🌱NYC Gets A 'Public Realm' Officer + Central Park Boathouse Reopening

Good morning, New York City!

• Our city now has a "Public Realm Officer"
• The Central Park Boathouse is reopening with a pricey menu
• Upper East Siders need more room to play pickleball

But first, today's weather: Morning rain, then cooler. High: 62 Low: 27.

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Here are the top five stories in New York City today:

1. Ya-Ting Liu has been appointed as New York City's first Public Realm Officer, a role that will see her overseeing a $375 million budget to expand the city's public spaces, as well as seeing through the implementation of a permanent outdoor dining program. Liu previously worked for the advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives. (New York City Patch)
2. The Central Park Boathouse will reopen this summer with a new operator, Legends Hospitality, featuring $23 omelettes and $25 hamburgers. The company has committed over $3 million to making improvements, and signed a 10-year contract. (New York City Patch)
3. Some relatives of murder victims in NYC are still waiting for their loved one's cases to be resolved more than a year after their deaths. In 2022, the NYPD cleared 65 percent of cases —meaning they identified a suspect and made an arrest — which is down from 76 percent in 2017, the first year the police published that data. (THE CITY)
4. The city is set to begin deploying a network of up to 500 flood sensors, that will measure the amount of water on the ground during a storm or heavy rain event in real-time, providing live information on an online dashboard. There's currently 31 censors working now. (Gothamist)
5. A city education panel has approved a $43 million contract to install new security systems in all NYC schools' front doors, a measure that some have been calling for following school mass-shootings, such as in Uvalde, Texas last year. Some parents and school principals, however, questioned whether that was the best use of resources to address recent acts of violence outside of the city's schools. (Subscription/New York Daily News)

New York City pic of the day:

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Today in New York City:

• Check out the Frigid New York theater festival (multiple times)
• "19 Forms of Ice" 5Rhythms Dance & Movement Class (7 p.m.)
• Daddy Rabbit NYC speakeasy jazz show (7 p.m.)
• "Asian Not Asian Podcast" live interviews (7 p.m.)
• Soca VS Reggae at Schimanski (10 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• JFK airport's terminal one was closed on Thursday due to a power outage, the Port Authority said in a statement. (New York City Patch)
• There's not enough room to play pickleball in the Upper East Side. The Parks Department's proposing three courts; players say why not make that four? (New York City Patch)
• Orthodox Jewish families in Brooklyn are now able to move throughout most of the borough during the Sabbath day of rest on Saturdays, thanks to a newly-drawn "eruv" boundary. Previously they couldn't move far from their own neighborhoods. (Subscription/The New York Times)
• Twelve New York City Catholic schools are closing down at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, the Archdiocese of New York has announced, citing "shifting demographics and lower enrollment rates." (NBC New York)

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Featured events:

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Friday. I'll be back in your inbox tomorrow morning with a new update!

— Dashiell Allen

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming New York City Patch newsletter? Contact me at patchnyc@patch.com