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It’s Thursday.
Weather: Occasional showers, with afternoon thunderstorms. High in the mid-70s.
Alternate-side parking: Suspended today for Orthodox Holy Thursday and tomorrow for Orthodox Holy Friday.
Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller and a candidate for mayor, now faces accusations of sexual assault.
Jean Kim, above, who said that she worked on Mr. Stringer’s 2001 campaign for public advocate, said that Mr. Stringer “repeatedly groped me, put his hands on my thighs and between my legs” without consent.
Mr. Stringer denied Ms. Kim’s account, saying that they had a consensual relationship for a few months.
[Ms. Kim said that Mr. Stringer warned her not to tell anyone about his advances.]
Here’s what you need to know:
The accusations
Ms. Kim said at a news conference yesterday that she did not speak out earlier because she feared that Mr. Stringer would “destroy my career in politics.”
“I am coming forward now because being forced to see him in my living room TV every day, pretending to be a champion for women’s rights, just sickens me,” Ms. Kim said.
Ms. Kim’s accusations come about eight weeks before the Democratic primary on June 22, which will likely determine the next mayor.
The response
At his own news conference, Mr. Stringer suggested that his relationship with Ms. Kim was friendly until 2013, when he did not give her a job on his campaign for comptroller.
(Ms. Kim’s lawyer said that she did not believe that Ms. Kim had applied for a job on Mr. Stringer’s campaign that year.)
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable,” Mr. Stringer told reporters. “I believe women have the right and should be encouraged to come forward. They must be heard. But this isn’t me. I didn’t do this.”
The context
Limited early polling shows Mr. Stringer in third place in the crowded mayoral field, behind Andrew Yang, the 2020 presidential candidate, and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president. But his campaign recently won some key endorsements, and allies said they were concerned that the accusations could damage his chances.
Mr. Stringer has cast himself as an ardent progressive in recent years. In March, he called for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who also faces allegations of sexual misconduct, to resign.
By yesterday afternoon, some of Mr. Stringer’s opponents were calling on him to drop out of the race.
From The Times
Cuomo Aides Spent Months Hiding Nursing Home Death Toll
New York Man Found Guilty of Threatening Democrats After Capitol Riot
Federal Investigators Search Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment and Office
N.Y.P.D. Robot Dog’s Run Is Cut Short After Fierce Backlash
New York’s Spring of Optimism: Finally, the Second Virus Wave Is Ebbing
Want more news? Check out our full coverage.
The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.
Make your voice heard: A recent wave of violence, including attacks in New York and California, has brought new attention to anti-Asian bias, what it means to be of Asian descent in the United States and what the term “Asian-American” means to the millions of people it aims to describe.
How does it feel to be Asian-American right now? The Times wants to know. Please leave a voice message or submit a response here.
What we’re reading
The electric motorbike service Revel plans to start an all-Tesla ride-hailing company in New York City, but the Taxi and Limousine Commission may not be on board. [The Verge]
The city’s public hospital system is providing coronavirus vaccinations and other medical care to the city’s street homeless population with three minibuses. [Gothamist]
Subway ridership is edging back up, but full-time workers who commute aren’t helping much, Metropolitan Transportation Authority numbers showed. [Daily News]
And finally: The battle to develop a South Street Seaport parking lot
The Times’s Michael Kimmelman writes:
As New York real estate sagas go, the battle over a parking lot at 250 Water Street in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport Historic District approximates the Thirty Years’ War.
You might ask how a landmarked oasis of quaint Americana came to include a huge surface parking lot that leaves a bizarre no-man’s land between the low-rise 19th-century storehouses lining Water to the east and the modern skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, west of Pearl.
A full explanation involves deals cut back in the day by local politicians appeasing NIMBY constituents who didn’t want their waterfront views blocked by a tower at 250 Water.
Now a new proposal from the Howard Hughes Corporation for a $1.4 billion, 470-foot-high mixed-use development is making its way through the city’s bureaucracy.
The plan initially envisioned 260 market-rate condos occupying the towers along with up to 100 subsidized units for tenants averaging 40 percent of the area’s median income, and funding for the South Street Seaport Museum.
Supporters and opponents of the development were vociferous at two Landmarks Preservation Commission hearings about it, and Hughes responded with a scaled-back plan. Another hearing is scheduled for May 4.
This may not be anyone’s ideal way to address the city’s affordable housing crisis or finance a cultural touchstone or build a skyscraper or a neighborhood.
But one thing is certain.
It’s better than a parking lot.
It’s Thursday — build on the past.
Metropolitan Diary: Spot saver
Dear Diary:
When my car is parked in a “good spot” — one that I wouldn’t have to give up to comply with alternate-side parking rules — I know that when I pull out in the morning for my teaching job in Connecticut, the doorman who works down the block will be waiting for me in his silver Subaru. It’s a parking dance that’s been going on for about 20 years.
One Thursday morning, I was in the car adjusting my mirrors and plugging in my phone when the doorman pulled alongside me with his passenger-side window down.
“Hey,” he said. “What time do you come back to the city?”
“Um, around 4:30 or 5,” I said.
“If you get here by 4, you can have the spot back,” he said.
I thanked him, thinking to myself that he had never asked that before. And as he backed up to give me room to pull out, it occurred to me that it would be an ideal time to ask his name.
After all these years, I still had no idea what it was.
— Kimberly Steinhorn
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
