A Great Big City — New York City News, History, and Events – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The iconic "Charging Bull" statue has become recognized worldwide as a symbol of New York, but it was originally an illegal art installation that was dropped in the middle of the street on December 15, 1989.

🎂🐂

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• 93 years ago on June 26, 1927 — The Coney Island Cyclone wooden roller coaster opens to the public

<figure class='photo center'><img src='https://img.agreatbigcity.com/postcard-featuring-the-cyclone-via-boston-public-library-slash-the-tichnor-brothers-collection.jpg'><figcaption>Postcard featuring The Cyclone via Boston Public Library / The Tichnor Brothers Collection</figcaption></figure>

• 51 years ago on June 28, 1969 — Tensions between police and the gay community boil over into a revolt during an overnight raid on the Stonewall Inn

• 37 years ago on June 28, 1983 — Eight men are arrested in a $1.5 million gold heist

• 3 years ago on June 30, 2017 — A doctor opens fire at Bronx-Lebanon hospital, killing one and wounding six

• 21 years ago on July 1, 1999 — Area code 646 launches in Manhattan to supplement 212 and 917 numbers

• 34 years ago on July 3, 1986 — The opening ceremony of Liberty Weekend begins four days of celebrations around the Statue of Liberty's 100th anniversary and reopening after an extensive renovation

<figure class='video center'><iframe width='560' height='315' src='https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/00l8CNcDo9U' frameborder='0' allow='accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture' allowfullscreen></iframe></figure>

• 4 years ago on July 3, 2016 — A tourist steps on an explosive device in Central Park — If you have any information or photos from that day, contact NYPD CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (1-800-577-8477), via text message at CRIMES (274637), or via online form.

• 2 years ago on July 4, 2018 — A woman climbs the Statue of Liberty pedestal, causing Liberty Island to be evacuated and canceling many midday Fourth of July tours

• AGBC history:

• 3 years ago — Would $123 Convince You to Bike to Work? — Wednesday, June 28

• 8 years ago — The NYPD's Newest Helicopter Focuses on Spotting Terrorism — Friday, June 29

• 8 years ago — Occupy Wall Street - June 28th, 6PM — Friday, June 29

• 9 years ago — Blimp Race on the Hudson — Monday, July 4

• 1 year ago — A Great Big City Will No Longer Publish to Facebook — Friday, July 5

• 9 years ago — Mosquitoes infected with West Nile virus detected in New York City — Thursday, July 7

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Mullaly Park — 1015 RIVER AVENUE, the Bronx — 15 acre park in West Concourse, Bronx, named for newspaperman John Mullaly, who also helped found the New York Park Association in 1881.

Today's fact about New York

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• There is a birth in New York City every 4.4 minutes

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 103°F on July 3, 1966
Record Low: 52°F on June 29, 1888

• AGBC Weather
• Weather.gov forecast

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, Overcast, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com

AGBC collects a variety of links from across the internet and analyzes them to power our links page. Links are selected and ranked based on whether they are about New York and interesting enough to share. A few times per day, this same system also re-ranks the past few hours of news links and creates our top stories page.

Taking that same idea and expanding it, here are the top stories about NYC for each month of 2019, along with a bit of follow-up to see how things have progressed since they were first published.

January 2019

New York City's 2019 Women's March in Photos

Not quite as large as the original 2017 Women's March, but still impactful enough to earn the highest-rated news story from January 2019. The third Women's March was actually two marches after one had split from the original organizing committee. Accusations of antisemitism against organizers of the national march led local organizations to split from the group based in Washington D.C. On January 19th, both an independent group, the Women's March Alliance, and the original national group held protest marches, one on the Upper West Side and one in downtown Manhattan at Foley Square. For 2020, the Women's March Alliance plans to march near Columbus Circle, but has not released a route as of yet, and the official local chapter of the national Women's March plans a rally in Foley Square. Both events are scheduled for January 18th.

February 2019

Police detective killed by friendly fire in New York City

A chaotic robbery at a T-Mobile store in Richmond Hill in Queens led to the first NYPD killed in the line of duty in nearly two years. The death of Detective Brian Simonsen brought increased focus to the case and revealed the many strange details of what would have been a typical store robbery. Most striking was the revelation that, although a bystander correctly told police that the man was robbing the store with a gun and forcing employees into a back room, in the aftermath of the police response and the shooting of the suspect, the gun was found to have been fake, and Simonsen had been accidentally shot and killed by fellow police officers.

When the suspect emerged from the back room holding the realistic gun, officers retreated back outside, but the suspect not only raised the gun, but made movements as if he were firing it at officers. The seven officers at the scene then fired 42 shots within 11 seconds, striking the suspect eight times and hitting two officers. A second suspect, who had served as a lookout during the robbery, was captured several days later. Sergeant Matthew Gorman, who was also one of the first to respond to the robbery, was also hit in the hip by shots fired by other officers, but survived his injuries.

In an interview with local news site The City in April 2019, the suspect said he was attempting to commit suicide by cop and he expressed that he wanted to tell the family of Detective Simonsen how sorry he was, although more recently, speaking to the NY Post from Rikers while awaiting trial, he stated that the robbery was meant as a prank and that he shouldn't be held responsible for the shootings of the officers.

Although Detective Simonsen's death had been the first NYPD death in almost two years, tragedy would strike again in September 2019, when Detective Brian Mulkeen was accidentally shot and killed by fellow NYPD officers during a struggle with a suspect at the Edenwald NYCHA Houses in the Bronx.

March 2019

Manhattan drivers near new era that may include $11.52 tolls

The top story for March was about the congestion pricing plan, which was planned as part of the budget. Although the final toll price to charge vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street hasn't been decided on, a prior study in 2017 by a state-appointed task force called for a $11.52 toll, which is being used as a baseline for what the new recommendation will actually be in 2020.

The congestion pricing plan would go on to pass as part of the state budget on April 1, 2019 despite the pricing not yet being finalized. Under the current plan, pricing and enforcement systems will be studied throughout 2020 and announced at the end of the year. With details still up in the air, the earliest that congestion pricing could take effect would be 2021, but it remains to be seen how many legal challenges the various parts of the system will face, including potential last-minute lawsuits similar to those that delayed the 14th Street busway for three months this year. When congestion pricing does take effect, the funds will be used to improve the entire MTA system and install bus and bike lanes citywide. If the timeline holds true, New York will be the first city in the United States to implement congestion pricing, following world cities like Singapore, London, and Stockholm.

April 2019

Toll hike makes Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge most expensive in country

While the congestion pricing plan made headlines in March 2019 when it was finalized in the state budget, another toll jumped into the spotlight by April 2019, when the Verrazzano Bridge became the most expensive toll bridge in the country. Depending on your discounts and payment methods, may pay a variety of prices to cross, but the most expensive crossing, a Staten Island-bound non-E-ZPass trip, increased $2 and hit $19 on April 1st, 2019. If you're looking to cross the bridge on a budget, you can get a discount for using an E-ZPass, which will bring the price down to $12.24, and if you're a Staten Island resident, you can further chop away at the price by showing proof of residency to get a $5.50 price, or if three or more people can carpool together in a Staten Island-registered vehicle, the price drops to $3.40. The MTA-maintained bridge had daily traffic of more than 202,000 daily crossings in 2016, down from an all-time high of 219,000 in 2001, and in 2017, tolls on the bridge totaled about $417 million per year.

May 2019

Brooklyn, Queens neighborhoods top list of fastest growing rental markets

With May 1st being the time when New York leases traditionally expired, it's no surprise that the top story for May was about rental prices. Real estate site StreetEasy outlined their report in which housing sales were dropping while the rental market was growing, especially in Brooklyn and Queens. StreetEasy saw the biggest rental growth in the most expensive neighborhoods, which they theorized may be because people who want to live in those desirable neighborhoods are more willing to rent as sales prices have been increasing three times more quickly than rentals. Given the different rates of price increases between rentals and sales, an expensive rental may still be the smartest choice once all the costs of owning an apartment are factored in. Even with Amazon canceling plans to move to Long Island City, that neighborhood remained in the greatest demand in Queens, with Dumbo taking the priciest spot in Brooklyn.

Although May 1st is no longer official the city's Moving Day, the middle of the summer is still a difficult time to change apartments, so if you're looking for a new place, consider trudging through the snow-filled streets when the lower number of renters means you'll have more bargaining power when signing a new lease!

June 2019

Even Without Amazon, Rents Spike in Northwest Queens

Like I said, during the summer, a city's mind turns towards real estate, and for June, real estate site Mansion Global looked at data from Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats focused on the high end of rentals in the city. Like the StreetEasy report, Douglas Elliman found luxury rents rising in Long Island City despite Amazon's decision to cancel HQ2. Long Island City will continue to grow with or without Amazon, and the new luxury buildings rising up in the former industrial neighborhood are finding tenants willing to make it the most expensive neighborhood in Queens. Luxury rentals in Manhattan stayed the same year-over-year, with the Soho and Tribeca area remaining the priciest, with a median monthly rent of $6,150, and Dumbo the priciest in Brooklyn, with a median rent of $5,100.

July 2019

NY House Dems call on city to bail out thousands of cab drivers suffering because of taxi medallion ‘crisis’

As the summer moved on, the top story for July highlighted the ongoing crisis hitting yellow cab drivers, who are being impacted by ride-share companies while being left with large investments in pricey taxi medallions and business expenses. In July 2019, the Daily News covered a letter signed by 10 U.S. Congressmembers from New York who asked the city council's newly-formed Taxi Medallion Sale Prices Task Force to ensure assistance for taxi drivers and medallion owners who were suffering from a weakening medallion market and predatory lending. The letter came after a New York Times report on the hardships faced by taxi drivers, including mounting debt that led some drivers to suicide. The city was eyed as a source of assistance after the report showed more than a decade of artificially-inflated medallion prices and the city's $855 million earned from selling medallions directly and by collecting taxes on medallion sales. After an influx of mostly-unregulated ride-share companies flooded the market, prices of medallions dropped, leaving medallion owners in debt on an asset that had been sold as a sure-fire investment. For reference, taxi medallions peaked at a price of $1 million in 2013, but none of have for more than $500,000 since 2018.

August 2019

NYPD officer shoots self in head in Queens home, ninth suicide of city cop this year

After July's story highlighting the risk of suicide among taxi drivers, in August a similar threat was revealed among NYPD officers, when an off-duty officer took his own life, becoming the ninth officer to die by suicide in 2019. Robert Echeverria was a 25-year member of the NYPD, and his death turned the conversation toward an epidemic of officer suicides that needed special attention. According to the Daily News, another officer had taken his own life just one day earlier, and four officers killed themselves in June 2019. Sadly, by October 2019 a 10th officer would die by suicide, doubling the typical rate of suicides seen among NYPD officers and leading the city to establish confidential mental health services for NYPD members, offering free counseling and prescriptions through a partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Officers interested in seeing what services the program provides can search "NYPD Finest Care" or call NewYork-Presbyterian at 1-877-697-9355 and ask for the NYPD Finest Care counseling program.

September 2019

Six hundred straphangers evacuated in Brooklyn after train's mechanical failure

We couldn't escape 2019 without a story of the subway breaking down, and September certainly delivered when a Manhattan-bound 'C' Train became stuck between stations underneath Brooklyn Heights at the High Street–Brooklyn Bridge station. Although there was also smoke reported in the tunnel, the cause was determined to have been the train's emergency brakes being activated. Although that sounds like the same work of the chronic emergency brake puller arrested in May 2019, this brake was apparently automatically activated after one of the shoes that make contact the third rail and power the train lifted off and caused sparks and smoke in the tunnel. In order to evacuate the tunnel, another train was pulled to the end of the disabled train and passengers were able to walk from one to the other and evacuate through the nearby station. Thankfully only one person was treated for a minor injury, which was a much better outcome than if a train of 600 people had come to a jolting stop, where many people would have been thrown to the ground. If you happen to find yourself crawling out of a smoke-filled subway tunnel but your coworkers refuse to believe your story, you can submit a Subway Delay Verification online to receive an official confirmation that you were late due to the MTA.

One train evacuation aside, according to the MTA's own data, major incidents are slowly trending down across the entire subway system after a spike in January 2018. Subway on-time performance has also been on the rise, with Andy Byford claiming on-time performance topped 80% for the first time in six years, a figure defined as a train arriving within five minutes of its scheduled arrival.

October 2019

​Videos Of Teen Arrests In Subway Spur Outrage​

November 2019

City Council Grills MTA On Fare Evasion, Homelessness, And Hiring 500 New Cops

By the time October and November rolled around, the MTA was having a harder time in the news. For two months, the top stories were directed at policing in the subways. Two chaotic arrests caught on video in October spread across social media and formed protests in response to what people saw as unnecessarily aggressive actions by police in the subway. Adding to the problems raised by the videos were confusion about what the teenagers in either video were being detained for, and the confusion was amplified by the clipped nature of the videos, only showing the police response and not the events that led to any of the teens being detained. Once it was revealed that one of the arrests was over turnstile jumping, the focus turned toward the MTA and Governor Cuomo's plan to hire 500 new police officers who would be assigned to the subway system. Critics saw the 500 officers as an unnecessary addition to preexisting NYPD subway patrols and the MTA police force, and at a time when the NYPD's data showed a decrease in subway crime. During a meeting with the city council in November, the plan for the new officers was scrutinized, with questions raised on why the 500 officers, which would cost $50 million a year, were being added when the MTA was running at a deficit. The costs of police assigned to stop fare evasion could potentially put a dent in the estimated $215 million per year lost to turnstile jumping, but the methods the MTA uses to estimate those losses were also questioned, as well as whether the 500 police would even be assigned to monitor fare evasion or if they were meant for general policing. The lack of any concrete plan for the 500 officers made the public and the city council skeptical, combined with video going viral on social media at the same time showing what people already considered an overly aggressive police response to a possible turnstile jumper.

December 2019

'Bus lanes are for buses': MTA rolls out enforcement cameras on Brooklyn bus line

And, ending out a year of top stories, another MTA story, but one where the MTA gets some good-natured retaliation after so many critical stories in previous months. For December, bus-mounted cameras took the top story spotlight as the MTA's social media campaign for the cameras gave straphangers a chuckle. Back in September, the MTA first started having some fun introducing their bus-mounted traffic cameras by showing an animated bus taking a photo that actually zapped the delivery truck out of the way, sending the bus lane scofflaw off into some other dimension and leaving the bus lane clear. After a 60-day trial period where warnings were mailed out, the cameras began issuing actual tickets along the M15 Select Bus line in December, where the cameras had caught 15,000 total bus lane blockages during the 60-day trial period. The first casualty in December was Santa and his sleigh! In a second social media post promoting the expanding bus camera program, a B44 bus zapped Santa's sleigh out of the way after Santa left his delivery vehicle parked in the bus lane. In another animation, an M15 bus cleared the snowy streets by zapping a car with an ice ray and knocking it out of the bus lane. The cameras will also come to M14 buses to help enforce parking and stopping rules along the 14th Street busway.

So that was the year in New York City news! A few quick, unscientific numbers from our database of news stories: Of the 27,556 links indexed over 2019, the most common borough mentioned was Brooklyn, followed by the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and then Staten Island. "Police" and "NYPD" appeared in 3,575 stories, with firefighting keywords like "FDNY" and "fire" appearing in 1,066 stories. Both "man" and "woman" appeared in the top 25 most-popular terms, with terms like "man" and "boy" appearing 1,739 times and "woman" and "girl" appearing 1,058 times.

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Sherman Street Seating Area — 40.650827, -73.973892 — This plaza provides a nice set of benches and some old trees providing shade before you ascend the stairs to cross Ocean Parkway via the pedestrian bridge.

Parks Events

• Recycle your Christmas tree at Mulchfest — The Parks Department and the Sanitation Department are ready to take that Christmas tree off your hands with locations across the city where they will chop up real trees into mulch that can be spread around other trees to protect them from cold weather. You'll be able to drop off your tree, and at some locations you'll even be able to see the trees get chopped into mulch and be able to take some mulch home with you to either use on your own tree or to spread around a tree along the street. Remember to remove all lights and ornaments before handing over your tree, and schedule your trip for a Saturday if you want to see the mulch-making machine in action! Check out the list of locations at nycgovparks.org and drop off your tree anytime from December 26th to January 11th and visit one of the chipping sites on Saturdays beginning at 10am to pick up a bag of mulch! If you can't make it to the park, the Sanitation Department offers curbside pick-up of trees from January 6th through January 17th, when you can place your tree outside with regular trash bags. Real trees collected curbside will also be made into mulch and used in parks across the city.

Concert Calendar

Here's the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Flosstradamus is playing Webster Hall on Friday, January 3rd at 9pm.
• Dry Reef is playing Mercury Lounge on Friday, January 3rd at 10pm.
• I Love The 90s with The Fresh Kids of Bel-Air is playing (Le) Poisson Rouge on Friday, January 3rd at 11pm.
• Ja Rule with Ashanti is playing New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 4th at 8pm.
• Satisfaction is playing Bergen Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 4th at 8pm.
• Jessie's Girl is playing (Le) Poisson Rouge on Saturday, January 4th at 9pm.
• Reggaeton vs Hip Hop Night NYC is playing Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, January 4th at 10pm.
• Firebeatz is playing Marquee New York on Saturday, January 4th at 11pm.
• Wolfgang Gartner is playing Webster Hall on Saturday, January 4th at 11pm.
• Motion City Soundtrack with The Sidekicks is playing Webster Hall on Wednesday, January 8th at 7pm.
• Yola is playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on Wednesday, January 8th at 8pm.
• yMusic is playing Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, January 9th at 7pm.
• Smif-N-Wessun with Black Moon is playing Gramercy Theatre on Thursday, January 9th at 7pm.
• The Dead South with Legendary Shack Shakers is playing Warsaw on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm.
• Cimafunk is playing Webster Hall on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm.
• Afromondo Showcase is playing SOB's on Thursday, January 9th at 8pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

New York Fact

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• 220 West 135th Street lost its National Historic Landmark status in 2009 when it was discovered not to have been the correct address for the home of Florence Mills

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 72°F on January 6, 2007
Record Low: -4°F on January 1, 1918

Weather for the week ahead:
Light rain on Friday through next Wednesday.

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Player FM, Spotify, Overcast, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com — Buzzy 'Auld Lang Syne' by David Fifield — 'Auld Lang Syne' by Two Ton Baker and the Maple City Four

• Starting off with a bit more busway news this week: In a study released by Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants [PDF link], the 14th Street busway has improved travel times on multiple modes of transit by evaluating a variety of data sources, including the Department of Transportation, independent traffic counting, and Citibike data. M14 A and D bus weekday ridership is up 24% compared to last year, and transit times between Third Avenue and Eighth Avenue are faster by 36%, making the crosstown bus ride 5.3 minutes faster. Although the criticisms of the busway before it was even implemented were that the surrounding streets would become parking lots, the data shows that travel time on the surrounding crosstown streets stayed the same or increased by an average of one and a half minutes during weekday rush hours, with the biggest total increase found on 17th Street, the first crosstown street to the north of 14th that isn't broken up by Union Square. By comparison, travel times on the next-closest two-way crosstown streets, 23rd to the north and Houston to the south, showed a variety of increases and decreases in total travel times compared to October last year. On the Avenues, only minuscule changes were seen in drive times, with speeds actually increasing significantly during morning rush hours. The preliminary report released by Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants is the first of seven scheduled reports, with the final report on the project set to be released in Spring 2021.

• In the span of just 16 hours, four people were struck and killed by drivers across the city. In Manhattan, a 26-year-old woman was struck at a crosswalk in SoHo by a box truck driving in reverse, a man in Hell's Kitchen was struck and killed by a sanitation truck driver, an 85-year-old man was killed in Sunset Park by a truck driver, and a 57-year-old man was struck by three drivers separate and killed in Park Slope. According to Streetsblog.org, that brings the total number killed by drivers this year to 214, an 8% increase over 2018. In response, Mayor de Blasio stated that the NYPD will be deploying extra officers citywide to increase truck enforcement. The news sadly coincides with bicyclist Daniel Cammerman being struck and killed by the driver of a school bus on the 96th Street Central Park transverse on December 18th and the Brooklyn Supreme Court handing down a $43 million ruling this week in the case of a young girl struck and seriously injured by the driver of a school bus in 2017.

• Now is the time to focus on avoiding the flu this winter. The measles outbreak was a rare occurrence that was confined to small communities and mostly young children who hadn't yet been vaccinated, and only a few hundred people were affected, but different types of flu viruses take hold each year and flu vaccines must be built to properly address the flu strains that will be most prominent during each flu season. Data from the New York Department of Health shows that flu activity in New York City is already at a high level and there has been a 48% increase in hospitalizations statewide due to influenza. Within the city, there have been a total of 2,028 cases since the flu season began in October, with the past week showing a sharp increase of nearly 1,000 new cases within a week. The number of total cases is much higher at this point in the season than it has been in previous years. Given the early arrival of flu season, it's important to get a flu shot as quickly as possible, and it is a vital step for young children and older adults, especially anyone with heart disease, diabetes, asthma, lung disease, liver disease, or those who are pregnant. Just like the measles vaccine, everyone should receive a flu shot to avoid potentially spreading the disease to someone else in the city who may have a more compromised immune system. To find flu vaccinations across the city, use the NYC.gov Health Map at nyc.gov/flu or visit your neighborhood pharmacy, hospital, or clinic and ask if they administer flu shots. And please, everyone, wash your hands and cover your mouth by coughing or sneezing into your elbow! It's one of the easiest most impactful actions you can take to stop the spread of disease, and everyone holding the subway pole after you will be thankful.

• 30 years ago on December 15, 1989 — Arturo Di Modica's 7,100 pound bronze 'Charging Bull' statue is secretly installed overnight near the New York Stock Exchange Christmas tree as a gift to the people of NYC

• Christmas and Hanukkah are on the way, and our list of tree and menorah lightings at agreatbigcity.com/christmas or agreatbigcity.com/hanukkah has the times and dates of 50 lighting ceremonies across the city! You can sort the list by holiday and past events are still listed, so that you can find a local Christmas tree to visit and keep track of public menorah lightings for each day of Hanukkah. If you don't see your local event on the list, drop us a note and we'll put the info up, whether it's the Rockefeller Center tree or just a neighborhood gathering to hang homemade ornaments on an evergreen in the local park!

• 48 years ago on December 26, 1971 — Members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War occupy the Statue of Liberty for 42 hours to draw attention to the ongoing war

• 35 years ago on December 22, 1984 — Bernhard Goetz shoots four men on a subway car, seriously wounding them during what was either a panhandling or robbery attempt

• 8 years ago — A Very Shepherd Christmas - Stories From Jean Shepherd's New York City Radio Show — Shepherd hosted a late-night show on WOR for 21 years, and each night was packed with the same storytelling and clever insights that became the inspiration for 'A Christmas Story'. While his voice has become ingrained in Christmas pop culture as the narrator of 'A Christmas Story', the recordings of his radio career from 1956-1977 paint a raw, impressionistic vision of New York City life. When Christmas came around each year, Shep would retell some of the various anecdotes that would be gathered together into 'A Christmas Story', some of which had recently been published in Playboy magazine and some of which made their debut on his radio show.

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Franz Sigel Park

Parks Events

• Lighting of the Largest Menorah in Brooklyn

• Lighting of the World's Largest Menorah in Manhattan

• Christmas Eve Caroling

Concert Calendar

This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Sunday, December 22nd at 7pm.
• A KANYE WEST OPERA - MARY is playing David Geffen Hall on Sunday, December 22nd at 8pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Monday, December 23rd at 7pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, December 24th at 7pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday, December 25th at 7pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, December 26th at 7pm.
• Dave East is playing PlayStation Theater on Thursday, December 26th at 9pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Friday, December 27th at 7pm.
• PNB Rock (16+, Rescheduled from October 20, 2019) are playing Brooklyn Steel on Friday, December 27th at 8pm.
• Oliver Heldens is playing Schimanski on Friday, December 27th at 9pm.
• The Disco Biscuits is playing PlayStation Theater on Friday, December 27th at 9pm.
• Gogol Bordello with Dub Trio is playing Webster Hall on Saturday, December 28th at 6pm.
• Phish is playing Madison Square Garden on Saturday, December 28th at 7pm.
• Yo La Tengo is playing Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, December 28th at 7pm.
• The Allman Betts Band is playing Beacon Theatre on Saturday, December 28th at 8pm.
• NERO is playing Schimanski on Saturday, December 28th at 9pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Today's fact about New York

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• There have been 7 versions of the Times Square New Years Eve Ball: One made in 1907, 1920, 1955, 1995, 1999, 2007, and 2008

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 72°F on December 24, 2015
Record Low: -4°F on December 20, 1942

Weather for the week ahead:
No major precipitation throughout the week.

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com — "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

• A moment of remembrance this week for Alelia Murphy, who I mentioned back in July on Episode 30 of the podcast when she celebrated her birthday as the oldest living American. The Harlem resident died at the end of November at the age of 114 years, 140 days old. Ms. Murphy was born in North Carolina in 1905 and has lived in Harlem since the 1920s. Her funeral was held December 6th at the United House of Prayer for all People church on Frederick Douglass Boulevard. The previous oldest American, Lessie Brown, died in January 2019. According to the Gerontology Research Group, the oldest living American is now Hester Ford, born just one month after Ms. Murphy in 1905. According to the records of the Gerontology Research Group, the oldest known New Yorker was Susannah Mushatt Jones, who was born in 1899 and lived 116 years, 311 days until her death in 2016 at a senior home in Brooklyn.

• In Uber's end-of-year report, the Empire State Building topped the list of most Ubered-to locations worldwide, with 1WTC coming in second place. — Transportation reporter Aaron Gordon wrote on Jalopnik that the Empire State Building is within a 10 minute walk of nearly every single subway line, PATH trains, MetroNorth, and the LIRR. At the World Trade Center, the second-most Ubered-to location worldwide, 12 subway lines and the PATH train stop nearby. Other proposals, like City Council Speaker Corey Johnson trying to convince Mayor de Blasio to duplicate the 14th Street busway in Midtown streets on 34th or 42nd Street would also help replace the caravan of crosstown Ubers with city buses that could alleviate the gridlock near the Empire State Building. According to the DOT's 2019 Mobility Report, on 34th, 42nd, and 57th Streets, over 50% of the traffic is composed of taxis and rideshare vehicles, and traffic speeds in Midtown are 30% slower compared to the rest of Manhattan south of 59th, with vehicles creeping along at just 4.9 mph.

• Christmas tree lightings are already happening! So check out the AGBC list of tree and menorah lightings at agreatbigcity.com/christmas or agreatbigcity.com/hanukkah, where there are currently 41 lightings across the city. If you don't see your local event on the list, drop us a note and we'll put the info up, whether it's the Rockefeller Center tree or just a neighborhood gathering to hang homemade ornaments on an evergreen in the local park!

• 5 years ago on December 5, 2014 — Korean Air Flight 86 is forced to return to the gate at JFK Airport after Korean Air vice president Heather Cho throws a temper tantrum over the serving of in-flight macadamia nuts

• Back in Episode 49 we covered the closing of Ellis Island in 1954 and how the brick buildings were almost torn down to make way for a futuristic city designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but 119 years ago on December 17, 1900, A new Ellis Island processing center opens after a fire destroyed the original wood buildings

• 25 years ago on December 7, 1994 — Howard Stern and a passing motorist save a man threatening to jump from the George Washington Bridge

• 40 years ago on December 2, 1979 — Elvita Adams attempts to jump from the Empire State Building, but is saved after hitting a ledge 20 feet below

• 1 year ago on December 10, 2018 — The 'Fearless Girl' statue is relocated from Bowling Green to a permanent location outside the New York Stock Exchange building

• 30 years ago on December 15, 1989 — Arturo Di Modica's 7,100 pound bronze 'Charging Bull' statue is secretly installed overnight near the New York Stock Exchange Christmas tree as a gift to the people of NYC

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: It also automatically checks MTA data before morning rush hour and sends out notifications if there are delays on any subway lines, LIRR or MetroNorth trains, and bridges and tunnels. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Haviland Playground — Haviland Ave., Watson Ave. bet. Virginia Ave. and Pugsley Ave., the Bronx — Set on land that was part of Pugsley Farm and named for earlier landowners Joseph and Mary Haviland. Serves as the playground for adjacent I.S. 125.

Parks Events

• Check out our list of Christmas tree and menorah lightings across the city for some of this week's upcoming tree lightings, since most of them are placed in public parks!

And now let's check in with our robot friend for the concert calendar:

Concert Calendar

This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Summer Walker with Melii is playing Terminal 5 on Sunday, December 8th at 8pm.
• Dimash Qudaibergen is playing Barclays Center on Tuesday, December 10th at 7pm.
• Angele with Angel is playing Webster Hall on Tuesday, December 10th at 7pm.
• Holiday Cheer for WFUV Benefit Concert: Mavis Staples with Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats is playing Beacon Theatre on Tuesday, December 10th at 8pm.
• CAAMP with Savannah Conley is playing Brooklyn Steel on Tuesday, December 10th at 8pm.
• Billy Joel is playing Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, December 11th at 8pm.
• Idina Menzel is playing Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium on Wednesday, December 11th at 8pm.
• CAAMP is playing Brooklyn Steel on Wednesday, December 11th at 8pm.
• Anuel AA is playing Barclays Center on Thursday, December 12th at 8pm.
• DaBaby is playing Terminal 5 on Thursday, December 12th at 8pm.
• Omar Apollo is playing Brooklyn Steel on Thursday, December 12th at 8pm.
• Jingle Ball with Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Camila Cabello, and more are playing Madison Square Garden on Friday, December 13th at 7pm.
• HennyPalooza is playing Barclays Center on Friday, December 13th at 8pm.
• Lindsey Stirling is playing New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Friday, December 13th at 8pm.
• Live from Here with Chris Thile is playing The Town Hall on Saturday, December 14th at 5pm.
• Tyler Childers with Liz Cooper & The Stampede is playing Brooklyn Steel on Saturday, December 14th at 9pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

New York Fact

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• The Port Authority of NY and NJ oversees a "port district" area that is loosely defined as a 25-mile radius around the Statue of Liberty

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 75°F on December 7, 1998
Record Low: 3°F on December 10, 1876

Weather for the week ahead: Rain on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio, Player FM, Podcast Addict, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com

Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

• The ridership on crosstown buses at 14th Street has increased to more than 32,000 daily riders, an increase over last year's 26,000 daily riders, and now the city is looking at increasing service along the route. Now that buses are moving faster thanks to the clear streets and the installation of bus loading platforms, some are beginning to need to hold at bus stops to avoid getting ahead of schedule. The 14th Street buses will also be getting on-board camera systems that photograph any bus lane blockers and send that info to the Department of Transportation. Any scofflaws caught blocking buses by those on-board cameras or street-mounted cameras will be subject to fines. These are the same on-board cameras that made a dramatic debut recently when the Transit Authority posted a video on social media showing the bus camera zapping a delivery truck out of the bus lane. Although there haven't been any reports of disintegrating delivery vans, the cameras have been operating on the M15 and B44 Select Bus routes.

• Good and bad news for any holiday shoppers hoping for some traffic relief in Midtown this holiday season: City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said the success of the 14th Street busway should lead the city to expand the program to similar streets like 34th and 42nd, but Mayor de Blasio's view is still that instituting busways on other streets would be a premature move before the 14th street pilot program has completed. The current busway pilot program is scheduled to last 18 months, after which the DOT will examine the results and decide whether the program will continue. Midtown bus riders may still be stuck behind empty Ubers on 34th Street, but visitors to Rockefeller Center will get a bit more breathing room. The city announced on November 22nd that, beginning Friday, November 29th, movable barriers will be installed to close streets around Rockefeller Center and add more pedestrian space during the holiday season. The plan is to completely close 49th and 50th Streets from Fifth to Sixth beginning in the afternoon until midnight, when most shoppers and visitors will be in the area. Along Fifth Avenue from 48th to 52nd, a lane of the road on each side will be reclaimed for pedestrian traffic with movable barriers. On Sixth Avenue, a similar barrier setup will take over one lane of traffic, but only when the NYPD and DOT observers see that crowds are growing and more pedestrian space is needed. According to State Senator Brad Hoylman, the Rockefeller Center area attracts 125 million visitors during the holiday season. When news of the potential street closure plan leaked at the end of October, Mayor de Blasio emphasized that it had not yet been approved by City Hall and that someone at the DOT may have accidentally or intentionally leaked it "trying to further their own agenda". The plan will take effect the day after Thanksgiving. You may notice one problem when you combine the previous two stories: In response to news of the Rockefeller Center street closures, Transit Authority head Andy Byford released a short statement criticizing what he called a unilateral decision by the city that will slow down buses in the Rockefeller Center area since they are not given priority in the current plan. Fifth Avenue is a major north-south route for buses, and it remains to be seen how the four-block narrowing of the street will impact traffic or transit times.

• This week, the Port Authority announced this week that they hope to use autonomous vehicle technology to more closely space their buses through the Lincoln Tunnel. While they plan realistically wouldn't eliminating drivers, the technology would allow the buses to drive close to each other and maintain a higher speed by closely monitoring the surrounding environment and avoiding collisions with greater accuracy than a human driver.

• Today's podcast is brought to you by City Survival: The AGBC Holiday Gift Guide — Whether it's a tiny replica of a fire escape to hang on your wall or a gadget that may one day help you escape a stalled subway train, find all your gifts this year through our Gift Guide at agreatbigcity.com/gift-guide and your purchases will financially benefit AGBC.

• Coming up November 28th, the 93rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving parade will fly 16 giant balloons from 77th Street to 34th Street, with new giant balloons this year of Astronaut Snoopy, Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham, a new Spongebob Squarepants design featuring Gary the snail, and the reappearance of Smokey the Bear, but those new balloons will hopefully stop to pay their respects to some of their fallen comrades. Over the 93 years of Macy's parades, there have been three major balloon crashes:

• 26 years ago in 1993 — The Sonic the Hedgehog balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade knocks down a streetlight in Columbus Circle, injuring a child and an off-duty police officer

• 22 years ago in 1997 — Four are injured, two seriously, when a Cat in the Hat balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade knocks down a streetlight on Central Park West — Hear more about the Corey Lidle plane crash on Episode 44 of the podcast

• 14 years ago in 2005 — Two are injured when an M&M balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade knocks down a streetlight in Times Square

• Safety limits are now set on where balloons may only fly if sustained winds are below 23mph and gusts are below 34mph. For this Thanksgiving, the winds are predicted to be in the 20mph range, so it remains to be seen if high winds may ground the balloons this year. No matter what happens to this year's Macy's balloons, it won't be as exciting as the parade's end from 1927 to 1932, when parade balloons were simply launched into the sky after the parade, where the helium-filled balloons would rise into the air and Macy's predicted they would deflate and land, so they attached a note that offered a $100 reward to anyone who returned the balloon's remains. The tradition ended, however, when one of the loose balloons finally ended up getting stuck on the wing of an airplane and sent the plane into a tailspin.

• 13 years ago on November 25, 2006 — Sean Bell is shot and killed by police in a controversial shooting that raised protests over how police handled the encounter and whether anyone in Bell's bachelor party was actually armed — Sean Bell is shot and killed by police in a controversial shooting that raised protests over how police handled the encounter and whether anyone in Bell's bachelor party was actually armed. Upon leaving the bachelor party at a strip club, undercover police testified that they heard one of Bell's friends say he was going to get a gun, so police, who were outside the club investigating possible prostitution at the location, drew their guns and fired on the group, killing Bell and severely injuring two others. The NYPD response hinged on whether a gun was mentioned or displayed, with witnesses saying no one in the bachelor party mentioned a gun and none being found at the scene. Mayor Bloomberg called the shooting unacceptable and said it looked like a case of excessive force, with five officers firing a total of 50 shots, hitting Bell four times, Trent Benefield three times, and Joseph Guzman 19 times. Protests took place comparing Bell's death to similar police shootings of unarmed men and protesters called for the officers to be held accountable. Three of the five officers involved in the shooting were indicted and went before a judge in a bench trial where all charges were dropped on April 25, 2008. Despite their acquittal, all officers and their commanding officer were fired or forced to resign by 2012. Liverpool Street from 94th to 101st Ave in Jamaica, Queens was named in honor of Sean Bell on what would have been his 27th birthday.

• 109 years ago on November 27, 1910 — The original Penn Station opens to the public, with an estimated 100,000 visitors on the first day — The original Penn Station opens to the public, with an estimated 100,000 visitors on the first day The city operated a bit differently in those days, with the New York Times noting the increase in pedestrians on a Sunday in the "usually very quiet" area in Midtown between Penn Station and Times Square, and that the crowds were "impressed with the lack of confusion" at Penn Station on opening day. One aspect of the opening day report did seem all too familiar: The new station caused a notable increase in subway passengers at both the Times Square and 33rd Street stations, causing passengers to question why there had not been extra capacity added to the Seventh Avenue cross-town trolley. The increase in train traffic also relocated a large number of support personnel to the city, with many settling in southeast Queens near the newly-constructed Sunnyside train yards. This increased the population of Long Island City by at least 2,000. The original above-ground structure of Penn Station would remain until 1963, when it had fallen into disrepair and was torn down and replaced with Madison Square Garden. The loss of what was once an architectural wonder led to the formation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission that would save Grand Central Terminal from a similar fate just two years later. Today, the Moynihan Train Hall near Penn Station is being renovated into a modern version of what Penn Station once was. The new train station will service Amtrak and LIRR customers and feature a soaring glass atrium ceiling about the size of Grand Central's main hall.

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Bergen Triangle — E. 181 St., Anthony Ave., Grand Concourse, the Bronx — Named for William Bergen, one of the largest developers in the Bronx, who spotted vacant lots and bought them, constructing over two hundred homes on his land. One of Bergen's most notable achievements as a developer was the construction of the Bergen Building, built in 1915 at the intersection of Tremont and Arthur Avenues, about one mile southeast from Bergen Triangle Park.

Parks Events

• The city will be hosting Black Friday Hikes on November 29, 2019 as a way to clear your mind from any holiday stress and avoid any ravenous shopping crowds. There will be one official hike in each borough, but you're encouraged to visit any park and take your own hiking adventure.

Concert Calendar

Here's the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Snoh Aalegra with Baby Rose is playing Webster Hall on Sunday, November 24th at 7pm.
• Bob Dylan is playing Beacon Theatre on Sunday, November 24th at 8pm.
• Hozier with Angie McMahon is playing Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday, November 25th at 8pm.
• Jaden Smith and Willow Smith are playing Terminal 5 on Tuesday, November 26th at 7pm.
• Hozier with Angie McMahon is playing Hammerstein Ballroom on Tuesday, November 26th at 8pm.
• Bob Dylan is playing Beacon Theatre on Tuesday, November 26th at 8pm.
• Bob Dylan is playing Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, November 27th at 8pm.
• Lil Tjay is playing PlayStation Theater on Wednesday, November 27th at 8pm.
• Mega Bash with Luis Fonsi, Reik, Ozuna are playing Prudential Center on Friday, November 29th at 7pm.
• Bob Dylan is playing Beacon Theatre on Friday, November 29th at 8pm.
• Fobia is playing PlayStation Theater on Friday, November 29th at 8pm.
• Madeon with Instupendo is playing Brooklyn Steel on Friday, November 29th at 8pm.
• Pentatonix is playing The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 30th at 7pm.
• Guster with Rubblebucket is playing Terminal 5 on Saturday, November 30th at 7pm.
• Bob Dylan is playing Beacon Theatre on Saturday, November 30th at 8pm.
• Hot Tuna is playing The Town Hall on Saturday, November 30th at 8pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Today's fact about New York

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• You can call, text, or chat with a trained counselor 24 hours a day at the city's NYC Well program

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 77°F on November 20, 1985
Record Low: 13°F on November 22, 1880

Weather for the week ahead:
Light rain this weekend, with a chance of wind on Wednesday and Thursday

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify, Player FM, Pocket Casts, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com

Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

• If you're one of the 26,000 people who visit the Wall Street Bull on a typical day, you may soon need to ask for a different set of directions. Back in April 2018, when it was announced that the Fearless Girl statue was going to be moved from Bowling Green to outside the New York Stock Exchange, there were also rumblings of a possible move for the Charging Bull statue. The Bull is one of the city's most popular and iconic attractions, but its location in the middle of Broadway has long caused a dangerous situation, with onlookers standing inches away from the taxis and tour buses that travel down Broadway. A small pedestrian area added along the border of Bowling Green plaza has not helped, and concrete barriers are still necessary along the border of the plaza to prevent the multiple lanes of traffic from hitting visitors to the statue. A year after the city moved Fearless Girl, the mayor's office has confirmed that the Wall Street Bull will be moving out of Bowling Green and into the plaza outside the NYSE, where visitors can more safely gather around the iconic statue. Tourists may be asking for directions to the Bull for quite a long time, as Google Maps currently still shows the Fearless Girl statue as being located in Bowling Green, despite being moved to the Stock Exchange a year ago in November 2018. If you're a fan of the Bull, be prepared for its 30th anniversary, coming up on December 15th, when the Bull was first dropped off in front of the Stock Exchange in what sculptor Arturo Di Modica called a gift to the people of New York that was meant to represent the strength and power of the American people. Despite initially placing the Bull in front of the Stock Exchange, Di Modica is no fan of the statue being relocated there again. Although no final placement has been announced, Di Modica was also critical of the placement of the Fearless Girl near his statue, and would likely fight having the statues placed facing each other again. The Parks Department does not purchase art to display in city parks, so in a unique arrangement, the Bull is technically still owned by Di Modica, but has also long outlasted the one-year limit that pieces of art are typically granted to be displayed in public parks. This unofficial arrangement over the statue's ownership will likely cause further confusion if the sculptor disagrees with the city's plans to relocate the statue.

• Checking in with the 14th Street busway, the Department of Transportation will be installing new bus-boarding platforms along 14th Street from now through December 2019. These are snap-together plastic islands that allow faster boarding of buses without taking up sidewalk space. The plastic platform extends out from the bus shelter and prevents vehicles from being able to block the bus stop and allows the bus to continue along the route without pausing to merge back into traffic. This, combined with the all-door boarding of the Select Bus Service allows faster bus stops with more room for passengers while exiting or waiting for the bus. Each platform will take about six days to install and will temporarily close the bus stop at that location, but the DOT will stagger the installations so that the nearest surrounding bus stops remain in service. The busway itself just passed one month in operation after a series of lawsuits delayed its opening. Both city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Transit Authority president Andy Byford have publicly praised the results of the busway and see it as a template for possible busways in other parts of the city where traffic has slowed buses to a crawl. The 14th Street busway program is expected to last 18 months, after which the DOT will examine the results and decide whether the program will continue.

• If you're elsewhere in the city and can't catch one of the frequent 14th Street buses, soon you'll be able to flag down a truly unique taxi option. This week, the Taxi and Limo Commission added the 2019 Tesla Model 3 as an approved vehicle to be converted into a city taxi. The electric cars have a minimum range of 220 miles, but excel in city driving as they don't waste energy while stopped in traffic. During the Taxi of Tomorrow competition, part of the complaint against the winning Nissan NV200 was the cost of maintenance, another area where Teslas would shine, as they have no required maintenance. According to Allan Fromberg of the TLC, there are already Teslas operating as for-hire vehicles in the city, but none have gotten the full taxi treatment yet. Any potential Model 3s that will be used as city taxis will receive the same makeover as all other vehicles, from the yellow paint job to the clear partition and roof-mounted lights. It would be up to the taxi company using the Model 3 to figure out how and when to recharge the car, as Tesla explicitly prohibits taxi and rideshare vehicles from using its Supercharger network, which is the fastest way to recharge a Tesla vehicle. Taxi operators would instead need to install high-power electric hookups at their garages, much like companies install private gas pumps to refuel their fleets of vehicles.

• Coming up November 28th, the 93rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving parade will feature 16 giant balloons, 40 smaller balloons and inflatables, 26 floats, 1,200 performers, 11 marching bands, and more than 1,000 clowns. New giant balloons this year are Astronaut Snoopy, Green Eggs and Ham, a new Spongebob Squarepants design featuring Gary the snail, and the reappearance of Smokey the Bear. If you've ever followed AGBC during the Thanksgiving season, you may know that this is also the season for the AGBC Thanksgiving Parade — a page on our site that takes all 93 years of balloons and jumbles their names into a wacky new lineup. Let's hit the randomizer and see what ideas we come up with for this year's AGBC parade: Visit agreatbigcity.com/thanksgiving to shuffle the list and generate your own funny balloon names. Where else will you see the Buzz Rugrats balloon, How to Train Your Santa Claus, and Mama and Papa Doughboy? Only in a hypothetical AGBC parade, of course!

• 61 years ago on November 10, 1958 — New York jeweler Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Museum of Natural History by mailing it to Washington D.C. via registered mail

• 50 years ago on November 10, 1969 — Sesame Street debuts on public television after an earlier test period in July when episodes were shown to preschoolers in Philadelphia and NYC

• 212 years ago on November 11, 1807 — Washington Irving gives New York the name "Gotham", which means "goat's town"

• Bill de Blasio finally called it quits after attempting a Presidential run back in September, but this week former Mayor Bloomberg indicated that he may take another swing at the campaign, himself! Bloomberg has toyed with the possibility of running for President over the years, but seemed to declare his most serious effort for the upcoming 2020 election. While he has not officially declared his candidacy, this week Bloomberg filed paperwork to appear on the Alabama ballot, which had an early deadline candidates must meet, and is in the process of filing in Arkansas and is listed as a potential candidate by the Michigan Department of State. According to various reports from people close to Bloomberg, he has not made a final decision, and will soon announce his intentions. In a statement, top advisor Howard Wolfson stated that this was not a campaign announcement, but that Bloomberg was increasingly concerned that the current field of Democratic candidates are not well positioned to defeat Donald Trump. Neither Bloomberg nor Wolfson provided any specific criticisms on policies or candidates that they find troubling, earlier in October, Bloomberg had reportedly only considered entering the Presidential race if front-runner Joe Biden dropped out. With Bloomberg's recent filing of paperwork in Alabama, the latest Quinnipiac poll was only able to ask the final half of those surveyed about a potential Bloomberg Presidential run, and although the sample size is only 636 potential New Hampshire Democratic voters, the results are certainly less than encouraging: Of the 636 surveyed, 54% responded that they would definitely not vote for Bloomberg in the Democratic primary. Among the full 1,134 likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters, Joe Biden still takes the top spot, but with only 20% of those surveyed choosing him if the primary were held today. In a separate question, 61% indicated they might change their mind on which candidate they'd vote for before the primary. In a November 8th poll by Morning Consult, Bloomberg faced high unfavorability numbers, but would fare about as well as Biden, Sanders, and Warren in a hypothetical match-up against Trump if the election were held today.

• 65 years ago on November 12, 1954 — Ellis Island is closed after years of serving as a detention center after both World Wars

• 18 years ago on November 12, 2001 — American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens on takeoff from JFK Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground

• In AGBC history:

• 2 years ago — Hugo Boss Rooftop Features Massive Cologne Bottle — Wednesday, November 8

• 8 years ago — Occupy Wall Street - Evicted From Zuccotti Park by the NYPD — Tuesday, November 15

• 3 years ago — NY1 is Rebranded as "Spectrum News" — Tuesday, November 15

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: It also automatically checks MTA data before morning rush hour and sends out notifications if there are delays on any subway lines, LIRR or MetroNorth trains, and bridges and tunnels. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Ewen Park

Parks Events

• Raoul Wallenberg Forest Tree Planting — Date: November 17, 2019 Volunteer with the Stewardship Team to plant trees in Raoul Wallenburg Forest!

Concert Calendar

This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Charly Bliss is playing Webster Hall on Wednesday, November 13th at 6pm.
• The Charlie Daniels Band with The Allman Betts Band are playing Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, November 13th at 8pm.
• Joe Bonamassa is playing Beacon Theatre on Thursday, November 14th at 8pm.
• Jay Park is playing Terminal 5 on Thursday, November 14th at 8pm.
• Lux Prima is playing Kings Theatre on Thursday, November 14th at 8pm.
• Billy Joel is playing Madison Square Garden on Friday, November 15th at 8pm.
• Joe Bonamassa is playing Beacon Theatre on Friday, November 15th at 8pm.
• Taking Back Sunday is playing Terminal 5 on Friday, November 15th at 8pm.
• Taking Back Sunday with Frank Iero is playing Terminal 5 on Saturday, November 16th at 3am.
• New York Hurling Classic is playing Citi Field on Saturday, November 16th at 12pm.
• Tool with Killing Joke is playing Prudential Center on Saturday, November 16th at 7pm.
• Joe Bonamassa is playing Beacon Theatre on Saturday, November 16th at 8pm.
• Anderson .Paak are playing Brooklyn Steel on Sunday, November 17th at 8pm.
• A Day To Remember with Beartooth and I Prevail are playing Terminal 5 on Tuesday, November 19th at 6pm.
• SuperM is playing Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, November 19th at 7pm.
• Tool with Killing Joke is playing Barclays Center on Tuesday, November 19th at 7pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Did you know?

• Those dark green USPS sidewalk mailboxes without mail slots are called relay boxes and are used so that mail carriers don't have to carry an entire route's mail with them all at once

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 80°F on November 15, 1993
Record Low: 17°F on November 16, 1933

Weather for the week ahead: Light rain tomorrow and next Monday.

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Podcast Addict, Player FM, Spotify, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com

Take a trip through the slimy, sickening side of the city and prepare yourself for A Great Big SCARE!

• It's ironically appropriate that the subway celebrates its birthday right around the spookiest time of year, as it prominently features in New Yorkers' nightmares. 115 years ago on October 27th, 1904, The original 28 subway stations opened, stretching from City Hall to 145th Street in Manhattan. From 1904 until 1948, the price for a subway ride was just 5¢, a price range that's equivalent to about 92¢ in today's dollars. Instead, you'll be paying three times that amount for a ride today, in a 100-year-old system that is struggling to keep up with modern demand. Although the subway's on-time performance recently hit a six-year high, only 81% of trains arrive on time during a typical weekday, and the subway's previous on-time figures put it at the lowest among all major cities' transit systems. In 2017, Governor Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the New York transit system in an effort to revitalize the deteriorating subway and modernize its signal system. In an effort to avoid further increasing the subway fare, the MTA's $54 billion plan to improve the subway will rely on revenue from a congestion pricing toll on vehicles that enter Manhattan south of 61st Street. Vehicles entering central and southern Manhattan will be subject to a toll of around $12 for the privilege of sitting in traffic that has slowed to a crawl in recent years as rideshare drivers have flooded the streets, with speeds in Midtown in 2018 averaging just 4.7 mph. If streets lined with traffic and a subway running on ancient tracks make New York sound like the city for you, don't forget to pay at the door! Beginning January 2020, the cost of entering the city via bridge or tunnel will increase to $16 and the AirTrain ride to JFK Airport will increase to $7.75.

• If you've finally paid your toll to get into the city, good luck finding a place to stay! According to real estate site StreetEasy's data through August 2019, the prices of rentals are increasing while the prices of homes for sale are decreasing. The median asking price for a one-bedroom in Manhattan jumped 7.5% year-over-year, adding $233 to the monthly rent. If you end up looking at apartments more in your price range, the horrors continue. According to bedbugregistry.com, there have been 4,490 reports of bedbugs across the city, including a report from October 26th of a traveler who woke up from a lovely sleep in room 1622 of a hotel in Midtown only to find a bedbug crawling on his pillow. The hotel refused to believe him until he capture a live bug in a sandwich bag and showed it to the hotel staff. If you think you're safe from bedbugs if you don't stay in a Midtown hotel, consider the tale of a resident in Long Island City, who ordered a bed frame and headboard online, only to open the package and find bedbugs inside.

• When New Yorkers glance up to see air conditioners precariously hanging from every apartment window, a pedestrian's mind turns to tragedy, picturing their inevitable death after one of those menacing sheet metal boxes breaks free from its windowsill. If the air conditioner plummets toward you, will those days at the gym give you the nimble speed to heroically jump out of its path? In the past 30 years, there have been only a handful of documented air conditioner drops, despite millions of New Yorkers propping their A/Cs up on the hopes that the power cord will support the full weight of the machine if it ever tears loose. While you allow the fear of falling machinery to fade from your mind, consider a report from 2008 that showed the increased energy usage of air conditioning during the summer directly contributes to up to 1,000 deaths annually in the eastern United States. Without sustainable forms of energy, power-hungry air conditioning units put extra demand on coal-burning power plants, increasing ozone levels and fine particulate matter in the air, all of which will only get worse as climate change increases the frequency and duration of summer heat waves.

• New York is a world-class city that will survive far into the future, or at least some parts will survive. As the earth's climate changes and sea levels begin to rise, more and more of the city's shoreline will be regularly inundated with water, eroding the city's most valuable infrastructure. Water levels around New York have already risen more than one foot since 1900, and the rate of sea level rise is only increasing. By 2100, the waters around New York will rise from between 18 inches to over four feet, due to damage that has already been done to the planet. On a map from FloodHelpNY that uses FEMA data to estimate future flood-prone areas, water is seen flooding coastal areas across the city as water levels rise, putting areas like Long Island City, the Rockaways, and both JFK and LaGuardia Airport at risk. In Manhattan, the appropriately-named Canal Street will become a canal once again, pouring water directly into the Hudson Tunnel entrance, and in Brooklyn, the sea will wash over Red Hook and swell the waters of the Gowanus up into the surrounding neighborhood. New data shows that the elevation data used to calculate the impact that sea level rise will have on coastal cities was actually using satellite data that measured the heights of trees and buildings, mistaking them for the ground level, so much more low-lying land will be inundated with water than previously estimated.

• And all of that water is just on a good day, not when a 100-year flood hits the city. Seven years ago on October 29, 2012, the city saw how intensified natural disasters can bring an unprepared the city to its knees. When Superstorm Sandy hit the city, sweeping corrosive ocean water into basements, power stations, and subway tunnels, the city suffered a $30 billion impact, and one still felt seven years later as subway repairs continue and residents struggle to rebuild their homes. — Hurricane Sandy hits New York City, causing a five-day blackout across downtown Manhattan and damage to infrastructure across the city, on Long Island, and in New Jersey

• And now let's see what haunted happenings our robot friend has found for this Halloween night:

• Dead & Company is playing Madison Square Garden on Thursday, October 31st at 7pm.

• Flatbush Zombies is playing Brooklyn Steel on Thursday, October 31st at 8pm.
• Dead & Company is playing Madison Square Garden on Friday, November 1st at 7pm.
• Blues Traveler is playing Beacon Theatre on Friday, November 1st at 8pm.
• King Princess with Girlpool is playing Terminal 5 on Friday, November 1st at 8pm.
• Live from Here With Chris Thile with Gregory Alan Isakov is playing The Town Hall on Saturday, November 2nd at 5pm.
• Mumiy Troll is playing Webster Hall on Saturday, November 2nd at 6pm.
• Super Freestyle Explosion with Stevie B and Expose and GEORGE LAMOND and Lisa Lisa are playing Prudential Center on Saturday, November 2nd at 7pm.
• Marc Anthony is playing Barclays Center on Saturday, November 2nd at 8pm.
• The Fab Faux is playing Beacon Theatre on Saturday, November 2nd at 8pm.
• Rosanne Cash with Ry Cooder is playing Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium on Saturday, November 2nd at 8pm.
• King Princess with Girlpool is playing Terminal 5 on Saturday, November 2nd at 8pm.
• Leslie Odom Jr. is playing Bowery Ballroom on Monday, November 4th at 7pm.
• Clairo (16+ Event) is playing Brooklyn Steel on Monday, November 4th at 8pm.
• Little Steven And The Disciples Of Soul are playing Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, November 6th at 7pm.
• Clairo (16+ Event) is playing Brooklyn Steel on Wednesday, November 6th at 8pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

According to a 2014 study, there are approximately 2 million rats living in New York City. The common brown rat not only carries a wide variety of diseases and viruses that is spread via saliva, urine, and rat droppings, but microscopic fleas also catch a ride on rats and carry diseases like the bubonic plague, typhus, and spotted fever. Although an adult rat weighs about as much as a can of soda, they can squeeze through an opening the size of a quarter and jump three feet in the air.

Park of the Day

• Visit the former home of the king of horror, Edgar Allen Poe, at Poe Park in the Bronx, on Grand Concourse at 192nd. The poet rented the home from 1846 to 1849, just before his early death at the age of 40.

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 84°F on November 1, 1950
Record Low: 23°F on November 5, 1879

Weather for the week ahead:
Light rain throughout the week.

• Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere
• Concert Calendar music: 'La beauté dans les gouttes de sueur qui perlent sur ton front' by Dancefloor is Lava
• Feature music: 'Abyss' by Demoiselle Döner — 'Hello Michael !' by Loyalty Freak Music — 'Monster Parade' by Loyalty Freak Music — 'Insomnia at the bottom of the river' by Soft and Furious

• Last week I walked you through the history of the Guggenheim Museum to mark its 60th anniversary on October 21, 1959, and this week I wanted to point you to a podcast by 99% Invisible, a design and architecture podcast, which worked with the Guggenheim to produce a special audio walkthrough that talks about the history of the building and some of the art that has been displayed in the museum over the years. For instance, you may not have known that Frank Lloyd Wright initially intended for museum attendees to ride an elevator to the top of the building and experience the museum's exhibitions from top to bottom. Learn more about the Guggenheim at 99pi.org and listen to episode 375 of 99% Invisible while you tour the museum. — The Guggenheim Museum Opens on the Upper East Side

• A few more details this week on the observation deck at Hudson Yards that we talked about in Episode 13 of the podcast: The deck is the glass triangle jutting off the southeast corner of 30 Hudson Yards that the surrounding neighborhood lovingly referred to as a bird beak! The observation deck is called New York Edge and will be the highest observation deck in the western hemisphere at 1,131 feet above street level, surpassing both the observation deck at 1WTC and the former Sears Tower, but still falling far short of overseas marvels like Shenzhen's Ping An International Finance Centre's observation deck that is 700 feet higher. The most striking aspect is the glass floor section at the center of the triangle, offering a view straight down the side of 30 Hudson Yards. Walking to the tip of the triangle-shaped deck will offer views across the entire city, from the new skyscrapers lining Billionaire's Row, full views of the Empire State Building, and a look down the western side of Manhattan all the way to 1WTC. The deck won't open until March 2020, but tickets are already on sale at an introductory price of $36/person for a specific time or $56/person for a daily pass. If you're a New York resident, you can receive a few more dollars off the list price. Both prices are comparable to what you'll pay to rise above the city at One World Observatory or the Empire State Building's observation decks. — Living with a view like that doesn't come without a hefty price tag, either! In PropertyShark's latest data, Hudson Yards ranked as the most expensive neighborhood, pushed to the top by a slew of expensive new sales in newly-opened buildings. For the third quarter of 2019, Hudson Yards sailed past Tribeca to post a median sale price of $5 million — more than twice Tribeca's $2.4 million median price for the same time period. Since PropertyShark's ranking of expensive neighborhoods is based on real estate transactions that closed during each quarter, neighborhoods can jump up the list quite drastically, as was seen in this report when the Lower East Side made an appearance at #8 on the list, jumping up eight places, after a number of units were sold at 250 South Street, a massive 72 story tower that grew along the waterfront at the base of the Manhattan Bridge. Sales during the third quarter in that building alone had a median price of $1.6 million.

• While you're up on the new observation deck at Hudson Yards, bring a pair of binoculars and see if you can spot some new signage in Dumbo: The former glowing-red Watchtower sign that stood along the Brooklyn waterfront for nearly 50 years will now be replaced with a glowing-red Welcome sign. The architectural renderings show a slightly less ominous font than the Watchtower sign, but the new Welcome sign will still be displayed in bold letters and still feature the LED clock above the sign. The building was sold by the Jehovah's Witnesses for $340 million in 2016 and the new owners are redeveloping the site into a mixed-use complex named the Panorama, which will incorporate shopping and innovative outdoor public spaces. Interestingly, the website for the Panorama still features an earlier rendering of the replacement sign, where the word Panorama would be spelled out in a similar font to the Welcome sign which will now be installed.

• The Rockefeller Center ice rink recently opened, the Bryant Park rink will open in Winter Village after Halloween, but you may notice a difference at the Central Park rink this winter: After buildings along Riverside Boulevard removed the Trump name from their buildings, two ice-skating rinks in Central Park were some of the last remaining Trump branding in the city, but as skating began this year, the Trump name was covered over or replaced with a small footnote where there had previously been large red letters on the rink's walls. As the Washington Post reports, some of the signs have been amended with a small "Operated by the Trump Organization" note at the bottom, while the skate rental counter simply hung a tarp over the name. According to the Parks Department, the change was unexpected and was the decision of the Trump Organization, which will still run the rinks, but voluntarily decided to downplay their branding for the first time since the 1980s. Although the rinks are still officially named the Wollman and Lasker rinks, the branding is a result of Trump's real estate company aiding the city in completing the construction and renovation project in the 1980s. Skating at Wollman rink is open now at 62nd Street and costs between $12 and $19, and skating at Lasker rink at 110th Street opens on October 27th and costs $9. For a free option, head to Bryant Park or the Conservatory Water pond on the east side at 74th Street, where remote control boats float during the summer, but free ice skating is available once the ice freezes thick enough!

• If you're not ready to get in the winter mood and go ice skating just yet, keep an eye on our listing of Halloween events in the city! Coming up on Saturday, October 26: The Fort Greene Great PUPkin costume contest for dogs at 11am and the larger Fort Greene Halloween Festival from noon to 3pm. On Sunday, October 27: The Howl-o-Ween dog costume party in Riverside Park at 87th Street at noon. On Wednesday, October 30: The Halloween Pumpkin Floatilla in Central Park's Harlem Meer at 110th Street at 4pm. And on Halloween, the Riverside Park costume parade at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at 89th Street at 3pm and the city's biggest party, the Village Halloween Parade at 7pm along Sixth Avenue in the West Village! Visit agreatbigcity.com/halloween for more info.

• 16 years ago on October 24, 2003 — The Concorde makes its final commercial flight from JFK Airport to London, ending the era of supersonic travel

• 1 year ago on October 26, 2018 — A suspect is taken into custody in Florida after mailing bombs to prominent critics of Donald Trump, including two to CNN's Columbus Circle headquarters and one to Robert De Niro in Tribeca

• 115 years ago on October 27, 1904 — The original 28 subway stations open

• 56 years ago on October 28, 1963 — Demolition begins on Penn Station, razing all above-ground structures to make way for Madison Square Garden despite outcry from architects and the public

• 7 years ago on October 29, 2012 — Hurricane Sandy hits New York City, causing a five-day blackout across downtown Manhattan and damage to infrastructure across the city, on Long Island, and in New Jersey

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Our fireworks page monitors the city's announcements of upcoming fireworks, lists them on our site, and automatically sends out a notification just before the fireworks begin, so that you can watch the show or prepare your pet for the upcoming sounds of explosions. Visit agreatbigcity.com/fireworks to see the full calendar and follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Dunbar Playground

Parks Events

• Halloween Fest 2019 — Date: October 26, 2019 at 11am in Bushwick Inlet Park

• Halloween Pet Costume Party — Date: October 26, 2019 at noon in Jackie Robinson Park

• Fort Totten Halloween Festival — Date: October 26, 2019 at noon in Queens

• 40th Annual Halloween Haunted Walk + Fair — Date: October 26, 2019 at noon in Prospect Park

• Halloween Harvest Festival — Date: October 26, 2019

• Movies Under the Stars - Shocktoberfest: Beetlejuice — Date: October 26, 2019

• Halloween Fest 2019: Beetlejuice — Date: October 26, 2019

• Mad. Sq. Dogs Howl-o-ween — Date: October 27, 2019

• Howl-o-ween — Date: October 27, 2019

• Riverside Park Howl-O-Ween Costume Party — Date: October 27, 2019

• Halloween Pumpkin Flotilla 2019 — Date: October 30, 2019

• Glow-in-the-Dark Paint Night: Halloween Special — Date: October 31, 2019

Concert Calendar

This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• Power 105.1's Powerhouse with Migos, Meek Mill, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and more are playing Prudential Center on Saturday, October 26th at 7pm.
• Scotty Sire with Toddy Smith is playing Gramercy Theatre on Saturday, October 26th at 8pm.
• Bad Bunny is playing Prudential Center on Sunday, October 27th at 7pm.
• Still Woozy is playing Webster Hall on Sunday, October 27th at 8pm.
• Hiatus Kaiyote with Rich Medina is playing Brooklyn Steel on Monday, October 28th at 8pm.
• Melanie Martinez with Lauren Ruth Ward is playing Hammerstein Ballroom on Tuesday, October 29th at 8pm.
• Trey Anastasio is playing Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium on Tuesday, October 29th at 8pm.
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band is playing Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, October 30th at 7pm.
• X Ambassadors is playing Terminal 5 on Wednesday, October 30th at 7pm.
• Pink Martini is playing Beacon Theatre on Wednesday, October 30th at 8pm.
• Trey Anastasio is playing Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium on Wednesday, October 30th at 8pm.
• Dead & Company is playing Madison Square Garden on Thursday, October 31st at 7pm.
• Flatbush Zombies is playing Brooklyn Steel on Thursday, October 31st at 8pm.
• Dead & Company is playing Madison Square Garden on Friday, November 1st at 7pm.
• King Princess with Girlpool is playing Terminal 5 on Friday, November 1st at 8pm.
• Blues Traveler is playing Beacon Theatre on Friday, November 1st at 8pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Today's fact about New York

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• The current Times Square New Years Eve Ball weighs 11,875 pounds, about as much as three Checker Cabs!

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 83°F on October 28, 1919
Record Low: 28°F on October 27, 1936

Weather for the week ahead:
Rain on Sunday through next Thursday, with high temperatures falling to 58°F next Thursday.

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or TuneIn Radio, Player FM, Overcast, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com

Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

• We've been following the 14th Street busway since it was first proposed, and after being blocked twice by legal complaints, the street has been swept free of cars and the buses have been roaming free for two weeks now. In a press release from the MTA, preliminary data shows that ridership is up and buses are moving faster along 14th Street. A cross-town trip from Third Avenue to Eighth Avenue will now take 10.6 minutes, compared to a 15 minute trip from last year. While collecting data on the Select Bus Service plan implemented along the M14 route, the MTA saw a jump in ridership, with 15% more people choosing to take the prioritized buses, and in the short time the 14th Street busway has been operating, the ridership has jumped again, topping 31,000 daily riders on an average weekday. The busway, which limits traffic on 14th Street from 6am to 10pm, is planned to last 18 months, after which the DOT will assess the impact it has had on bus transit and traffic in the surrounding area. — Also this week, independent data analysis firm INRIX evaluated traffic data from the streets surrounding the 14th Street busway and found that there was no change in traffic speeds, and zero impact on traffic to the immediate north or south of 14th. The initial objections raise by local community groups claimed the busway would negatively impact nearby streets by pushing 14th Street's traffic into their neighborhoods, but the speed increase for 31,000 daily bus riders came at no expense to traffic, with differences in average speeds on surrounding streets never slowing more than a half a mile per hour. Here's how INRIX described the results: "The impact, or lack-there-of, may seem surprising but similar projects around the world have had similar results. The reallocation of space from vehicles to buses represents a far more efficient use of a limited public resource. Whereas one urban lane in congestion can move roughly 1,000 people an hour, a transit way can hit 25,000. As a result of this project, more people are getting where they need to be faster and more reliably."

• 53 years ago on October 17, 1966 — 12 members of the FDNY are killed when a burning building collapses, becoming the largest single loss of life in FDNY history until the 9/11 attacks

• 18 years ago on October 24, 2001 — A 14-story construction scaffolding and brick building façade collapses, killing five workers and seriously injuring 10 others in a courtyard at 215 Park Ave South near Union Square

• 54 years ago on October 18, 1965 — Closing day of the NY World's Fair at Flushing Meadows Park — Bowery Boys podcast

• 24 years ago on October 23, 1995 — A Greenpeace activist piloting a "gas-powered parachute" flies a banner outside the UN building

• 88 years ago on October 24, 1931 — The upper level of the George Washington Bridge is opened in a dedication ceremony, and opens to traffic the next day — United States Marine Band conducted by Leonard Slatkin playing William Schuman's 1950 composition "George Washington Bridge"

• 60 years ago on October 21, 1959 — The Guggenheim Museum Opens on the Upper East Side

• 136 years ago to October 22, 1883 — The original Metropolitan Opera House opens

• Beginning October 18th through the 20th, you'll have the once-a-year opportunity to explore the city like never before when Open House New York brings you exclusive tours of the city's architectural masterpieces that are sometimes hidden from public view or pass by unnoticed the rest of the year. Visit ohny.org for the full schedule of events, some of which require advance registration, but most of which are open all day to the public. The choices range from brand-new developments like 277 Mott Street to historic homes like the Alice Austen House, built on Staten Island in the 1690s. Going beyond architecture, you can also tour special projects like a solar rooftop in Harlem and an urban farm run by Brooklyn Grange in Long Island City. Each site sets its own visitation hours, so visit ohny.org to plan out your weekend!

• And, if you're planning on marching in the Village Halloween Parade, you better be finishing up your costume soon! Halloween is less than two weeks away, and the city's biggest party will be stepping off Thursday, October 31st at 7pm at Sixth Avenue and Canal. The parade is unique because it lets anyone participate! If you wear a costume centered around this years theme of "Wild Thing", you'll be allowed to march is a special section of the parade, but anyone who shows up in a costume will become part of the parade, and usually more than 50,000 people show up! Visit halloween-nyc.com for full info, and if you haven't decided on a costume yet, visit the AGBC costume ideas generator at agreatbigcity.com/halloween-costumes where you can get funny New York-themed costume ideas like dressing up as a vintage traffic jam now that the 14th Street busway is open or strike fear in the heart of anyone who has walked the city streets by becoming the Starbucks Bathroom of Doom!

A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2010, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more.

AGBC is more than just a news website: Every evening, just before sundown, A Great Big City checks the Empire State Building's lighting schedule and sends out a notification if the tower's lighting will be lit in special colors for a holiday or celebration. Follow @agreatbigcity on social media to receive the alerts.

Park of the day

• Crotona Park

Parks Events

• 10th Annual Harvest Festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park — Saturday, October 19, 2019 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Concert Calendar

This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the upcoming week:

• The Misfits with Rancid and The Damned are playing Madison Square Garden in Midtown West / Chelsea / Hudson Yards on Saturday, October 19th at 7pm.
• Mana is playing Barclays Center in Boerum Hill on Saturday, October 19th at 8pm.
• Steely Dan is playing Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side on Saturday, October 19th at 8pm.
• Benin International Musical is playing Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium in Hell's Kitchen / Midtown on Saturday, October 19th at 9pm.
• 85 South is playing Apollo Theater in Central Harlem on Sunday, October 20th at 5pm.
• 85 South is playing Apollo Theater in Central Harlem on Sunday, October 20th at 9pm.
• Tidal X with Alicia Keys is playing Barclays Center in Boerum Hill on Monday, October 21st at 8pm.
• Steely Dan is playing Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side on Monday, October 21st at 8pm.
• Charli XCX is playing Terminal 5 in Hell's Kitchen / Midtown on Monday, October 21st at 8pm.
• Charli XCX with Allie X is playing Terminal 5 in Hell's Kitchen / Midtown on Tuesday, October 22nd at 8pm.
• Steely Dan is playing Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side on Tuesday, October 22nd at 8pm.
• Dermot Kennedy with Talos is playing Kings Theatre in Ditmas Park / Flatbush on Tuesday, October 22nd at 8pm.
• Jessie Reyez is playing Brooklyn Steel in Greenpoint on Wednesday, October 23rd at 8pm.
• Fantasia with Robin Thicke is playing The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in Midtown West / Chelsea / Hudson Yards on Friday, October 25th at 7pm.
• Billy Joel is playing Madison Square Garden in Midtown West / Chelsea / Hudson Yards on Friday, October 25th at 8pm.
• Alec Benjamin is playing Terminal 5 in Hell's Kitchen / Midtown on Friday, October 25th at 8pm.

Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events.

Today's fact about New York

Here's something you may not have known about New York:

• In 2016, the MTA had 5,710 buses in its citywide fleet

Weather

The extreme highs and lows for this week in weather history:
Record High: 88°F on October 22, 1979
Record Low: 30°F on October 19, 1940

Weather for the week ahead:
Light rain on Sunday through Wednesday, with high temperatures rising to 67°F next Friday.

• AGBC Weather
• Weather.gov forecast

Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. Subscribe to AGBC News wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, or Pocket Casts, Spotify, Player FM, or listen to each episode on the podcast pages at agreatbigcity.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit our podcast site to see show notes and extra links for each episode.

Intro and outro music: 'Start the Day' by Lee Rosevere — Concert Calendar music from Jukedeck.com