A Columbia University study suggests that New York’s much-touted congestion pricing has fresh side-effects: fine particle pollution has actually risen in four South Bronx locations since drivers began dodging the new fee to enter Manhattan in Januar…
Amid mounting exasperation over New York City’s sluggish bus service—reportedly so slow even knee-challenged seniors dream of outrunning them—Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces renewed calls to make good on promises of faster, fare-free rides. With 327 routes failing to reach swathes of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, many residents now spend more time waiting for a bus than the mayor spends drafting pledges.
Three days before a fatal fire at 207 Dyckman Street in Inwood, New York housing inspectors cited the building for a dozen code violations, including a broken self-closing door deemed “immediately hazardous.” The co-owners, Jack Bick and Chaim Schweid, have amassed over 1,000 violations citywide and faced 16 lawsuits since 2020—rather a record to flame the city’s top “worst landlords” list, if not our confidence.
Five unions representing 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers threatened to strike from May 16th unless the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agrees to higher pay, demanding a 5% increase and 9.5% back pay for prior years. MTA boss Janno Lieber claims progress, though talks have trundled on for weeks. Commuters now contemplate thrice-longer schleps, while both sides rehearse their best poker faces before the next round on Monday.
New Yorkers bracing for summer’s first sweat may find their wallets wilting too: Con Edison predicts city dwellers face a 5.7% average electricity bill increase in 2026, though Westchester gets a modest cut. Higher supply charges, relentless AC use, and an aging grid all nudge rates upward, while relief programs like HEAP vie to cushion the blow—assuming, of course, both air conditioners and bureaucracy survive the heat.
City engineers have belatedly flagged two century-old Brooklyn bridges atop B and Q subway tracks near Newkirk Plaza as so corroded they resemble “Swiss cheese”, prompting the Department of Transportation to hatch a belated repair plan—now that it’s finally clear who’s responsible. Navigating missing blueprints, aging rebar, and city-agency squabbling, we brace for “generational upgrades” nearly as overdue as the next train at Foster Avenue.
As house prices in New York’s South Jamaica soar, we observe an uptick in rapid home “flips”—such as one on 132nd Avenue, where an LLC bought a property for $285,000, revamped it, and resold it for $700,000 within a year. While investors defend the practice as market-driven, critics note that long-time Black homeowners see their neighborhoods remade—and affordability recedes faster than a realtor’s handshake.
Zohran Mamdani tapped Stanley Richards—once himself an inmate—to head New York’s correction department, hoping an insider’s perspective might counterbalance figures like Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Charged with fixing decrepit, violence-plagued Rikers Island, Richards faces a daunting brief: 6,700 detainees, federal scrutiny, and a bridge both literally and figuratively hard to cross, though at least dinner with the Mayor now comes with plastic-boxed iftar.
Irked by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s populist swipes at hedge fund mogul Ken Griffin, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has redoubled efforts to lure Manhattan’s companies with promises of low taxes and friendly regulation. Texas now claims 519,000 financial sector jobs—outpacing the Empire State—while Wall Street heavyweights subtly scout for greener pastures. We wonder if New York’s next growth industry will be wistful retrospectives.
