KATIE ANASTAS, BYLINE: From Columbia Radio News, in New York, I’m Katie Anastas.
The state legislature’s eviction moratorium ends tomorrow. That means pending eviction cases can resume -- and landlords can file new ones -- unless a tenant submits a hardship declaration. More than 6,000 tenants have filed declarations so far. Most say they’ve experienced financial hardship due to the pandemic, or that moving would pose a health risk.
City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer has released a 35-page plan to increase housing affordability. At a press conference today, Stringer said the De Blasio administration’s housing policies aren’t working.
SCOTT STRINGER: Our skyline fills up with half-empty luxury high-rise condos, while NYCHA buildings are falling apart, and our city vacant lots sit unused.
ANASTAS: Stringer’s proposals include increasing social housing, and converting vacant hotels and commercial spaces into shelters.
New York City Police Chief Terence Monahan is retiring. He will be succeeded by chief of detectives Rodney Harrison. Harrison was appointed the NYPD’s first Black chief of detectives in December 2019.
The Whitney Museum of American Art has laid off another 15 employees. The museum has struggled financially throughout the pandemic. It reopened in August, but has reported low ticket sales since.
A report from the New York City Comptroller’s office says arts and recreation has been the hardest-hit sector during the pandemic. The report said 66% of people employed in the sector were laid off between December 2019 and December 2020.
Italian sculptor Arturo Di Modica, whose charging bull sculpture became a symbol of Wall Street, has died at age 80. He left the bull outside the New York Stock Exchange - illegally - in the middle of the night of December 14, 1989. It took a truck, a crane, and 40 of his friends.
Katie Anastas, Columbia Radio News.