Eric Adams officially starts two-tier worker vaccine mandate system exempting/benefiting pro athletes and entertainers

Ex #FDNY firefighters who were laid off due to the mandates confront the New NYC health commissioner and NYC Mayor Eric Adams in Brooklyn NY.#NYC #NYPD #vaccinated pic.twitter.com/rA8VgT1EZK

— Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) March 24, 2022

 

Forbes 

 New York City will exempt performers and athletes from its Covid-19 vaccine mandate for private-sector workers, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday, allowing unvaccinated professional athletes like Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to play at venues across the city.

Adams announced Executive Order 62—which he said was signed and is effective immediately—during a press conference at Citi Field.

The mayor said “we’re making [this change] because this city has to function,” as he noted the need for more employees and tourists to improve the city’s economy.

Adams also said the change will allow New York City’s players to be on “an even playing field,” and will affect venues such as the Barclays Center, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

Adams lifted the city’s vaccine mandate for customers in indoor venues earlier this month, but left vaccine regulations in place for private-sector employees, meaning New York City athletes could not compete unvaccinated.

The previous rule did not apply to unvaccinated players on competing teams who traveled to New York City for away games, leading NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to ask city officials to review the “oddity” last month.

Several labor unions criticized Adams for lifting the mandate for wealthy and famous performers while leaving vaccination rules in place for other employees in the city, including public-sector workers. “There can't be one system for the elite and another for the essential workers of our city,” Harry Nespolli, chair of a group of unions representing about 350,000 city workers called the Municipal Labor Committee, told the Associated Press.

The exemption comes amid pressure from the sports world ahead of the NBA playoffs and the MLB’s opening day next month. Due to his vaccination status, Irving has only been playing during away games since returning to the Nets this season, although he was allowed to attend the Nets’ home game as a spectator. The NBA has a vaccination rate of about 95%, while the MLB has the lowest vaccination rate among the four major U.S. sports leagues, ESPN reports.

Nothing but nets for Astoria's elevated train tracks

Astoria Patch

  As the MTA moves to install protective netting under stretches of the elevated subway tracks that run through Queens, elected officials are calling for the transit authority to put nets under the entire N/W line in Astoria.


The MTA plans to install netting under the N/W tracks at the Queensboro Plaza and 39th Avenue stations, which City Council Member Costa Constantinides says leaves two miles of track in Astoria still exposed.

The MTA's plan excludes four N/W subway stations along 31st Street in Astoria: 36th Avenue, Broadway, 30th Avenue, Astoria Boulevard and Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard.

"The MTA can do right by Astoria residents by installing protective netting under the entirety of this line — not just a few stations," Constantinides, who represents Astoria, said in a statement. "Given the aging infrastructure of this line and the years of work still ahead to fix it, this is a no-brainer."

Neighborhood gets demolished and all they got was this lousy arena

From Develop Don't Destroy:

For his Atlantic Yards project Bruce Ratner promised a grandiose "urban room" and a tax revenue generating office tower at the gridlocked Atlantic and Flatbush intersection at the heart of Brooklyn. He also promised to build "affordable housing.”

None of that is going to happen.

Instead, today the developer unveiled designs for an outdoor "public plaza" where the tower and atrium structure were promised, and told reporters at a press conference that his firm has no plans to build 15 of the 16 towers he promised to build, which would include nearly all of the "affordable” housing Ratner used to sell his plans to Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson and a long list of other politicians.

"Ratner's not-so-pretty drawings of a barricaded, exhaust-enveloped plaza—including the absurd rendered fantasy of a traffic-less Atlantic and Flatbush intersection—is not the Atlantic Yards news of the day. The news of the day, which is not surprising but is very troubling, is that Bruce Ratner admitted that he has no plans whatsoever to build the affordable housing he promised or the office tower he promised. It is crystal clear that Atlantic Yards is nothing but a scam, a money-losing arena, surrounded by massive parking lots, in the middle of a housing and unemployment crisis," said Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn co-founder Daniel Goldstein.

"Bruce Ratner has broken every promise he has made to the public—Mayor Bloomberg, Governors Paterson, Pataki and Spitzer, Marty Markowitz, Senator Schumer, and all the politicians who rammed this debacle down Brooklyn's throat, owe the public a big explanation, and need to take this land back from Ratner since he is not going to meet any of his promises.”

Yes, but we already knew this, didn't we? Why aren't all the affordable housing advocates up in arms over this? Could it be because they got their payoffs in return for their support and never really cared about the actual housing?

Looks like the joke's on us taxpayers.

AGAIN.

P.S. That thing is an eyesore. It's actually bringing more blight to Brooklyn rather than removing it. Ugh.

Billionaires' breakfast

From NY1:

The mayor had a power-packed breakfast this morning, hosting the major players behind the Atlantic Yards development project at Gracie Mansion.

Bagels were on the menu for this morning's breakfast meeting between Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Nets majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov, arena developer Bruce Ratner and Nets co-owner Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.

Prokhorov is in the city this week to take park in the NBA draft, after closing on a deal last week to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 40 percent of the arena, which will be called the Barclay Center. The arena is now under construction at the former site of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn.

The Net's owner is making basketball history with his purchase of the team, as it is the first time there's an NBA team owner from outside of North America.