Election reminder: today is the last day to request an absentee ballot in person. The general election is tomorrow, Nov 4th, and if you’re registered to vote but have never voted or have recently moved, make sure you go to the correct polling station. Please vote, and vote wisely!
This week’s relevant Manhattan Community Board 2 meetings will both be conducted via Zoom:
- Wednesday Nov 3, 6:30 p.m. SLA Licensing 1
- Thursday Nov 4, 6:30 p.m. Joint Parks & Waterfront
Note that the latter meeting will have a presentation of SoHo Broadway BID‘s public realm framework and vision plan; Sean Sweeney of SoHo Alliance sent out a bulletin last Saturday to say, in part, that “it is selfish and irresponsible for the Broadway BID and its real-estate backers to try to foist their traffic problem onto their neighbors.” We’ve reached out to the BID today for a reply and will share when we hear back, but urge you to click both links earlier in this paragraph to see where both sides are coming from, even if your mind is already made up as to which side you support.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art’s just kicked off their Gala Online Art Auction today at noon—it will be running till the 15th and features many LGBTQ artists—including this year’s Gala honoree Jeffrey Gibson and the museum’s Artist Fellows—with work across mediums and disciplines, and from all over the world. Something we haven’t seen before: the auction benefits the museum but they will be sharing revenue with the featured artists. Tickets are also now available for their 2021 Fall Gala, which will be held on Nov 9th; prices start at $300 for a ticket and are partially tax deductible.
Local ice cream chain Van Leeuwen, which has an outpost at 45 Spring St in Nolita, will be paying the city over $12,000 in fines for violating the cashless ban 17 times this year alone—after receiving and subsequently ignoring a cease-and-desist sent for the same behavior last year. It’s far from the only business in our area that’s been blatantly violating the cashless ban, so if you feel strongly about it please consider reporting establishments to the NYC Department of Consumer and Work Protection. Complaints are accepted online, via 311, snail mail, and fax.
It’s not quite no more plastic straws, but thanks to a law passed earlier this year, today is the first day that city businesses will not be handing plastic straws out unless you specifically request one; you may have noticed that some cafes and restaurants have already switched to paper straws over the last few weeks.
Make sure to read this fantastic essay by Kathryn Hymes in Wired on how calling what’s been going on with the workforce recently “The Great Resignation” misses the point:
Its main substance—resignations—may be the least consequential thing about the moment that it’s come to represent. The real takeaway is why people are leaving their jobs in the first place—rampant stress, the shift to remote work, a forced reckoning with what matters in light of the pandemic—and what resigning is leading them to do next. Taken on its surface, the Great Resignation foregrounds the language of job status, but misses a parallel, arguably bigger story: the radical realignment of values that is fueling people to confront and remake their relationship to life at home, with their families, with their friends, and in their lives outside of labor.
Last but not least, it’s that time of the year:
Ready? Let’s go! 🎃➡️🎄#MariahSZN pic.twitter.com/cEaFrRBHwJ
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) November 1, 2021
