NYC NOW - September 5, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

A heat advisory is in effect for today, tomorrow, and Thursday, with temperatures expected to hit the low 90s. Meanwhile, construction begins this week on a new bike lane in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, following the city's controversial decision to scale back its street safety plan. Reflecting on the eventful summer of 2023, from wildfire smoke to a disappointing Yankees season, WNYC's Jessy Edwards gathers insights from New Yorkers. Additionally, a Park Slope amateur astronomer is drawing crowds as locals line up for a celestial view as reported by WNYC’s Catalina Gonella.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, September 5th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Heat advisory is in effect for today, tomorrow and Thursday, as a September heatway blankets the area. Temps will hit the low 90s with the humidity, though. It will feel closer to 100.

Meteorologist Dominic Ramuni. This is some of the hottest weather we've seen, not just recently, but I mean, it might be some of the hottest air that we felt with this year. Con Edison urges customers to conserve energy by not cracking up the air conditioning to avoid power outages. New York City has opened 500 cooling centers around the five barrels. You can find a list of cooling centers near you at finder.n.n.com.gov forward slash cooling centers. The city is set to begin construction this week on a new bike lane in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. WNMIC Stephen Nesson reports the work comes after the city's scale-backed its street safety plan, a move that outraged advocates.

The city will begin its upgrades on McGinnis Boulevard, starting at the Pulaski Bridge. Lanes for vehicles will be reduced to two lanes during peak hours and one lane after 7 p.m. Cyclists are getting protected bike lanes on both sides of the road. That's expected to be completed by the end of the year. After that, construction will begin on nine blocks, ending at Meeker Avenue. The new design is a compromise between street safety advocates and some local businesses opposed to reduced lanes. Three people have been killed on the roadway since 2012. Warm out there, 87 and sunny, a heat advisory all the way through Thursday.

We also have a high risk of Ripkern pulling swimmers away from the Jersey shores, so be careful there. Mostly sunny and 91, but it's going to be a feel way closer to a high. hundred degrees. Be careful out there. On WNYC, I'm David First. It's the unofficial end of summer for many of us, and it was quite a season. We had wildfire smoke, we had lantern flies, and of course, the worst Yankee season in decades. But how will the summer of 2023 really be remembered?

WNYC's Jesse Edwards spoke with several New Yorkers who shared their thoughts, as August slid into September. Summer's almost gone. Summer's almost gone. My name is Sophia Lazzardi, and I'm from Brooklyn, New York. So I'm living alone for the first time, and so with that, a lot of time alone.

You know, summer is so bountiful, there's so many things to do, and just not letting anyone else hold you back from those, even if it is just going by yourself and being your own best friend. And I think that's something that I've never explored before. My name is Matthew Wills, and I'm from Brooklyn, New York. In this past summer, as in numerous summers recently, I was surprised by the discovery of things I've never seen before.

At this stage, it's mostly insects. It's rare for me to see a bird I haven't seen before. But the variety of insects just continues to astound me. My name is Eve Taylor. I think I'll remember this summer is just a lot of pain and a lot of loss and a lot of healing at the same time. I think going through a breakup this summer was a complete 180 to the previous summer where I was starting to get in a relationship. My mum's coming into town this weekend for the holiday weekend and we're going to do all the things that I did with my ex that I loved a lot in Sag Harbor and by the seaside and I'm going to do them over the weekend. and I'm going to do them over again with her

so I can sort of renew the memories and not, I'm going to cry, not think of him. Something I remind myself is when you lose someone, it's an opportunity to get to know someone else better. And for me, that's going to be my mom. My name is Michael Joseph. I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I hanged out a lot with my dad and reflected, we reflected together on past good times.

Yeah, we bonded closely together this summer. than we ever did, you know. My mother passed away this early in the year, you know. So we got time to spend good time together. You know, I visited him more and we spoke more and we just got laughs and conversations. And so we stood on his porch or sometimes we go to the store together, supermarket. So yeah, we do things that we used to do, but now we do it together growing two adults. My name is Sherry Leone from the, I guess the South Village, Father Fagan Park. I've started off today with cleaning our park, which is it's very important.

Even though it's the end of the summer, people are still using the park on a daily basis, all kinds of people. So Labor Day for me is starting off literally with labor. In this neighborhood particularly, there's a lot of foot traffic. There's a lot of people. It's very lively. So this summer will probably go down to my memory as the summer that sort of came back to almost full pre-pandemic levels of activity. My name is Shalerman, Contave, and I'm from Haiti.

This summer has been doing pretty good, you know, so I enjoy it. I be going to work. I come home and everybody outside cooking and no drama, no problem. So, so far so good. An amateur astronomer's love for outer space is spilling. out onto the streets of Brooklyn. WNYC's Catalina Gonella looks at why people in Park Slope have been lining up to gaze at the sky. It's a weeknight with clear skies, and dozens of people are waiting for their turn to look

through Joe Del Foss's telescope. Oh my God! The night is an astronomical doubleheader, with a Super Blue Moon and Saturn at its closest point to the Earth for the year. It's nothing new for Delphos. The 82-year-old has been showing curious passers-by astronomical wonders through his telescope for 20 years. Their eyes light up, you know, there's a big smile on their face, and you know they saw it. You just know.

And they say, oh, my God, it's incredible. But Delphos is gaining a new following. A video of one of his impromptu night sky viewing parties went viral on TikTok last week. Delphos has been managing a longer line ever since. Holy cow, 27, 28, 29, 33, 133, that's amazing. The line is along. He spends hours outside making small adjustments to the telescope every few minutes, so each person gets a perfect view.

The earth is turning all the time, right? It rotates. As you're, if you're looking, let's say at Saturn, after a minute and a half, it will go out of the field of view because the Earth is turning. So I have to constantly adjust the telescope. It's tedious work, but he says he doesn't mind. Look at all the people.

They're talking with, these are total strangers, and they're all talking with one another. That's what this is all about. Those lucky enough to walk by and join the line, like Park Slope resident Michelle Carlo agree. The best thing about this is that how Joe has brought amazing people together of like, like every race, color creed, disparate, like whatever, gender, whatever. You know what I mean? And everybody's just like, I want to see the moon. I want to see Saturn.

As for his newfound fame, he's having fun with it. It's hard to let it not go to your head. It really is. But you say, you know, I've got my 15 minutes of fame. Let me enjoy it while I can. Catalina Gonella, WNYC News. All right. You're nice.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening. Thank you.