Extra Extra: Make NYC a beaver paradise again

It’s Thursday afternoon in New York City and I’ll be of retirement age by the time the MTA finishes making their subway stations accessible.

Only 27% of the city’s nearly 500 subway stations are considered accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, yet hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers rely on elevators or ramps to get to the subway. Slow progress is being made toward the MTA’s promised goal of making almost all of their stations accessible by 2055, leaving many to resort to tedious commutes.

Here’s what else is happening:

• While we wait for more accessible stations, let’s look at another commuting metric: the best neighborhoods for cyclists. Both the East and West Villages were rated the best, and a Staten Island community even made the list.
• The New Yorker may have ranked Scarr’s Pizza as one of the best in the city recently, but it doesn’t make the cut in this Washington Post rating. Who are you gonna trust?
• Trader Joe’s has recalled yet another product, the sixth since July, this time for black bean tamales which may include an undeclared milk allergen.
• Speaking of Trader Joe’s, employees at our local Essex Crossing location are attempting to unionize (again) after a failed effort earlier this year.
• One man’s idea to turn NYC into an urban paradise? Bringing our beavers back.
• It’s probably best not to put your life in the hands of a mushroom foraging book you got on Amazon when deciding to consume fungi as it seems many of them are AI generated and could be giving wrong information.
• A program planner at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was arrested for stealing 23 gift cards meant for HIV prevention program participants.
• And finally, the bull called shotgun: