“Chess is the only outlet I got,” he said. “It’s a lot like our lives. Both have a beginning, middle and end.” 

Anderson first moved to New York to pursue acting when he was 27. But after countless jobs, he found himself in jail at Rikers Island. A year later, he was released. Now, he plays chess with passersby in Washington Square Park to make a living.

Along with chess, Anderson sells cigarettes for a dollar, and occasionally weed.

“I don’t like selling cigarettes,” Anderson said. “I feel like I’m putting the needle in their hand, not in their veins, but in their hand. I might as well be giving them the crack and I feel bad about that.”

Every morning around 5:30, Marty leaves his house in the Bronx, to travel about an hour and a half to Greenwich Village to stake his claim on a chess table. Sometimes, he makes $100 a day, other times, $20. 

“I lose on purpose, because if I beat them too much, their ego gets hurt and I don’t make as much.”

As colder weather looms, Marty visits the park less, but he hopes to make enough to get through the winter. 

Anderson plays chess with Emily from Chicago in Washington Square Park. Photo by Laura Studley

Anderson plays Simon Khoury, a tourist from London, after teaching her chess basics. Photo by Laura Studley

Anderson wins most of the games he plays. When he first moved to the city, he visited a chess park in Queens. Anderson played multiple Russian chess players, and won every game, he said. Photo by Laura Studley

Anderson laughs as he reflects on his life. “If I don’t laugh about it, I’ll cry,” he said. Photo taken by Laura Studley

Anderson gathers cash, tequila, weed and cigarettes in Washington Square Park. His sole income comes from selling drugs and playing chess. Photo by Laura Studley

Anderson sells weed to John Delgado in Washington Square Park. Anderson also sells cigarettes. Photo by Laura Studley

Anderson works through different game strategies as he waits for potential players in Washington Square Park. Photo by Laura Studley

The post Not playing by the rules appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

But amid the holiday cheer, Covid still looms in the back of people’s minds. 

“You’re apprehensive because everyone is coming back,” said native  New Yorker Tammy Lassiter. “Being here, being the ground zero of Covid, you do have reservations because everyone from everywhere is coming. Outside of that, you do want to be a part of something.” 

New York has suffered both economically and socially during the pandemic, and the drop in tourism did not help. 

The city has seen an abundance of tourism the past ten years, but in 2020, the number of visitors to New York City fell by 67 percent to 22.3 million, compared to 66.6 million in 2019, according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller. 

A report from the office said that the tourism industry has suffered a 75 percent drop from $80.3 billion in 2019 to $20.2 billion during the pandemic. 

But with the holiday season already in full swing, city officials anticipate many tourists will be visiting the city, despite Covid’s new variant, Omicron. 

“Everything [is] coming back full strength, the way we love it,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference. “Hundreds of thousands of people there to celebrate. We can finally get back together again. It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be a joy for this city.” 

As of Dec. 6, there have been five cases of the new variant in New York City after the first case was discovered in California on Dec. 1. 

City data shows that about 70% of people are fully vaccinated. Deaths are decreasing, but the total cases are on the rise, even with high vaccination rates. 

Because of the holidays, De Blasio warned New Yorkers to get their booster shot.

“Everything we’re doing is to bring back New York City, our recovery,” he said. “And part of what’s great about our recovery is when we bring back great New York City traditions.” 

Crowds this holiday season are expected to be the “largest since the start of the pandemic,” according to estimates from the Mayor’s office. 

Last year, New York resident Emily Dean was able to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center because hardly anyone was in the city, she said. 

“New York feels alive again and a little bit more normal,” Dean said. “I got a booster, so I’m kind of less afraid. It’s just nice to have people around again.” 

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade had 50 million viewers this year with an approximate 2.5 million people who attended in person, so it’s no surprise that crowds flooded the Rockefeller Center to witness the tree lighting on Dec. 1. 

“I’ve been encountering a lot of tourists here, and that’s great, but you don’t know what to expect,” Lassiter said. “You’re happy to welcome people back and I know people come here because they know New York City isn’t playing around like other places, but it’s still hard to feel 100% comfortable.”

Crowds gather to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. Large crowds prevented some onlookers from getting to close to the tree which was lit on Dec. 1 with over 50,000 LED lights. Photo by Laura Studley

Nancy Sedgwick and Karen Janney have travelled from San Diego to New York for Christmas for years — but last year they broke tradition. 

“It feels good to be out enjoying things again,” Sedgwick said. “We love the lights, we love the Christmas markets. It’s tradition, it’s the Christmas spirit. This country’s been in a bad place for many reasons for a while, a lot of ugliness, but now everybody seems to be in a better mood and happy.” 

Janney said that even with the crowds and Covid, she is thrilled to be back in the city. 

“I mean it’s just unlike anything else,” she said. 

And though there are more tourists traveling during the pandemic, New Yorker Ariana Collur said that part of the Christmas spirit is to gather and have people visiting the city.  

“It’s great to have New York back,” said Collur. “I love Christmas time. It’s really nice to see everyone around. The more the merrier, as long as we’re safe.” 

The Times Square ball drop is also a classic New York tradition. 

Senior Vice President for the Times Square Alliance Regina Fojas said the alliance will be ready for “hundreds of thousands” of people at this year’s event. Fojas said that alongside the ball drop, viewers can anticipate a number of performances to celebrate the new year. 

“We are ready and thrilled to welcome a full house of revelers back to Times Square to celebrate the New Year this year,” Fojas said. “Now more than ever we need to come together to revive our favorite traditions with our loved ones – reflecting on a tough year behind us while looking forward to a new year with hope.”

Peggy Ellis, a vendor at Union Square Market, has lived in New York for 25 years. Ellis said that she is grateful to be back because a lot of vendors suffered due to the pandemic. 

“There’s something special about New York during the holidays, and I do think people missed it. I know I did,” Ellis said. “I think people were sad that they couldn’t be here last year. I’m finding a lot of holiday cheer around.” 

Heather Fay, Union Square holiday market vendor and owner of Herbs Fit Life, said there have been a lot more tourists around the market. She has a shop location in the East Village that she described as a “ghost town” during the pandemic, but is more hopeful, given all the people she’s seen visiting the market. 

“I feel like there’s a change coming, a lot of people are visiting here, a lot of people are moving here, it’s a really good time,” Fay said. “The morale is definitely lifted here,” Fay said. “People are just happy that [New York] is back.”

The post New York City gears up for Christmas despite new variant fears appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Most New Yorkers just don’t seem to care or realize their vote matters.

 “What people don’t realize is that their voice really matters and elections can be decided by just a small handful of votes and we’ve seen that happen in more than one race across different states,” NYC Votes youth ambassador Nikita Chernin said.

 Electing someone to run the city is clearly not a priority for many of the  city’s residents. Polling data in 2017, the year of the previous mayoral election, showed that 1,166,314 New Yorkers voted for mayor city-wide. The estimated population for NYC during the same time was estimated at 8,622,698, according to statistics from the New York Department of Health.

Now, a  new election cycle is quickly approaching  and once again New Yorkers  don’t seem very interested in choosing who will run their city.  

“People turned up in decent numbers for [the presidential] elections, but the thing that’s really sad is, we don’t see that kind of stuff there in other elections,” Chernin said. “Yes, people get inspired every four years to come out, but then they also have to realize [elections are] not just every four years.” 

During the presidential election in 2020, there was a 61.9% voter turnout in New York City, comprising of 3,045,042 voters for general elections, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

This upcoming local election has nine positions to fill including mayor, public advocate, city comptroller, borough president, district attorney, members of the city council, justice of the supreme court and judges of the civil court for both the county and district.

The voter registration deadline is Oct. 8, with General Election Day coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 2. 

 “New Yorkers should know that our local elections affect everything in our lives, from the healthcare that we receive to the air we breathe and public safety and so many more issues that matter to us in our daily lives,” said William Fowler, public relations aide for NYCCFB. “That’s why local elections are more important than ever for us all to participate in.”

To help ease Covid-19 fears in regards to in-person voting, the NY senate approved a March 2020 bill that would grant people an extension on using Covid as an excuse if using an absentee ballot until Jan. 1, 2022.

Queens resident and NYC Votes youth ambassador Ara Lopez said that people often want to be heard, but are scared of it actually happening. 

“New York feels like an open, yet far away community,” they said. “They don’t think [voting] matters, but at the end of the day, we’ve had a mayor for eight years and we’re only now moving forward.” 

Lopez said there’s intimidation that comes with voting, leading to the idea that their vote doesn’t matter. 

“If a million people say they don’t vote, then no one is going to vote,” they said. “It’s you as an individual to take that step. One person’s voice can become many people’s voices. It all starts with the individual.”

Olivia Brady, youth voter coordinator for NYCCFB, said that even though young people are typically “disengaged” from elections, they still remain passionate about issues that impact their lives, something they said, has been seen over the past two years. 

 “From COVID-19, to the protests around climate justice and police violence, youth are at the forefront of movements in their communities,” Brady said. “Young people are thinking about their lived experiences in the city, and they’re really starting to understand the way all of our local elected officials impact their day-to-day quality of life.” 

Chernin said he expects more people to vote in this next local election, as many New Yorkers are already registered. 

“Barely anyone showed up to the last major mayoral election,” Chernin said. “… It’s a huge election and a lot of people know about it, so a lot more people are hopefully going to vote.” 

The post Low turnout, as usual, expected for NYC upcoming local election appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Instead, he and his coworkers were stranded due to mass flooding from Hurricane Ida.

“Our job had no choice but to book a block of hotel rooms for all of us who got stuck because we had no way to get home,” Santiago said. “There were no taxis [or] Uber. Everything shut down.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is now enacting short and long-term plans to help keep the flooding to a minimum for New York residents, given the damage after Ida.

They pumped out 75 million gallons of water after Ida, said Acting Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the MTA Janno Lieber in a recent board meeting. Costs reported to the Federal Emergency Management Agency were estimated around $75-100 million, Lieber said. 

Nightmare at New York City subway! Passengers jumping through a gushing waterfall. Unbelievable! #Ida #Hurricane #NY #nycwx #NYC #flooding #nycsubway #Philadelphia #Nj #ViralVideo #climate #weather pic.twitter.com/G6ggHMIhsj

— pragiya (@ucatchpragiya) September 2, 2021

Like Santiago, Bushwick resident Alex Etling also struggled to get home during the flooding, although at first, he didn’t anticipate the severity of the damage.

“I was heading home on the L train, got off at the Jefferson stop, and heard the massive rush of water across the platform as soon as the doors opened,” Etling said. “I didn’t have a specific backup plan … The city so rarely shuts down the subway, I wasn’t expecting any major issues, though I likely should have given the severity of the storm.”

New pump trains, grouting, station ventilators, pump rooms and deep wells are some of the ways the MTA is working to reduce the flood damage, according to an MTA spokesperson. But New York residents aren’t confident anything will improve.

“I’ve told the MTA at least eight to 10 times about 36 Street’s ginormous leak like a waterfall, [and at] 86 Street, the flood waters [are] pushing the train to its side before entering the station,” Santiago said. “They never reply or just say ‘We’ll let station maintenance know’ and nothing changes.”

Over 20 subway lines were suspended due to the flood left in Ida’s wake. 

A torrent of water poured into a New York subway station Wednesday night as remnants of #HurricaneIda unleashed dangerous flash floods and tornadoes across the Northeast https://t.co/fYrX9zQKqi pic.twitter.com/ekke5dbANJ

— CNN (@CNN) September 2, 2021

“The subway system is not a submarine,” Lieber said. “It cannot be made impervious to water. We just need to limit how quickly it can get into the system and help the city to figure out how to do more drainage at the street level.”

As more rain fell, the city’s sewers could not contain the amount of water, and thus entered the subway system as a second sewage network, the MTA spokesperson said. 

“I love the subways but it’s really tough when it fails you and all they say is ‘Sorry’ and do it again,” Santiago said. “These issues are continuing to persist with no fix.” 

Before a flood or severe weather, the MTA prepares by placing pumps with portable generators and making sure ventilators are covered, according to the MTA. 

Additionally, the MTA has installed raised vent gratings and water flow moderators at 25 stations that have been hit consistently when storms happen. Vent cleaning has also been implemented in 40,000 locations as part of the MTA’s Subway Action Plan amounting to over $130 million. 

Santiago said the flooding has gotten worse, calling it a “toxic combination” of both climate change and wear and tear of the infrastructure.  

“There’s [electricity], there’s water, there’s rats, garbage,” he said. “This is dangerous … It’s beyond okay to just ignore the climate crisis and its effect on the MTA.”

Etling also blamed the floods’ severity on climate change. 

“The subway system in NYC is also very old, with many systems in disrepair and maintained with very old parts,” he said. “I think after [Hurricane] Sandy, flooding in the subway is taken more seriously, but overall, I don’t think New York City is adequately prepared for the effects of climate change.” 

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“Cancel Carmine’s! Cancel Carmine’s! Cancel Carmine’s,” protesters chanted.

The three Black women from Humble, Texas were arrested  on Sept. 16 after a punching and shoving an Asian Carmine’s hostess who they claimed used a racial slur.

Originally, the hostess told police the women would not show their vaccination cards resulting in the altercation, according to NYPD spokesperson detective Sophia Mason.

But the footage told another story.

Three men, two of which could not show their proof of vaccination, tried to join the women, who were already seated inside, but were not granted entry. 

The women then went outside to meet the men and claimed the 24-year-old  hostess began yelling racial expletives at them, according to Justin Moore, the women’s attorney. 

Then, a fight broke out.

One of the women grabbed the hostess by the shirt and appeared to push and hit her. Employees tried to break up the fight. The video footage did not have sound, so it was unclear if the hostess said any racial expletive. She was also wearing a mask. The two other hostess at the podium were a Black woman and a Latina.

According to police the hostess was “struck” multiple times with “closed fists” and suffered from scratches and bruises on her face, chest and arm.  An employee suffered a concussion, but it’s not clear if it was the hostess or someone who tried to break up the fight.

The three women — Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44, Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, and Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49, were charged with assault and criminal mischief, according to police.

New York City  is the first big city to require proof of vaccination to access indoor eateries.  Any business that does not comply could face a $1,000 fine.

Carmine’s released a statement denying the  incident had anything to do with racism. 

“Last week’s violence against our staff had nothing to do with race, despite a Texas criminal defense lawyer’s false assertions to the contrary,” said Jeffrey Bank, the restaurant said in a statement. “None of the attackers offered any reason for their attack. None of the hosts – all of whom are people of color – uttered a racial slur.” 

Chivona Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, called vaccine passports racist.  Covid deaths in America have soared past 695,000. Black and Hispanics have larger deaths rates  in every age category.

“We know that any law created in this racist system disproportionately affects Black people, specifically Black women,” she said. “But what the terrible thing is, in this city, the most diverse city, what we like to call a melting pot, a Black woman can’t even get a plate of lasagna. … A vaccination passport is not a free passport for racism.”

Protesters called for the charges against the women to be dropped, the hostess to be fired and an apology to be released by Carmine’s. Moore said the hostess should be charged for filing a false police report.

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“When I get sick with anything I get sicker than anybody else would,” Decherd said. “I want to be there for my students, I want to be there for me, for my family, for my colleagues. But it is not safe.” 

Even though Decherd received his Covid-19 vaccine, his body did not produce the antibodies needed to fight off the virus, leaving him, essentially, unvaccinated. 

In July and August, Decherd applied for a medical exemption to be able to teach remotely for the 2021-2022 school year. Because of his severely depleted immune system, Covid-19 has the potential to kill him. Still, New York denied his application — twice.

“It didn’t really seem like they even read [my applications],” he said.

The United Federation of Teachers filed an arbitration to defend educators, like Decherd, who had their religious or medical exemption rejected by the city, but finalized plans are still being negotiated. 

“The reason for the denial is illegal, period,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in a news conference Friday. “And the way they did it, by not engaging an individual, it was also illegal.” 

The city and the UFT hope to come to an agreement by Sept. 27 — a date that already has a pre-existing deadline for educators to get their first vaccination dose. 

But on Sept. 10, arbitrator Martin Scheinman released his decision. Scheinman ruled that teachers would be granted permission to temporarily teach remotely, if the exemption was approved. Educators who needed an accommodation were asked to reapply.

The decision also stated that the remote teaching option could change to a different assignment entirely, noting that educators could potentially be moved to doing work for the Department of Education. 

“I obviously didn’t get into teaching to do something else other than teach,” Decherd said. “But there’s other issues. It’s not safe for me to be on public transportation. It’s not safe for me to be in a building with people who are not my family.” 

On the evening of Sept. 12, two days after the arbitration decision, Decherd received an email from the Office of Disability Accommodations stating that his medical exemption had been approved, after applying for the third time. 

“We are reaching out to you because you have been medically approved for a COVID-19 vaccination mandate-related exemption or accommodation,” the notification email read. “This means that you will be given an assignment to work outside of a school building (e.g., administrative offices) to perform academic or administrative work determined by the DOE.”  

The email said the DOE would notify Decherd when, where and what his new assignment would be, but until then, he has the ability to teach from home. 

“Essentially we won our argument, that also places negotiations in this particular place,” Decherd said. “At least hopefully, on my part, it allows room to say ‘there are other problems with this [reassignment].’” 

Decherd hopes that he can remain teaching remotely, as going into an office, even with less people, is still dangerous. He said he could even teach students who were medically vulnerable like himself. 

“But, I’m not holding my breath quite honestly that that would be the case,” Decherd said. “My hope is that we can truly negotiate and say ‘Yeah, that’s not a very good idea for me.’ and I can just continue to teach remotely from my home.”

The city was also prepared to take employees off of payroll if they were unable to go to school for any reason — vaccinated or unvaccinated, Mulgrew said. 

“It’s all garbage and disgraceful,” he said. “When the city put on the table that they would recognize someone’s legal right to an exemption or accommodation, but still wanted them removed from payroll, we then knew that we had to challenge the order because that is illegal.” 

Decherd is upset not only about his own situation, but also for what the city is putting his coworkers and family through. 

“I’m obviously upset on my behalf, but I’m also upset on all those other people’s behalf as well,” he said. “It seems very, very unreasonable and I’m really mad about it.” 

 The Department of Education could not be reached for comment. 

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With the pandemic implementing additional restrictions on restaurants, local businesses, like Mitroni’s Celeste, have been forced to change their business models, adding more costs on top of already rising prices. 

“Food costs have gone up 40%,” Mitroni, 59, said. “I go to Home Depot and get wood [for plastic dividers], then there’s delivery. You have all these trays and paper and all this stuff. That’s gone up. All these things that you didn’t need before in mass quantities.” 

Carmine Mitroni, 59, has owned Italian restaurant Celeste, located on 84th and Amsterdam Ave., since 2002. Photo by Laura Studley.

Mitroni said before COVID, delivery was less than 3% of his business, but now it makes up half of the revenue, due to having only 20 tables at the restaurant. 

To offset costs, Mitroni said he wants to open earlier for happy hour, but there aren’t enough workers available to sustain longer hours. 

“We’re all short staffed,” he said. “There’s no personnel. Now, people can’t pay their rent, me being one of them. I’m able to make payroll. But I’m not making any money … I’m surviving, I’m keeping 18 people employed. That’s all.”

Now, restaurants are required to ask for vaccination cards along with a valid form of identification from every customer looking to dine in. The policy originally began on Aug. 17, but as of Sept. 13, businesses may be fined if they are not enforcing the mandate. 

“I’ve gotta be a bouncer,” Mitroni said. “You should have your license, it’s not enough to see your COVID vaccination. I have to actually see the photo ID. Either school, government, passport or driver’s license, how insane is that?”

And Mitroni is not alone. On Aug. 17, a group of small businesses filed a lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city of New York, in hopes to stop the vaccine requirement. 

“The Executive Order has rendered it impossible for anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated, for whatever reason, to work in the designated industries, wholly depriving them of their livelihood,” according to the lawsuit. 

Mitroni said the pandemic has made people “slaves” to the government, placing an impossible task on restaurants, noting that the regulations for businesses geared toward larger businesses and restaurant groups, something Celeste is not. 

“You can’t say we can’t serve anybody inside, but you’re allowing the cross town bus to be full,” Mitroni said. “There’s a dichotomy. I’m putting up barriers, sanitizing, cleaning everything, but people can have a private party in their apartment with 20 people and nobody’s going to enforce it.”

Data from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office from Dec. 2020 showed that restaurants and bars were responsible for 1.43% of COVID infection, the lawsuit said. This, compared to the 73.84% from in-home get-togethers. 

Celeste opened a year after 9/11 in 2002, a venture he called a “momentary lapse in sanity.” He intended it to be a model of a trattoria in Naples or Rome where customers had to move out of the way to let someone into their table. 

“Those days are gone,” Mitroni said. “I’ve lost customers because people are afraid to dine in.” 

Despite the COVID struggles, Mitroni continues his commitment to the food and the UWS community. Mitroni hopes that he will be able to have more personnel and business next May, but is uncertain. 

“I could be in Midtown where there’s no theatres or offices open,” he said. “It could be a lot worse.”

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