The Subway Goats Are Safe Upstate, Self-Driving Cars Hit the Brakes & More of Today’s Links

Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim neighbors and readers!

A new poll shows most of State Senator Marty Golden’s constituents support speed cameras near schools. Golden has been at the center of the controversy due to his opposition.

Speaking of kids: the subway goats that got loose yesterday are safe! They found a new home upstate at Jon Stewart’s animal sanctuary.

While the goats were a new addition to the subway, it looks like some graff writers wanted to kick it old school—a Q train got bombed with colorful graffiti when it was parked overnight just outside the 96th Street station.

In a Greenpoint studio, high-fashion designer Willy Chavarria is celebrating the working man with chic designs based in a reverence for workwear.

While looking for a yeshiva, city inspectors just gave up after they found a butcher shop at the address instead… Did we mention that the school they were looking for had received $10 million in federal funding? Reports have come in that some school employees barred city inspectors from entering their schools—while yeshiva officials deny this, Mayor de Blasio isn’t having it.

Sharp-eyed scooter watchers have noticed a few Bird electric scooters around NYC, but how did they get here? The ride-share scooters, popular in cities like Baltimore and DC, aren’t legal in New York City, which has cracked down on certain electric bicycles (while allowing others).

Another type of transportation disrupter is hitting the brakes in the city: GM has announced it will postpone its pilot of self-driving cars in NYC. The subject led to another Cuomo/de Blasio disagreement, as the Governor supports autonomous vehicle testing, which the Mayor has aired concerns about safety.

At almost 60 years old, Nasim Alikhani is making her restaurant debut with Sofreh, a Persian restaurant in Prospect Heights. We’ve had our eye on the opening for some time—now we just need to find the time to check it out!

Ad-hoc tributes to Aretha Franklin were stenciled onto the tiles of the Franklin Avenue subway station in Bed-Stuy after the singer passed away last week, but now the original artist is in talks with the MTA to create a permanent tribute mural on the side of the building.

Councilmember Laurie Cumbo has penned an op-ed calling for stronger support of breastfeeding mothers in New York City. Cumbo was part of the effort to pass legislation requiring breastfeeding accommodations in a number of public spaces in 2016.

Zellnor Myrie has garnered a host of endorsements—including the Mayor’s—in his race against State Senator Jesse Hamilton—listen to the two discuss their primary on the Max & Murphy podcast of city politics. The two previously sparred over affordable housing at a town hall meeting in Flatbush.

“Promises Made, Promises Kept” read a sign in East New York as Mayor de Blasio and Councilmember Rafael Espinal broke ground on a new school promised to the community during the 2016 rezoning. The school is slated to open in 2020.

On the subject of teaching: the Making Waves program has expanded to two new Brooklyn pools this year—it’s a swim-class initiative aimed at underserved neighborhoods to prevent drowning deaths. Black children are five to ten times more likely to die from drowning than white kids of equivalent age, a study found.

While highrises pop up all across Brooklyn, some residents are doubling down on underground: read about the basement apartment market.