Happy Monday! For generations, fresh-faced mayors have charged into City Hall hoping to tackle one of the city’s biggest quality-of-life concerns, but all have fallen short. Will Mamdani finally be the one to deliver?
I’m talking, of course, about the public relief crisis in America’s largest city. At the moment, there is only one public bathroom for every 8,500 residents in New York City, one of the fewest public restrooms per capita of any major city in the U.S. Previous efforts to remedy the crisis, including Eric Adams’ “Ur in Luck” initiative, fell decidedly short of their promised results.
Now it’s Mamdani’s turn to try his hand at flushing the issue. On Saturday, his 10th day as mayor, Mamdani held a press conference alongside newly elected City Council Speaker Julie Menin to announce that he would invest $4 million in modular public restrooms, eliminating the need to drill deep into the city’s underground sewer system.
“In the greatest city in the world, you should not have to spend $9 to buy a coffee just to be able to find a little relief,” Mamdani said.
In New York, where Mamdani will inevitably struggle to satisfy a panoramic range of voters and interests, there are a couple of ways to score some universal political points. The new mayor’s already cleaned up a reviled stretch of bike lane and promised to fund public bathrooms. Next up: get rid of the rats.
Around 15,000 members of the New York State Nurses Association went on strike at three private hospital systems across New York City on Monday. The action is the largest nurses’ strike in city history and is happening during a surge in influenza cases.
Elected officials, including Mayor Mamdani, Attorney General Letitia James, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Comptroller Mark Levine, numerous councilmembers and others, stood with nurses.
Mayor Mamdani appointed Brooklyn-born Rafael Espinal to head the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment on Monday.
Don’t touch sick or dead birds, warns the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; a highly pathogenic bird flu continues to infect wildlife across the U.S. and Canada, including New York.
Mayor Mamdani visited Brooklyn College on Friday, Jan. 9, to distribute 1,500 free tickets to performances at Under the Radar festival, one of the nation’s largest theater showcases.
Firefighters battled a multi-alarm fire early Saturday, Jan. 10, at a seven-story apartment building on Bedford Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Tamara Jacobowitz, 53, a resident of South Williamsburg, died Monday, almost a month after being struck by a dump truck at the intersection of Williamsburg Street West and Wythe Avenue, just blocks from her Ross Street home.
Martha Plimpton, best known for her role in The Goonies, recently sold her early-1900s Victorian home in Prospect Lefferts Gardens for around $2.65 million.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Ajit Solanki/AP
INDIA — Kites aren’t just for kids — they’re also for world leaders: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepare to fly a kite during the inauguration of the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
One Scoop Ahead
AG1 is a daily health drink that supports gut health, helps fill common nutrient gaps, and supports steady energy. One scoop each morning makes it easy to build a habit that actually lasts. Try AG1 today.
🔎 Today’s community action
The Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge sits inside its own little green “barn” on the sidewalk in front of the First Presbyterian Church at 124 Henry St., and is filled by locals with meals, intentional leftovers, canned food and baked goods. Anyone can give, and anyone can take.
Now, after more than four years in front of the church, the refrigerator needs a new home. Volunteers told the Brooklyn Eagle that the fridge is blocking a now-active driveway, and the church’s founding volunteers have moved out of the neighborhood, necessitating the change of venue.
The Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge was plugged in on Oct. 3, 2021, as Brooklyn was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, with an unemployment rate around 8%. It was a time when community refrigerators were popping up across New York, putting a soft edge on a hard city.
Now, the refrigerator is a focal point for community volunteering and brings together neighbors of all ages, religions and demographics. Groups come together to cook, holding events like “Crock Pot nights,” and to teach their children what it means to share.
Since anyone in need can take food, exact statistics on users are not available. But volunteers stocking the refrigerator say they have met local seniors, Uber drivers, home health care workers, nannies and babysitters, teachers, the homeless, food-pantry users and college students there, Jones said.
Several promising alternate locations for the fridge have fallen through. So with the clock ticking, groups (including The Service Collective and “Friends of the Fridge,” with the Brooklyn Heights Association) are hosting a “Community Town Hall Discussion” to brainstorm on a new location. The town hall will take place on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. at Plymouth Church, 75 Hicks St. in Brooklyn Heights.
The Mini
Our solver finished in 1 minute 24 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
By Milt Priggee
For the Road
Quiet on set: Netflix is shooting exterior scenes in Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO today for its upcoming romance “Don’t Ever Wonder.” Stars Nia Long and Larenz Tate will be joined by a big-name cast including Blair Underwood, Laz Alonso, Susan Kelechi Watson, Pauletta Washington, Dennis Haysbert and more. We’ve got a list of affected parking streets here.
Happy Birthday to “Insecure” star Issa Rae.
On This Day in 1901, the Eagle reported, “Superintendent Stewart of Bellevue Hospital said this morning that reports and rumors of a strike among nurses at that institution were groundless and evidently inspired.”
Got a tip? Send it in to [email protected].