What you need to know for Wednesday.
Crime Spikes. Is Bail Law to Blame? |
Weather: There will be a chance of rain in the morning, then mostly cloudy with a high in the low to mid-40s. |
Alternate-side parking: In effect until Feb. 12 (Lincoln’s Birthday). |
When Bill de Blasio became mayor of New York City in 2014, some critics said his progressive approach to public safety would lead to an increase in crime. Late last year, many of those critics (including his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg) acknowledged they had been wrong. |
But yesterday, the Police Department shared data showing that reported shootings, robberies and some other serious crimes increased last month compared with January 2019. |
“The broad direction in January causes us real concern,” Mayor de Blasio said at a news conference. |
The numbers announced yesterday, of course, were just a snapshot. An array of policy experts agree that meaningful trends cannot be seen in one month of crime data. (And, in fact, murder was down for the month.) |
Still, New York’s police commissioner, Dermot Shea, quickly blamed the state’s new bail law for the rise last month. The law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, eliminates cash bail for most criminal defendants and allows them to stay free while their cases are pending. |
According to Police Department data, “precipitous increases in crimes like robberies, shootings and auto thefts drove a 16.9 percent increase in overall crime last month compared to January 2019,” my colleagues Ashley Southall and Jesse McKinley reported. |
Mr. de Blasio tried to assuage fears. “New York City is unquestionably the safest big city in America,” he said. The Police Department is “the finest police force in this country,” with a track record of reducing crime. |
Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the biggest police union in the world, saw things differently. He said the crime increase was a result of the bail law, “failed leadership” and a “political culture” that does not support the police. |
In response, the mayor said Mr. Lynch was among the people “rooting against New York City” and “wishing for New York City to fail, and that’s for their own political reasons.” |
There is a mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. [Gothamist] |
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority may partner with a ride-hailing company to help New Yorkers in transit deserts. [The City] |
Correctly answer a math question and a Bronx bodega owner will let you (briefly) shop for free at his store. [Pix11] |
Watch “The Farewell,” with an introduction by the writer and film critic Anne Cohen, at the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [$18] |
— Danya Issawi and Melissa Guerrero |
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: The L train documentary |
“For so long, I justified the film by saying, ‘This crazy thing is going to happen,’” Emmett Adler, a documentary filmmaker, said. |
“There was absolutely no chance this wasn’t going to happen.” |
Mr. Adler is originally from Illinois. He moved to New York in 2010 and by 2016 was living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. |
The story in the film, “End of the Line,” was local, but potentially had broad appeal: A train line gets shut down, residents and businesses feel the pain and an aging city struggles through necessary repairs. |
The story was about the temporary closure of the L train subway tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The shutdown, of course, did not happen. |
At the last minute, Governor Cuomo stepped in, announcing in January 2019 that repairs needed because of damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 could be done while the train ran at a reduced schedule. |
The original plan called for shuttering the tunnel’s two tubes for 15 months. |
Mr. Adler was on vacation in Hawaii when the news broke: No shutdown. But did that mean no documentary? Not necessarily. (His producer partner was in New York and filming at the time.) Mr. Adler refocused and picked up his camera again. |
The documentary now centers on the broader forces shaping transit policy in New York (hint: Mr. Cuomo) and on how American transit infrastructure compares with other countries’ (spoiler: not great). |
“We want to stay with the emotional tug of our characters, but we want to tease out the national themes,” Mr. Adler, 31, said. |
As reported by Brooklyn Paper, Mr. Adler has released a trailer for the documentary. He is raising money to finish filming and looking for postproduction and distribution help. |
He would like to include on-camera interviews with crucial players in the transit world (hint: Mr. Cuomo). “I think it’s just a good opportunity to talk to the public,” he said. |
It’s Wednesday — you’re almost there. |
Metropolitan Diary: Dropping anchor |
In December 1979, I returned home to New York as the only passenger on a Brazilian freighter after a 13-month stay in Rio de Janeiro. |
Unlike the 12-day voyage down, the return trip had lasted more than a month, resulting in a broken promise I had made to my girlfriend that I would be home in time for Christmas. |
When the M.V. Netuno finally sailed into New York Harbor on Dec. 30, I ran up on deck to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty and my beloved hometown before the tugs came to tow us to the dock. |
Then I heard the anchor being dropped, and my heart began to sink. Down on the bridge, the ship’s captain took me aside. |
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said, “but it’s too expensive to have our cargo offloaded on a Sunday, so we’re going to remain anchored here in the bay till tomorrow morning.” |
I don’t remember getting much sleep that night, but I’ll never forget how the sun shone on the buildings of Lower Manhattan as we made our way up the East River to Pier 36 the next day. |
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