What you need to know for Friday and the weekend.
By Andrea Salcedo metro reporter |
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Weather: A good chance of rain, with gusty wind and a high in the low 70s. Things look better for Saturday and Sunday, when it should be sunny and in the mid- to upper 70s. |
Alternate-side parking: In effect until Sept. 30 (Rosh Hashana). |
 | | John Taggart for The New York Times |
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You see them in the subway, nibbling pizza. You see them on the sidewalk, scampering near pedestrians. Some days, they seem to be everywhere. |
For three centuries, New York has waged a war against rats. For three centuries, New York has lost. And it's not for a lack of trying. New York has turned to rodent birth control, dry ice and even a ban on eating in the subway. |
Yesterday, Brooklyn's borough president, Eric Adams, unveiled a pilot program aimed at ending rodent infestation. |
City officials have called the new trap a high-tech solution. It involves a bucket and vinegar and drowning. The vinegar is supposed to prevent the rats from rotting too fast, and to keep the bucket of dead rodents from stinking too much, according to its maker, Rap Trap Inc. |
The announcement came with a show and tell. |
"Sometimes you need to see for yourselves to get the shock effect," Mr. Adams told reporters at a news conference. |
He proudly showed off a plastic container with about 20 dead rats floating in a gray mush. The smell was stomach-churning, my colleague Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura wrote. |
Mr. Adams suggested the new trap could turn the tide in New York's endless rat war. After all, no poison is used, and less oversight is needed. |
But Matthew Combs, a rat expert and postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University, had reservations. |
"It's fine and definitely useful to have a tool like this, but if you are not able to reduce the access to food resources and burrowing locations, then you won't make a permanent solution," Mr. Combs said. |
By food resources, he means that pizza crust you just let fall on the ground. |
Rats have thrived in New York for this long; clearly, they are not stupid. |
"It's definitely possible that over time they'll avoid this bucket," Mr. Combs said. |
FROM THE TIMES Explore news from New York and around the region |
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Council members went after Con Ed executives. After two power failures this summer, officials at the utility said emergencies were bound to happen. [Gothamist] |
Borough with the most abandoned cars to tow? Brooklyn, for the win. [The City] |
The city is considering making helmets mandatory for Citi Bike users. Mayor de Blasio said there had also been talk of licenses for cyclists. [NY1] |
The weekend-long Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival begins with a conversation with the author Barbara Jenkins at Greenlight Bookstore in Prospect Lefferts Garden. 12 p.m. [Free] |
Celebrate the 37th annual Chuseok Korean Moon Festival with performances and food vendors at the Queens Botanical Garden. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. [Free] |
Tickets are on sale for a pride tour of the West Village with a New York Times reporter, Pierre-Antoine Louis, at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan. 1 p.m. [$20] |
Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times's culture pages. |
And finally: $1 million. No strings attached. |
The Times's Azi Paybarah writes: |
That's the promise from organizers of the David Prize, a new contest that is seeking applicants with the best ideas of how to make life in New York City better. |
There is no age restriction for applicants. There are no reports to produce. Artists, educators, food experts, social service workers and, yes, even techies are eligible. |
The money is from the Walentas Family Foundation, established by David Walentas, the real estate developer, and his wife, Jane, a philanthropist. |
Five winners will be given $100,000 each year for two years for ideas that, according to the contest's website, "are making (or will make) New York City a better place for more of us." |
Applications are due Dec. 1. The screening panel will announce winners in 2020. |
Metropolitan Diary: 'Hello, Columbus Circle' |
Years ago, before there were cellphones and pay phones were everywhere, I was walking with a friend near Columbus Circle. |
We passed a phone booth, and the phone started to ring. |
Thinking I was being funny, I picked up. |
"Hello," I said. "Columbus Circle." |
A woman's voice came on the other end of the line. |
"Can you put my husband on?" she said. "He's the hot dog man on the corner." |
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