New York Today: The Morning After a Steam Pipe Explosion

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/nyregion/new-york-today-steam-pipe-explosion.html

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Updated, 6:54 a.m.

Good morning on this clear Friday.

A steam pipe exploded underneath a street in the Flatiron district of Manhattan on Thursday morning.

No one was seriously injured, but 49 buildings were evacuated along Fifth Avenue between 19th and 22nd Streets and some residents in the area could be displaced for days. Tests found that the thick, white smoke and debris from the explosion contained asbestos, which has raised health concerns.

Con Edison is accepting bagged clothing from people who were in the immediate area, which is considered 500 feet east or west of Fifth Avenue on 20th and 21st Streets, and 100 feet north and south on Fifth Avenue.

Times and locations for clothing drop-off are expected to be updated throughout the morning on the Con Edison website, and claims forms will be available at those sites for people to request compensation for their clothes.

Expect traffic delays in the vicinity of the affected area this morning, and leave yourself extra time to commute. There are service changes and detours for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus lines and routes.

The city’s steam system is the largest in the world, running from the Battery up to 96th Street on the West Side and from downtown to 89th Street on the East Side, with 104 miles of steam piping, according to Allan Drury, a Con Edison spokesman.

Thursday’s explosion reminded New Yorkers of another steam pipe blast on the same day in 2007, in which a person was killed and more than 30 were hurt.

Here’s what else is happening:

Ending the week on a high note — to the tune of 83 and sunny.

But the weekend might be a wash, with heavy rain expected on Saturday night and most of Sunday.

Not a bad one to read, relax and catch up on sleep.

• A 60-year-old man has told the police that Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a close family friend, had repeatedly molested him for years, beginning when he was 13. [New York Times]

• Residents of Hoboken, N.J., don’t mind a fleet of commuter ferries based in their backyard, just not on their park-lined riverfront. [New York Times]

• Representative Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn is likely to replace Joe Crowley as chairman of the House Democratic Party. [New York Times]

• Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan has had a record year. And though costs continue to rise, his administration believes it’s worth it. [New York Times]

• Four years after Eric Garner’s death, disciplinary hearings are set to begin against the officer who fatally choked him. [New York Times]

• Todd R. Howe, the disgraced former lobbyist who was jailed after admitting that he had attempted to commit fraud after striking a cooperation deal with prosecutors, could soon be released on bail. [New York Times]

• A Brooklyn man was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting of Carey Gabay, an aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, at the J’ouvert festival in 2015. [New York Times]

• Mayor de Blasio has given the go-ahead for bike lines in Sunnyside, despite some objection from community members. [Queens Tribune]

• City Council passed a bill that would allow inmates on Rikers Island to make phone calls without charge. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

• The muralist Mohammed Ali, known as Aerosol, dishes on his immersive exhibit on Bangladeshi restaurant workers, “Knights of the Raj,” opening today at the Museum of Food and Drink. [Metro.US]

• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Playing Hooky at the Waldorf”

• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.

• Taste of East Harlem, a food festival showcasing the neighborhood’s culinary diversity, in Union Settlement’s community garden at 237 East 104th Street. 6 p.m. [Tickets start at $30]

• The rock musician Dion performs at St. George Theatre on Staten Island. 8 p.m. [Tickets start at $59]

• Golden Girls, a late-night tribute concert to Beyoncé, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. 11:30 p.m. [$15]

• Outdoor movie night: “Fences” and “Lullaby of Broadway” in Manhattan; “Southside With You” in Queens; “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “The Fate of the Furious” in Brooklyn; “Flubber” and “Wonder Woman” on Staten Island; and “Coco” in the Bronx. Times vary. [Free]

• Mets vs. Yankees, 7:05 p.m. (SNY).

• Watch “The New York Times Close Up,” featuring the Op-Ed columnist Bret Stephens, the Metro reporter Corey Kilgannon and other guests. Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on CUNY-TV.

• Alternate-side parking remains in effect until Aug. 15.

• Weekend travel hassles: Check subway disruptions and a list of street closings.

Saturday

• Outdoor morning yoga: Rockaway Beach, Socrates Sculpture Park and Hunters Point South Park in Queens; Hudson Yards, Fort Tryon Park and Target East Harlem Community Garden in Manhattan; Garden of Hope and Jane Bailey Memorial Garden in Brooklyn. Times vary. [Free]

• Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World, a festival celebrating the musician’s cultural legacy in New York and beyond, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. 4 p.m. [Free]

• South Slope Summer Stroll brings a giant block party — with a dog fashion show, roller disco skating party and empanada eating contest — to Park Slope in Brooklyn. 5 to 9 p.m. [Free]

• Aloha Nights, a viewing of Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i with music, hula lessons and lei-making demos, at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. [$38]

• Mets vs. Yankees, 1:05 p.m. (YES). Liberty host Washington Mystics, 3 p.m. Red Bulls host New England Revolution, 7 p.m. (MSG).

Sunday

• OzyFest, a weekendlong event featuring Chelsea Handler, Malcolm Gladwell and others, continues with music, talks and comedy at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Times and ticket prices vary.

• Laughter in the Park, a weekly comedy series by NYLaughs.org, brings two hours of stand-up to Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. 2 p.m. [Free]

• The Classical Theatre of Harlem presents “Antigone,” putting an Afropunk twist on the Greek tragedy, at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. 8:30 p.m. [Free]

• Looking ahead: On Monday, TimesTalks welcomes the comedians Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, the hosts of “2 Dope Queens,” for a conversation with the New York Times’s gender editor, Jessica Bennett. [Tickets]

• Mets vs. Yankees, 8:05 p.m. (ESPN).

• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

After the news of apparent shark attacks off Fire Island this week, we wanted to know: Are sharks common here?

Very much so.

Twenty-six species of sharks have been documented in New York waters, according to Jon Forrest Dohlin, the director of the New York Aquarium and a vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

They range from smaller, coastal sharks near land — spiny dogfish, sandbar and sand tiger sharks, for example — to larger great white, blue and mako sharks in the open ocean (pelagic sharks).

Two of the sharks caught Thursday off Fire Island were sand tigers, according to Tobey Curtis, a fishery management specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

In the case of those incidents, Mr. Dohlin said, “there were a lot of baitfish coming in — the kind of small fish that small sharks or dolphins would be coming into the surf to get at.”

“Sharks do not target human beings,” he added.

But there are sharks — not among those discovered this week off Fire Island — that prey on marine mammals that are roughly our size. Those episodes, which more frequently affect scuba divers or surfers further offshore, can be more dangerous.

“Typically, the kinds of incidents we hear about are in that zone where marine mammals are found, in the waves,” Mr. Dohlin said. “The most common explanation for those kinds of attacks is that you’re surrounded by marine mammals, and you get hit as an accident.”

But by the numbers, confrontations with sharks are rare.

The International Shark Attack File, a database housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History, traces centuries of shark attacks around the world. In New York, according to the file, there have been only 10 verifiable unprovoked attacks since 1837. (In New Jersey, 15.)

“From where I stand, we’re not in danger if we go to the beach here in New York,” Mr. Dohlin said. “We are, however, in danger if we lose sharks in ocean habitats because they are important to ocean health.”

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