"Can someone spray the trees so the leaves stop falling?

This and more iconic 311 questions, the State of the City, pools, and my friend wrote a book! #35

My view from the cheap seats

Speaker Adrienne Adams gave her second State of the City address this week in the Bronx, a festive (and long) event that previewed the priorities of the City Council this year. The timing came halfway through the first week of budget hearings – and the speech had a focus on what the council’s priorities will be throughout the arduous process of agreeing to the fiscal year 2024 budget.

The biggest concern is staffing at city agencies, and what that means for the everyday New Yorkers. Speaker Adams pointed to delays in the delivery of food stamps and housing vouchers which showed the consequences of fewer employees at social services agencies. Those agencies have collectively seen a 13.5% reduction in staff since June 2020, which is around 3,000 jobs. 

Other highlights included a plan to fill in vacant lots at NYCHA developments, and funding access to pools – and potentially building more across the city.

You can read the full story here. 

And: The city released the 411 on its 311 system, which celebrates 20 years this month. Some of these highlighted questions are absolutely bonkers, like

☎️ “A raccoon is eating lasagna on my porch.
☎️”Can you check if my boyfriend is married?”
☎️”Is there a law limiting how many times you can flush the toilet?”

And my personal favorite:
☎️”If a couple is divorced, can they still live in the same house but in different rooms?” (I could write a short story based on this question alone.)

Remember, 311 is there for your municipal needs, but you’ll have to call someone else for relationship help.

READ

My good friend Roxanna wrote an amazing book, born out of her years of reporting on this horrific murder-suicide that killed 6 kids who had been adopted from two families in Texas.

“We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America” is frustrating and heartbreaking. It details the systemic injustices and racism within the foster care system but also takes great care to introduce the reader to the children who died – and the family they left behind. Surviving brother Dontay’s story felt the saddest to me, a young boy who never saw his siblings again and whose life was altered forever because of it.

You can read some of the reviews for Roxanna’s book here:

New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, the New Yorker, a Publisher’s Weekly pick of the week 

And buy Roxanna’s book here! It comes out next week.

LISTEN (and WATCH)

Early Friday morning I read the listings for the live music shows at DMG, aka Downtown Music Gallery, the basement record (and CD and cassette) store in Manhattan that specializes in “Underground & Avant Jazz, Art Rock/Pop, Contemporary Classical, and the Completely UnCategorizable.” They host shows twice a week including the Gauci Music series this Saturday featuring an act that sent me down the rabbit hole: Nick Demopoulos - S.M.O.M.I.D (with a drummer.)

Smomid is a “String Modeling Midi Device” aka a synth in the shape of a guitar, and also Nick’s solo performance name. He creates these really cool instruments.

Here are some videos about how he’s built these futuristic-looking instruments, which was how I spent my early Friday.

Thanks for reading!