On a recent Friday at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the audience filled up the brick-walled space and ordered drinks as a DJ played hip-hop, soca and dancehall. Upcoming poets were scattered about inside as the host worked the crowd before the main event. It was almost like any other Friday Night Slam at what has […]
Life
Posted inPools and Beaches
City Kicks Off Beach Season Still Wanting New Wave of Lifeguards
Surfs up, numbers down. The Parks Department says that low staffing won’t keep any beaches or pools closed for now, even though there are just 480 guards ready to go — out of a desired 1,400.
Posted inHow to New York
How to Become a New York City Tour Guide
You need a license to lead paid tours in New York City. Get ready to take a 150-question exam before you take a group of tourists out on the town.
Posted in311
Raccoons Eating Lasagna, Ghosts in the Window: The Wildest 311 Calls of Last 20 Years
New York City’s municipal information hotline fields questions and reports on items from the mundane, like illegal parking, to the bizarre, including a few calls about dog dependents, aliens and ghosts.
Posted inHomelessness
House and Tome: Retiree Uses Second Life as Artist to Highlight Homeless Plight
Judith Rubenstein began her “Searching for Home” booklet project last spring, asking people living on the street or in shelters to write or draw their thoughts on the very concept of “home.”
Posted inPools and Beaches
Looking Deep Into the Future to Solve Lifeguard Shortage
More public school swim lessons, flexible hours, and adopting “shallow water” rules are all possible streams to more robust beach and pool seasons in the years to come.
Posted inMissing Them
Saluting Von Murray’s Iconic ‘School of Hard Knocks’ With New Street Name
For many New Yorkers, shirts with “SOHK” and “Queens 7” designs captured the pride and toughness of the World’s Borough. The brand began in the Corona shop of Ortner “Von” Murray, whose life, cut short by COVID, will be honored on Saturday.
Posted inParks
Failed Swimmers Get Second Chance in City Bid to Shore Up Lifeguard Shortage
Dozens of applicants who’d previously failed the qualifying tests were sent automated text messages this week from the Parks Department gauging their interest in taking a new accelerated class to become lifeguards.
Posted inParks Department
NYC First Responders Are Ready to Work as Lifeguards, but City Hall Is Enforcing a 30-Year Old Rule That Won’t Let Them
The Parks Department is facing a dire shortage of lifeguards for the city’s dozens of pools and beaches with just 480 certified guards.
Posted inBudget
Adams & Adams Shake on City Budget With Small Gains for Parks, Trash
The new budget also significantly increases New York City’s “rainy day fund,” but will not be official (or detailed) until the Council’s vote next week.