What you need to know for Friday and the weekend.
9/11 Tribute Lights Won’t Be Projected Into Sky This Year |
Weather: A chance of showers with a high in the mid-80s. Saturday will be sunny, and then rain may return on Sunday. |
 | | Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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Two columns of light that rise every Sept. 11 from a site near ground zero represent who is missing. This year, those beams will be gone, too. |
Since 2002, the Tribute in Light has marked the attacks on the twin towers: It features 88 specially made lights used to create the projections, which tower over New York City until dawn on Sept. 12. But on Thursday, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which is responsible for the tribute, announced that it was canceling the display this year because of the coronavirus crisis. |
Although people typically don’t crowd together to view the lights — which on a clear night can be seen from 60 miles away — a team of about 40 stagehands and electricians work closely on the installation for more than a week, Colin Moynihan reported in The Times. |
The decision to cancel was made “after concluding the health risks during the pandemic were far too great for the large crew,” Michael Frazier, a memorial and museum spokesman, said in a statement. |
Instead, the memorial and museum are planning an alternative tribute: Tall buildings across New York will illuminate their spires and facades with blue lights. |
The fallout from the pandemic has deeply affected the memorial and museum. Without visitors driving ticket sales, the organization resorted to layoffs and furloughs. Its outdoor memorial reopened on July 4, though the museum remains closed. |
A 115-year-old legal precedent gives New York State the authority to impose its travel quarantine restrictions, a federal judge found. [NBC New York] |
Teachers at a school in Queens with virtually no windows said they were worried about a lack of ventilation when their classrooms reopen in September. [Gothamist] |
What we’re watching: The subway is facing its worst financial crisis in decades. The Times’s Christina Goldbaum will discuss the transit system and the pandemic’s effect on it on “The New York Times Close Up With Sam Roberts.” The show airs on Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. [CUNY TV] |
And finally: A virtual social weekend |
The Times’s Melissa Guerrero writes: |
Although most performance spaces, museums and community centers are closed, people are finding creative ways to connect through virtual events and programs. Here are suggestions for maintaining a New York social life this weekend while keeping a safe distance from other people. |
‘In Plain Sight: The Mansions of Midtown’ |
On Friday at 5:30 p.m., the New York Adventure Club will explore over a dozen former mansions in Midtown during a virtual tour and Q. and A. The author and historian Tom Miller will share the stories behind buildings, show what they used to look like and explain how they’re being used now. |
Purchase a ticket ($10) for the webinar on the event page. |
Great Small Works spaghetti dinner: ‘Art, Justice and Pasta’ |
Join Great Small Works on Friday at 7:30 p.m for a live cabaret that includes artists, activists and community groups. A cooking show featuring a pasta dish will kick off the free event. |
Metropolitan Diary: Rainy day |
My wife and I live in a small town in Texas, and our daughter has been living in New York since she started college 10 years ago. |
On one of our trips to the city to visit her, we left the East Village shop where she was working at the time, and were walking to the Astor Place subway station when a hard rain suddenly began to fall. |
We huddled under an awning, and I ran into a small newsstand to buy an umbrella that I assumed would be ridiculously expensive. |
The clerk could see my wife waiting outside. He asked how many umbrellas I wanted. |
“Just one,” I said. “We only have to go two blocks.” |
“That’ll be $5,” he said. |
That was much less than I had expected. |
“OK,” I said, “I’ll take two.” |
“Oh,” he said. “One per block?” |
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