Dear Diary:
Overhearing my daughter discussing where some of the eighth graders are going to high school:
“Yeah, she didn’t get into Science and her parents couldn’t afford private school, so she’s going to L-Ro.”
L-Ro?
“Yeah. You know, it’s in the east 70s?”
She was referring to Eleanor Roosevelt High School.
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Good morning on this icky Thursday.
It’s the last day to fearlessly go 30 miles per hour in the city.
The limit on most streets goes down to 25 m.p.h. on Friday.
A lot of ink has already been spilled over the change, which is part of Vision Zero, the mayor’s plan to eliminate pedestrian fatalities.
The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten wrote that “it feels funny” for a city that has prided itself on its breakneck pace to slow down.
Denis Hamill wrote in The Daily News that the new speed limit could lead to more road rage. (Not Pete Hamill, as we mistakenly reported earlier.)
But will the reduced speed limit actually change traffic patterns in the city?
Sam Schwartz, the former traffic commissioner known as Gridlock Sam, told us, essentially, no.
For one thing, posting signs has been shown to have little effect on driver behavior.
That is, in the absence of strict enforcement.
We’ve been assured that the police won’t be splitting hairs, focusing instead on major speeders.
And Mr. Schwartz said the police were also unlikely to be on every street, appearing instead on accident-heavy roads like Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Also, the speed limit won’t change on highways. And in much of Manhattan, the streets are so congested during the day that speeding is virtually impossible.
“On Canal or Fifth Avenue,” Mr. Schwartz said, “25 miles an hour would be a huge increase.”
He conceded that there might be a slight downward shift, given the prominence of Vision Zero.
“But after a while, you’ll see the taxis starting to dart.”
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I felt him staring at me so I kept looking down at my book. No longer reading, just pretending to stay busy. Then he walked over to me and spoke. “Where are you?”
And this, I thought, is how I will die. My punishment, perhaps, for not listening to my mother when she begs me not to ride the train alone at night. My mom would be a wreck when she learned of my kidnapping. Devastated to lose her youngest daughter, but on her good days she’d manage to laugh and call me a fool. After all, she’d told me so.
“Where are you? In the book?”
I turned to look at the man speaking to me. “Oh! I’m almost done.”
“And what do you think?
“I think it reads like poetry.”
“If you like ‘Giovanni’s Room’ then you should read ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain.’ It’s his best one. Have you read Baldwin before?”
“Only ‘Sonny’s Blues.’ My creative writing teacher in college liked his work a lot.”
“Well, he’s the best writer we had. I’m still reading him now.”
“What are you reading now?”
“ ‘Giovanni’s Room’ — again.”
He pulled the book from his bag and showed me his edition, newer looking than mine.
“Do you mind if I take a picture?” I asked.
“O.K.,” he said.
I thought it was cool that I was reading the same book as a stranger on the subway. But I also needed to show my mom.
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Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo got the good news about his re-election at a party at the Sheraton in Times Square.
There were flags, balloons and bunting in the ballroom on Tuesday night, the Times reporter Nikita Stewart observed.
The music was geographically appropriate:
“Born in the U.S.A.,” “New York State of Mind” and “New York Groove.”
And gender-equality seeking:
“Simply the Best” and “Independent Women Part 1″ nodded to the effort by the governor to appeal to female voters.
Governor Cuomo provided an open bar, a promise to make New York a “progressive capital,” and a heartfelt finale with his father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.
The mood was a bit different at Rob Astorino’s headquarters in Westchester.
The crowd at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains initially included more reporters than supporters, but 350 people had arrived by the time Mr. Astorino conceded defeat, the Times reporter Susanne Craig told us.
Still, the atmosphere was hardly celebratory, she said.
Mr. Astorino delivered a blunt message: “Today was a day for politics,” he said.
“Tomorrow is a day for governing, and better governing is what New York needs.”
There was a cash bar.
The playlist included “That’s the Way I like it,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”
The music was “kind of off-beat all night long,” Ms. Craig noted.
Particularly that last song.
“It was like, ‘Beat me again,’ ” she said.
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Our coverage of Election Day (so far) in the New York area:
For Voters, a Ho-Hum Mood
Even with two races for governor — in New York and Connecticut — and a closely watched Congressional race in the 11th District, the voter sentiment in the region matched the overall mood of voters across the nation: Many people were voting out of a sense of duty rather than excitement.
It Comes Down to Money
Did it seem like Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo flooded the airwaves and mailboxes with messages promoting himself and portraying Rob Astorino, his Republican opponent, in a negative light? That could be because of his financial advantage. The governor raised more than $45 million over the past four years, according to a research group, compared with Mr. Astorino’s $4.8 million as of last month.
It’s Either Him or Him
Voters had some colorful ways to describe their candidates for the 11th Congressional District race, which pitted Domenic M. Recchia Jr., the former Democratic city councilman, against Michael G. Grimm, the Republican incumbent. Jackie Lotze, 50, said, “It’s the clueless against the criminal.”
Follow election updates on nytimes.com.
New Yorkers who voted on Tuesday proudly and creatively showed off their “I Voted” stickers. Here’s a selection of Instagram photos from various New York City neighborhoods, worn by voters and even tolerated by a few pets.
The polls are open until 9 p.m. in New York, plenty late enough for you to get a sticker if you haven’t already.
Jack Heller, who voted in TriBeCa, posted this photo with 1 World Trade Center in the background.
Nicole Leven posted this photo of her dog, a 5-year-old Havanese named Miles Davis, wearing the sticker. Miles voted with Mrs. Leven’s husband, Mike Funk, in Forest Hills, Queens.
Both dogs and cats wore the stickers. Rebecca Heisler posted this photo after voting in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Johanna Zapp posted this image after voting on the Lower East Side.
Brenda Tolentino posted this photo of her daughter, Bailey Tolentino, 10, wearing the sticker after voting in Chinatown in Manhattan.
Elicia Felix-Hughey featured the sticker prominently on her forehead after voting in the Bronx.
Grant Yanney posted this after casting a ballot in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Maura McGill got her 6-year-old toy fox terrier, Harpo, to wear the sticker after she voted on the Lower East Side. “He will probably be asleep before the results come in,” she wrote.
Amber Moller took a photo of her sticker in front of the M train after voting in Williamsburg.
Liz Callahan Schnabolk photographed the sticker on her coffee cup on the 42nd Street overpass looking toward the East River. She voted in Tudor City.
I’m taking deep drags of this stranger’s air. She stepped into the No. 5 train and sat next to me, smelling like cigarettes, and while I hate the stench, the act, the idea, I am breathing her in. She smells like you.
I was never a fan of the habit, but she must have just finished a Parliament because the nicotine matches. The smell is the sheets on your bed, the part of your neck that you missed shaving, the way you raise your eyebrows when explaining something you recently read. The smell is us, on a different subway, in a different borough, in a different season.
The woman is talking to her friend in a language I can’t understand. She doesn’t notice me, but her presence has reminded me that this nostalgic smell has somehow become your eyes, your laugh, and your time, and on this metal box bringing me home, I am slowly realizing that this smell is no longer a part of mine.
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It’s Election Day.
The suspense is running low, as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo enjoys a comfortable lead over his Republican challenger, Rob Astorino, in opinion polls.
But don’t tell Mr. Astorino that.
On Monday, he sought to whip up support at a dozen events.
He stumped on Staten Island and swung by a golf course in Yonkers.
He reminded voters of “how the mighty have fallen,” and of what he sees as his opponent’s Achilles’ heel: the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel Mr. Cuomo created. Its rapid dismissal drew the attention of federal investigators.
Mr. Astorino also appeared alongside Representative Michael G. Grimm, who is running for re-election (he is showing a lead over Domenic M. Recchia Jr. in a recent opinion poll, despite his indictment on fraud charges).
There are also races for attorney general and state comptroller — the Democrats Eric T. Schneiderman and Thomas P. DiNapoli are ahead in opinion polls, respectively — and for state legislature and local offices.
The big question in New York is whether Democrats can retake the State Senate.
Polling places are open in the city from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Check your voter eligibility or polling site.
Or call: (866) VOTE-NYC or (212) 868-3692.
The Times has a voter guide.
Call 311 to report problems at voting sites, or dial (212) 822-0282, a phone line run by the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause New York.
Here’s what else you need to know for Tuesday. Read more…
Because of Election Day, alternate-side street-cleaning regulations will be suspended in New York City on Tuesday. Other regulations will remain in effect.
Good chilly Monday morning to you.
Winter seemed to blow in on Sunday, just as daylight savings ended.
It was cold, with a punishing wind, and brunch had barely ended when it grew dark.
The sun set at 4:51 p.m.
This morning, the wintry illusion continues.
It was 40 degrees at 6 a.m., but with a wind chill in the mid-30s.
The overnight low, of 39 degrees, was as cold as it has gotten in the city since April 18, when temperatures last ducked below 40.
The good news:
We’ll begin to climb back to normal temperatures for this time of year by Monday afternoon, with a high of 60 and sunny skies forecast.
It will stay warmer — a warm front approaches tonight and raises temperatures through Tuesday.
And things look dry at least through Wednesday, when rain clouds roll back in.
So we’re safe, for now, from winter’s grip.
(The first freeze of the year usually takes place on Nov. 11.)
There is no bringing daylight back, however, and we predict a collective feeling of bewilderment as we leave our offices this evening and meet the darkness.
Here’s what else you need to know. Read more…