During a press Q&A following a May 20 MTA board meeting, NYC Transit President Demetrius Chrichlow updated reporters on the agency's pilot of handheld devices that check if bus riders paid with OMNY when hopping on board — issuing tickets to those found to have evaded the fare.

The rollout is an effort to better enforce against rampant fare evasion on city buses as the MTA has shifted fully from the MetroCard to the OMNY tap-and-pay system. However, while MetroCard sales ceased at the end of 2025, the payment method is still accepted, as are coin payments on buses.

The NYC Transit boss revealed that civilian fare agents — with the MTA's Evasion And Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication (EAGLE) Teams — will experiment with checking payments while buses are moving, in addition to their current model of doing so when the vehicles are stationary.

"Part of the pilot will be doing it while the bus is in motion as well as what it takes to take people off," Chrichlow said.

The goal of the trial period is to gather data on both methods, he said.

"Can we do it successfully while the bus is in motion?" Crichlow said. "How much time does it take with a person that's actually holding, taking the customer's identification, entering the information, and issuing the summons back? And how does that affect altogether the customers not yet on the bus?"

Chrichlow's comments come several months after MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the issue is being "examined" by NYC Transit, when asked if the summonses will be handed question by a reporter. The question is based on the notion that in European countries that use a similar form of fare enforcement, which Lieber has said this model is based upon, agents approach riders while the buses are in motion.

Doing fare checks while buses are moving would in help mitigate against further slowing down the city's buses, which are already the slowest in the country. MTA brass has repeatedly said that speeding up city buses is a top priority for the agency and revealed on Wednesday that they plan to publish a report along with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Department of Transportation on how to do so.

Brian Fritsch, associate director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Council to the MTA advocacy group, said that it makes "complete sense" to conduct checks whilst buses are in motion.

"I think that, riders are not going to appreciate being delayed to have their fare checks," Fritsch said. "I think it makes complete sense to do it while the busses are moving and operating normally. And I hope that's the way, ultimately, that the vast majority of the checks are done."

The NYC Transit boss' revelation comes after he last month said the MTA would finally begin deploying EAGLE teams, equipped with the handheld fare-payment checkers, onto local bus routes. Previously, the agency had only tested the technology on its Select Bus Service (SBS) lines.

The devices, which include a scanning apparatus built around a smartphone, are being used by the EAGLE teams to verify whether riders paid by scanning OMNY cards, phones, or credit/debit cards. They then can issue a summons to fare beaters on the spot.

However, Streetsblog reported that the technology has malfunctioned in some cases, showing that riders had not paid even though they said they had. Riders in that situation have to go to a hearing to prove they paid.

The MTA says that fare evasion is an acute problem on its buses, as riders can duck on through the back door or scurry past the driver without tapping the OMNY readers. The agency lost $568 million in unpaid bus fares last year, according to a September report from the Citizens Budget Commission watchdog group.

My College Tours is helping young people gain exposure to higher education opportunities and envision life beyond the Big Apple by taking students on college tours across the country.

Founded in 2012 by educator Tommy O. Abney, the program grew out of his work as a teacher in Washington, D.C., and later as a substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist at Benjamin Banneker Academy in Brooklyn.

The idea for MCT grew out of the field trips Abney organized for his students in D.C., visiting colleges and universities across the country. He found the trips were impactful in helping students stay motivated through high school and pursue higher education. The business started with his students at Banneker and eventually expanded.

“My pop started a fire. My brother made it sustainable, and I just want to throw gasoline on it,” said Ade Abney, Abney’s second son. Since Abney’s death in 2025, his sons, Ade and older brother Oluwa Abney, have run the organization as director of development and director of operations, respectively.

MCT has grown significantly since its early years, expanding from serving about 50 to 80 students consistently in 2018 to more than 1,000 students each semester. The organization partners with schools across New York City, including Benjamin Banneker Academy, Achievement First Charter School Network, Rockdale Early Advantage Charter School, Fordham Leadership Academy, Cultural Academy for the Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn Lab and Bedford Academy. The organization plans to expand into Philadelphia, Northern New York and Staten Island.

On a typical tour day, students board buses directly from their schools and travel to one or more campuses, where they spend between 90 minutes and two hours at each stop. Students tour dormitories, eat in dining halls and meet with admissions counselors, financial aid staff, professors, department heads, fraternity and sorority members, current students and, at times, college presidents. At least one fun activity is built into every trip, and on multi-day tours, there's always a dedicated activity day. 

One aspect that sets MCT apart is its use of college students at visited campuses as paid tour guides, giving visiting students a firsthand, peer-level look at campus life while also compensating the guides. Tours are customized to the requests of partner schools, whether focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Ivy League institutions or SUNY and CUNY schools. Destinations range from nearby Washington and Baltimore to Atlanta and beyond.

MCT says its mission is to bridge the gap between inner-city students and students from more resourced communities by exposing participants to a broad range of institutions, including community colleges, SUNY schools, HBCUs and Ivy League universities.

“The goal is really to expose students to more colleges around the nation, eventually around the world — that's my vision with it,” Ade said. “A lot of students in New York don’t know about HBCUs, so college tours help to expose students, specifically to a lot of HBCU culture and just the whole lifestyle.”

According to data from Equity NYC, about 51.74% of students in 2024 were considered prepared for college or equipped with sufficient career readiness skills. Among the five boroughs, Brooklyn students ranked second lowest at 50.3%, ahead of only the Bronx at 40.9%.

Data also shows major disparities across racial groups. About 40% of Black students are considered properly prepared for college and careers, compared with 67% of white students, 75% of Asian students and 42% of Latino students. Black male students face the largest gap, with only 35% considered proficient.

MCT leaders say the organization is helping fill a longstanding educational need for Black and brown students, particularly Black boys.

"We believe exposure brings opportunity, and we just want students to have the options. A lot of students who come from the communities we serve don't understand that they have all of these options in front of them," Olu said.

For him, a college tour changed the direction of his own life.

“It was a college tour that brought me to Morehouse College,” he said. “When I was on that campus, in that environment, I knew that space was the best space for me in regard to becoming the man that I sought to be. I just want to give that opportunity to other students."

Kane Jacobs, an MCT alumnus and partner, attended one of the organization’s earliest tours with Abney. Jacobs later attended Morehouse College, graduating in 2018, and is now co-founder and CFO of State Driven Life Courses LLC, where he works closely with New York City youth. He said organizations like MCT are critical in combating issues facing young people in the city.

“Brooklyn, New York City, has us in a bubble,” he said. “We think we have access to it all, but that overall exposure to see our limitless possibilities gets closed in because of that bubble. Being able to really get out of the environment, going on these tours, having these actual conversations — those conversations are only real once you're really having them with individuals that are currently in the field and you're actually on the campus seeing these buildings and departments.”

Jacobs recalled visiting Morgan State University during a tour and meeting Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, student representatives elected by the campus community. He said one moment especially resonated with students in the group: Mr. Morgan shared that he had been accepted with a 2.0 GPA and later raised it to a 3.4 GPA. Jacobs said the story connected deeply with students who had already ruled out college as an option for themselves.

He also recalled an admissions representative explaining that he entered college with $100,000 in scholarships while tuition cost only $28,000, leaving him with additional funds to invest in his future. Jacobs said hearing that as a 17-year-old was a turning point because nobody in his community was breaking down college that way — showing kids that, with the right information, college could actually be a financial come-up instead of just a debt sentence.

MCT leaders say they want students to understand that access and opportunity should not depend on where someone comes from or what people might think of them.

MCT wants to show people that all kids deserve access, no matter where they come from or what people might think of them.  

“The biggest misconception [about our students] is that they're apathetic,” Olu said. “A lot of older people think that young people coming up now are not as invested in their education. But the students we've taken — they come out of these museums, they talk to these guest speakers, they meet with freedom fighters, they cry, and they give presentations about how much it impacted them.”

The organization plans to expand beyond college tours through new initiatives, including Collegiate Conversations, a free monthly or bi-monthly webinar series featuring current college students discussing financial aid, admissions and campus life.

Other initiatives include educator mixer events designed to help administrators share ideas on college readiness, as well as the Freedom Riders Tour — now entering its third year — which takes students through Atlanta, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana while tracing the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

More information about MCT, its tours and upcoming initiatives can be found on its website, My College Tours, and Instagram page, @mycollegetours.

Born in New York City and raised in the quiet, picturesque town of Tarrytown along the Hudson River, Jasper grew up in an artistic household. With both parents working as artists, creativity wasn’t just encouraged — it was a way of life. “My family taught me early to lean into what makes me happy and what inspires me rather than chasing money or status,” he says. That upbringing, surrounded by art, nature, and the cultural pull of nearby Manhattan, shaped a young man who was always more sensitive to light, texture, and emotion than those around him.

After attending Hackley School, Jasper enrolled at Tulane University. While he thrived socially and formed friendships he expects to last a lifetime, the classroom felt suffocating. Traditional education, he felt, was outdated and misaligned with how his mind worked. After just one semester, he made the difficult decision to leave.

“I didn’t want to spend four years inside a structure that wasn’t built for the way I think,” he explains. “Now, I wake up every day in the classroom called life, and the curriculum is entirely my own.”

Since stepping away from university, Jasper has embraced a multi-hyphenate creative journey. As co-founder of 1104 Productions, a photography and filmmaking collective, he has directed several short films, including The Motor Inn, which received the Russ Hogg Grant for Creative Expression. Behind the camera, he has honed a sharp eye for visual storytelling and production.

Now, he is stepping in front of the lens as well. Jasper is actively pursuing modeling and acting, and he just nailed a contract with UC Models as his mother agency. For him, these pursuits are not random detours but part of a larger artistic mission. In an increasingly digital and artificial world, he is drawn to the honesty and physical presence that modeling and acting provide.

“I want to use my body as a canvas,” he says. “There’s something honest about that.”

Jasper’s ambitions extend well beyond the runway and screen. He is developing Guarantee Healing, a New York-based design brand focused on meaningful objects with stories, with its first products launching later this year. He is also working on Six Pack, a handmade collage art project that uses vintage materials and media clippings to comment on contemporary culture. In addition, he is writing a feature-length screenplay titled TENDER, a deeply personal work that reflects the changes he is experiencing in real time.

What makes Jasper stand out is his refusal to be confined by society’s demand for a single identity. He proudly describes himself as a multi-hyphenate — filmmaker, photographer, model, actor, designer, entrepreneur, and writer.

“I don’t have to be one thing,” he says. “I can be a businessman, an investor, a producer, a filmmaker, a model, an actor — and do all of it. Because at the core, what I am is an artist.”

At 18, Jasper Quattrone is living proof that it’s possible to reject the traditional script and still build something authentic and meaningful. With curiosity, intention, and fearless creativity, he is not waiting for permission to create — he is already shaping his own world, one intentional frame at a time.

Included in the lottery for 325 Bond Street Apartments are 153 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments, all rent stabilized and income restricted, 122 of which could be deemed truly affordable. Those are set aside for families earning 40-60% of the Area Median Income, or between $34,766 and $109,920 a year for households of one to five people, according to the listing.

Of those units, 31 are studios going for $903 and $1,397 a month, 36 are one-bedrooms at $960, $961, and $1,491 a month, and 25 are two-bedroom apartments going for $1,142 and $1,777 a month. The remaining apartments are aimed at households of one to five people earning 110-130% of AMI, or $94,080 to $201,520 for households of one to five people. One-bedrooms in this bracket cost $2,815 and $3,821 a month.

Permits show that Hamish Whitefield Architects P.C. designed the nine-story, 179-unit building. President Union LLC, an LLC controlled by Rabsky Group, developed. The building includes a business center, children’s playroom, gym, yoga studio, rooftop terraces, bike storage lockers, media room, and shared laundry room, according to the listing, which says some amenities come at a fee. The building is smoke free and pet friendly, with multiple pets allowed, according to the listing.

Apartments have dishwashers, washers and dryers, and energy efficient appliances, the listing notes. Tenants have to pay for electricity, which includes the stove. Rent includes heating and hot water.

Renderings show the building, which has a setback on the sixth story, finished in orange brick. The ground, second, and sixth floors have arched windows, while the rest of the building has divided square and rectangular windows

There is an industrial design, in line with the area’s history and resembling the podium of the 23-story building across President Street, part of the same Rabsky-owned complex dubbed Westmark at 395 Carroll. The entire complex has 604 apartments, 179 of which are in 325 Bond Street, according to permits.

Unregulated apartments in Westmark started leasing in December 2025, according to StreetEasy. The 10 units currently listed online include studios starting at $3,257 a month, one-bedrooms at $3,883 a month, and two-bedrooms from $5,657.

Prior to the new development, the site held a parking lot. Rabsky Group acquired it as part of a $95 million multi-parcel deal in 2019. A new-building permit was issued in February 2024, but the building does not yet have a certificate of occupancy.

Because the development takes advantage of the rezoning, it is required to include affordable units under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. It is also expected to receive the 421-a tax break, according to the listing.

The 325 Bond Street Apartments lottery closes on June 8. To apply, visit the listing on New York City’s Housing Connect website.

This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper's sister site Brownstoner. 

“Unmoored/Unbound,” the org’s first in-person exhibition since the fire, opens May 21 at Powerhouse Arts. The show, featuring the works of 40 artists, grapples with the emotions of such a great loss and the first steps toward a new beginning. 

Visiting Red Hook is still painful for BWAC president Alicia Degener. BWAC lost its home of 35 years and everything inside in a five-alarm fire last September, and the cost of repairs mean that someday, when the building is inhabitable again, the rents will be too high for the org to afford.

Still grappling with her own grief, Degener has been searching for ways to keep BWAC afloat — fundraisers, temporary gallery spaces — while they try to lock down a permanent home. Last fall, she applied to rent a gallery at Powerhouse Arts. Eric Shiner, president of Powerhouse Arts, offered to let them use it for free.

“That was tremendous of him,” she said. “He’s such a generous and helpful and supportive person. I can’t say enough things about him and Powerhouse arts. Above and beyond anyone else, they have helped us enormously.”

“Unmoored/Unbound” is a national juried exhibition, and roughly 400 people applied to take part, Degener said. The theme was suggested by a BWAC member artist. 

“He was thinking about, just how we were on the waterfront, we were kind of like a ship that gets its rope cut and is floating away,” she said. “He came up with the idea of ‘unmoored.’ It just kind of spoke to a lot of … how you feel when you lose something like that.”

Degener lost almost all of her own artwork in the fire.

“It’s … dealing with loss and the response to that, and getting your head around that,” she said. “And then you have to just continue on and just rethink things, and just embrace it, that’s life, that’s how it is.”

Co-curated by Degener and BWAC’s new co-vice president, Ryan Frank, “Unmoored/Unbound” features paintings, drawings, sculptures and photos that speak to the same theme in different frameworks.

There’s a coiled, almost gravity-defying glass-and-ceramic sculpture by artist Jessi Li, Frank said, which he felt “captured the theme of this show really well.” A “really, really powerful” four-by-eight painting by Audrey Anastasi shows migrants treading through a body of water, Frank said, and an oil painting by Latika Sridhar titled “Disappearing into the Couch,” he said, shows a “transformation of self, and a kind of rupture.” 

And the show is bigger than the sum of its parts. Looking at each piece individually is one thing, Frank said, but it all comes together in the room, when every work is in conversation with the others. 

“So much of this work speaks to larger political, social challenges, issues of identity, and speaks to this kind of larger macro moment that we’re in,” Frank said. “So much of this work and these artists are kind of an inspiration for BWAC right now, in that we can be more than what we even imagined and what we were before, and that rebirth and regrowth will be the key to our future.”

Both Degener and Frank see BWAC’s state of flux as an opportunity. Degener brought Frank onto the team to help expand and elevate the org while preserving BWAC’s longtime mission of providing accessible, affordable space for artists to exhibit.

“We’re really thinking right now about more ways that we can fulfill our mission of helping artists to develop professionally and also connecting art to community in impactful and innovative ways,” Frank said. “We’re thinking about all of the different ways we can do that, which is a big task, but also really exciting.”

Setting up at Powerhouse Arts was a good start, Degener said.

“It’s intimidating, honestly, to be in a high, professional gallery environment,” she said. “It’s also good for us, it’s good learning for us to level up somewhat.” 

Degener and the team have been hunting for a new permanent home for BWAC, and have some promising leads, she said, mostly in Sunset Park. BWAC had been paying below-market-rate rent in Red Hook for so long that the prices elsewhere were shocking, but things are starting to come together, thanks in large part to support and donations from neighbors and artists. 

At the old space, BWAC was only open on weekends, she said. When they finally find a permanent home, Degener said BWAC will be open all week. The change is coming sooner, with “Unmoored/Unbound” set to open on Thursday. 

“There’s a lot of things that just become stagnant when you’re around for so long in the same space … Sometimes, you’ve got to burn it down, in a way, and just start over again,” she said. “Unfortunately, literally, we did burn down in BWAC. But it’s just a great way to reorganize ourselves and make ourselves a better organization.” 

“Unmoored/Unbound” opens at Powerhouse Arts, 332 3rd Ave. in Gowanus, on Thursday, May 21 at 5 p.m. The show is on view through Aug. 9, 2026.

Lander countered that rushing ahead without resolving key transportation and port questions would undermine the pro-housing agenda both candidates claim to support.

The exchange came during a candidate forum for New York’s 10th Congressional District hosted by New York Law School’s Center for New York City and State Law and sponsored by Abundance New York and NYC New Liberals.

The two Democrats appeared separately, rather than in a debate — a format that moderator Ben Max, program director of New York Law School’s Center for New York City and State Law, described as Lander’s choice. Lander, the former city comptroller, said the one-on-one setup allowed for a more substantive discussion than “one-minute sniping back and forth.”

Goldman said he wished the candidates had appeared together and said he had sought more debates in the run-up to election day. The pair are set to face off again in the run-up to the June 23 primary, including on WNYC, PIX11 and NY1.

Goldman, Lander trade blows on Brooklyn Marine Terminal

The sharpest exchange centered on the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a $3.5 billion redevelopment plan for 122 acres of waterfront in Red Hook and nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods.

The plan, approved by a task force in September, calls for a 60-acre all-electric port, 6,000 homes, 28 acres of open space, more than 275,000 square feet of industrial space, resiliency measures and workforce, community and cultural uses. The task force approved the plan 20-8 after several postponements.

The votes had been postponed after task force members raised concerns about transportation, infrastructure, business displacement, flood-zone risk and the future of the working waterfront.
Lander said Tuesday that he supports redeveloping the site but believes the Mamdani administration should take more time to review port operations and transportation planning.

“I do think a little more time is needed to refine that plan,” Lander said. He said the Adams administration and Goldman “failed to look at and seriously address a number of issues” and said the city should take “a couple of more months” to engage with stakeholders.

Goldman said that the argument amounted to more delay.

“The concerns that you hear about, ‘Oh, we need a few more months’ — that is how things don’t get done,” Goldman said. He said the plan already requires environmental review and infrastructure analysis, and warned against waiting for every unresolved issue to be settled before moving forward.

Goldman also accused Lander of changing his position on the project. He said Lander had been supportive of the plan before later criticizing it during the congressional race.

A recent Crain’s New York Business report said Lander had quietly lobbied holdout task force members last year to support the plan, citing people familiar with the outreach. Lander denied that characterization, telling Crain’s, “I never lobbied or pressured anyone.” He said he had many conversations with stakeholders about how to achieve goals including maritime use, jobs, transportation, open space and mixed-income housing.

Crain’s also quoted Randy Mastro, the former deputy mayor and ex officio chair of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Development Corp., saying Lander “was supportive of the project.” The report said it was unclear what impact, if any, Lander had on the final task force vote.

Lander rejected the suggestion that his current concerns amount to obstruction. He compared the project unfavorably with the Gowanus rezoning, which he helped advance while in the City Council. He said Gowanus went through the city’s formal land-use process and had stronger community buy-in.

Goldman said the Gowanus rezoning was “conceptually” done well but criticized its rollout, saying market-rate housing had advanced while affordable housing at Gowanus Green remained delayed by environmental issues.

Both candidates claim 'abundance' mantle

The candidates used the forum to present competing arguments over who is better positioned to advance an “abundance” agenda, a policy movement focused on making it easier to build housing, transit, clean energy and public infrastructure.

Lander said he had been working on abundance issues before the term became popular. He joked that his failed mayoral campaign last year had suffered from bad political branding.

“People are talking about how Zohran has the model of populism in the front, abundance in the back. I guess that’s now referred to as the abundance mullet,” Lander said. “I think I ran my mayor’s race with abundance in the front and populism in the back. That’s not a good hairstyle, like it’s covering your face, no one could see you. I’m not going to make that mistake in this race.”

Lander cited his work on affordable housing, the Gowanus rezoning, the Prospect Park West bike lane, congestion pricing, climate investments, the city’s capital-project dashboard and procurement reforms.

He also attacked Goldman’s record, saying, “There are not two abundance candidates in this race. There’s really just one.” Lander called Goldman a “corporate Democrat” and accused him of yielding to NIMBY pressure on several local projects.

Goldman countered that he has used his position in Congress to deliver federal funding, support housing tax-credit reform, push permitting changes and advance clean energy projects. He said Democrats need “a bold agenda” to address wealth inequality and affordability, while also making government more efficient.

Split on housing costs, government delivery

The candidates also split on how to lower housing costs and improve government delivery.

Lander criticized the state’s 421-a replacement, saying labor requirements were poorly written and had slowed housing production. He blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul and the building trades for striking a deal that he said was not producing enough housing, while adding that he supports labor standards.

Goldman pointed to federal tools, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and possible tax incentives to reduce financing costs for affordable housing. He said he was likely to support a housing package moving through Congress by Lander-backer Sen. Elizabeth Warren, while expressing concern about build-to-rent single-family housing and the lack of homeownership opportunities.

On transit, Lander called for a metropolitan growth agenda centered on regional rail, transit-oriented development and federal incentives for states and localities to build more housing near transit.

Goldman said the federal government should push agencies such as the MTA to spend infrastructure dollars more efficiently. He also defended his support for congestion pricing, saying he worked with Hochul to help get the program in place before President Donald Trump returned to office.

Lander said he helped convene advocates and lawyers who sued after Hochul paused congestion pricing and said Goldman was “nowhere to be found.”

Both candidates said they would support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for speaker if Democrats win control of the House. Lander said members must also know when to push leadership. Goldman said Democrats need to use leverage more aggressively in negotiations with Republicans.

Asked whether he considered himself the favorite or the underdog in the race, Goldman said, “I feel like I’m going to win.”

The question came as recent public polling has shown Lander leading Goldman 47% to 42%.

Brooklyn’s beaches will officially reopen for the season on Saturday, May 23 at 10 a.m., just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Lifeguards will be in their chairs from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every day until Sept. 13, a week after Labor Day.

During a visit to Coney Island on Tuesday, Parks department commissioner Tricia Shimamura said she was “so excited” to welcome New Yorkers back to the shore.

“My first real core New York City memories were here on this beach,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you are a new New Yorker, a native New Yorker from Brighton Beach, or somewhere in between, you know Coney Island because it is both an icon of New York but also your hometown beach.”

The beach is the last part of Coney Island to open for the season. Its iconic amusement parks, Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel, opened back in March, and the first pitch was thrown at Maimonides Park in early April. 

But the People’s Playground thrives in the summer, as thousands of New Yorkers flock to the shores for some fun in the sun.

The Atlantic Ocean is “the biggest air conditioner in the world,” joked Brooklyn Borough Parks commissioner Marty Maher, and Coney Island has something for everyone.

“Our beaches are an incredible public resource where New Yorkers can find relief in the hottest of summer months,” Shimamura said. “Let me just say, it’s going to be 90 [degrees] today and it’s only going to get hotter, and this is where you find relief.”

After days of abnormally scorching temperatures this week, Memorial Day weekend is slated to be cool and rainy in New York City, according to the National Weather Service. But forecasters are predicting a hotter-than-average summer for much of the U.S., including New York. 

In recent years, ongoing lifeguard shortages have sometimes forced the city to close sections of beach temporarily — or, in some cases, for weeks at a time. The situation improved somewhat last year, after the city struck a new contract with the lifeguards’ union and ramped up recruitment efforts. 

A parks department spokesperson said there were more than 1,000 lifeguards staffing New York City beaches and pools last year, the highest number since 2019. Recruits were up 23% from the year before. 

Though things appear promising for 2026, the department will continue to certify lifeguards until July, so it’s not yet clear just how many will man the water this summer. New York City public pools don’t open until June 27, more than a month after the beaches.

Shimamura also debuted new UTVs “purpose-made” for lifeguards to drive themselves and their equipment across the sand.  The vehicles debuted at Rockaway beach last year — the team there nicknamed their rig "Gina, a parks department spox said — and were such a "smashing success" that every beach team is getting one this year. 

“We’re actually creating something that really serves our lifeguards, it’s meant to be driven on the beach and to be responding to emergency situations,” she said. “We’re really talking about saving lives.”

The commish thanked newly-minted Coney Island Council Member Kayla Santosuosso for her advocacy and support for funding parks. 

Santosuosso, who has been in office since January said she considers Coney Island “The People’s Beach … on this side of town,” taking a slight dig at New York City’s other iconic shore, Riis Beach.

“This is where people from all across Brooklyn and all across the city and families, specifically, come to enjoy our coastline, our beach,” she said.

Aside from lifeguards, Coney Island is packed with roving parks department workers, Shimamura said. She recalled making a late-night, weekday visit to Coney Island a few years ago, expecting the beach to be empty.

Instead, she said, it was packed with people walking, playing, holding snakes and doing magic tricks. 

“The real safety I felt came from seeing our [parks enforcement] officers, it came from seeing our PD, FDNY, EMTs there,” she said. “Everybody was there doing the things that they need to do. Coney Island is the only place where we have a 24 hour operation. That means no matter what time you come to this beach, you will see Parkies out doing the jobs that they need to do.”

Though Coney Island is Brooklyn’s most famous beach — and arguably one of the most famous beaches in the world — the borough has much more to offer. 

A short walk down the sand is the quieter, less-touristy Brighton Beach. And at the end of the peninsula is the small, family-focused Manhattan Beach, which offers picnic tables and grills as well as a peaceful place to swim and sunbathe.

LIRR President Rob Free, during a May 19 news conference at the Jamaica LIRR station ahead of the return to service at noon, stood by the MTA's decision to let the contract dispute boil over into a strike early Saturday.

The first trains to hit the rails since May 16 departed from Penn Station, headed for Ronkonkoma, and Grand Central Madison, headed for Massapequa, at noon on Tuesday — with full service restored across the LIRR at 4 p.m. It brought to an end a mad scramble among commuters reliant upon the LIRR who were forced to either work remotely, hop in their cars and brave increased traffic, or conduct a piecemeal commute between limited shuttle bus service and crowded subway trains.

Although Free did not go into specifics of the accord, he insisted it would satisfy the unions' memberships — made up of 3,500 workers — without shifting the cost onto riders.

"You negotiate, you go back and forth and provide different ideas to make it affordable and acceptable," Free said. "The unions want to be able to ratify it with their membership. And as the unions said last night, they wouldn't have accepted the deal if they couldn't get it ratified. And we wouldn't have accepted the deal if it put a burden on the taxpayers and the ridership."

Free's comments came in response to reports from NY1 and The Chief that the tentative agreement includes a 4.5% raise for LIRR workers for 2026, the final year of a four-year contract. 

Part of the agreement involves extending the contract for a period beyond 12 months, reports indicate. It will also include a $3,000 lump-sum payout in addition to the raise.

The sum is not far below the 5% raise for this year that union bosses wanted, but MTA leadership previously said was not acceptable because it would blast a hole in the agency's budget. They contended that such an expense would force to them to raise fares or the state to raise taxes in order to make up the shortfall.

When asked how the MTA was able to square greenlighting a raise that was not far below an amount they vehemently fought against, Free said the agency secured other changes that make the increase financially viable.

"There are things in there that make it more affordable — make it more palatable for the unions to agree on and make it easier for us to fit within a financial structure," Free said.

Free did not specify the changes to which he referred. The unions themselves were quiet about the deal's details on Tuesday. 

However, reports indicated they include shifting from paper to electronic paychecks for LIRR workers and barring them from accruing overtime for participating in virtual trainings.

He also noted that because the deal is below 5%, it avoids the MTA's fear that it would set a level from which other MTA unions would negotiate their contracts. The MTA is particularly concerned about the union representing the largest portion of its workforce — TWU Local 100 — basing its own raise requests on the deal.

The deal still must be ratified by members of the five unions, which is why Free said he could not disclose its contents publicly, and subsequently approved by the MTA board, which is set to meet on Wednesday.

The demonstration came as lawmakers prepared to leave for a scheduled recess at the end of the week, with activists targeting what they said was a nearly $72 billion push to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice through the budget process.

Last year, Malliotakis, who represents New York’s 11th Congressional District, voted for the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which included $170 billion in funding for DHS and its sub-agencies, ICE and CBP, while cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid and $500 billion from Medicare over the next decade. Opponents said the vote put millions of low-income and disabled Americans at risk of losing or having restricted access to public health care programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, Child Health Plus and the Affordable Care Act.

Activists Monday called on Malliotakis to restore funding for health care instead of allocating more money to what they described as unjustified wars, Trump’s “gold-crusted ballroom” and national security. Speakers noted that ICE has become the nation’s highest-funded law enforcement agency under President Trump’s second term, with a budget of $85 billion, compared with less than $6 billion a decade ago.

Mark Hannay, director of the Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, said health insurance premiums had surged after Affordable Care Act premium subsidies expired at the end of 2025. Two protesters said their young adult children, who are just entering the workforce, could not afford health insurance despite working full time.

“My monthly out-of-pocket costs for my premiums alone, for Part B, Part D, and my supplemental, are over $500 a month out of pocket, and the average person on Medicare, their median income is just over $20,000 a year," Hannay said. "Do the math. How does somebody on $20,000 a year get by?”

Elena, a member of the Staten Island Action Coalition, said Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC), Staten Island’s only safety-net hospital, could face closure because of Medicaid cuts.

“People in my neighborhood can't find health care. I live in a poor neighborhood in Staten Island, and the people are struggling, you know," Elena said. "They go to the emergency room, they ask them questions, like they were afraid to even say anything."

A spokesperson for RUMC emphasized that the hospital is not closing and continues to provide essential emergency, inpatient and outpatient services to the Staten Island community. However, like many hospitals and health care systems across New York State, it is facing significant financial pressure due to federal Medicaid reductions, which disproportionately impact independent safety-net hospitals.

“As a result, we are actively evaluating responsible, targeted cost-saving measures to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our patients and community over the long term. Our priority continues to be delivering high-quality care for the many patients and families who rely on our services every day,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Anthony Feliciano, vice president for advocacy at Housing Works, said communities were being stripped of health care while ICE was being “supercharged” with additional funding for detention and deportation efforts.

“This is not just a budget decision. This is a moral decision. This is not policy. This is violence,” Feliciano said. “Let's be clear, you cannot claim you represent the community while funding systems that harm our community. Every time you choose to fund cages instead of care, every time you vote to cut health care for working people, you're not just hurting us, you're isolating yourself from us.”

Feliciano, who is Puerto Rican and married to the daughter of immigrants, said their teenage son fears for his mother’s safety.

“Mind you, she's born in this country, but it doesn't matter, because her face, her look, her color, her skin makes ICE want to come after her,” Feliciano said, adding that he had also been followed by ICE agents.

Bay Ridge resident Carol Smolenski told Brooklyn Paper she wants a representative who listens to constituents and pushes back against what she described as corruption and wasteful spending, including billions of dollars for ICE.

“I don't know who she cares about, because over and over again, I just see her voting for things that I have nothing to do with me as a constituent, or any of my friends and family, and other people around here,” Smolenski said. “It's not American, it's not supposed to be this way. How did it get this way? I grew up here, I'm old, I know how it's supposed to be. We're good people who take care of each other.”

Mike Decillis, who is running in the Democratic primary in New York’s 11th Congressional District, and Chris McCreight, the Democratic candidate for Assembly District 46, which includes Bay Ridge, also attended the rally.

Decillis told Brooklyn Paper that the district’s constituents deserved to be heard, describing the district as politically diverse. He said the district’s electorate is made up of 41% Democrats, 27% Republicans and 26% independents.

“I've held some of the largest protest town halls and meetings on the other side [Staten Island]. We're pulling independents and Republicans who are also dissatisfied,” Decillis said. “So we're bringing them all together. We're having them communicate with us, we're communicating with each other, and we're building a movement that is going to flip this district.”

McCreight urged Malliotakis to “vote the right way and not be cruel.” He also criticized Assembly Member Alec Brook-Krasny for backing Malliotakis, saying residents had told him the lawmaker was rarely available to address constituent concerns and for supporting her positions.

“He was on the news not too long ago, saying that gas prices going up are worth it. He supports the war, and when people are losing health care, he's not there to help them because he has a district office that's almost never open,” McCreight said. “With everything that's going on, to have somebody on the local level not standing up and fighting back and helping people is just not acceptable.”

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Brook-Krasny said the pol, like most New Yorkers, supports law enforcement officers and the rule of law and, as an immigrant himself, understands the importance of strong borders to keep communities safe. The spokesperson added that he has vowed to continue working with state and local partners to ensure law enforcement has the tools necessary to work alongside federal partners to keep the community safe.

“Our city was built by people who came here in pursuit of their share of the American dream, and we have a responsibility to ensure that those who are coming here the right way are protected from individuals trying to game the system,” the spokesperson said.

By press time, representatives for Malliotakis had not responded to requests for comment. 

On Monday, HANYC reached a deal with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO (HTC) and ratified a fair, nation-leading eight-year contract that continues the hotel industry's long history of providing the best wages and benefits in the country in line with previous compensation, while adding provisions to keep healthcare costs under control.

"This agreement is a major win for New York businesses and workers who rely on a strong hotel industry, especially the small businesses that are the backbone of the city's tourism economy. With the World Cup approaching, neighborhood restaurants and bars, retail shops, and other local businesses are preparing to welcome visitors from around the world. This deal provides the stability and certainty needed to help maximize that economic opportunity for them and the workers and families they support. We're thankful for the hotel industry's continued leadership in supporting not only hotel workers, but all of the workers that rely on it," said Frank Garcia, Chairman of the New York Multicultural Business Coalition. "Any disruption to the hospitality sector at this critical moment from a hotel strike, new regulations, or a lack of support from City officials would put those opportunities at risk, affecting businesses that help drive New York City's economy, as well as the workers and families they support."

"A strike would have been terrible for us and our local economy. Thank you to the Hotel Association of New York City for managing to avoid disaster and get a fair contract for both sides despite tremendous economic headwinds." -- Arelia Taveras, Founder and Executive Director, Long Island Latino Restaurant Association

Hotels have lost thousands of jobs and more than 20,000 hotel rooms post-Covid. Revenue, when adjusted for inflation, is far below its pre-pandemic peak. Tourism to New York City has fallen sharply, with more than 2 million fewer visitors than predicted last year and projections for 2026 showing more than half a million fewer visitors than its peak in 2019.

Despite these challenges, hotels managed to strike a deal with the union to remain among the city's highest-paying employers.

"We are proud the New York hotel industry will continue to provide the best pay and benefits in the country-especially since we are facing tremendous economic headwinds and the highest taxes in the nation, have lost 20,000 hotel rooms since COVID, and are still below prepandemic demand," said Vijay Dandapani, President and CEO of HANYC.

"I'm thrilled that the hotel industry and union have reached a contract agreement ahead of the World Cup that is fair for both sides. When hotels are strong, the entire hospitality ecosystem is strong. That means more foot traffic from hotel visitors in our neighborhoods, more customers in our restaurants, and more opportunity for workers supporting their families through small business ownership and hospitality jobs. At a time when restaurant owners are facing significant economic pressures, this new contract agreement will give them a chance to benefit from the economic activity that the hotel industry helps generate," said Arelia Taveras, Founder and Executive Director, Long Island Latino Restaurant Association, including the Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Bronx Latino Restaurants. "A strike would have been terrible for us and our local economy. Thank you to the Hotel Association of New York City for managing to avoid disaster and get a fair contract for both sides despite tremendous economic headwinds."

"The small businesses represented by the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce, and the many workers from immigrant communities who have built family-supporting careers in tourism and hospitality, will benefit tremendously from this agreement provided by the hotel industry. This contract agreement helps provide the stability needed for the nearly 400,000 New Yorkers who rely on the hospitality industry for work, as well as the thousands of small business owners across the city whose restaurants and shops have the most to gain from a successful World Cup," said Dr. Jean G. Joseph, President of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce.

Hotel bookings for the World Cup period are already well below what they were for the same period last year, currently at 18% booked compared to 26% in 2025. The Iran war has further reduced business by 10–15%, especially among international visitors who spend four-times more than domestic travelers. Raising the prospect of a strike at this moment would have further reduced travel demand, tourism revenue, and critical business for the local small businesses and workers who stand to benefit most from the World Cup.

A recent white paper by JLP+D warned that the city's vital hotel industry is in trouble, threatening the city's critical tourism economy. Slow revenue growth, rising costs, tariffs, and federal policies curbing tourism are threatening the livelihoods of more than 40,000 hotel workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and unionized, $79 billion in total economic impact and $6.8 billion in tax revenue for the city, and the hundreds of thousands of hospitality and tourism workers hotels support.