A push to clean up NYC's most overlooked parks

Plus: 'The Lost Village of Seneca’ springs to life in Manhattan [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.]( [Lawmakers push for funding reform to clean up NYC’s most overlooked parks]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☁️ Cloudy, with a chance of rain this afternoon and highs in the mid 40s. It's Thursday in New York City, where the trash cans inside Claremont Park in the Bronx are overflowing, the pathways are covered with debris and just three workers are tasked with cleaning it all up. Now, several lawmakers want the Parks Department to simply be allowed to [retain the revenue it brings in through events and concessions]( so that 300 parks across the city can get the maintenance they need. Here's what else is happening: - The company that runs the NYC Ferry service has [filed for bankruptcy](. (This won't affect ferry service, it's just a financial maneuver.) - A New York City law that would've [granted certain noncitizens the right to vote]( in city elections has been found unconstitutional by a state Appellate Court. - The city comptroller’s office is suing two MTA contractors for allegedly [underpaying workers hired to clean subway cars and stations]( during the height of the pandemic. - Mayor Eric Adams said he's canceling an expected third round of spending cuts and [allowing city agencies to restart some hiring]( — a move he said was possible due to higher-than-anticipated tax revenues and new spending cuts for migrants. - Correction officers on Rikers Island are increasingly [using pepper spray to subdue detainees]( who fight guards or try to kill themselves, according to a new oversight report. - A Long Island woman was sentenced to more than two decades in prison for [killing an NYPD detective in a drunk driving hit-and-run]( in 2021. - A guard at a Brooklyn juvenile jail was arrested Saturday for [allegedly smuggling in cellphones and SIM cards](. - New York state issued $25 million in fines to unlicensed weed shops last year — but has [so far collected only $22,500](. - John Avlon, a former CNN commentator who helped form the centrist group "No Labels," is running for the House of Representatives as a Democrat [in a Suffolk County district](. - Leonard Guida, the police chief in the Jersey Shore town of Bradley Beach, has been suspended after [showing up to a crash scene inebriated](. - Tony Hawk's nonprofit is helping to bring [two new skateparks to the Bronx](. - President Joe Biden's dog, Commander, [bit people 24 times in a span of less than a year]( and forced the Secret Service to adjust its own tactics to prevent agents from getting attacked, according to newly released internal documents. - You already know Adrian Chiles is the [hurkle-durkler-in-chief](. - Zoomers are doing Spring Break, [but stone cold sober](. - The tooth fairy [isn't paying out]( the way she used to... - ...unless you're rich, in which case the tooth fairy is rewarding you with [$100 bills and designer bracelets](. - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. [“Folks with power, they see places like Central Park or the High Line or others, and they say, ‘Wow, our city's parks are in great shape.’ And they make the assumption that the rest of the city's parks look like that.”]( - Adam Ganser, the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, on [PARKS THAT DON'T HAVE THEIR OWN CONSERVANCIES OR FUNDRAISING OPERATIONS]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [For a night, ‘The Lost Village of Seneca’ springs to life in Manhattan]( For decades, Seneca Village was a thriving 19th century community predominantly of Black New Yorkers, until city officials forced the residents out in order to make way for the development of Central Park. That history, largely erased, is being brought to life in a musical performance by students of Juilliard College. [How the child tax credit expansion could help NYC families]( More than 260,000 low- and middle-income families in New York City would benefit from a proposed expansion to a federal tax break meant to help cover the costs of raising children, according to a policy research institute. [We Rely On Your Support]( [‘Weaponization of 311’: Speculation swarms after Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus shutdown]( Who filed more than a dozen complaints with New York City’s buildings department against the venerated Greenpoint bar and metal music venue Saint Vitus? [The Brooklyn crew that turned preppy fashion into a streetwear staple]( A new autobiography from the Lo-Lifes' founder, George “Rack-Lo” Billips, sheds light on the origins of the 1980s movement in Crown Heights and Brownsville and its influence in hip-hop and streetwear. 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