Today is Monday, October 26th, 2026
The forecast calls for a mostly sunny day with a high of 69, and an equally pleasant week ahead. There’s no rain in the forecast at the moment, and high temperatures are expected to range from 57 (Wednesday) to 68 (Friday).
On this date in 2012, New York City was battening down the hatches in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, which had just killed 11 people and destroyed 15,000 homes in the Bahamas, and was heading our way. By the time it reached us three days later, it was technically no longer a hurricane — it had been downgraded to a “post tropical cyclone” — but it was still one of the costliest natural disasters in city history, causing an estimated $19 billion in damage.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Early voting began Saturday, and ends this coming Sunday. Information on voting hours and how to find your polling place is — HERE.
A Community Fridge that will provide free food for UWSers in need is coming to SAJ at 15 West 86th Street (between Columbus and Central Park West), as part of the synagogue’s justice initiative. Learn more about it at a meeting at SAJ on Saturday, October 24th, from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. Additional information — HERE.
The leaves in Central Park are changing; find the best places to see them on the Conservancy’s annual foliage tracker, updated daily — HERE.
News Roundup
Compiled by Laura Muha
Both UWS canine-didates ran strong campaigns. But the voters have spoken, and neither Enzo, a beagle-terrier mix, nor Violet, a golden retriever, will be heading for City Hall this year.
In the contest for honorary Dog Mayor of NYC, the 16 candidates faced off against one another in pairs, with the winner of each pairing advancing to the next round. Enzo lost in the quarterfinals to Dr. Computer Chips, a three-legged Shih Tzu from Park Slope, Brooklyn, whose campaign slogan was “Three Legs, One Mission: More Treats for All.”
Violet, meanwhile, made it to the semifinals, where she lost to Machka, a 4-year-old Anatolian shepherd mix who was born in Turkey, survived the 2023 earthquake there, and coincidentally also has only three legs as the result of a car accident. She now resides in Sunnyside, Queens.
Although they didn’t win, the two UWS candidates appeared to be supportive of one another, with Enzo even showing Violet his favorite treat spot. And when Enzo’s owner, Harry Leff, announced in a tongue-in-cheek post on his Instagram page that he was “[t]est marketing a potential House, Senate, or even Presidential run for Enzo,” Violet’s owner, Olivia Bannerman, chimed right in. “10/10 would vote for Enzo as president,” she wrote in the comments.
The final vote in this year’s Honorary Dog Mayor contest takes place next Monday, November 2nd, with Dr. Computer Chips and Machka facing off against each other. The winner will serve as Dog Mayor for the next two years, and the runner up will be named deputy mayor; their responsibilities will, er, en-tail shining a spotlight on animal-related issues city wide.
See the latest updates on the voting — HERE.
Students at LaGuardia High School took part in nationwide anti-AI protests last week, walking out on classes last week to demand a freeze on the technology, reported the website govtech.com.
They left the school at West 65th and Amsterdam around noon last Tuesday, and marched to Lincoln Center, chanting “Who’s future? Our future!”
“I think it’s pretty telling that the people who have to protest against AI are the children, the students,” LaGuardia senior Mieke Nievergelt told the website, which focuses on the intersection between technology and government. “And the adults, the administrators, are the ones who are perpetuating the use of AI in the education system. Because adults don’t understand the effect that AI has on young minds. And the effect that it’s going to have on our future. Adults don’t understand because they had the time to form their minds — without having something to do it for them.”
Read the full story — HERE.
In the past few years, the Metro New York Baptist Association has — like so many other religious organizations — faced expensive maintenance issues in the UWS headquarters it has owned for more than half a century.
Initially, it tried to sell the six-story building at 236 West 72nd Street. But after two sales fell through in as many years, the group turned to prayer to figure out what to do — and, moved by Jeremiah 29 in the Old Testament, which calls on those in exile to “build houses and live in them,” they decided to remain on the UWS after all.
“Part of the reason that God has it in our future to keep this building is to be able to remain rooted and grounded where he has called us,” the group’s executive director Larry Mayberry told the Baptist Press, which is the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Every year, more than 100 Baptist mission teams and 1,200 volunteers from across the nation stay at the group’s headquarters for training, and also while serving in ministry outreach and churches around the city, the publication said.
Mayberry said that while many church groups have decided to rent space in recent years, there are benefits that come with ownership.
“This building provides a very strong connection for us to the rest of the country,” he said. “It allows teams and potential mission partners to be connected to us in a way we wouldn’t have if we didn’t have this building.”
Read more about the building’s history and the association’s story — HERE.
Want a balloon’s eye view of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade? Have we ever got an apartment for you — as long as you’ve got $8.7 million to spare.
Mansion Global, a site that focuses on high-end real estate, recently featured a four-bedroom duplex on the fourth and fifth floors of the Century building at 25 Central Park West.
The sellers “always have three generations coming over for the parade,” listing agent Nealy Nusbaum Erber, of Christie’s International, told the publication. “The pre-war building is column-free in the corners, so when you’re looking north toward the parade there is no concrete or brick corner blocking your view. It’s all windows.”
Read the full story and see pictures (including the balloons as seen from the apartment) — HERE.
In Other UWS News
- A $7 million penthouse at 1 Central Park West topped the list of luxury real-estate sales (defined as those with an asking price of over $4 million) the week of October 12th, Patch reported. Read the full story and see the rest of the list — HERE.
- ABC Eyewitness News spoke with drivers of horse-drawn carriages shortly before the City Council voted to ban them. Read/watch what they had to say — HERE.
- Streetsblog ran an opinion piece making the case for a protected bike lane around the perimeter of Central Park. Read it — HERE.
ICYMI
A Post-Grad’s Guide to the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies on the Upper West Side
AI Street Cameras Tracking Parking Violations on the Upper West Side Taken Down
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Walking out of class to protest AI is very un-progressive! These little Luddites need to embrace the future!
Hope whoever’s elected dog mayor will be a role model for good behavior — stay leashed, walk straight(er) on sidewalks, stay out of stores where you’re not allowed, curb yourselves and not pee and poop freely, etc etc etc.