway, a former Trump supporter turned critic, are better known than Lasher, and currently ahead of him in the race.
Read the full story — HERE.
Two Central Park playgrounds are among the finalists in USA Today’s annual Reader’s Choice awards for the country’s best public playground.
The Tarr-Coyne Wild West Playground, near the West 93rd Street entrance to Central Park, currently ranks 19th (out of 20 finalists) in the voting. And the Ancient Playground, across the park near the Met, ranks 10th. Other contenders include Adventure Playground in Tulsa, Okla. (currently No. 1); Science Playground in Boca Raton, Fla. (No. 11); and a third hometown contender that isn’t in Rag territory: Battery Playscape, in Battery Park (currently No. 20).
According to USA Today, a panel of experts came up with an initial list of the country’s best playgrounds based on their design, inclusivity, interactive playsets and family-friendly amenities; editors then winnowed the list to 20 finalists. Now it’s up to readers to choose the 10 best.
Voting runs through noon on April 6, with readers permitted to vote once each day. The 10 winning playgrounds will be announced April 15, with the grand prize apparently being … the honor of being included on the list.
See the finalists — HERE. (Or, if you just want to vote for one of the local contenders, you can vote for the Wild West Playground — HERE or the Ancient Playground — HERE.)
Since we’re on the subject of Central Park, remember Mei Mei the parakeet who spent 10 weeks living with a flock of sparrows near Seneca Village before being captured by birdwatchers last fall? When we wrote about her in this space in early November, she’d just been captured by determined Central Park birders, who knew that the little creature, whose species is native to Australia, wouldn’t survive outdoors once winter set in.
Since then, Mei Mei — whose name means “little sister” in Chinese — has been in quarantine, according to the New York Post. After being treated for parasites, the parakeet — whom veterinarians estimate to be about a year old — now “is in great condition,” the publication reported, and last week she was transferred to a permanent home at Rhode Island’s Foster Parrots sanctuary.
“Mei Mei will live the rest of her life in peace with other rescued parrots at a place that has to meet extremely stringent care standards,” Liz Cabrera Holtz of World Animal Protection, who worked on the transfer, told the Post. “It’s just an absolutely happy ending for her.”
Read the full story — HERE.
Actor Timothée Chalamet — who grew up going to school on the UWS — raised hackles in certain corners of the arts world last week by saying he wouldn’t want to work in ballet or opera “where it’s like … no one cares about this any more.”
Now an UWSer who definitely has reason to care is firing back.
“Timothee you wouldn’t last a day in my shoes . . . or socks,” wrote NYC Ballet’s principal dancer Jovani Furlan on Instagram, accompanied by a video in which he balanced on one sock-clad foot in demi pointe on a bosu ball — an inflated half-sphere topped by a platform — while moving his other leg through a range of extensions.
Furlan, who lives on the UWS, told the New York Post that he didn’t appreciate Chalamet’s comment.
“Any profession, but especially in the arts, when you hear someone kind of dissing it, it never feels good. When it’s your livelihood and you put so much effort into it. It really rubbed me the wrong way,” he told the publication.
See Furlan’s Instagram clip — HERE and read the interview — HERE.
In UWS real estate news, author and entrepreneur Vincent DeFilippo has put his West 76th Street brownstone on the market for $16 million — nearly double the $8.8 million for which he purchased it in 2015.
DeFilippo, formerly the CEO of a Hong-Kong based private equity firm and now an author of business books, spent seven years renovating the six-story, 8,000-square-foot townhouse, which includes six bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and a central spiral staircase resembling the Guggenheim’s.
“Blonde hardwood floors flow past a 20-person elevator on the way to a kitchen outfitted with sleek European cabinetry, a waterfall-edge island in veined marble, and high-end Wolf appliances, while an adjacent dining area topped with a matchstick light fixture has French doors spilling out to a terrace,” according to the Rob Report.
Read the story and see photos — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- After racist remarks were made in a meeting several weeks ago, the city’s Department of Education removed one UWS middle school from the list of those facing closure or other changes; parents are now calling for the department to take three others off the list. Read the full story in Gothamist — HERE.
- A video of a man rescuing a dog that had fallen through the ice on the pond in Central Park made news last week. Watch it — HERE.
- Eater is mapping the restaurants where Mayor Zohran Mamdani has dined since his inauguration in January. So far, none of them seem to have been on his old stomping ground of the UWS and Morningside Heights, but we’ll keep you posted! See the Eater map and accompanying article — HERE.
- After a recent homeless sweep on the UWS, advocates protested outside City Hall, demanding that the Mamdani administration put the “millions” it is spending on ousting the homeless toward housing for them instead. Read/watch the full story on NY1 — 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.)
He’ll Scan Your Ticket and Offer Commentary on the Movie You’re About to See at AMC Lincoln Square
New UWS Palestinian Restaurant, Ayat Hinds Hall, Nears Opening: Signage Goes Up
Columbia University Tennis Sensation Michael Zheng Wins $100,000 Hurd Award
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