Today is May 11th, 2026
The forecast calls for morning showers with a high of 62 degrees, and Wednesday’s forecast is essentially the same. The rest of the week, expect mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the low to mid-60s.
On this day in 1975, 50,000 people thronged the Sheep Meadow in Central Park for a rally celebrating the end of the Vietnam War — an event the New York Times described as “a joyous all-day carnival of songs and speeches in the perfect sunshine.” Organized by singer-songwriter Phil Ochs, it featured performers including Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Patti Smith, Peter Yarrow, and others. See clips — HERE. Baez’s set list (the only one readily available) is — HERE.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered an investigation into how Bellevue Hospital handles psychiatric evaluations, after a retired Upper West Side special education teacher was pushed down a subway staircase by a man who had been released from the hospital only hours earlier; the teacher later died of his injuries.
Officers responding to a 911 call at the No. 1 subway station in Chelsea at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday said they found 76-year-old Ross Falzone, who lived on West 85th Street, unconscious and unresponsive and rushed him to Bellevue, where he was pronounced dead at 3 a.m. Friday. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine, and a broken rib, officials said.
Shortly thereafter, they arrested Rhamell Burke, 32, who had been picked up once already that day by police outside the 17th Precinct stationhouse on the East Side, where, they said, he had been acting erratically. As officers approached him, he brandished a stick at them, they said.
An officer was able to defuse the situation, and Burke was transported to Bellevue for a psychiatric evaluation but was released shortly afterward. Five hours later, police said, he apparently shoved Falzone to his death in an unprovoked attack.
The mayor said the Bellevue review will also include a broader review of psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols across the public hospital system. “New Yorkers deserve answers. That is why I’ve directed NYC Health + Hospitals to conduct both an immediate investigation on what steps should have been taken to prevent this tragedy and a comprehensive review of their psychiatric evaluation and discharge protocols,” Mamdani said.
Falzone’s sister, Donna Falzone, told ABC News that her brother was a retired special education teacher, and held a doctoral degree from Columbia University.
“There’s no amount of anger that we can express, and shock,” she said. “I mean, to get a call like that at 4 in the morning, you know, just, you know, to find out your brother’s minding his own business, three witnesses, and push down the steps and left for dead.”
Police said Falzone’s death is being investigated as a homicide.
Read/watch the full story — HERE.
The history blog Ephemeral New York recently took a look at what it calls “the rise and fall” of public rest rooms in the city, and one of the stars of the piece was the UWS’s own former “comfort station” on the Broadway median strip just north of 96th Street.
The building — a granite cube with Romanesque trim — is still there, but a sign on the building identifies it as the property of “Broadway Malls,” and if the toilets still exist, they’re no longer accessible to the public they were built to serve.
The blog details the construction of public bathrooms starting at the turn of the last century, when “[t]he need for public privies in the rapidly expanding metropolis was a constant topic in newspapers of the era,” and ramping up further during the Depression, when the city used federal Works Progress Administration funds to build public parks and the rest rooms necessary to serve them.
The blog also links to a 2021 report by the city comptroller. Titled “Discomfort Stations,” it delves into the “unseemly condition” of the public restrooms that do still exist, “repelling children, families, seniors, and everyday New Yorkers, rather than providing relief.” The report also notes that New York has 16 public restrooms per 100,000 residents, putting it in “an embarrassing” 93rd place compared to the nation’s 100 largest cities. (St. Paul, Minn., for instance, has 210 public restrooms per 100,000 residents, and Cincinnati has 125.)
Read the full story and access the comptroller’s report — HERE.
Quick: Who’s the guy on the horse in the photo above (or at left, depending on what platform you’re using to read this story)?
If you have no idea, you’re not alone; Central Park is full of monuments that many of us walk past daily, either without noticing them or, if we do notice, not recognizing the person they’re honoring, points out the arts website Splice.com, which recently ran an article on the history of some of the lesser-known statues in Central Park.
Though there are a few better-known figures in the piece — Sir Walter Scott, for instance, and poet Robert Burns, both located on the Literary Walk — the piece also delves into people like the guy on the horse, who, in case you’re wondering, is King Ladislaus Jagiello.
“King who?” wrote the author of the piece, Kevin Walsh, the editor of Forgotten New York. “Ladislaus Jagiello, grand duke of Lithuania, became king of Poland in 1386; his reign is regarded as a revival of learning and literature in eastern Europe as it slowly emerged from the dark ages.”
The statue came to New York as part of the Polish pavilion at the first NYC World’s Fair, according to the article, and was later gifted to the city. It has been in its present site near the Turtle Pond since 1945.
Read the full story — HERE.
The real estate website 6sqft recently featured the UWS studio/apartment once owned by the legendary dance instructor Raoul Gelabert, which is currently on the market for $5.65 million.
But that’s not “studio” as in “an apartment with no bedrooms” — it’s studio as in “dance,” a 2,800-square-foot space in which the Cuban-born Gelabert both lived and trained generations of dancers, including many members of the Joffrey Ballet.
After his death in 2019, the apartment, located at 257 West 86th Street, was purchased for $1.7 million by architect Morgan Rolantz and his wife, who completely remodeled and updated it, creating a three-bedroom unit with zoned air conditioning, a gallery, a chef’s kitchen and a media room.
Gelabert was the author of the textbook “Anatomy for the Dancer” and also was one of the pioneers of kinesiotherapy for dancers, an injury prevention method that focuses on correct technique.
Read the full story and see photos — HERE. Before-and-after photos — HERE.
Last week, we wrote about the mounted NYPD officer who was promoted after he and his horse chased down an alleged purse snatcher on the UWS.
This week, we call your attention to an interview that former officer — now Detective — Kyle McLaughlin gave to amNY about the incident, his promotion, and what they both mean for his 23-year-old horse, Kelly.
“Kelly’s one of the smallest horses in the unit, but he’s got the biggest heart, and he’s a mush with everyone,” said McLaughlin, who will remain with the mounted unit. “But at the end of the day, don’t challenge him, because he will step up to the plate.”
Read the full story — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- Apartment Therapy recently featured a 220-square-foot UWS studio that its 20-something occupant — an urban gardener — turned into a cozy home in the sky (albeit a home without a bed). Read the story and see photos — HERE.
- The New Yorker magazine recently took a deep dive into the role that AI is playing in the crowded race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler in Congress. Read it — HERE.
- amNY recently ran an interview with the mounted NYPD officer who apprehended a suspected purse snatcher on the UWS. Read it — HERE.
ICYMI
On the Anniversary of An UWS Dog Attack, New Legislation Announced To Help Pet Owners
Where are the cops and cameras in the subway stations?
An investigation how Bellevue handles evaluations and discharges?
Let me spare you the suspense and the waste of tax dollars.
Answer: With utter incompetence. And zero consideration for societal impacts.
That is completely 100% false, absolutely totally untrue. I know that for a fact you’re wrong. The mayor is blaming the doctors because then it’s not a political issue that he is expected to solve get it? But Bellevue has one of the best psych departments in the country. The last thing they want is for something like this to happen.
I completely agree. But can you think of an alternative? Any thoughts and ideas could be very helpful. I can’t come up with anything! But there are people who are most assuredly wiser and more inventive than I am. Whoever you are, please come forward! We all need solid, promising input. We must prevent more tragedies.
How about three strikes and you’re out. Three convictions for any violent crime at all automatically gets you 10 years, added to your sentence if necessary. We could use that in NY.
So you suggest we just don’t look into it at all and carry on, business as usual?
What’s the definition of doing the same thing over and over again? I’m sure they did their 5-minute review when Michelle Go was savagely murdered in not dissimilar circumstances.
Look how much has changed…
My sincere condolences to Mr. Falzone’s sister, other family members and friends. This is a horrible tragedy that never should have happened but, because the mentally ill are not helped by their families and properly treated by the public health system, we read all too many stories of people being pushed off of the subway platform, punched in the face for no reason and otherwise violently attacked. This is a complex problem and it needs serious people to address it.
Let’s not blame the families of the mentally ill. Most people (apparently includong the staff at Bellevue,) don’t know how to help the mentally ill.
I like this format with short intros to links. The site is looking good!
I agree! I love the whole redesign of this page.
Anyone who has lived on the UWS for any length of time is familiar with the story of Larry Hogue. He was a crack addicted schizophrenic known as The Wildman of 96th Street and he terrorized people for years in the 1990s. He was repeatedly taken in and briefly put on psych holds and then released. Why? Because he was too difficult to deal with and easier for the hospitals to street him.
The system has been broken for decades. There isn’t a need for review, there is a need for a complete overhaul with the way the city deals with the mentally ill and drug addicted. This is old news that no politicians ever deal with.
As for the “Comfort Stations” lets not forget that each and every subway station citywide also has long shuttered public restrooms!!!
I think back to films like The Snake Pit (1948), Caged (1950), and more recently Willowbrook: The Last Disgrace (1972) and others like it which helped fuel a movement against institutionalization. Along comes that deinstitutionalization in the early 1970s. I remember walking along Broadway and seeing loads of people yelling, arguing and screaming at no one as they walked along the avenue.
The pendulum has now swung the other way so that we have to endure the mentally challenged walking along our streets and communities.
I recognize the power and horror of those films, but frankly, when it comes to people’s lives, the mentally challenged should be institutionalized. There has to be a balance between abuse at an institution and the quality of life of those who want to live peacefully without watching who’s going to throw you down a staircase, on to the subway tracks, or in the path of a car.
In the 70s, deinstitutionalization WAS supposed to come with proper treatment.
Then we discovered it was really expensive, and at the same time we opted to cut taxes by huge amounts.
Wit those cuts we transferred 9 – 11% of income to the top 1%.* That shift alone is more than the entire amount earned by the bottom 35%.
And we don’t have the money to properly follow through on the deinstitutionalization premise.
*A true story: In ’81 I was an associate at a labor law firm, as the tax cuts were passed. Our senior partner comes back from a conference and sits us down in the conference room. Here’s the sum & substance of what he learned:
‘Advise clients to time their raises to the effective dates of the tax cuts (July 1 of ’81, 82 & 83). That way they can give lower raises because the cuts will make take home greater, and taken with the tax cut the pay hike will look much better. They pocket the savings.’
We still haven’t recovered from the Age of Reagan.
Yes, liberty isn’t an absolute good. We don’t think that my having liberty justifies my taking up residence in your home uninvited. There has been way too much concern for the liberty of people whose patterns of action threaten or damage those around them.
There are so many bleeding hearts who trip over themselves to protect the “rights” of those who are not mentally well. They do deserve to be treated decently like human beings. But there are some of them who cannot and should not be out in the general population. It does not take training or a specialized degree to recognize the most extreme cases. Those people should be put in special facilities and taken care of so they do not hurt others or themselves. These facilities should have sufficient funds and oversight so that they are truly treated well.
It is sad that this is even up for debate, and that those who disagree with me try to act so virtuous and treat those of us who just want reasonable plans like we are hateful and evil.
Believe me, Burke didn’t check to see what Mr. Falzone’s political leanings were. This is a serious situation , which apparently happens more to older adults by these mentally ill people.
Frankly, I don’t care what the Right or the Left has to say, just lock these people up so they can’t hurt anyone else.
Once they are put away from decent society, then work on fixing the things that are wrong.
Don’t let them walk out to do this again while they’re working on it.
On another online newspaper the downvotes would outnumber the upvotes on your very reasonable comment.
Oh? I call for a show of virtual hands from our resident “bleeding hearts” who believe the severely mentally ill should be dumped back to the streets — as opposed to, following due process, “put in special facilities and taken care of so they do not hurt others or themselves”, facilities with “sufficient funds and oversight so that they are truly treated well.” Come on, speak up now all you “progressive apologists”!
As usual, the right trots forth its straw men.
“Burke was transported to Bellevue for a psychiatric evaluation but was released shortly afterward. Five hours later, police said, he apparently shoved Falzone to his death in an unprovoked attack.”
This will continue to happen and progressive apologists will continue to defend the city’s failed policies.
Don’t blame the doctors at Bellevue, they have about 30 minutes to decide whether someone is a danger to themselves or others and they don’t have access to legal records or law-enforcement records. Blame the judicial system and bail reform which keeps letting this guy go even after he assaulted another woman on the subway just a few weeks ago.
When a violent person keeps being violent and never winds up in jail, they don’t say, gee I am lucky that the state of New York is generous with bail reform. Instead, they say, gee I can do anything and there are no consequences.
This tragedy is heartbreaking and should force an honest public discussion about severe mental illness, public safety, and the limits of the city’s current psychiatric response system.
If someone is experiencing behavior serious enough for police to transport them for an emergency psychiatric evaluation, yet they are repeatedly released within hours and quickly return to the same dangerous state, then clearly the system is failing both the individual in crisis and the public.
New York City has shown that when it decides something is an emergency, it can mobilize enormous amounts of funding and infrastructure very quickly. The question many residents are asking is: why has the city not invested with the same urgency in long-term psychiatric treatment capacity, stabilization centers, supportive inpatient care, and secure mental health facilities for individuals suffering from severe untreated illness?
This is not about lacking compassion. In fact, true compassion means creating systems that protect both vulnerable individuals and the public before tragedies happen.
The current revolving-door approach is not working. Residents need to keep speaking up and demanding serious long-term mental health solutions, because clearly incremental responses are not enough.
I think an answer to your question would bring in the role of NY State. The laws that determine how the violent mentally ill are treated are state laws, no?
Hospitals are mandated by insurance companies to release the mentally ill as soon as possible. They are not going to pay for the lengthy treatment. Hospitals are not going to treat them for free.
So look into the insurance practices and not just hospitals.
Bellevue treats everyone for free.
Define “free”. Any hospital will take anyone for free; the question is – will they keep the person for a long duration of time? Of course insurance industry decides!