Good evening New York City,

I hope you and your family had a wonderful long weekend and a restful end to May. I loved spending time with New Yorkers around the boroughs, whether it was joining in on festivities at the National Puerto Rican Day Festival, kicking off Pride Month with our LGBTQ+ Staten Islanders and allies, or speaking with our neighbors in Bed-Stuy at the Black Veterans for Social Justice’s Memorial Day Parade.

This week, we’ve been Getting Stuff Done for you at City Hall, such as:

Fostering conversations between grassroots rat control groups and the City’s fearless Rat Czar Kathleen Corradi to squeak-out real results in the realm of rodent mitigation.
Distributing free bikes to underserved Staten Island children and adults in a partnership with Staten Island FerryHawks, Bike New York, and Project Hospitality.
Continuing to accept applications for Cooling Assistance, our program to get free air conditioners and fans to New Yorkers with a benefit of up to $1,000. Whether you have an old appliance or never had one at all, we encourage you to check your eligibility and apply.
Naming a new Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives, Ana Almanzar! She’s NYC’s first Dominican deputy mayor, and she’ll be focused on advancing child care, early childhood education, youth employment, and food policy.

✨ 🌇 Sights set on summer 🌇 ✨

It’s starting to feel like summer in New York, so let’s get into what you should know, free events to check out this week, and how to have a fantastic June as we stride into Pride.

↳ Three initiatives to know:

Combating size discrimination – Your height and weight shouldn't matter when you’re job searching, out on the town, or trying to get an apartment. We proudly made size discrimination illegal to level the playing field and create a more comfortable and inclusive city for all.
Jamaica Neighborhood Plan – We rolled out a comprehensive plan to create affordable housing, bring in new jobs, upgrade public spaces, make street design safer for pedestrians, and enhance weather resilient infrastructure in Jamaica, Queens.
College Choice – We’re empowering NYC students in foster care to attend college. College Choice is an excellent initiative that removes barriers for our young New Yorkers in foster care by covering tuition, coaching, tutoring, housing and a stipend following graduation.

↳ In case you missed it:

It’s Hurricane Season – Don’t let extreme weather rock you like a hurricane this summer. Be prepared by locating your evacuation zone ahead of time, making an emergency plan with your family, and saving NYC Emergency Management’s guide to weather hazard preparedness. Planning ahead is the most reliable way to navigate a hurricane, so please take a few minutes today to create your plan.

↳ 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 Friday livestream, available on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

↳ FREE events this weekend:

Bronx: Attend a musical demonstration of salsa’s history
Brooklyn: Learn how to grow Afro-Indigenous vegetables and grains
Manhattan: Enjoy a screening of Straight Outta Compton
Queens: Watch a traditional Korean dance and music performance
Staten Island: Take an archery lesson for the first time

☞ Of note: June is Pride Month! There’s a variety of exciting free events to celebrate and support our LGBTQ+ New Yorkers throughout the month in all five boroughs with the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, and NYC Parks. From speaker series to social gatherings to silent discos, I know you’ll find something great.

Staten Island’s Pride Center kicked off NYC’s Pride parades this past weekend, and there will be a Pride parade every weekend in June! Celebrate in your borough: Queens (Sun 6/4), Brooklyn (Sat 6/10), Bronx (Sat 6/17), Manhattan (Sun 6/25).

Don’t forget to read up on LGBTQ+ American history this month – a lot of important events happened right here in New York City, like the Stonewall Uprising. NYC Public Schools has an incredible educational resource guide on everything you should know!

🌞 How to have the best NYC summer

Every New Yorker has a different idea of the perfect summer. For some, it means keeping kids out of trouble, engaged, and busy. For others, it means exploring New York like never before. This week, I wrote an op-ed in amNY about how we’re making summer in New York City the best it’s ever been – covering everything from new park investments, to free kid-friendly activities, to Citi Biking.

🎨 Culture Pass to NYC institutions

Your idea of the perfect New York summer may include museums, but not museum prices. That’s where Culture Pass comes in. You'll get free access to 80+ cultural institutions when you sign up. You never know when you might want to take a free trip to the Whitney Museum of American Art or Brooklyn Botanic Garden, so I recommend securing your pass now.

🎥 Tribeca Festival is back

In 2002, Tribeca Festival began as a showcase of films by and for New Yorkers to bring liveliness, culture, and community back to Lower Manhattan following 9/11. Now, it brings in around 150,000 attendees for hundreds of screenings, performances, and experience, and it’s coming back 6/7-6/18!

Check out TimeOut’s guide to the festival to learn more about this year’s events.

Before you go, did you know…

This summer we’re hosting over 300 free outdoor film screenings as part of Movies Under the Stars? In parks across all five boroughs, you can see recent releases, must-sees, and forever favorites, such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Sun Is Also A Star, and Finding Nemo. Grab a blanket, snacks, and your friends and family to make a wonderful evening with this fantastic NYC Parks program!

🎬 🎬 🎬

Hope you have a lovely weekend, New York! If you can, get outside, enjoy the warm weather, and take advantage of everything NYC has to offer.

Your Mayor,

Eric

P.S. Have a question, comment, or request? Contact my office here. I look forward to hearing from you.