What's changed on the subways since Jordan Neely's death?

Plus: What it's like living right next to a wood-fired pizza place [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.]( [Homelessness, mental health and subway safety: How Hochul and Adams faced the trifecta in NY]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ⛅🧣 Partly cloudy and chilly this morning, with highs in the upper 50s. It's Tuesday in New York City, where Daniel Penny is about to go on trial nearly a year-and-a-half after he put fellow subway passenger Jordan Neely — who struggled with mental health issues and homelessness for much of his life — in a fatal chokehold on a crowded F train. In the time since, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have flooded the subway system with more cops, made it easier to involuntarily hospitalize people for mental health evaluations and deployed more homeless outreach teams underground. [Here's what we know about whether — and whom — those policies are helping](. And here's what else is happening: - A question on the back of New York City voters’ ballots next month asks whether to expand the sanitation department’s ability to clean up public spaces — [and crack down on unlicensed street vendors](. - An NJ Transit train operator died Monday morning after [a train struck a fallen tree]( on the tracks in Burlington County. - Mayor Adams, Gov. Hochul and [prominent Italian American politicians]( marched up Fifth Avenue yesterday for the annual Columbus Day Parade. - Lawyers for the daughter of Curtis Davis — who died by suicide in a Rikers Island jail cell in 2023 after guards allegedly failed to check on him or bring him to psychiatric appointments — have [filed a wrongful death claim](. - New York City’s incoming schools chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said she wants to get to the root of [why so many students are missing class](. - Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators looking to draw attention to prominent companies that sell weapons to Israel were [arrested yesterday outside the stock exchange](. - In the days before former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban left his job, he quietly nullified the agreed-upon penalty for [a police officer who body-slammed a protester]( during a 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstration. - Police are looking for the driver of a lime green Cybertruck who [allegedly pulled a gun]( during a road rage incident in Midtown yesterday. - A Park Slop Food Co-op co-founder [is retiring](. - The Rockefeller Center ice rink [is open](. - ...though it's still roller derby season for [a few more days](. - A small museum in Williamsburg has a new exhibit dedicated entirely to [tattoos of the State of Liberty](. - One-legged pants [are in](. - What are [these]( mysterious blobs? [“I've been doing this job for more than 35 years and I've never met somebody who would turn down an offer of an actual apartment.”]( - David Giffen, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, [LAMENTING THE LACK OF "HOUSING FIRST" OUTREACH]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [Upper West Sider says smoke from wood-fired pizza joint makes life 'Dickensian']( "It is like living inside a Dickensian chimney," said Chantal Berman, who claims the wood-burning pizza place next door still blows soot into her apartment — even though the restaurant said it installed a regulation-compliant pollution control system. [For Indian Americans in NY and NJ, a 2024 election cycle unlike any other]( "Indian Americans are poised to potentially tip the scales in favor of [Kamala] Harris," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, political scientist, founder and executive director of AAPI Data. Ramakrishnan said that's especially true in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Georgia. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Brooklyn-based urban farmers look for new home after developer gives them the boot]( Oko Farms, a group of urban farmers raising fish, growing vegetables and donating their harvest to low-income Brooklyn residents, have about six weeks to find a new location before developers reclaim the site to break ground on a new Williamsburg waterfront skyscraper. [Samara Joy on her new album, life after fame and being her own creative director]( Bronx-born singer Samara Joy has released her third album, "Portrait," after winning the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her sophomore record. [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.