Happy Wednesday in New York City, where I hope you didn’t go to sleep at the beginning of the fourth quarter last night when the New York Knicks pulled ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the first game of the conference finals.
The Knicks aren’t the only ones engineering a comeback in NYC. According to Gothamist, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is targeting a stretch of Brooklyn south of Prospect Park for a transformative housing initiative that would potentially add thousands of new homes to the borough, at a time when the city is facing one of the most severe housing shortages in its history.
The area surrounding McDonald and Coney Island Avenues, which includes neighborhoods like Kensington, Borough Park and Midwood, is currently zoned primarily for commercial businesses and low-rise homes — a smaller, older vision of Brooklyn.
But the proximity to subway stations and the future Interborough Express Line makes this region extremely desirable for real estate expansion. Mamdani says he plans to rezone the neighborhoods to allow for an infusion of larger buildings and housing developments, with plenty of affordable units.
“There’s an opportunity to create potentially thousands of housing units for our city,” Department of City Planning Director Sideya Sherman told Gothamist. “South of Prospect Park is a neighborhood that is transit-rich, and also potentially will intersect with the IBX, which is exciting.”
The plan is supported by the regions’ representatives, Councilmembers Simcha Felder, Shahana Hanif, Rita Joseph and Farah Louis. “I love it. I support it because it’s about planning ahead,” Joseph told Gothamist. “We want to make sure we’re building wisely on this outdated zoning.”
The City Planning Commission released a neighborhood survey today to gauge community feedback.
Let’s hope the CPC doesn’t pull a Cleveland Cavaliers and choke away this great opportunity.
Angelo Erland Lessey, an off-duty captain with the New York City Department of Corrections, was arrested and charged with assault on Monday.
Barclays Center recently released renderings and details about an upcoming renovation, with total costs on the project estimated at $150 million. The work is expected to be completed by the start of the Nets’ 2026-2027 season this fall.
Councilmember Lincoln Restler says his office has gotten the Department of Transportation to approve changes to alternate-side parking rules on several blocks in Greenpoint.
The Department of Sanitation and the Sanitation Foundation announced the winners of this year’s Trucks of Art competition. The five winners include two Brooklyn natives.
Taylor Swift was spotted with her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, attending a friend’s wedding at Honey’s in East Williamsburg on Saturday.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Gregorio Borgia/AP
ROME — ‘Hey, leave this tree alone and let it grow, it will contribute more to humanity than either of its planters’: Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, left, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi plant a mulberry tree donated by Modi in the gardens of Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, Wednesday, May 20, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
How much is a bat worth? Protecting these tiny insect‑eaters isn’t just good for farms – their deaths cost taxpayers and the wider economy
A scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute shows a bat captured for research to visitors in Gamboa, Panama, Sunday, June 1, 2025. Photo: Matias Delacroix/AP
Most Americans tend to think about bats only around Halloween, but the U.S. economy benefits from these furry flying mammals every day.
Bats pollinate plants, including many important food crops, when they stop by flowers to drink nectar. Their guano is mined from caves for fertilizer. And they eat a lot of bugs – the kinds that bother people (think mosquitoes) and others that destroy crops that humans depend on for food.
Sadly, bat populations are declining rapidly in North America.
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Marian Kamensky
For the Road
Ferry Good: It will be easier than usual to get around New York City by water this summer. The summer NYC Ferry schedule, which kicked off Monday, will bring the most ferry service in the city’s history, providing more frequent connections and reservable seats on beach-bound trips. The city is adding vessels and trips across high-demand routes, including more weekend trips, bigger vessels, more connections and, later this summer, the return of the “Rockaway Rocket” to the beach, from Long Island City and Greenpoint. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to rapper and actor Busta Rhymes!
On this day in 1906, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “After what seems to most people more than the necessary deliberation, the Rapid Transit Commission has adopted plans for improving the quality of the air we are compelled to breathe in the subway, especially during the summer months.”
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