NYC Labor Day weekend travel tip: Leave now

Plus: Open Streets expanding in front of city schools [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [NYC's Labor Day weekend travel is expected to be a nightmare: Here's what to know]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ⛅ Mostly cloudy and cooler, with highs in the upper 70s. It's Thursday in New York City, where gas prices are down, several major roadways are closed and airports are expecting record travel. All of which is to say, Labor Day weekend traffic should be a mess. [Traffic expert Sam Schwartz's suggestion]( Leave Thursday morning or late Friday night. Here's what else is happening: - The Department of Transportation said it's creating 71 additional car-free Open Streets [outside New York City schools]( this year. - Hate crimes in New York surged nearly 13% in 2023 compared to the year before, [with almost half of the incidents targeting Jews]( according to the state comptroller. - When Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul put congestion pricing on pause until at least after Election Day, some thought she'd upended Republicans' plans to attack her party. Instead, congressional candidates from both parties are running [ads claiming credit for killing the tolling program](. - Federal prosecutors have charged a Bronx Republican elected official with fraud and extortion in connection with what they say was a scheme to [force potential poll workers to bribe her for the job](. - Nassau County officials yesterday seized on the arrest of a man they say was carrying a knife and wearing a ski mask in public, [using it as a chance justify their new ban on face coverings]( — even though he was charged with weapon possession, not violating the mask ban. - Right-wing groups have seized [on vague language in New York's Equal Rights Amendment ballot proposal]( arguing that the initiative — which is intended to protect abortion access — will open the door to more transgender kids in girls' sports. - Die-hard fans of the Coney Island Cyclone say [the rickety old ride's latest breakdown]( is just part of its charm. - [It's finally happening]( The scaffolding outside the city medical examiner's office in Kips Bay, [which had been up for an inexplicable 15 years]( is coming down. - So as to prevent "extremely creative entrepreneurs" from stealing confiscated weed from a landfill, Mayor Eric Adams yesterday personally used a giant claw machine to [load four tons of illicit cannabis products into an incinerator](. - [It's been a chill summer]( for the geese-chasing dogs of Governor's Island, where geese aren't really an issue in the warmer months. - Elite tennis racket stringers from all over the world have [descended on the U.S. Open](. - Long Island officials are fighting over whether ferry access to the idyllic Ho-Hum beach on Fire Island should be [open to others besides residents of the very white town of Bellport](. - Farther out in Southhampton, an [extremely rare orange lobster]( was rescued from a tank in the local Stop & Shop. - YES and MSG networks are [merging into one streaming app]( that'll run you $360 a year. - Shout out to the rescued bald eagle who was [too fat to fly](. [“I've gotten stuck on it before, but you know, that was just kind of part of the adventure of it.”]( - Angie Pontani, "Miss Cyclone" 2007, on [THE OLD ROLLER COASTER'S PROPENSITY TO BREAK DOWN]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [11 simple etiquette rules for riding the New York City subway]( "Some people are still not letting passengers off the train first before trying to get on. As a society, we don’t have to agree on everything, but we do need to agree on the same universal laws of physics." [When and where can New Yorkers get the latest COVID vaccine?]( Many pharmacies and doctors’ offices are still waiting to receive the new COVID vaccine, but it’s already available in some locations and likely to be widely accessible by early September. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Bachelor no more: Solitary Central Park coyote finds romantic partner]( The male coyote arrived in the park in 2019. The Gotham Coyote Project believes his new female mate likely followed the same path, following train tracks along the West Side Highway, moving from one greenspace to the next until settling in the most wooded sections of Central Park. [For a real-deal taste of Sichuan classics, hurry to Queens]( Guiping Huang has run the kitchen at Little Pepper, a pioneer of Sichuan food in Queens, for nearly 20 years. Now he's looking to sell the business — ideally to an apprentice he could train to take over. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.