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New York City officials are finalizing plans to relocate the famous Charging Bull statue from its current location at Bowling Green to a pedestrian area near the New York Stock Exchange. The proposed move, which the mayor’s office says is intended to protect safety and avoid traffic congestion, has been challenged by the artist Arturo Di Modica, who gifted the statue to the city in 1989. Robert Balder, the Executive Director of Cornell’s Architecture Art and Planning department in New York City, and Thomas Campanella, associate professor of city and regional planning, weigh in on the proposed move.

Architecture, Art and Planning

New York City

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Nearly 900 New York City inmates could be released prior to Christmas before the bail-reform law takes effect in January. The New York Office of Court Administration says they're developing a plan to stagger the release of defendants starting in mid-December. Christopher Wildeman, policy analysis and management professor, studies the consequences of mass imprisonment for inequality, with emphasis on families, health, and children. He says while the inmates’ potential release would be a victory for both the defendants and their families, it’s important to be mindful of those reacclimating to life outside jail during a sometimes-stressful time of year.

Law, Government & Public Policy

Human Ecology

New York City

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The 2019 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a Norway spruce from Florida, New York, will be cut down on Thursday and transported to New York City, arriving this Saturday, Nov. 9. Daniel Weitoish, an arborist at Cornell Botanic Gardens, says the Norway spruce is an excellent choice for the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Agriculture and Life Sciences

New York City

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Wegmans is set to open this Sunday at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Edward McLaughlin, emeritus professor of food industry management, says given Wegmans’ supermarket innovation in service and products, New York City will now be able to relish in the legendary service, restaurant-quality prepared foods and wide selection of goods that are the envy of supermarket companies around the globe.

Food & Agriculture

New York City

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The New York City Council is currently voting on a plan to close Rikers Island by 2026 and replace the complex with four new jails in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. Christopher Wildeman, policy analysis and management professor, studies the consequences of mass imprisonment for inequality, with an emphasis on families, health, and children. He says the the plan to close Rikers would be a major step forward in improving confinement conditions for those incarcerated in New York City.

Human Ecology

Law, Government & Public Policy

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Starting this Thursday, cars will be banned from lower Manhattan’s 14th street as part of an 18-month experiment to improve traffic flow. The 1.1-mile stretch will only allow buses, trucks, bikes and pedestrians. Only local businesses and residents will have car access to the street.  

New York City

Cornell Tech

Engineering

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Architecture, Art and Planning

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Gene Carroll, co-director of the NYS American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Cornell Union Leadership Institute, says striking workers would likely call attention to the high cost of health care.

New York City

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Rick Geddes, founding director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy and expert on infrastructure, says congestion pricing has proven successful in other cities around the world and could be beneficial to New York City on many levels.

New York City

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Timur Dogan, an architect, building scientist, and a faculty fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University, comments on New York City legislation that would set greenhouse gas emission caps for buildings.

Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

Architecture, Art and Planning

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Art Wheaton, auto industry expert and director of the Western NY Labor and Environmental Programs at the Worker Institute, says BMW’s absence from the auto show in New York City is indicative of a major shift in the industry.

Economics and Business

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