Good evening New York City,

Happy first week of May! I hope you and your family got through last weekend’s rain alright. I know some neighborhoods were particularly affected, and I'm grateful for our City agencies who kept New Yorkers safe, informed, and supported.

Here at City Hall, we’ve spent our week Getting Stuff Done for you, such as:

Extending water bill debt forgiveness! You now have until 5/31 to apply. If you have an outstanding water bill, I encourage you to check your eligibility here.
Opening our Cooling Assistance application so New Yorkers can stay comfortable during hot summer months with free air conditioners and fans.
Hitting the streets to recruit passionate New Yorkers like you for open City jobs! I always enjoy meeting you all in person when I’m out flyering.
Getting free Apple AirTags to people in areas vulnerable to car thefts through an ABNY partnership. That way, victims can track their stolen car in real time.

☀️ 🌤 ⛅️ In play this May ⛅️ 🌤 ☀️

It’s the start of the month, which means it’s the start of even more City programs to make the place we love truly livable for all. Let’s get into what you should know and ways you can have a great start to May for free.

↳ Three initiatives to know this week:

Talk of the town – I'm an on-the-ground mayor, so making sure we can talk about what matters to you is a priority. I’m excited to announce Talk With Eric town halls! Along with some of my City Hall colleagues, we’re ready to engage in meaningful talks in a neighborhood near you.
Next stop: Broadway Junction – Serving more than 100,000 people every weekday, it’s one of Brooklyn’s busiest subway stations. In partnership with the MTA, we're investing $500M in station improvements, accessibility upgrades, and other benefits to the East New York community like affordable housing. This enhancement will generate $11.6B in economic impact and prioritize local hiring for the 2,300+ jobs it creates!
Home sweet home – We took empty land and turned it into a place New Yorkers can call home. I’m proud to share Astoria got a 100% affordable apartment building with 167 units! This is only the beginning of this project – once completed, there will be 2000 affordable units with amenities like updated playgrounds, modernized heating, and a new supermarket.

↳ In case you missed it:

Very merry ferry – The NYC Ferry hit its highest ridership EVER. With 1,000,000 passengers during the first 13 weeks of 2023, people are loving our affordable aquatic five borough transit.

↳ Don't forget:

Public questions for public safety – New Yorkers like you can submit questions for the weekly Friday public safety briefing here. Our leaders will answer these during the 12:45pm livestream, available on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

↳ FREE events this weekend:

Bronx: catch the shutterbug and learn to take manual digital photos.
Brooklyn: watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever outdoors.
Manhattan: join amateur astronomers to stargaze on the Hudson.
Queens: move and groove in good company at a silent disco.
Staten Island: play board, card, and video games with new friends.
BONUS: spend time with adorable therapy dogs on Randall’s Island.

☞ Of note this month: Throughout May, there are numerous free events to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.

From free film screenings to hands-on cultural immersion activities, check out the New York Public Library’s month-long programming. CUNY’s Asian American/Asian Research Institute also has a great aggregated list of free and budget-friendly events across the city every day.

NYC is home to America’s largest AAPI community by population, so take advantage of this celebratory month to engage, learn, and support our AAPI neighbors and friends.

💸 Putting the “fun” back in “funds”

New York State has a secure official form to retrieve YOUR lost money. There’s $17.5B in unclaimed funds, and some of that may very likely be yours. All you need to do is enter your name to check.

🚘 Double park, get a mark...

...on a new interactive map portal from the Department of Transportation! When you make a comment reporting double parking or unloading in the wrong place (like a bike lane), it gets added to the map. The DoT will use this data to tackle double parking and prioritize problem areas for allocating loading zones.

Before you go, did you know…

There's a Squirrel Census? You can browse data collected from 24 NYC parks, such as what individual squirrels looked like and what they were doing, and you can also call their hotline for a variety of satisfyingly squirrel-centric jokes, songs, information, fortune telling, and more.

🐿️ 🐿️ 🐿️

Have a fantastic start to your month, New York! May this May be a great one.

Your Mayor,

Eric

P.S. While you’ll have to wait until next week for a new Get Stuff Done-cast episode, you can listen to all podcast episodes here – covering everything from pizza to policy to philanthropy.