@nytimes reporter. Writing/blogging ~NYC for NYT since ~1995.
Jan 5, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
For 4 nights at a homeless shelter in Queens, women with Covid say they were kept in a small 'isolation' room where some slept on the bare floor or in chairs.
2nd such incident in 2 weeks. NYC Dept of Homeless Services says it was 'not handled appropriately.’ Here's a 🧵
Shema Bryan, who slept on floor for 3 nites, said they were told no mattresses because they were about to go to hotels.
‘Every night they made it seem like the bus is on the way.’
She said for 2 days they were given no food and denied showers. (Mattresses arrived on Day 4.)
Jan 4, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
More homeless-shelter Covid horrors:
At a shelter in College Point Queens, 4 women w/Covid are being held in 'isolation room' w/ only 3 mattresses on floor maybe a foot apart.
‘I will sleep in the swivel chair,’ said Alison Gibney, the unlucky 4th. [1/3]
This is after @NYCDHS said that cramming 11 covid patients in 1 room w/a few mattresses on floor in a different shelter was an ‘isolated incident.’
(Here’s that story [2/3] nytimes.com/2021/12/31/nyr…
Aug 20, 2020 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
We wanted to know who’s wearing masks and who’s not in NYC, so we went to 14 places around the city and tallied the status of over 7,000 people. Here’s a thread on what we found: nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyr…
Mask-wearing varies widely by neighborhood. In Flushing and Park Slope, over 95% of people were masked. In Far Rockaway, Queens: 62%. The boardwalk at Rockaway beach: 20%.
Jul 15, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
NYPD said violence against protesters was ‘isolated.’
We found over 60 videos of cops punching, batoning, knocking down, body-slamming and otherwise attacking protesters. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Warning: violent video thread ahead.
One thing that struck us in was how many of the most violent scenes we viewed featured white-shirted commanders, like this guy. [Video: @crankberries]
Dec 26, 2019 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
There’s a whole shadow economy built around collecting cans and bottles for the 5-cent deposit in NYC, with more layers than you can imagine. Here’s a thread about it: nytimes.com/2019/12/26/nyr…
There are trucks that cruise the Upper East Side buying bags of cans and bottles that people collect. There are canners who sell to other canners, and battles between truckers.
Sep 2, 2019 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
I spent a 24-hour shift with a home health aide to a man with Alzheimer’s. She’s his social worker, diaper changer, dietitian, day planner, warden and much more. Here’s what I learned about this fast-growing, low-paying, relentlessly demanding job: nytimes.com/2019/09/02/nyr…
Homecare workers are unsung front-line heroes of the healthcare system. Americans want to age at home, not in institutions, and more than 4 million jobs must be filled by 2026. But exploding demand hasn’t translated to higher pay. They average $11.52/hr.
