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DEVELOPERS CLOSE ON FINANCING FOR $256M AFFORDABLE
‘UTICA CRESCENT’ HOUSING PROJECT

EAST FLATBUSH — A GROUP OF DEVELOPERS ANNOUNCED ON TUESDAY that they have closed on $256 million in financing for Utica Crescent, a 322-apartment supportive, affordable housing project in East Flatbush. Monadnock Development, CB Emmanuel Realty, and Equity Developers are partnering on the project, which is expected to be completed by June 2026. Utica Crescent — developed in partnership with the One Brooklyn Health hospital network in Central Brooklyn — will include supportive units for seniors, a grocery store, community facility space and an onsite dialysis center.

The project will include a 10,000-square-foot new ambulatory care center in which One Brooklyn Health will provide women’s health and imaging services. “This project is another example of the administration’s recognition of the intrinsic connection between affordable housing and accessible healthcare to ensure strong communities,” said LaRay Brown, embattled One Brooklyn Health’s CEO.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING TENANTS STRUGGLE WITH HIGH RENT PAYMENTS

CITYWIDE — NEW YORKERS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING ARE STRUGGLING TO make rent payments in the uneasy economic recovery from the COVID pandemic, reports the Commercial Observer, with a survey of affordable landlords across the city finding that about 34% of tenants are more than two months behind on rent payments, to the tune of an estimated $130 million, or $7,260 per household. Advocates and city officials are warning that many of these tenants risk eviction and homelessness, with 19% in eviction proceedings already; potential governmental solutions include lifting the mayor’s hiring freeze to get more employees at the Department of Social Services to aid in processing rental assistance applications, expanding access to the Human Resources Administration’s “One Shot” emergency grants, and allowing Section 8 funding to fill gaps left by city budget cuts.

The DSS is understaffed relative to pre-pandemic levels, and has pushed the deadline for clearing its backlog back multiple times; it currently says applications will be cleared by March. More information about city rent assistance programs can be found online on the Human Resource Administration’s city webpage.

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HOCHUL SIGNS CARROLL BILL TO ESTABLISH TASK FORCE ON DYSLEXIA

STATEWIDE — AS PART OF A LATE-YEAR FLURRY OF BILL SIGNING, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation sponsored by Brooklyn Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-Park Slope, Kensington) that would establish an expert statewide task force on dyslexia. The legislation requires the state Education Department task force to examine “appropriate and effective evidence-based screening methods, reading interventions and other educational supports for dyslexia and dysgraphia for students in kindergarten through grade five,” Carroll announced in a release on Dec. 23.

Studies have shown that as many as one in five children have dyslexia or another phonemic awareness issue, but there is still no consistent approach in New York to addressing their needs, Carroll said.

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MAYOR’S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND TOPS $500K

CIVIC CENTER — MAYOR ADAMS HAS GATHERED $500,000 in contributions for his legal defense fund from Adams’ allies, reports the New York Post, including such political notables as ex-Gov. David Paterson, Assemblymember and head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and Councilmember Francisco Moya. The mayor launched his fundraising effort in November after a raid on his chief fundraiser’s home revealed a federal investigation into potential illicit collaboration with the Turkish government; thus far, no one in the mayor’s orbit faces charges related to the scandal.

A full list of donors to the defense fund, which is subject to city oversight, must be released by Jan. 15, according to Politico; donors are restricted to a maximum of $5,000 apiece, and anyone who works under Adams or contracts with the city is barred from contributing entirely.

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MTA STARTS PROCESS OF REPLACING ALL OF NYC’S SUBWAY TURNSTILES AND GATES

CITYWIDE — NYC’S ICONIC SUBWAY TURNSTILES ARE ON THEIR WAY OUT: MTA has issued a formal “Request for Information” seeking interest from companies interested in participating in the massive project to replace more than a thousand turnstiles and hundreds of automatic and emergency gates throughout the entire New York City subway system. The agency said in a release it wants to “identify the next generation of secure, accessible, and modern fare gates suitable for use for the MTA … to meet the MTA’s goals for ensuring fare compliance and preventing fare evasion, enhancing accessibility, and improving the customer experience.” The RFI listed numerous technical goals for the new gates, including integrating with the OMNY fare system, remote monitoring, accessibility, quick entry and exit, and the ability to handle emergencies such as power failures and bad weather.

MTA says it lost $285 million through fare evasion in 2022 alone.

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POLICE SEEK MAN WHO STOLE WALLET TO BUY FROM APPLE STORE

SUNSET PARK — POLICE ARE ASKING FOR AID IN IDENTIFYING AN UNKNOWN MAN who on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 28, took a wallet containing credit cards and $800 in cash from an unattended coat room at the Beit El-Maqdis Islamic Center in Sunset Park; shortly thereafter, one of the victim’s credit cards was used to make an unauthorized transaction of approximately $922 at an unknown Apple store, according to the NYPD. The suspect is described as around 5’6” with a light complexion, slim build, beard and glasses; and was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, gray sweatpants, a gray hooded sweatshirt, black socks with no shoes — which are not allowed in the prayer areas of mosques — and holding a black coat.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website or on X (Twitter) @NYPDTips.

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TRAVIS SCOTT SHOW CAUSES ‘TREMORS’ IN HOMES NEAR BARCLAYS

PARK SLOPE — RESIDENTS ON DEAN STREET IN PARK SLOPE WERE FRIGHTENED on Monday night by earthquake-like tremors that shook the foundations of brownstones and highrises alike and summoned police to check one property for safety issues, reports Curbed, but this was no seismic shift: the shaking was generated by a Travis Scott concert at the nearby Barclays Center, which residents said has never happened before. The fake quake was apparently caused by audience members jumping up and down in unison to the controversial rapper’s bass beats — a regular crowd reaction at Scott’s shows, according a New York Times report of a concert in Italy this summer where the synchronized efforts of 60,000 attendees generated tremors that registered at 1.3 on the Richter scale.

Management at one affected apartment complex is reportedly seeking an engineering assessment of the building’s structural integrity in the wake of safety fears raised by the shaking.

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EXPERTS WARN OF FUTURE BLACKOUTS OVER NEW CLIMATE LAW

CITYWIDE — ENERGY EXPERTS ARE WARNING THAT THE CITY’S ELECTRIC GRID MAY BE UNPREPARED to meet winter power needs after the implementation of new environmental regulations next year that will compel dramatic reductions in the use of fossil fuels, reports Gothamist; the sweeping changes in emissions standards have not been met with the equally sweeping upgrades required to match the surging need for electric heating, raising fears of blackouts in freezing temperatures. Con Edison says it will have to invest an estimated $68 billion in improvements over the next decade, as residential buildings phase out gas boilers and other polluting heating systems, and that it expects peak demand to double over the next 30 years; Columbia University energy researcher Melissa Lott told Gothamist that the utility will need to spend big on modernizing infrastructure to connect to far-off clean energy plants in upstate NY and beyond, while others have called for the restoration of the shuttered Indian Point nuclear power plant. 

Con Ed has struggled for years to keep the city’s lights on in the summer months due to the heavy demands of air conditioning systems; ominously, the utility predicts that winter demand will surpass summer demand by 2035 as a result of the move away from fossil fuel heating.

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MIGRANT AND HOMELESS SHELTER PROPOSED FOR GOWANUS WAREHOUSE

GOWANUS — AN EMPTY WAREHOUSE AND ONETIME BREWERY in Gowanus is undergoing conversion to a homeless shelter that will add 400 beds to the city’s strained transient housing supply, reports Brownstoner, but locals are raising concerns that the city and building owner David Levitan — a “Worst Landlord Watchlist” alumnus whose reputation sunk a proposal for a similar shelter in the Bronx last year — may be attempting to take advantage of temporarily slackened housing rules to bypass the standard review process for establishing permanent homeless shelters. While a spokesperson from the city Department of Homeless Services told Brownstoner that the 3rd Street building would serve as a temporary housing facility for single male asylum-seekers, the shelter’s planned operator has secured a nine-year lease for the shelter; according to an investigation by the New York Times, Levitan owns more than a third of all new homeless shelters that opened between 2017 and 2021, generating millions of dollars in rent from the city each year.

Brownstoner also reports that a second converted warehouse property at 29 Ryerson Street in Clinton Hill, originally destined to be a luxury hotel, has recently been leased to serve as a migrant shelter for two years by NYC Health + Hospitals at a total cost of more than $65 million — significantly higher than the building’s 2019 sale price of $55 million.

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CITY HARVEST, KAREN PITTMAN DISTRIBUTE FOOD IN SUNSET PARK

SUNSET PARK — ACTRESS KAREN PITTMAN JOINED FOOD SECURITY CHARITY City Harvest on Thursday at one of the group’s Mobile Markets, a weekly free farmer’s market that offers giveaways in locations across the city. Pittman, who stars in “The Morning Show” and in “Sex and the City” sequel show “And Just Like That,”  helped hand out fruit to Brooklynites in need at the morning food fair; City Harvest, whose mission for four decades has been to give all New Yorkers access to fresh produce, distributes more than 3 million pounds of fruits and vegetables each year through the Mobile Markets, which also provide cooking demonstrations and other nutrition programming.

Brooklyn Mobile Markets are held in Bed-Stuy at the Myrtle Avenue Tompkins Houses handball court from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the first Saturday and third Wednesday of each month, and in Sunset Park at 52nd Street and 1st Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Friday and fourth Saturday; all produce is free to Brooklyn residents while it lasts at these locations.

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STATE BAN ON ‘MOST ECOLOGICALLY DESTRUCTIVE PESTICIDE SINCE DDT’

STATEWIDE — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL ON FRIDAY SIGNED THE “Birds and Bees Act,” a new law that by 2027 will ban the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids for corn, soybean and wheat seeds and ornamental plants and turf, with the intention of protecting New Yorkers, pollinating insects, birds and other wildlife from potentially harmful toxins. The use of the chemicals clothianidin — illegal in the E.U. since 2018 — and dinotefuran on ornamental plants is banned effective immediately, with other uses and chemicals being restricted on a rolling basis; the governor wrote in a statement that the delayed implementation will allow for research and development of cost-effective alternatives, as well as for the Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a study into the effects of neonicotinoids; their use will be only be authorized by the DEC and Department of Agriculture in emergencies: dinotefuran, for example, is considered to be one of the most effective killers of invasive spotted lanternflies.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pollinators are worth about $344 million to New York crops such as apples, grapes, cherries, onions, pumpkins, and cauliflower each year; the text of the bill, featuring more information on the ban’s provisions, can be found online on the state Senate’s website.

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COLTON PARTNERS WITH TOYS FOR TOTS TO BRIGHTEN NEEDY CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS

BATH BEACH TO GRAVESEND — TOYS FOR TOTS HAS PICKED UP A GROUP OF DONATIONS THAT ASSEMBLYMEMBER WILLIAM COLTON COLLECTED DURING A GIFT DRIVE this holiday season. Colton (D-47) who represents the neighborhoods of Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Dyker Heights, said, “Thanks to Toys for Tots, many families — who would otherwise be unable to purchase gifts for their children — are able to celebrate the holidays.”

Toys for Tots was founded in 1947 by Marine Corps reservist Major Bill Hendricks, under the auspices of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. The project is currently operated by the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, which was established in 1991.

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MULCHFEST XMAS TREE RECYCLING RETURNS NEXT WEEK

CITYWIDE — THE PARKS DEPARTMENT’S ANNUAL “MULCHFEST” CHRISTMAS tree recycling program is returning to parks and drop-off points across the city this week, reports the Brooklyn Paper, after turning nearly 60,000 evergreens into protective groundcover last year. Discarded trees brought to the designated Mulchfest sites between Dec. 26 and Jan. 7 will be turned into mulch for the city’s parks by the department’s woodchippers; residents who bring trees on Chipping Weekend (Saturday, Jan. 6, and Sunday, Jan. 7) can claim a free bag of mulch of their own to take home.

Brooklyn Chipping Weekend sites include Prospect Park (at Park Circle and Prospect Park West/3rd Street), Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 3, Cobble Hill Park, Domino Park in Williamsburg, Fort Greene Park, Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick, Marine Park, McCarren Park in Williamsburg and Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge; a map of drop-off locations and more information about Mulchfest can be found on the Parks Department’s website.

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GREENPOINT GENTRIFICATION ART SHOW ON DISPLAY THRU JAN

GREENPOINT — WATERFRONT TOWER 1 BELL SLIP IS PLAYING HOST TO AN ART exhibition from Brooklyn painter Steve Wasterval, reports Greenpointers, with 15 pieces themed around the changing neighborhood on display to the public in the building’s lobby through Jan. 1. Wasterval’s expressive work pairs street scenes with commentary on gentrification — a focus that the show’s venue, the gallery lobby of a newly built condo, echoes, according to the artist: “Years ago I decided to paint as many pieces of the neighborhood as I could, knowing it would eventually look completely different. When the time came to show that work, a new building felt like the perfect place, somewhere that would highlight the bittersweet experience of change.”

Wasterval is known for his “treasure hunt” approach to public art: for years, the artist has been hiding tiny versions of his paintings around Greenpoint for locals to discover and claim by following online clues.

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MARINE PARK RESIDENTS ANGERED, WORRIED BY MIGRANT ‘BEGGING’

MARINE PARK — MIGRANT FAMILIES FROM THE CONTROVERSIAL Floyd Bennett Field tent encampment have begun to take to the streets of nearby Marine Park to solicit locals for money, food and other donations as the city struggles to accommodate their needs, reports The City. This has been causing some to respond with anger and frustration at the increasingly poor conditions and potential effects for nearby residents, and others to attempt to gather aid for the 1,700 migrants staying in the national park. Floyd Bennett camp shelterers and advocates have charged that food, sanitation and warm clothing are in short enough supply that some parents feel forced to panhandle and send sick children to school for safety, although a spokesman for the city stated meals and snacks are available daily; Mayor Adams has repeatedly claimed that the tent camp is the best available option to the city, and few other alternatives have been offered from any side of the debate, leaving migrants desperate to leave with no clear options.

The dire situation at the former airfield was thrown into sharp relief on Monday, when a severe storm that battered and flooded the tents throughout the night frightened residents and spiked tempers, resulting in a sleepless night for the 500 families living there, and the alleged ejection of two families into the storm in the early hours of the morning.

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TENSION IN PARK SLOPE OVER PROPOSED HIGHRISES

PARK SLOPE — HOUSING ADVOCATES AND AREA RESIDENTS ARE AT ODDS over a proposed plan to erect two 13-story apartment buildings on the site of a current low-lying industrial laundry on Prospect Avenue in Park Slope, reports NYS Focus; proponents claim an estimated 240 housing units, with 60 affordable, could be constructed if the City Council approves owner Arrow Linen’s request to lift height restrictions on its block, while detractors believe the complex would dwarf surrounding townhouses, damaging the area’s character, and cause disruption for nearby Park Slopers. Opposition group Arrow Action says they support affordable housing, but want it to be in buildings sized to match the area — a plan pro-development group Open New York members say this would generate far fewer opportunities for new residents to move to the neighborhood.

Local Assemblymember Robert Carroll told NYS Focus that he supported a compromise zoning amendment to allow for the construction of six- or seven-story buildings, calling the 13-story proposal “inappropriate” due to its size and the current owner “not… a good neighbor”: “It’s not my job as a representative to say, ‘How can you maximize your final end profits so that you can make $75 million, move to Florida, and play golf for the rest of your life?’”

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DOT ANNOUNCES ROAD CLOSURES FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK 

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — THE SECTION OF CLINTON STREET BETWEEN Pierrepont Street and Cadman Plaza West (where the roadway bends) will be closed Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 14, 2024, to facilitate crane operations, the NYC Department of Transportation announced on Friday, Dec. 22. The street closure will be in effect from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays, Dec. 22, 29 and Jan. 5, and Saturdays, Dec. 23, 30 and Jan. 6, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Other downtown roadways will also be closed around Downtown Brooklyn during the coming week, according to the announcement dated Dec. 22, including the section of Hudson Avenue between DeKalb Avenue and Fulton Street, and President and Douglass streets between 3rd & 4th avenues in Boerum Hill.

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NYU TANDON ENGINEERS STUDY ‘MOM PENALTY’ IN HIRING PRACTICES THAT USE AI

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — WOMEN MAY PAY A “MOM PENALTY” WHEN AI is used in hiring, new research from NYU Tandon School of Engineering suggests, according to new research. Siddharth Garg, Institute Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, led a team that examined bias in Large Language Models when used in hiring processes. They found that maternity-related employment gaps may cause job candidates to be unfairly screened out of positions for which they are otherwise qualified.

Researchers assessed the ability of three popular Large Language Models, namely ChatGPT (GPT-3.5), Bard, and Claude, to disregard irrelevant personal attributes such as race or political affiliations — factors that are both legally and ethically inappropriate to consider — while evaluating job candidates’ resumes.

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4 THIEVES STORM BK LULULEMON, WALK OUT WITH $17K IN MERCH

BOERUM HILL — FOUR THIEVES “ACTING IN CONCERT” stormed a Lululemon store on Smith Street at Wyckoff Street in Boerum Hill at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, walking out with $16,896 worth of trendy merchandise, police said. The individuals fled the location in a gray Chevy Malibu sedan, heading eastbound on Wyckoff Street. No one was hurt, cops said. The first suspect is described as male,  5’9” with a medium build, last seen wearing a black hooded sweater, black pants, black ski mask and black sneakers. The second is male, 5’7” with a slim build, wearing a blue jacket, brown pants, white sneakers and a white surgical mask. The third is of unknown sex, 5’4” with a medium build, wearing a white hooded sweater with colorful letters on the front, white pants, white sneakers, and a white surgical mask. The fourth is a female, 5’3” with a slim build. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, brown pants, black shoes and a blue surgical mask.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or visit Crime Stoppers online.

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MAN WITH ‘BIG BEARD’ PUNCHES 70-YEAR-OLD IN MIDWOOD SUBWAY STATION

MIDWOOD — POLICE SAY A HEAVILY-BEARDED MAN APPROACHED A 70-YEAR-OLD MAN who was innocently sitting on a bench on the southbound D platform in the Bay Parkway station and — unprovoked — punched him in the face. It happened at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25. The victim sustained minor injuries and was transported by EMS to NYC Health and Hospitals/Coney Island in stable condition. The suspect, who fled on foot, is described as a male with a light complexion, dark brown hair and a big beard. He was last seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants with white stripes on the side, black sneakers, black fingerless gloves and a black backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or visit Crime Stoppers online.

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R.E. BIG STRIBLING FINDS BUYER FOR HER PENTHOUSE AT ONE BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK — REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE FOUNDER ELIZABETH STRIBLING has found a buyer for her 7-room One Brooklyn Bridge Park penthouse at 360 Furman St., the New York Post reports. She originally bought the penthouse, made of two combined units, for $6 million in 2009, and first listed it last year for $8.5 million. It was last asking $6.49 million.

The penthouse comes with a wrap terrace that’s almost 1,900 square feet and features three bedrooms and 3 1⁄2 baths over 3,442 square feet, with $6,098 a month in common charges.

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ATTORNEYS GENERAL URGE HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT. TO EXPEDITE MIGRANTS’ WORK AUTHORIZATIONS 

ALBANY AND NATIONWIDE — THE PROCESS OF EXPANDING WORK AUTHORIZATION FOR NEWLY-ARRIVED IMMIGRANTS must be expedited, declares NY Attorney General Letitia James, who is a leading multi-state coalition of 19 counterparts across the U.S. They are urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to expedite and expand access to work authorization for newly arrived immigrants, especially asylum-seekers and migrants. The coalition’s letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas commends the Department’s efforts in September to remove barriers to securing work authorization and requests additional action to protect new immigrants and facilitate their ability to secure stable jobs.

Current work authorization applications often require expensive fees or complex fee waiver requirements, preventing a large portion of immigrants from even applying for the permit. Backlogs in the approval of work authorization permits have led to months-long wait times for approval.

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RECALL ISSUED FOR BLUE RIDGE BEEF PET FOODS

NORTHEAST/MID-ATLANTIC STATES — CONSUMERS WHO HAVE BOUGHT BLUE RIDGE BEEF PET FOOD PRODUCTS FOR THEIR DOGS AND CATS are being warned that some of the supplier’s products have been infected with Salmonella and Listeria. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has notified the company that one lot of each of the products was sampled and tested positive for Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. However, out of an abundance of caution, the firm is recalling all lots with the used-by dates between N24 1124 to N24 1224 that were sold in New York, parts of New England, the Mid-Atlantic and North Carolina.

Owners of pets who have eaten the recalled products, which were distributed between Nov. 14-Dec. 20, and have these symptoms should contact their veterinarians.

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BIDEN EXPANDS PARDONS FOR SIMPLE MARIJUANA POSSESSION

NATIONWIDE — SAYING THAT CONVICTIONS UNDER FEDERAL LAW FOR SIMPLE POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities, President Joe Biden on Friday granted “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents who … committed or were convicted of the offense of simple possession of marijuana, attempted simple possession of marijuana, or use of marijuana, regardless of whether they have been charged with or prosecuted for these offenses on or before the date of this proclamation.”

The proclamation expands Biden’s 2022 partial pardon and applies to anyone convicted under federal and D.C. laws, but does not apply to people convicted of selling marijuana. Individual states have their own laws, many more liberal than federal rules.

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FDA ANNOUNCES NEW GUIDELINES FOR AIRFIT MAGNETIC MASK USERS 

NATIONWIDE — CERTAIN FACE MASKS WITH MAGNETS COULD IMPACT THE FUNCTION OF PACEMAKERS AND OTHER IMPLANTED MEDICAL DEVICES, the Food & Drug Administration has announced. The medical equipment supplier ResMed has issued updated instructions for those utilizing these masks and has initiated a voluntary recall, which does not require a return of a mask with magnets unless the patient is contraindicated. Users of nasal AirFit models F-20 and F-30 are contraindicated when they or anyone in close physical contact have active medical implants that interact with magnets, such as pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, aneurysm clips, stents, or hearing/balance or ocular implants.

Affected patients and those in close proximity should keep the magnets at a safe distance of 6 inches (150 mm) away from such implants or medical devices. More information can be found online.

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WEWORK WINS FIGHT TO KEEP CLIENTS PRIVATE

NATIONWIDE — EMBATTLED COMMUNAL OFFICE LANDLORD WEWORK has won a reprieve from a Department of Justice demand to reveal the names of its more than 600,000 customers, reports Crain’s New York Business; Globest reports that WeWork will be allowed to redact “certain confidential information of customers” as well as personally identifying information in its bankruptcy proceedings. The Brooklyn-founded company, at one point considered a star of the borough’s tech scene, is currently undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy after struggling to market its services during the pandemic; lawyers for WeWork argued in court earlier this month that publicizing its client list would allow rival landlords to poach customers away easily.

The move was supported by WeWork’s creditors, who reportedly include a group of 15 NYC property owners to whom the company owes a whopping $50 million in unpaid rent.

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U.S. CITIZEN HOSTAGE REPORTED DEAD IN GAZA

ISRAEL-PALESTINE — U.S. CITIZEN AND PREVIOUS NEW YORK RESIDENT GADI HAGGAI, taken hostage by Gaza Strip ruling organization Hamas during the group’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, was reported to be deceased by family members on Friday, according to the New York Post, and is the first American hostage to die in the crisis. Haggai, age 73, was kidnapped along with his wife, Goshen, N.Y.-born Judih Weinstein Haggai, in the early morning hours from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza-Israel border by gunmen; Weinstein Haggai is thought to be still held by Hamas members, as is Haggai’s body.

The current conflict in Gaza is the bloodiest outbreak of violence in the territory in decades and has so far resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and an estimated 20,000 Palestinians; the announcement of Haggai’s death comes after a Thursday rejection by Hamas of a proposed deal that would have seen 40 of the remaining 129 Israeli hostages released in exchange for a weeklong ceasefire.

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