Today is Monday, August 17th, 2026
The forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds, with a high of 88 and the possibility of a morning shower. Ditto for most of the rest of the week (with slight variations in the daily high temperatures, which will trend down a few degrees as the week wears on).
On this date in 1994, the reservoir in Central Park officially was named after the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in honor of her many contributions to the city. Before her death in May of that year, Onassis had often been seen jogging around the reservoir, and the windows of her Fifth Avenue apartment looked out over it. The 106-acre, billion-gallon reservoir, which was begun in the late 1850s and completed in 1862, originally supplied some of the city’s water, but it was decommissioned in 1993 after a new water main running under 79th Street made it obsolete; it does, however, still supply water to the Harlem Meer and nearby Pool.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Lit Club NYC, a group that describes itself as “a literary community for the culturally curious,” is holding a “Rest and Read” tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the 87th Street Garden. Bring a book and a bottle (if desired) and make a dent in your reading list, then gather in small groups for conversation about what you’re reading. The garden is located at 55 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West). More information on the club — HERE, and tickets ($15) for tomorrow’s event are available — HERE.
A note from WSR editors: It’s August and our full-time reporting staff of one has earned a rest, so you may notice us posting fewer stories than usual this week. But don’t worry, we’ll still be publishing our regular daily columns. Wishing all our readers a restful countdown to summer’s end!
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Nearly 500 parents whose children use the Gertrude Ederle Playground are documenting what they say are safety concerns related to a homeless shelter that recently opened nearby, WABC reported.
“This was always a safe haven for families and children, especially this playground, and now a lot of us are scared to come here,” said a woman who identified herself to the station only as “Heather.” “We feel unsafe. There’s loitering, public nudity, public vomiting, urination, drug use, drinking, needles and bottles being left in the playground.”
The park is located on West 60th Street between West End and Amsterdam avenues, about a block from a 200-bed shelter for single women that opened in May.
Project Renewal, a nonprofit associated with the shelter, told WABC that the city’s Department of Social Services “has met with the council member’s office about these concerns and has also set up a community advisory board to work collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors. As we work on next steps based on the feedback of the community, we also continue to work to address the stigma against New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who have fallen through every level of the safety net and society at large.”
Read/watch the full story — HERE.
Construction supervisor Pier Bueno got a big surprise when he reported to a worksite on West 95th Street last week: A large snake was lounging under the construction netting. The reptile apparently was just as startled, because it quickly slithered into one of the construction site’s scaffolding pipes.
“I have come across some other rodents — raccoons and rats and stuff. But never a snake,” the supervisor, Pier Bueno, told NBC News 4. “It was pretty scary.”
Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit came to the rescue, banging on the pipe and flushing it with water to force the snake from its hiding spot. “Officers did eventually free the snake and secured it in a cloth bag,” NBC reported.
It was taken to the Animal Care Centers of New York City, where it was identified as a water snake. “It appeared to be molting, or shedding its skin, which according to experts would explain why it was in the pipe: Snakes are known to rub up against rough surfaces and hide while shedding their scales,” NBC reported.
Read/watch the full story — HERE.
A West 87th Street townhouse once owned by an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt is being quietly shopped off-market for $10.28 million, the real estate website Mansion Global reported.
The 6,414-square-foot home is known as the True-Littauer house, after its architect, Clarence True, and one of its early owners, Roosevelt political advisor Lucius Littauer. Located at 64 West 87th Street (between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West), it features five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a foyer that doubles as a sitting room, a chef’s kitchen, a roof deck, a south-facing private garden, and multiple fireplaces, including one with a full-height, carved-wood mantel and a pink mosaic interior.
Tom Miller, author of the blog Daytonian in Manhattan, wrote about the home’s history in 2015, describing how True had been commissioned in the early 1890s by developer H. Ives Smith to design a row of three four-story homes on West 87th, each of them costing $18,000 to build — the equivalent of about half a million in today’s dollars.
“No. 64 was, perhaps, the star of the show,” Miller wrote. “Faced in rough-cut limestone, it sat aloofly back from the property line. A four-story bay projected slightly forward, giving dimension to the façade.”
The homes were completed in 1895, and Littauer, then 36, bought No. 64 in April of that year — “barely before the paint was dry,” as Miller put it. At the time, Littauer was 36, a Harvard classmate and close friend of Roosevelt, who would be elected to Congress two years later. He lived in the townhome on and off until his death in 1944, after which it passed through a succession of owners. Zillow reports that it most recently sold in May 2025 for $10.44 million.
Read the Mansion Global story — HERE, and see particularly good photos in northjersey.com — HERE. The history of the home is — HERE.
Since we’re on the subject of aspirational real estate: Elle Decor UK recently featured a Lincoln Square townhouse that looks like a classic Beaux-Arts townhouse from the outside. But inside, the five-bedroom home is anything but traditional.
“The homeowners, a couple with three young children, wanted to turn the traditional building into a vibrant, indoor-outdoor multigenerational home for their nuclear family, plus the wife’s parents, who would live in a private on-site suite,” reported Elle. “Throughout the home, spaces are decorated to honour the family’s Japanese culture and heritage. For example, most of the bedrooms have tatami mats (traditional woven floor coverings made of grass or straw) instead of beds.”
Read the full story and see photos — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- WPIX talked to UWSers about how they were feeling after multiple gunshots were fired during a dispute between three men on Central Park West last week. Read/watch the full story — HERE.
- The New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary had a fun story last week by longtime UWSer Susan Rubin, who decided to catch up with an Upper East Side friend while riding the crosstown bus. Read what happened — HERE.
- And speaking of the Times: When a reader wrote to the publication’s food newsletter, asking where to find great steak tartare in the city, the editor sent them to the UWS. Read her recommendation — HERE.
ICYMI
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
“we also continue to work to address the stigma against New Yorkers experiencing homelessness”. This isn’t about stigma. It is about behavior. Specifically “loitering, public nudity, public vomiting, urination, drug use, drinking, needles and bottles being left in the playground.” Please address the behaviors.
Thank you. There is rampant bigotry of low expectations from people who work in the homeless industry. I’m sure they mean well, but to just excuse horrible behavior as the inevitable result of a difficult life is an insult to people who struggle with issues but don’t behave abysmally.
All the negative boomers need to relax. Momdani has a 150% approval rating. Clearly his strategy of destroying business and expanding the houseless is working just how we Gen Z people like it. Stop complaining and enjoy the warmth of collectivism! Oh and please let people come into your homes and take your soap and shampoo. Don’t be a capitalist!
Hard to see how this kind of comment contributes constructively to debate on West Side Rag. Unless the author’s goal was embarrassing himself with lazy satire, that is.
Project Renewal’s track record at the Lucerne.? This time they can’t blame Covid. Maybe Open Hearts will be able to assist here in helping to educate the neighbors so they create a more welcoming atmosphere.
A more welcoming atmosphere for the people who are doing drugs in their playground? Nobody cares if they’re homeless or living in the shelter they care about the behavior in the playground.
The parents who bring their children to the playground are not the people causing the problems. Those who do the things described in the article are the ones causing the problems.
The bus is great.
Needs more love.
“The New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary had a fun story last week by longtime UWSer Susan Rubin, who decided to catch up with an Upper East Side friend while riding the crosstown bus.”
When this shelter was announced I was incredulous. My first thought was the playground and the second was the condo building that this shelter is now surgically attached to. I ride my bike up and down 59th St and have observed some residents exhibiting the behaviors described in the article. One had to ask: why drop this shelter into this neighborhood. My comment is NOT NIMBY but the facts speak for themselves
It’s funny how people think putting all things for all people and purposes in the same location is morally superior and that they need to defended themselves against any suggestion they don’t believe that to be true.
Review this site. in 10 years, they doubled their revenues and expenses. How many new shelters and people did they help? Why does a CEO for a shelter need this salary? https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/132602882
I hope our local elected officials do a better job of rationally discussing issues than the people on WSR comment sections do (though I have my doubts).
Y’all are too much.
UWS has way more than its fair share of homeless, drug, rehab centers. Start putting them in other areas.
Enjoy your well-deserved vacay!
“Project Renewal, a nonprofit associated with the shelter, told WABC that the city’s Department of Social Services “has met with the council member’s office about these concerns and has also set up a community advisory board to work collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors.”
In other words, absolutely nothing will be done to remedy this blight on the neighborhood.
Many interesting articles today!
One ongoing plaint: PLEASE re-rename the Central Park Reservoir AS the Central Park Reservoir. Honor Jackie O some other way; there are plenty of NY landmarks or buildings to name after the rich, famous, & sometimes philanthropic.
Lit Club’s $15 boozy book club is NOT happening at the West Side Community Garden!
– We do not allow alcohol or paid events.
– The W 87th St Garden belongs to NYC Parks. They don’t allow booze or unpermitted paid events, either.
WSR EDITORS, you misnamed the venue. PLEASE CORRECT this.
Thank you. The correct venue is the 87th Street Garden.
The homeless are not “neighbors”. By definition, they do not have homes in the neighborhood. There is no good reason we should allocate expensive real estate that could be used to add to housing capacity for those who work and are willing and eager to pay for more affordable housing options here on the UWS. Shelters should be created from far far less expensive real estate elsewhere in the city. I’m so tired of the people who defend this nonsense as long as someone else’s tax dollars are being used to fund it.
The most vulnerable neighbors are children.
The UWS is a better place to have homeless shelters than the parts of NYC without subways. At least they have access to greater opportunities and people who will advocate for them. On the other hand, immigrant homeowners and renters alike don’t want them in deep Queens or deep Bronx.
Why don’t they want them? Maybe their reasons are reasons we on the UWS should consider.
I think “greater opportunities” should be created for people who are gainfully employed and pay taxes. I know, what an outrageous suggestion. Providing housing and social services at a location that costs the city less is only prudent. It does not discriminate against homeless people.
Can West Side Rag do a piece on all of the homeless shelters in the neighborhood? Is in count them all up, list their locations, list who the developers are, and list how they are funded.
It would be tremendously helpful to have the actual numbers to get a sense of how much our neighborhood has taken on of this particular social issue.
West Side Rag — It would be incredibly valuable if you did a deep dive into the concentration of shelters and supportive housing on the Upper West Side.
Specifically, look at the cluster between West 94th and West 99th Streets, where the Department of Homeless Services added 5 MICA (Mentally Ill/Chemical Abusers) facilities between 2019 and 2025—on top of the 4 facilities ALREADY operating on 95th and 97th Streets.
DHS’s own guidelines state that shelters should not be sited within 0.5 miles of one another, yet by relying on “emergency” rules, these locations become permanent without community input or proportional support services.
Calling for equitable distribution across all NYC neighborhoods isn’t NIMBYism—it’s about long-term sustainability, fairness, and ensuring both residents and vulnerable populations get the support and oversight they need to thrive.
Detailed Findings from last audit I could find.
see below regarding “Fair Share Process”
The current Fair Share process does not ensure compliance with the Fair Share Criteria. The Criteria are applied inconsistently and are out of date, having not been reviewed for close to three decades. City agencies continue to rely on outdated BTP ratios, and community districts with already high BTP ratios continued to receive a high percentage of facility sitings during the audit period. Forty percent of the Article 9 Statements reviewed during the audit resulted in the placement of facilities within neighborhoods with high BTP ratios.