Issue No. 7: Legalize it (again) 🥦 but illegalize broker fees 💸
You want to get high, so high. But you also don't want to break the law. Well, that's your prerogative we guess. This was of course not supposed to be an issue in New York by late summer 2023, and yet instead of your pantry being stocked with stick icky, freezers upstate are full of New York farmer-grown weedcicles that might expire before they ever hit shelves. What gives? Our pal David Meyer is here to walk you through the hazy present and future of legal pot in New York State, which is currently tied up in the courts as a judge weighs in on whether state rules giving a head start to people most impacted by the war on weed are being enforced correctly. What a buzzkill. And while you could, maybe even have, hit the illegal exotic shop down the block, don't rush to the ZaZa Hut again so soon: you may be getting primo Cali shit there, but your plug might be exposing you to more mold than you want to smoke. And hey did you know the legal stores have a return policy?
Can't break the brokers
As little as three years ago, we thought we were about to enter a paradise where broker fees were sent to the land of wind and ghosts. Then reality set in in the form of a court order barring a state law that had aimed to do away with the nefarious housing costs. But as Virginia explains today, even as a new local effort to trash the fees makes its way through the City Council, a "broker's fee" could still come in the form of a higher overall listed rent or, in a particularly hot real estate market (New York, New York baby), even in the form of prospective tenants overbidding for their own possible apartments. It's just never easy, is it?
Sponsored: The wedding party of the year, no gifts required
Dust off that bridesmaid's dress you were forced to buy: You're cordially invited to the first Not My Wedding Dance Party on Sept. 18! It's a wedding reception without all the fuss, so leave the fine china and family expectations at the door, because we're here to boogie and let loose with other hot people on the dance floor. There will be toasts, there will be balloon arches, there will be cake and there will be booze. Plus, the host is ordained, in case anyone meets a cutie and wants to make it their wedding after all. Sept. 8, Littlefield, 8pm-1am, $5 advance, $8 doors.
⚾️Take meat out to the ball game⚾️
This baseball season has been a real dud for New York fans so last week we asked about what food you pack for games to make the experience better. About 1/3 of you were surprised to find out that you can even bring your own grub into Citi Field or Yankee Stadium. "This is my favorite 'live like a local' tip to share with others," wrote one reader who's been doing this for decades with tortas from Corona, pork bao and duck buns from Flushing or leftover fried chicken and potato salad from home. "But my usual is just a classic bodega deli sandwich, especially in high summer." One old-school Mets fan recalled bringing a whole pizza into Shea.
Another reader wrote "my Queens cousins preheat dogs (and buns) and wrap them in tinfoil" and use the Citi Field condiment dispensers (which went away after COVID, sadly). One Yankee fan said their family is partial to the giant sandwiches from Pastosa’s Ravioli: "It’s an easy stop for my family of resettled multigenerational Yankees fans driving in from south Brooklyn and New Jersey." But they warn: don't try to bring in an apple or orange, Yankee security considers them "projectiles."
Stems and seeds
- Con Edison is really putting the "con" into Con Ed, fumbling and bumbling its way through a community solar-power system that's supposed to provide credits to customers who subscribe to off-site solar power for their homes. Even a year after the initial problem was diagnosed, almost 5,000 New Yorkers are still not getting the discounts owed.
- Cigarette taxes are going up from $4.35 per pack to $5.35 per pack starting on September 1, unless of course you know the magic words at the right locations, something you're going to have to figure out on your own or learn from a different newsletter.
- Hell Gate went to the hell that is a Staten Island rally against a migrant shelter and came away with what you might have figured you get at that kind of scene: Curtis Sliwa, unclear demands to emigrate here "the right way," unfounded fears of the dreaded Antifa and calls for secession. Don't forget you can help out some vulnerable new New Yorkers instead of carrying an American flag and screaming at them.
- Mayor Eric Adams wants to sit down with the City Council to "reexamine" the law mandating the closure of Rikers Island by 2027. The Council isn't buying it so far, but it's not what you want with under four years to go before the dysfunctional island jail complex is supposed to be shuttered.
- You're running out of time to visit this amazing 1980's time capsule lobby on Wall Street.
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