When It Rains, the Criticism Pours

The rain! Some zoning stories! A Sudanese synth dance musical genius! #58

Photo from my friend Ian!

There was chaos in New York City today, with most of the subways suspended fully or partially, roads completely shut down, and people being rescued from their flooded basements. 

We knew since yesterday that this was going to be a significant weather situation. But Mayor Adams didn’t speak publicly about it all until just before 12 p.m. today, hours into the flood. By then, roads were completely flooded and most of the trains had stopped. Of the 1,400 public schools, 150 had some sort of flooding.

At his mid-day press conference, he defended his response – pointing to media appearances Thursday by the city’s OEM commissioner (which apparently was just a 1010WINS and Fox Weather hit) and their NotifyNYC alerts.

When he was asked why he didn’t declare a state of emergency at the same time as the governor, his deputy mayor Fabien Levy – who is still acting as his spokesperson because they haven’t filled his old job yet – said well actually, the mayor DID declare a state of emergency at the same time as the governor, we just didn’t say anything about it. Silly me, I thought to “declare” something you actually had to declare it. The journalistic equivalent of this is saying “oh yea, I knew that too” after you’ve been scooped.

I am filled with dread whenever I see a forecast like the one for today, and always hope it’s not as bad as it seems. Today it was as bad, but as I type this there thankfully haven’t been any reported fatalities. Even so, it’s all a stark reminder of how water and rain can ruin our city, one storm at a time.

You can read my story with colleagues Sam Maldonado and Gwynne Hogan, on the city’s response, here. 

And here’s Gwynne on asylum seekers still getting the boot from shelter during the rain.

And here’s Rachel Holliday Smith on what to do about damage.

Here’s a tweet about the sea lion pool at the Central Park Zoo flooding and how one sea lion went “exploring” 

And even the Swedes are mad about the mayor’s response. 

I also learned today about a real-time flood tracker, 

Also this week —

💎 I wrote about a new “street team” requested by Mayor Adams from his Public Engagement Unit, which does campaign-style outreach to help New Yorkers sign up for things like health care and vaccine appointments.

💎 My colleague Rachel and I looked at the mayor’s new zoning initiatives to build more housing.

💎 Speaking of housing, the mayor announced they would allow people to use CityFHEPS vouchers anywhere in the state. 

💎 And we spoke with city planning commission chair Dan Garodnick about the “City of Yes” proposal on FAQ.

🎧LISTEN🎧

A few months ago I was put on to Jantra, a Sudanese musician making really different and cool dance music with keyboards customized for his country's distinctive sound.

This week he gave his first interview for the Guardian, a rarity since he doesn't usually have any phone or internet access. His album Synthesized Sudan: Astro - Nubian Electronic Jaglara Dance Sounds from the Fashaga Underground came out in June and was made recorded a 2021 military coup and power outages. His own style made it difficult to record, too; Jantra can't just record for hours in a studio, he told the Guardian -- and he doesn't necessarily play individual songs.

"I just play," he told them. "I never learned to make songs -- I just go in search of melodies." So the producers would follow him to parties and then extract melodic patterns and MIDI data from his keyboard to make the album. 

You can listen to the whole album on Bandcamp (and Spotify too and Youtube)

Thanks for reading, and remember: be careful out there, NYC!