Dear New Yorkers,
Voting season is here! Early voting starts tomorrow.
While the race for the Oval Office is grabbing all the attention, don’t sleep on what else will be on your ballot this year.
First up are New York’s presidential primaries, held on April 2. But early voting starts tomorrow, March 23, and runs through March 30. Here’s where to look up your poll site.
Next, plan ahead to the June 25 primaries for all state level seats (state Assembly and Senate) and U.S. Congress (senators and House representatives) — which will take place after yet another, though much more limited, redistricting.
And lastly, the general election is on Nov. 5. In addition to casting votes to decide the presidency, New Yorkers will also decide whether to amend the state constitution to enshrine equal rights.
Feeling lost? Read THE CITY’s guide to the 2024 elections here.
Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather
Friday’s Weather Rating: 4/10. Still cold this morning, with overnight lows in the upper 20s and highs later only in the mid-40s. Partly sunny for most of the day, with clouds increasing later ahead of a weekend rain storm (how fun). The vibes are … still chilly.
Our Other Top Stories
- The widow of Garrett Goble — the subway motorman killed in a March 27, 2020 fire that authorities say was ignited intentionally on a train — says that riding the train is still scary for her family four years later. Transit workers experienced a more than 60% surge in assaults last year, according to an internal MTA report obtained by THE CITY. And although MTA data shows that assaults and instances of harassment against transit workers have dropped by close to 30% in the first two months of 2024 compared to the same stretch of 2023, high-profile violent incidents in the subway — including a man being shot dead with his own gun last week on a rush hour A train — have recently rattled the system.
- Over the past year, 202 Brooklynites have sipped coffee, slouched and sometimes snoozed in the red upholstered chair that sits on a wooden pedestal in a street-level gallery at Building 8 of Industry City. These people of Southern Brooklyn — some lifers, others relatively new arrivals — spilled neighborhood stories and sometimes secrets while they sat for four or five hours, allowing artist Rusty Zimmerman to produce an oil painting of them. Now, after thousands of hours painting, the artist is ready to return the oil portraits to their subjects.
- Contractors overseeing a project that turned an old warehouse into an Amazon facility in Brooklyn have agreed to pay at least $4 million to a worker who filed suit after he plummeted through a roof and suffered a head injury that left him unable to work. The case involved faked safety logs.
Reporter’s Notebook
Adams Advisor Accused of Sexual Harassment by Ex-Cop
A former police sergeant on Thursday sued Timothy Pearson — an influential advisor to Mayor Eric Adams — for discrimination and harassment stemming from her work in a newly-formed unit to monitor city efficiency.
Roxanne Ludemann, said she was sexually harassed by Pearson, a retired NYPD inspector, and then retaliated against after complaining about it.
The suit also names controversial NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, the subject of multiple investigations by THE CITY, and Inspector Joseph Profeta, a commanding officer for the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which investigated the complaints.
The alleged behavior began when Ludemann took a job in the newly-created Municipal Services Assessment unit, which Adams formed to “improv[e] efficiency and ability” at city agencies — while being run primarily by NYPD officials. The suit was first reported by the Daily News.
Pearson — whose special advisor role has been under scrutiny — used the unit’s Pearl Street office as a “hangout” and would often inappropriately ask Ludemann relationship questions and touch her and other female staffers, the suit alleges.
During an office holiday party in December 2022, Pearson allegedly called Ludemann into a copy room and began rubbing her shoulders and arms — which was seen by the then-head of the unit. Ludemann was afraid to file a formal complaint, so Pearson was assigned two male subordinates to chaperone him around the office, the suit claims.
Pearson is also being probed by the Department of Investigation following THE CITY’s report that he assaulted security guards at a migrant shelter.
Mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said, “We will review the lawsuit and respond in court.”
— Katie Honan
Immigrant Labor Rebound
For years immigrants have fueled the New York City economy, but the tightened visa restrictions of Donald Trump’s time as president, the pandemic recession and the city’s uneven economic recovery has meant that crucial source of manpower has stalled.
Immigrants ed for 45% of the workforce in 2015, a figure that fell to 32% in the pandemic. While the number has recovered to 44.3%, slightly below the 2015 peak as jobs lost in the pandemic returned, according to a report released Thursday by state comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the rest of the country has seen a steady increase in the share of workers who are foreign born.
With economists rushing to point out the economic benefits of immigration, the report suggests that the asylum seekers flocking to New York will eventually provide a big boost to the city.
— Greg David
Things To Do
Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.
- Thursday, March 21: The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History, an exhibition of narrative s, prints, photographs and ephemera from the New York Public Library’s collection documenting Arctic depictions from the 16th century to the present. Free through July 13 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan.
- Saturday, March 23: Historic New York: Lower East Side Parks, a tour led by Urban Park Rangers that delves into the city’s early history. Free from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., meets at Seward Park in Manhattan.
- Sunday, March 24: Signs of Spring Scavenger Hunt, a walk that focuses on animals and plants adapting to the changing season. Free from 1 to 2 p.m. at Gravesend Park in Brooklyn.
THE KICKER: Beyoncé made headlines as promotions for her country album, “Cowboy Carter,” were projected onto the sides of major NYC museums. But at least one of those museums — the Guggenheim — denied having anything to do with it.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.
Love,
THE CITY
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