Good morning. We'll get an update on the new 5G towers that have been rising around the city. We'll also track Raul the peacock's night out and his return to home in the Bronx Zoo. |
 | | Amir Hamja for The New York Times |
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Some 100 towers have been erected, the latest signs of a technological upgrade intended to broaden access to high-speed Wi-Fi and 5G cellphone service, especially in "internet deserts" in underserved areas. |
But the Federal Communications Commission said last week that each of them was subject to its environmental and historic preservation reviews that were not conducted before work was begun by CityBridge, the consortium behind the project. "We expect CityBridge to take steps to bring these tower structures into compliance by conducting a post-construction review," the agency told CityBridge officials in a letter. |
CityBridge said the towers had already gone through reviews to obtain city permits and that the company did not anticipate that the reviews prescribed by the agency would delay the project. Jack Sterne, a spokesman for CityBridge, said the company was "working with the F.C.C." to see that it was following federal, state and local regulations and that "we're building 5G infrastructure consistent with other cities across the country." |
Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Adams, said that City Hall was "committed to enforcing provisions in our telecommunications franchise agreements" to see that municipal franchisees like CityBridge adhere to all relevant regulations, "including those of the Federal Communications Commission." |
"Better late than never," said Peg Breen, the president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, who joined seven other officials in a letter to City Hall in January that said the towers were "poorly designed, massive and will cluster the city's streetscapes." She added in an interview this week that it was "obvious that this review should have taken place." |
The F.C.C. letter, reported earlier by The Daily News, came a week after Representative Jerrold Nadler urged the agency to review the towers under the National Historic Preservation Act, the 1966 law that established the National Register of Historic Places. He said he was "concerned" that some tower locations were within historic districts listed on the National Register. |
Opponents of the towers say they are out of scale and out of character in many areas, particularly in historic districts with low-rise buildings and narrow streets and sidewalks. |
The towers stand 32 feet tall. But opponents said their concerns went beyond the landscape to the "piecemeal and confusing" review process for the initial installations "and a lack of clarity on the full effects of 5G towers across the city." The city's Public Design Commission approved them when Bill de Blasio was mayor. |
Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, said the franchise agreement with CityBridge should be renegotiated to compel the company to share more information, "including how they make siting decisions." |
"In a couple of cases, people have only found out when work started," Levine said. "It's a recipe for losing the trust of the community." |
Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, an influential business group, called Nadler's letter "pure politics" as she argued for the towers. |
She said that she considered his letter "a response to constituents who were complaining, because they've called me to complain, so I've heard it, too." |
"In a city with lots of tall buildings, you need towers of a certain size," Wylde said, adding that they would fit into the cityscape. "After these kiosks are in place for a couple of years," she said, "everybody's going to think they've always been there." |
The city's agreement with CityBridge calls for 2,000 5G towers to be installed over the next several years. Ninety percent of them are to be in underserved areas of the city — neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and above 96th Street in Manhattan. CityBridge cited statistics from the City Council that said that about a quarter of households in the city lack broadband access at home. |
Vanessa Gibson, the borough president of the Bronx, said she happily supported the effort to increase broadband access in her borough, where, she said, 38 percent of residents lack it. And the city pointed to new Gigabit Centers that have opened in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island in the last six months to provide free Wi-Fi, device access and digital skills training in underserved communities. |
Prepare for a chance of showers, with temperatures near 60. Showers continue through the evening, with temps dropping to the high 40s. |
In effect until May 18 (Solemnity of the Ascension). |
 | | Karsten Moran for The New York Times |
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Back at home after a night on the loose |
 | | Dakota Santiago for The New York Times |
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Everybody's entitled to the occasional night out. What's the big deal if you spend it in a tree? |
Maybe that is what Raul the peacock would say if he could talk — and if he had to explain events that made him famous for more than 15 minutes. |
Residents spotted him at East 180th Street and East Tremont Avenue, a couple of blocks from the zoo, around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to a notification from the Citizen app, which sends location-based alerts. Citizen described a 911 report of "a peacock on the loose after escaping its designated zone," the zoo's 265 acres, where peafowl roam freely. |
Soon reports were circulating online that Raul had bitten a man named Mike. A timeline on Citizen said a 911 caller had reported being bitten on his thigh. The Fire Department did not confirm that, although it did say that emergency service workers treated someone for minor injuries at East 180th Street and Vyse Avenue. |
The livestreams began from cellphones in the crowd that had gathered. At some point, Raul flew into a cottonwood tree. That was where he was around 4:30 a.m., when television crews converged on the area and the broadcast-quality live shots began. Soon the police blocked off the area along Vyse Avenue between East 179th and 180th Streets. |
Raul flapped its wings and glided from the cottonwood to another tree, in a nearby church cemetery. The crowd gasped audibly as he took off. The onlookers watched as Raul flew to the roof of a building on East 181st Street and hopped onto the roof of the building next door and then the next building over. It appeared to know where it was going: back to the zoo. |
And at 11:17 a.m., it spread its wings, soared across the street, over a fence and back into the zoo. The zoo never doubted that he would head home, saying in a statement that it had "fully expected him to return to the zoo as he did." |
In 1987, I was a medical intern at Lenox Hill Hospital. One morning as I was leaving the hospital after a night shift, I spotted Howard Cosell puffing on a cigar and walking in my direction. |
He saw me gawking at him. |
"Yes," he said, continuing up Lexington Avenue. "It's me. Call your friends and tell them you saw me." |
Glad we could get together here. See you on Monday. — J.B. |
| Melissa Guerrero, Maia Coleman and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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