Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll look at how people in New York City are dealing with inflation. We’ll also get details on major changes planned for the notoriously chaotic area around Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn.
People in New York City don’t need studies or official reports to tell them that inflation is complicating American life. They can see it in the prices of groceries or a bacon, egg and cheese. ($5? Really?) There are some long-term solutions: Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans to open a city-owned grocery store in East Harlem before the end of his term. But what about right now? We asked several people how they were dealing with higher costs. See all the responses here. Olivia Schick, 24“Cigarettes — I think they’re now like $25 to $27, up from $20 in 2024. I’m less likely to hand them out to my friends when they’re bugging me at night.”
Olivia Schick said inflation was affecting her work as a costume assistant because importing fabrics had become much more expensive. In her personal life in the Boerum Hill area of Brooklyn, she has cut back on fun. “I’m being more frugal with spending on leisure — bars, concerts and a lot of extracurriculars, like getting nails done,” she said. “And I’m probably laying a closer eye at the grocery store than I otherwise would.” Jamil Karimi“My wife told me to get tomatoes, garlic and other things. It was $3.50 a pound for tomatoes, and it used to be 89 cents.”
Jamil Karimi runs a coffee cart on West 39th Street near Times Square. Supporting his wife, 17-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son has become more difficult, he said, and he feels his daughter’s impending move to college weighing on his mind. As inflation has increased, his business has decreased, he said, with commuters cutting back on costs like a coffee and a doughnut on their walk to work. “I worry about the future. Business is getting slow,” he said. “Everybody is worried about their future, especially when you have a family.” Candice Harte, 38“It’s hard because we can try to cook at home more, but at this point it costs the same as eating out.”
Candice Harte, who lives in New Jersey and works in human resources in Midtown Manhattan, said she and her fiancé had started doing at-home date nights, opting for movies on the couch instead of at the cinema. “We do movie night and get popcorn and candy and things like that,” she said. “Popcorn and candy at the movies costs a million dollars, so might as well do it at home.” WEATHER Expect sunny skies and a high near 81. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low near 65. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until May 14 (Solemnity of the Ascension). QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s not a fulfillment of a showbiz dream. It’s about how are we going to tell the story.” — Jeremy Herrin, the director of “Every Brilliant Thing,” a play that enlists audience members to take part in the interactive show starring Daniel Radcliffe, the lead of the “Harry Potter” movies. The latest New York news
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A treacherous stretch of road surrounding Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn may be set for some big changes, my colleague Stefanos Chen reported on Monday. Under a plan by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, cars would be banned from the parts of the plaza that border Prospect Park on the southern end of the plaza, from Union Street to Eastern Parkway, doing away with a forbidding four-lane crossing. “Anyone who’s tried to cross here knows how dangerous and chaotic the streets can be,” Mamdani said in a statement. He described the new plan, which would include upgraded bike lanes and walking paths, as a “street design that puts safety first.” It is expected to significantly reduce the number of crossings — to 24, down from 39 — where pedestrians and cyclists have to dodge cars, and add about three-quarters of an acre of public space to the plaza, a 42 percent expansion. A project timeline and budget have not yet been finalized, and the Department of Transportation declined to say whether the project would be completed during the mayor’s term. The city will hold a number of public workshops to get feedback on the plaza project later this month. You can see a map of the plan here. METROPOLITAN DIARY Morningside Park
Dear Diary: My dog Cracker knows what time his midday walk is supposed to be. If I am too involved in my work, he first sits at my side and then whines. Eventually, he stands and pats me on the arm until I surrender. One day last December, we were unusually late leaving for Morningside Park. When we got there, we had missed our window, and Cracker had no dogs to frolic with. Feeling guilty, I took a longer path home to make it up to him. We had just passed the stairs leading up toward Columbia University when we came to a standstill. Cracker had tangled his leash around my legs. As I unspooled it, I saw a buzzard on a dead tree branch no more than 20 feet away. The bird’s plumage matched the color of the tree so well that I thought it was a plastic decoy. But I could also see its feathers curling in the wind. It stared straight back at us. Cracker would not stop circling me. A young man approached, speaking loudly on his phone. Our eyes met. I gestured for him to hush, then pointed at the buzzard. He began to take pictures. Then Cracker spotted a woman with a dachshund. Within seconds, his leash and the dachshund’s were enmeshed. Within minutes, the group grew to 10 people, many with dogs we had never met before. The buzzard never flinched. — Frederic Colier Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
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