New York Today: Central Park’s Newest Wheels
Updated, 9:00 a.m.
Good morning on this warming Wednesday.
It might not be as easy to detect on days when the green is shrouded in a blanket of white, but Central Park is really, really clean.
That’s because Central Park Conservancy workers scoot around the premises seven days a week, picking up litter and emptying the trash cans.
This month, these miracle workers will descend on the park in a brand new fleet of 52 electric garbage carts.
We had a chance to see the carts up close at the 79th Street maintenance yard — where they were lined up like soldiers ready for battle — and took a ride in one with Nick Marotta.
Mr. Marotta has been working in Central Park for 13 years, surveying the grounds for garbage on his daily route: “59th to 72nd Street, east, west, north, south.”
He told us that the carts are a big step up from the old gas-powered vehicles: no more noise and no more fumes. They’re sleeker and are considered more environmentally friendly.
(Before those gas-powered carts, the park’s roads were filled with giant garbage trucks that, between emissions and pedestrian hazards, did more harm than good to the park.)
The electric carts that you will soon see skedaddling around the lawns, meadows and playgrounds are just the latest in a decades-long transformation of trash management.
In the 1980s, when the park welcomed 12 million visitors a year, the place was filthy.
“Years ago, this was basically the place where you’d dump everything,” said Douglas Blonsky, the park’s administrator and the president and chief executive of the conservancy.
But today, with 42 million guests annually, it is nearly spotless.
“The public comes into the park and sees how beautiful it is, but they may take it for granted,” Mr. Blonksy added. “They don’t understand there’s a huge team of people working here 24 hours a day to keep this place as beautiful as it is.”
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
TOMORROW: 
59° 45°
59° 45°
The sun will also be tidying things up today.
“Good news for the snow haters,” said Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “The warmer weather will melt a lot of the snow that’s left.”
It’s the start of a trend.
Tomorrow a high of 58 is on tap.
It’s all temporary, of course. It should be chilly again by the weekend.
In the News
• An activist wants a West Village building to be a prayer house, to be owned and operated by the Lenape Indians. [New York Times]
• Has Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign to eliminate traffic fatalities stalled? [New York Times]
• Gov. Chris Christie said he would focus on New Jersey’s drug epidemic during his final year in office. [New York Times]
• Citi Bike plans to install a safety light on some bicycles that will project an image of a cyclist 20 feet ahead of the rider. [New York Post]
• The city is being sued for not providing a 911 texting service. [CBS]
• Most of the bus stops that were relocated during the construction of the Second Avenue subway will be restored on their original routes by the end of the month, officials said. [DNAinfo]
• New York State Health Department ads will no longer appear on the right-wing news and opinion website Breitbart. [New York Post]
• The New York Cosmos soccer team might move from Long Island to the city. [Crain’s New York]
• Elizabeth Bradley, a global health expert, will be Vassar College’s new president. [New York Times]
• Steven McDonald, a police officer who was shot by a 15-year-old but forgave the assailant, has died at 59. [New York Times]
• After a tumultuous childhood, Julio Reyes is working toward a degree in accounting at Binghamton University. [New York Times]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “That’s What You Get for Putting Your Sneakers in the Dryer”
• Scoreboard: Hawks tear through Nets, 117-97.
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Wednesday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• The New York Jewish Film Festival begins at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Times vary, schedule here. [$14]
• “Memory Metamorphosis: An Exhibition on Palestinian Memory,” which explores aspects of the Palestinian diaspora through art, at the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at N.Y.U. Noon to 8 p.m. [Free]
• Honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Civic Responsibility Then and Now, a talk on what civic engagement means in 2017. 6:30 p.m. at the Brooklyn Historical Society. [$5]
• Ever tried dancing in the water? Jump into an aqua aerobics cardio class at St. Mary’s Recreation Center in the Bronx. 6:30 p.m. [Registration required]
• Looking ahead: Watch some Magic After Hours, with the magician Noah Levine, on Thursday evening at Tannen’s Magic in Herald Square. [$35, tickets here]
• Islanders host Panthers, 7 p.m. (MSG+). Knicks at 76ers, 7 p.m. (MSG).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
C trains are running with delays.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Jan. 16.
And Finally...
Nearly 110 years ago, New York City made it illegal for women to smoke in public.
“Will the ladies rebel, as the ladies of New Amsterdam did when Peter Stuyvesant ordered them to wear broad flounces?” one New York Times article asked in January 1908.
The ban elicited heated reactions. Some were all for it, while others called it unconstitutional. Some said that if women were prohibited, everybody should be. And some felt that the board should spend its time on more pressing issues, like cracking down on speeding cars.
Those who disobeyed the ordinance — including business owners who allowed women to smoke — could be thrown in prison or fined $5 to $25.
“I’ve got as much right to smoke as you have,” said one woman, who was arrested after she lit a cigarette on the Bowery, as she was taken to her jail cell. “No man shall dictate me.”
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P.C: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/nyregion/new-york-today-central-park-conservancy-electric-garbage-carts.html
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