Honor is Cheap

This weekend we'll honor people killed while serving in the United States military. It will be a lonely and quiet commemoration of Memorial Day, and maybe that's a good thing.

There's an awful lot of noise these days about honoring veterans from corporations and sports leagues that flaunt their avowed devotion to those who served. While some firms have done a lot to hire veterans, much of the marketing merely camouflages a cheap bid to capitalize on the gratitude many feel to those who put themselves in harm's way.

It's a cautionary tale for the COVID era and the outpouring of support for nurses, doctors, emergency medical technicians, paramedic and other front-line healthcare workers and first responders, along with other expressions of solidarity. Much of this is heartfelt and spontaneous, but that's just the kind of sentiment that lends itself to manipulation.

Will the companies who are “getting through this together” with us support the kind of public-health apparatus that might prevent future pandemics?

Will they be willing to pay more in taxes or premiums to ensure the medical system has enough personnel to respond to emergencies like this in the future?

Will they step up to reduce the inequality that has mapped itself across coronavirus death rates?

We can hope.

Stay healthy,
Jarrett Murphy, executive editor

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Outsider Brooklyn Congressional Candidates Lack Cash but Not a Critique
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City's Young Athletes Wait for the Chance to Play Again
The loss of a coaches-pitch baseball game here or high-school track meet there is, for sure, a minor tragedy. But it is not an insignificant one.

COVID-19 Prompts New Concerns About the Gowanus Rezoning
However, with the city’s Department of City Planning temporarily shuttered due to the crisis and Mayor de Blasio’s emergency order, local elected officials are concerned that the Gowanus rezoning will not move forward in any form.

He was Waiting for Clemency. Now He’s Fighting Coronavirus.
Robert Lind, 73, is serving a 50-years-to-life sentence for a shooting in 1983.

COVID-19 at the Mitchel Houses: Communication Issues, Cleaning Delays and a Farewell to Mr. Mercado
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Third Strike for Williams Pipeline
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Read our in-depth coverage of the COVID-19 crisis here.

Voices of New York

Increased Competition for Pandemic Grocery Delivery Workers
The pandemic triggered a new business model in the Chinese community: customers ordering via ad hoc WeChat groups from self-designated delivery workers, who would go out to buy and deliver groceries. But competition has increased.

‘Japan is Safer than NY’: What It’s Like to Study Abroad in a Pandemic
‘I could sense panic in the emails I receive from my instructors.’ News site NY Japion interviews a Japanese exchange student who was studying in New York when the pandemic struck, and has since returned to Japan.

Voices of New York Video: Sundari, the Indian Goddess
Sundari is originally from Guyana and currently resides in Far Rockaway, Queens. She has been performing since 2012 after being discovered at the Raj Kumari Cultural Center, where she was the first Indo-Caribbean/Guyanese drag queen to perform in a non-LGBTQ+ musical production in Queens.

Una Ciudad sin Límites

Acceso a justicia para quienes no hablan inglés se parece a una sala de emergencia
Los defensores dicen que hay un déficit en el número de intérpretes para algunos idiomas, pero el coordinador de la oficina de acceso a idiomas dice que “no hay escasez. Hay una necesidad”

Preocupación por la vivienda de los trabajadores indocumentados mientras las granjas de Nueva York se hunden en problemas
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‘Twenty-five years ago, Mario Cuomo was known for his oratory. During his years in office, Presidents Reagan and Bush made him look like a paragon of virtue. But his parting act as governor should remind us that his apparent compassion was mere sanctimony. ‘

Opinion: Don’t Gut the City’s Housing Plan
Now is the time to double down on affordable housing, and build on the progress already made under the mayor’s ambitious housing plan. It is not the time to retreat.'

Opinion: What College Kids Lose at Online U
'Education’s response to the pandemic—which catapulted us fully online at breakneck speed—must be understood as an emergency measure, not an overall best approach, which it is not.'

Opinion: How We Can Eat, Rather than Dump, Our Dairy and Produce
'Food waste is troubling in the best of time, but given current hunger epidemic, it’s particularly shocking to see dairies dumping milk and farmers discarding good produce.'

Opinion: NYC Needs a Real Plan to Improve Social-Distancing Compliance
'Mayor de Blasio has shifted the police’s role. What comes next must be a smart, actionable plan that empowers local communities to educate, assist, and lead first-level enforcement of social distancing rules.'

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