64 office buildings in NYC could become new housing

Plus: Fleet Week is underway [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.]( [64 office buildings in NYC could become new housing]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☀️ Sunny, highs in the mid 80s. It's Wednesday in New York City, where the Adams administration is trying to convert offices into 20,000 apartments over the next decade. To incentivize the switch, the city launched the Office Conversion Accelerator Program, which is currently working with the owners of 64 buildings to [turn their empty workspaces into up-to-code residences](. Here's what else is happening: - New York City's beaches are expected to officially open this weekend — but some spots might be closed, or open for fewer hours, if the city [fails to fill hundreds of remaining lifeguard vacancies](. - Brooklyn state Sen. Kevin Parker will not face charges for his role in a shouting match with a disability rights advocate who [claimed the Democratic lawmaker shoved him]( last week. - The Port Authority is considering making the AirTrain to JFK Airport [free to ride this summer]( while the airport's $19 billion renovation creates a traffic headache. - A New Jersey doctor and pharmacist who were trapped in Gaza due to a border closure [have now returned to the U.S. safely](. - After [shuttering twice due to "inappropriate behaviour"]( on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the New York City-to-Dublin "Portal" video art installation has reopened — with shorter hours. - Fleet Week [kicks off today]( - That $1,100-a-month two-bedroom on Craigslist [is probably a scam](. - National Grid wants to begin using biogas generated from human and food waste — [and to hike customers' rates]( for it. - "For decades, under the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations, City Hall tended to mischaracterize the issue as a scarcity problem, as if segregation were a natural outcome because high-performing schools are like a popular restaurant or hot dance club": Errol Louis takes aim this week at New York City's [perpetually segregated schools](. - The Whitney Museum posted a cool project online showing paintings of New York City streetscapes [side-by-side with photographs]( of the same locations today. - Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers explained that [he faced two options]( "Retire and be [RFK Jr.'s] VP or keep playing. I wanted to keep playing." - I wonder if Aaron Rodgers thinks Avril Lavigne [is actually back]( - The light-up dance floor from "Saturday Night Fever" [is being auctioned off]( and is expected to fetch about $300,000. - For a comparative bargain [at $28,417]( you could've bought the world's most expensive feather. [“They have a resilience we don’t have. We have the same, you know, criteria as a human being, but no, they have something different than us.”]( - Ghada Abukuwaik, a new jersey pharmacist, on [TREATING INJURED PALESTINIANS IN GAZA]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [Mayor Adams' hype men, socialites and legal bills: How one strange fundraiser fell flat]( The private event, which was billed as a policy discussion hosted by two tech founders, occurred a month after the FBI seized Adams’ electronic devices. [Leaving NYC over Memorial Day weekend? Here's the best (and worst) time to hit the road.]( A review of MTA toll data for last year’s Memorial Day weekend showed the most traffic on Thursday, between 3 and 6 p.m., and Friday, between 2 and 4 p.m. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Students, seniors next in line for MTA’s OMNY payment system]( The MTA had hoped to phase out the MetroCard entirely by now. But the pandemic, and delays to the rollout of OMNY, have extended the use of MetroCards indefinitely. [Inside CUNY's antisemitism probe: Campus talks, professors, students under scrutiny]( A private law firm appointed by the state to investigate claims of antisemitism at CUNY has been interviewing faculty members, scrutinizing events calendars and appearing unannounced at campus meetings. [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.