This article originally appeared on Politico and was authored by Erin Durkin, Anna Gronewold and Michelle Bocanegra.
New York City today heads into phase two of reopening. And while the city hit the milestone of starting to reopen two weeks ago, the changes in this new phase will be more visible to most New Yorkers. And with unemployment now at a daunting 18 percent, the industries coming back in phase two make up the biggest single chunk of the city’s economy.
So what will it look like? Outdoor dining at restaurants will be a big part of the new phase, with eateries gearing up to get back in business after the city allowed them to take over sidewalk and parking spot space and set up tables. Tables must be six feet apart, servers must wear masks — but yes, we checked, you can go inside to use the bathroom. Retail stores can open for in-store shopping, at half of their normal capacity. Malls will stay closed. Real estate agents can once again show apartments in person.
We’ve all gotten pretty shaggy over the last few months, so for those willing to risk a haircut, barbershops and hair salons are allowed to open. Note the fine print, though: while haircuts and styling are allowed, with stylists in both mask and face shields, services like beard trims, waxing, or nose hair trimming are not allowed.
Another big part of phase two is the reopening of offices, but the impact here is expected to be dampened because many major employers are not bringing their workers back in person. With hurdles ranging from limited options for a safe commute to bottlenecks at office tower elevators, employees who have found it easy enough to do their jobs from home are content to stay there, many until at least Labor Day. Brokers and landlords tell the Wall Street Journal they expect only 10 percent to 20 percent of Manhattan office workers to return this week.
IT’S MONDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know … By email: [email protected] and [email protected], or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold
WHERE’S ANDREW? In Albany with no public events scheduled.
WHERE’S BILL? Holding a media availability.
PHOTO(S) OF THE (110) DAYS: The governor’s office has a new Flickr page compilation of their coronavirus-fighting team behind the scenes. There are some gems.
“THE NEW YORK Police Department on Sunday suspended a police officer involved in the arrest of a black man in Queens after cellphone video of the encounter showed the officer appearing to use an illegal chokehold. The incident on the Rockaway boardwalk Sunday morning took place only days after the City Council passed a law making the use of a chokehold by police a criminal offense. It also came as protesters have marched against police brutality for weeks in New York City and across the nation. The man who was arrested, Ricky Bellevue, 35, was being treated at a Queens hospital on Sunday evening, according to Lori Zeno, executive director of Queens Defenders, which is representing him. His condition was not immediately available. Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in a tweet on Sunday evening that after a ‘swift investigation,’ the officer involved in the ‘disturbing apparent chokehold incident in Queens has been suspended without pay.’” New York Times’ Ashley Southall and Mihir Zaveri
— The police officer suspended and criminally charged for shoving a woman to the pavement at a Brooklyn protest has been the target of five complaints of misconduct since he joined the force in 2015.
“THE BRONZE STATUE of Theodore Roosevelt, on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man, which has presided over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in New York since 1940, is coming down.” New York Times’ Robin Pogrebin
— Juneteenth will be an official New York City holiday starting next year, and de Blasio launched a commission to examine the city’s racist history, including a re-examination of other statues.
THE WOMAN’S HUSBAND promised he’d no longer hurt her. After returning to Bangladesh with her children months earlier, intent on separating from him, she came back to the couple’s home in the city just as the coronavirus took hold. Her husband stopped going to work as a cab driver, and the regular beatings resumed. “I felt as though I was in jail,” she said in Bengali, during an interview translated by a counselor. “I came here and within a few days, everything was closed. And so I would be in my room all day, and my husband was in my room all day with me.” In mid-April, she said her husband struck her across the breast in front of her two-year-old son, who was in the room during the assault. The statewide shutdown order on March 22 effectively marooned survivors of continuing abuse amid an already deadly public health crisis. POLITICO’s Michelle Bocanegra
THE CITY THAT never sleeps is waking from its monthslong coronavirus hibernation this week, but the central artery of New York City’s 24-hour lifestyle, its underground train system, will remain dormant overnight — and the longer it does, the more people wonder if it will ever reopen. For the first time in nearly a century the biggest and most comprehensive subway system in the U.S. shut down from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. indefinitely starting in April. The reason at the time was to remove homeless people from trains and disinfect every car for the next day’s run … Now, with the city slowly reopening offices, restaurants and shops, many are pressing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to restore nightly service as soon as possible. The trains typically move the city’s single most important commodity — its workers — at all hours. Without them, the economic recovery of the city, the region and by extension the U.S. will be slowed or stunted. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who effectively controls the MTA, has given no indication of when overnight service will resume. POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio
— With a majority of New Yorkers saying they’re uncomfortable on mass transit, there may be a surge in people driving to work.
— The subway system expects to hit a million daily riders for the first time in months.
“ON THE MORNING of May 30, as protests over the killing of George Floyd were sweeping the country, Mary Bassett, a prominent expert at Harvard University’s public health school and New York City’s former health commissioner, sent an email to Mayor Bill de Blasio. ’Greetings!’ she wrote. ‘This seems a good time to raise this.’ During her tenure in 2015, she told him, the city’s Health Department had begun conducting an internal review of reporting on police-involved deaths. The Police Department had helped, sharing data at the direction of then-Commissioner James O’Neill. The Health Department’s findings, compiled in a 2017 draft report, were striking: Though fewer people per capita die at the hands of the police in New York than in almost any other place in the United States, the city was significantly underreporting the deaths. The review also found that the incidence of deaths at the hands of the police was five times higher for black New Yorkers than for whites.” New York Times’ Mara Gay
— City Council members plan to subpoena the Health Department if the draft is not released.
“ON THE WARM spring night of June 1, an eruption of looting left the owners of more than 100 Bronx businesses shattered. Three weeks later, the fallout from that night lingers over the city’s poorest borough like a curse. … And unlike luxury goods outlets such as Coach and Bergdorf Goodman hit by looters that same night in Manhattan, the stores set upon in The Bronx were almost all mom-and-pop operations. Now those shopkeepers find themselves lost in a bureaucratic maze, struggling to get back on their feet as Phase 2 of the city’s reopening kicks in Monday. Emergency grants announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio for Bronx small businesses hit by looters that night remain mostly just a promise. As of Friday, only five of the 125 operations identified as victims had been approved to receive funds, said Samatha Keitt, spokesperson for the city Department of Small Business Services.” The City’s Greg B. Smith
“HOW BILL DE BLASIO LOST NEW YORK”: “He faces a growing rebellion at City Hall, upheaval in the streets, a pandemic, and police unions that are more irate than ever. He has lost the confidence of his own staff, his own law enforcement, and by all accounts his own city, and he still has 18 months to go.” David Freedlander in New York Magazine
FOOD FUNDS — Five organizations that received a large chunk of New York City’s $25 million in aid for emergency food providers have reached an agreement with City Hall to distribute more than $8 million across 680 pantries and soup kitchens. “We’re just cutting through the red tape,” David Greenfield, CEO of Met Council, told POLITICO. The city’s initial fund allocations — spread among 10 organizations — struck a nerve with groups left off the earlier distribution plan as they grappled with the economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, feeding an increasingly food insecure population. Now, Met Council — with United Way, City Harvest, Catholic Charities and Food Bank for New York City — are prepared to distribute funds. Awards will range from $5,000 to $150,000. — Michelle Bocanegra