The Subway Saga

🏀Last week was unusually warm but this week will be cooler with temperatures mostly in the forties. Subway headlines continue to dominate the news as the city searches for more answers. Surging St. John's fails to make the NCAA tournament while NYU's women's basketball team goes undefeated and wins the NCAA Division III title. Mega Millions is now up to $875 million!

The News
City Headlines

🚉The G train will partially shut down this summer starting on June 28. The MTA will be modernizing the communications system during the downtime. At a recent transportation meeting, MTA New York City Transit President Richard Davey indicated there would be a "czar" in charge of managing the use of shuttle buses for riders inconvenienced by the shutdown.

Get ready for a lot of traffic in the hottest areas of Queens and Brooklyn this summer as the G train runs through LIC, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, and Park Slope.

🚨The latest incident on the Subway involved someone who skipped paying a fare, had a gun, and had a mental health illness. The city has recognized that these issues are associated with crime in the subway system. However, despite their efforts, they haven't yet found a solution to the rising wave of crime affecting the underground.

The new measures haven't been fully implemented yet and may need more time. Although transit crime is increasing, it is still infrequent, but it receives significant media attention. The MTA is struggling to restore ridership to its previous levels, and it is apparent that the subway system's safety concerns are hindering its progress.

🚕The usage of yellow cabs drastically decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and has only managed to recover approximately 50% of its ridership before the outbreak. In contrast, for-hire vehicle services like Uber and Lyft have almost recovered 90% of their ridership from 2019. Proposed congestion pricing will add another $1.25 to your taxi ride, while your Uber ride will increase by $2.50. It appears that the city really wants us to use the subway, but it would be nice if they could first make it safer.

🏠Six months after the city's crackdown on Airbnb, it seems that there are now 15,000 fewer listings available. This change in the law seems to be working since there are fewer listings, and rents are decreasing. However, it's not certain whether the drop in rents is due to the crackdown or because of higher interest rates. The clear winners so far are New York hotels, which had a strong end to 2023, and New Jersey, which hasn't changed its law.

Things to do

• Japanese Art Society of America is presenting a special lecture on March 20^th , When Zen Becomes Political: Zen and Soft/Hard Power, by Frank Feltens, curator of Japanese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.

• Opening reception for John W. Winkler: The Chinatown Etchings, at The Charles B. Wang Center on March 20^th .

• Affordable Art Fair New York returns to the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea on March 20^th - March 24^th .

• Best Baguette in New York Competition at The Market Line on March 19th - sample all the baked goods from the finalists.

Let’s Eat

• Queens Night Market returns on April 13^th.

• Japan Fes, the Japanese street fair will be in the East Village on March 23rd at Astor Place.

• Flushing’s highly regarded soup dumpling eatery, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao has opened a location in the East Village at 15 St. Marks Place.

• Chinatown might not be a the first place you think of to get a really juicy smashburger. Burger By Day, located at 242 Grand Street, might change your mind.

The View
Flight Jacket

🛩️Apple's "Masters of the Air" was a huge success for the tech and media company based in Cupertino, California. I enjoyed watching the entire series, which was entertaining and well-produced. One of the most popular aspects of the show was the shearling jackets worn by the pilots, which many fans, including myself, admired.

I did some digging and discovered that they were made for Apple by Aero Leathers, a Scottish company. These jackets are premium priced at £950.00, which may seem expensive but is still less than a Canada Goose Parka. Best of all you won't look like every other New Yorker!

Ghostbusters

👻Robert De Niro might have put TriBeCa on the map but every few years the cult movie Ghostbusters reminds the world how that little firehouse in the posh neighborhood keeps the world safe. The fifth installment of the Ghostbusters series, Frozen Empire, arrives March 22nd and there were many events in TriBeCa at Hook & Ladder Company 8 promoting the upcoming movie. With recognizable places from all around the city, it's a must-watch for every New Yorker!

The Escape
Work From Home

🚢Richard Branson's Virgin Voyages is making work from home even better with an offer to work from the helm. If you are one of those lucky New Yorkers who can work from anywhere, this might be the perfect way to spend the summer. Virgin has a special one-month cruise that will let you work from the Mediterranean Sea from June 9th to July 7th.

You'll stop at nine ports in Spain, France, and Italy on a new ship with high-speed WiFi so you can make those Zoom calls without a hiccup. Pricing starts at $9990 for two which works out to approximately $167 a day per person.

The Deals

• Warby Parker has free solar eclipse glasses so you keep your eyes safe for the April 8^th event.

• Best Western is offering a free night for every two nights you book.

• Best Buy has MacBook Air with the M1 chip for only $649.99. It’s not the fastest but at this price it’s cheaper than an iPad Pro.

• One month free of Paramount+ for free using the code LODGE24 at checkout.

• Hulu is also offering one month free, no code required.

The Numbers
TikTok?

Percentage of U.S. population that has used..

📱TikTok, the popular short-form video app, is facing the possibility of being banned or sold, leaving many of its content creators concerned about losing their audience and income. However, an analysis of the actual usage numbers reveals that only 33% of the entire US population has ever used the app, while 83% have used YouTube. YouTube is the only platform that consistently appeals to all age groups and is used almost equally by both genders.

Did you know that after Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? Google owns YouTube, which means it holds the top two spots. While TikTok creators are upset about the potential shutdown, YouTubers might secretly be giddy about the news, hoping for their competitor's downfall. Maybe, TikTokers are just on the wrong platform.