Good morning. It's Friday. We'll look at the New York Fire Department's newest four-legged — not mascots, exactly. We'll also preview the New York City Half Marathon, back on Sunday for the first time since 2019. |
 | | Mostafa Bassim for The New York Times |
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The Fire Department's two new best friends are robots. The department wants to send them where it is too dangerous to send firefighters — into places like buildings that might collapse. Or where deadly carbon monoxide, which cannot be seen or smelled, might be building up. |
It is counting on them to change the way the city thinks of robots. Hollywood often casts robots in dystopian movies. Captain Michael Leo of the Fire Department's robotics unit says that giving movie robots weapons does real-life robots a disservice because "then people think that's how all robots are." |
"Our whole mission is a lifesaving one," he said. "That's the core thing. These robots will save lives." |
They cost $75,000 each and weigh 70 pounds apiece. Some Dalmatians weigh as much, as do some Borzois, German shepherds and Pointers. The robots will not have to be fed, walked or groomed. They will never bite anyone, and after she watched a Fire Department demonstration, my colleague Chelsia Rose Marcius wrote that they were faultlessly obedient. Commanded to lie down, roll over or stay, they did. |
But besides helping with firefighting, they will have to fight the negative perception that surrounded a robotic dog the Police Department acquired in 2020. Critics raised concerns about aggressive tactics — as well as privacy and data collection — after officers responding to a home invasion deployed the robot dog to determine whether anyone was still inside an apartment. More criticism followed after the robot was seen with officers in the lobby of a public housing building in Manhattan. |
John Miller, the Police Department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said at the time the department had ended its lease on that robot dog early because the device became a "target" for critics who he said were fueling the debate over race and surveillance. |
A Fire Department spokesman said the robots would only collect data on hazardous materials situations and added that department compliance officers had been trained on confidentiality rules. But Albert Fox Cahn, a lawyer who is the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, expressed concerns about what data the Fire Department robots might collect and how that data could be used. |
"When agencies buy these new systems, they always point to the best-case scenario for use," Cahn said, "and I agree, if it actually is used in ways that keeps firefighters safe, that would be great. But the history has always been that even if it's first brought in for a compelling case, you get this creep where it's used for more and more scenarios until it's reaching areas where it just doesn't feel justifiable." |
In the Bronx, where 17 people died in high-rise fire in January after deadly smoke poured out of a single apartment, deploying robots in hazardous situations could save the lives of firefighters and other people, Borough President Vanessa Gibson said. She said she looked forward to a "forward and productive conversation" with Fire Department officials to see that the robots are used only "on rare, specialized occasions, with a goal of protecting our residents and first responders." |
It's a sunny day with temps reaching the low 70s. Expect some showers late this evening, with temps dropping to the 50s. |
In effect until April 14 (Holy Thursday). |
Hochul presses for a tighter bail law |
The push for a more restrictive bail law gained an important ally: Gov. Kathy Hochul is privately pressing state lawmakers to make changes. According to an internal memo obtained by The Times, she wants to expand the crimes eligible for bail and give judges more discretion to account for the criminal history of defendants in cases involving serious felonies. |
Those changes, if enacted, would roll back some of the changes to the state's bail law that were enacted by the Democratic-led Legislature in 2019. |
Hochul, a Democrat running for her first full term as governor, has come under political pressure from Republicans and moderates in her own party. Her proposals, part of a 10-part public safety plan first reported by The New York Post, include elements that appear aimed at targeting subway crime and the rise of gun violence. |
A half-marathon returns with a full-size field |
 | | Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times |
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For Sunday's New York City Half Marathon, returning to the streets for the first time since 2019, the course will be familiar — 13.1 miles from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan. Around Mile 11, the 25,000 entrants will cruise through Times Square. The New York Half is the only event that Times Square is officially closed for, other than the New Year's Eve celebration. |
It was one of the first races called off as the pandemic tightened its grip on New York City in 2020. It was canceled again last year. |
Hall said the main draw of the New York City Half was "the fun of it." She said that she is focused more on competing than on the clock — she has no particular time in mind. This, from someone who in January broke the American record in the half-marathon with a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 15 seconds. |
Matthew will be running it, too, as will his daughter, who is 16 and competing in her first race. Also in the pack will be Michael Gold, a Metro reporter who did our preview of the New York Marathon last fall. |
"I like that Sara Hall and I are both just running for the 'fun of it,'" he told me. "But she's going to finish in, like, half the time it takes me." |
- A Coach and Zabar's collaboration has produced a $150 bagel T-shirt, a $495 sweater and an already sold-out $550 bag, Patch NYC reports.
- The Westside Rag says soon-to-be 90-year-old David Goldstick has helped beautify Riverside Park for more than 30 years. He doesn't plan on stopping any time soon.
- What we're subscribing to: "Where should we eat?" is the age-old question. Nikita Richardson, a food editor for the Times, has answers for diners in New York City. Every Tuesday starting next week, this subscriber-only newsletter (which is free for the first four weeks) will feature recommendations, from new places to beloved classics. Sign up here.
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I came to New York City in 2019 from a northern Canadian town to visit a friend. While she was at work, I caught a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. |
It was a warm September day, and I sat outside on the deck, staring at the giants: Lady Liberty loomed ahead, big and green; behind me, office towers shot up into the blue sky. All around me, ships passed by. |
I couldn't help but think that everywhere I looked, rusted metal, shiny glass and gray concrete dominated almost every surface. |
I took a deep breath, catching a whiff of diesel fumes from tugboats that were competing for a patch of the harbor while the ferry clanged and banged forward. |
How do people live here? What makes someone want to be a New Yorker with all of this noise, these foul smells and hard edges? |
Then, I noticed something. Fluttering above the water on the breeze was a butterfly. |
Something soft had found space in the middle of all of the roughness. Something small had made its own way. Something tiny had found a home in New York. |
Glad we could get together here. See you Monday. — J.B. |
Melissa Guerrero, Jeff Boda and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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