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New York Times
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Met's ‘Sputniks' Fall to Earth for a Summer Cleaning
Good morning. It's Friday. Today we'll find out why the chandeliers at the Metropolitan Opera House are at their lowest right now. We'll also get details on Mayor Eric Adams's veto of a bill to decriminalize penalties for street vendors. 'This is the big event,' Randy Sautner said, standing in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House. Sautner, the crew chief in charge of electrical maintenance at the Met, was not waiting to see the curtain to go up on 'Turandot' or 'Don Giovanni.' He was about to give the go-ahead for seven spiky chandeliers to come down from the ceiling — a production in its own right, with more than a dozen stagehands in supporting roles. Here's a synopsis: Act I: The stagehands lowered the chandeliers, maneuvered them onto little carts and lashed the carts where they could not roll off. One scene took place on the roof of the Met, where three stagehands stood in a hatchlike opening, operating the winch that sent the chandeliers down. A recitative over two-way radios involved phrases like 'ready to roll' and 'nice and slow.' Act II: In the lobby after a coffee break, a Windex-and-water solution came out and the stagehands began cleaning the chandeliers. The nearly 400 bulbs have to be changed. The same goes for another set of chandeliers nearby, the ones that climb 65 feet toward the ceiling as the house lights dim before each performance. Act III: The chandeliers will go back to their usual places, ready for the Met's fall season, which opens on Sept. 21 with Mason Bates's 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.' For an operagoer, it's jarring to see the chandeliers in the lobby so low. It's even more jarring to see them in the auditorium where a tall person in the row in front of you would be, blocking your view of the action on the stage. The chandeliers are wood-and-metal spheres that have been called 'sputniks' ever since the Met opened in 1966. Legend has it that a prototype was constructed with toothpicks and a potato. On that first opening night, with their sparkly moons and satellites radiating in all directions, they were a signal that the Met had left behind the Gilded Age look of its old home on Broadway and moved into the space age. They added some modernist whimsy to the formality of the Met. Whether they outshone the audience remains an open question. The socialite Marylou Whitney wore a tiara with 1,900 diamonds and 75 rubies that night. The cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder arrived in a gold-and-diamond crown that one article said was 'suitable for Queen Elizabeth II.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Know thine enemy: my eye-opening ‘rat walk' with New York City's ‘rat czar'
I am standing near a tree bed in a bustling Brooklyn park, with only a few feet of dirt separating me from a 'small' family of rats – that's usually around 8 of them, I'm told. I've come on this 'rat walk' with a few dozen New Yorkers, all milling about awkwardly, subjecting ourselves to the kind of brainless small talk heard at speed dating events. But instead of looking for love, we've come to learn more about New York's rodent population. Tonight, knowing thy enemy means we must slink among the rats. We're led by Kathleen Corradi, the city's famed rat czar, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in 2023, and we are united by our visceral hatred of rats. We don't want to see them scurry by on late-night walks home, or watch as they slink in and out of trash bags on the street. We especially don't want them in our homes. As one exterminator put it to famed metro reporter Joseph Mitchell back in 1944: 'If you get a few [rats] in your house, there are just two things you can do: you can wait for them to die, or you can burn your house down and start all over again.' An estimated 3 million rats live in New York – far less than the fabled 'five rats for every person' urban legend, but enough to cause problems. While it's unlikely you'll catch the plague, rats can spread leptospirosis, with a record 24 New Yorkers coming down the disease in 2023. Rats contaminate food, damage property and make a notoriously difficult city even harder to live in by ick factor alone. But game must recognize game. New Yorkers are nothing if not tenaciously, blindly in love with our city. Rats, despite humans' determined efforts, refuse to leave it. A lowly transplant might wear a 'New York or Nowhere' T-shirt today but move back to Ohio in a few years. Rodents have their claws sunk into New York, enmeshed in its lore. You have to give them that much. This begrudging acceptance – what Corradi calls 'the fear and fascination' – powers New York's Rat Pack, a club of 'anti-rat activists' who attend three events including a rat walk for education on easing human-rat relations. And for free swag: people who complete the training receive a T-shirt or hat with the Rat Pack logo. (For a club that aims to defeat rats, they sure made their enemy look cool as hell.) When I did my rat walk, I learned that I live in one of New York's official Rat Mitigation Zones (shortened to the rather militaristic-sounding RMZ). To be fair, I didn't need Corradi to tell me this. Rats are everywhere. They live in the walls between apartments. They chew through the electrical wiring on cars. At night, I often find myself stepping off the sidewalk to let them pass by first. In 2022 Jessica Tisch, then the sanitation commissioner, announced their status as public enemy. 'The rats don't run this city, we do,' she insisted during a press conference about a new garbage policy requiring landlords use bins with lids. It had taken New York, which was founded in 1624, 400 years to come to the realization that 'putting lids on trash cans' deters rodents – an undeniable victory for the rats. Soon enough, residents received fliers depicting a cast-out rodent toting a suitcase telling us to 'Send rats packing!' Some wondered: did they have to make the forlorn rat look so cute? In 2023, Corradi got a $3.5m budget to raise public awareness about rat mitigation. The city had long given up on any hope of totally eradicating them, and now prioritizes damage control. It has tried gassing rats by pumping their burrows with carbon monoxide. One vigilante group hunted them down with dogs. Last year, the city passed a law initiating rat birth control in the form of non-toxic pellets, winning the support of the notoriously hard-to-please animal rights group Peta, because it replaces rat poison. My rat walk took place on a chilly evening in April. As Corradi led us around the park, I learned rats only need one ounce of food a day to survive – a minuscule amount compared to the amount of trash on the streets. She urged us to remind our dog-owning friends that rats can survive off the undigested food in pup poop left on the sidewalks (a fun fact to bring up at dinner parties). She encouraged us to report bad actors such as landlords who flout codes intended to mitigate rodents. Corradi also pointed out telltale signs: you can see rats even when they're not scampering around, from the holes they dig for shelter, to the discarded soda cans or potato chip bags they essentially recycle to cover their burrows, to the droppings they leave. The lesson: don't get too comfortable. Ultimately, Corradi said, we're not so different from rats. Like us, they're looking for a home in a crowded, often inhospitable city. Studies have shown people who live near infested areas report greater psychological trauma, trouble sleeping and overall stress. All New Yorkers deal with rats, but the RMZs are historically lower income areas, such as the Bronx's Grand Concourse, Harlem, Chinatown, the East Village and Bed Stuy and Bushwick. In 2016, researchers from Johns Hopkins found that people who live in low-income areas consider rat infestations as distressing as drug sales on the street and the threat of random violence. Recent spikes in rat sightings have also been tied to rapidly warming cities. The rat czar noted, with a bit of frustration, that the city's leaders cannot curb this issue on their own; they rely on us to do our part. During this rousing kicker, a young man pointed toward the sky. We all looked up to see a hawk perched on a lamppost with something dangling from its mouth. Was it a rat? It sure looked like one. With that, we were dismissed from our walk, the hawk as our new rat prevention role model. A few weeks later, I pulled up to a community center for a 'Rat Academy' session – part two of the Rat Pack curriculum. Ostensibly, it was a lecture, but the audience was mostly home or business owners there to complain about the rat problem. Some detailed specific-to-them anecdotes about careless neighbors or insufficient action following reports of rat activity to 311. Again, it was stressed that it takes a village. Know your neighbors, so you can speak honestly with the guy who isn't putting his trash out correctly, or the woman down the street who doesn't pick up after her dog. Rats, who live communally, band together for survival. They look out for each other. Humans haven't really nailed this yet. When we got to the topic of rat birth control, one woman raised her hand and asked, with a straight face, 'Does it work on humans? Because birth control… that's a hard thing to get these days.' (It does not.) What would New York be without rats? It's a futile question: most experts believe that the war on rats is fundamentally un-winnable. We've been trying to kill these guys since the Middle Ages. To quote a 2022 study, 'there is no overarching solution' to the rat problem. We have to layer on all of our efforts – high-tech trash cans (OK, just ones with lids), birth control, cleaning up dog poop – to manage the population, and even then we'll still have rats. So was the whole 'the rats don't run this city' thing wishful thinking? Not exactly. Scientists say we're entering 'a new golden age' of rat research that could push mitigation efforts into overdrive. As Kaylee Byers, assistant professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University, told NPR this year: 'We need to not only understand the rat, but we actually also have to understand ourselves and our relationship to rats in order to move towards a healthier coexistence.' My final task, which would earn me a spot in the Rat Pack: volunteer service. For three hours on a Friday morning in Queens, I picked up trash and rehabbed trees, putting down new soil around their trunks. Fellow volunteer Alex, a freshly retired employment lawyer and Grateful Dead fan, told me he was a vegetarian and big animal lover. But when I asked him how he felt about rats, he shuddered. 'Absolutely not,' he said. 'I hate them all.' I had good news for Alex. According to new city data, rat sightings are down 18.4% this year in all boroughs, but especially my home in Brooklyn, which saw a 28.6% reduction. Still, any reports of the death of New York's rat population would be premature. The rats who live on my block – and maybe yours, too – seem quite comfortable indeed.
CBS News
04-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
Judge denies Bronx student detained by ICE's request for release
Lawyers for a Bronx high school student identified as Dylan have requested his immediate release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after a new medical diagnosis, but on Monday, a judge denied that request. Lawyers say Dylan was in the process of being tested for different ailments when he was taken into custody about two weeks ago at a hearing for his asylum case. "The mom is so worried about him. Everyone is distraught trying to figure out what's going on," immigrant advocate Power Malu said. Dylan's lawyer says the judge that denied their request did not review the medical records and hopes once that happens, Dylan could be released. The city has filed a suit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE seeking Dylan's release, saying he's being held without cause, a violation of his right to due process. DHS has said it does not comment on going or future operations. Mayor Eric Adams encourages migrants to keep court appointments Dylan's arrest sparked protests and outrage, as well as fear among some asylum seekers in the city. But on Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams encouraged migrants to keep their appointments. "We would, will not, and we have not collaborated with ICE on any civil enforcement, and so I don't want people to be deterred from going to court," Adams said, "because if you deter people from following out the process, then you can create a level of people being fearful of our court system." But advocates say migrants are scared. "When you hear the mayor saying, 'Continue to use public services, continue to show up in court,' but he's not able to offer protection, then it's a way where people are afraid and they're not going to show up and they're not going to use public services," Malu said.
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Police Investigate Detective Who Worked at House in Crypto Torture Case
The New York Police Department is investigating a detective who provided security at a luxurious Manhattan townhouse where two cryptocurrency investors are accused of torturing a man for three weeks, according to two city officials with knowledge of the matter. The detective, Roberto Cordero, who has also served for years on Mayor Eric Adams's security detail, was placed on modified duty on Wednesday, according to an internal document and the officials, who were not authorized to speak because of the sensitivity of the investigation. Officers are not permitted to work for private security companies without Police Department approval, according to the department's patrol guide. While Detective Cordero has provided security at the house, it was unclear whether he had obtained the required permission or was present during the crime prosecutors say occurred there. In a statement, the Police Department confirmed that an officer had been placed on modified duty, which generally restricts a person to desk work, and that the matter was under internal review. Neither Detective Cordero nor any legal representatives could immediately be reached for comment. A 20-year veteran, Detective Cordero has served on the Executive Protection Unit, the mayor's security detail, since December 2021, according to records from the police and the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent oversight agency. In recent days, an Italian man, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, escaped from the townhouse, where he said he had been tortured for weeks. The Manhattan district attorney has charged the two cryptocurrency investors — John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 33 — with kidnapping and torturing Mr. Carturan. Mr. Carturan arrived at the townhouse at 38 Prince Street in the NoLIta neighborhood on May 6, where he was captured and held by Mr. Woeltz and a 24-year-old woman, according to prosecutors and an internal police report. They wanted the password to a Bitcoin wallet worth millions, the report said. The woman, Beatrice Folchi, was initially charged by the police with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, but she was released and her prosecution was deferred, a law enforcement official said. Detective Cordero joined the Police Department in 2005 and has served in the 46th Precinct in the Bronx and on a narcotics team in Manhattan, according to police and Complaint Board records. He has been the subject of several complaints accusing him of abusing his authority and using physical force. In one complaint from 2014, a man accused Detective Cordero and seven other officers of beating him, strip searching him and taking his money. The case was settled in 2016.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
7-year-old child shot in NYC home — marking third minor to be wounded or killed in a Bronx shooting in a week
A 7-year-old boy was shot in a Bronx home Sunday afternoon, becoming at least the third innocent minor to be injured or killed by a bullet in the borough in a week, police said. The child was inside a home on East 230th Street in the Wakefield section of the borough when he was shot in the left hand around 4 p.m., according to the NYPD. The family of the victim, whose name was not released by police, took him to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, police said. Cops are investigating whether the child got hold of the gun and accidentally shot himself in the hand, according to law enforcement sources. Police said they received a 911 call about the shooting, which remains under investigation. The incident marks at least the third shooting involving an innocent child in the Bronx in the last week. On May 12, Evette Jeffrey, 16, was shot in the head and killed near a schoolyard after coming back from celebrating her anniversary with her boyfriend at a local Chinese restaurant. She was caught in the crossfire of a gang-fueled shootout and was not the intended target, cops said. Mayor Eric Adams visited the tragic scene that night and had an impromptu conversation with a clutch of terrified parents. 'Several lives are destroyed,' Adams said of the deadly shooting. 'We know that we have an obligation to create safe environments for young people. And that is what we try to do every day,' he added. The next day, an 11-year-old boy was injured in a shooting when, again, teens opened fire on a rival gang just blocks from where Jeffrey was slain riding her scooter. The shooters missed their targets, but one of their bullets smashed through the rear passenger side window of a passing car and showered the boy with glass. He was taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition. The driver of the car was shot in the shoulder and also listed in stable condition. The shooters escaped on Citi Bikes.
