Nadler Requests $4 Billion Bailout for Museums
U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens) led eight of their colleagues to endorse a Metropolitan Museum of Art-led petition calling for an additional $4 billion in stimulus money for museums nationwide, Forbes reported Tuesday.
The petition has come under fire due to the Met’s immense endowment, which enables it to survive the pandemic. In a statement, Nadler explained why he supported additional funding for museums.
“Museums house the most significant art and artifacts in American and World history…They also employ hundreds of thousands of people, including security guards, custodians, librarians, archivists, and others,” he said.
“But the salaries of those workers and the ability of museums to stay open, is enrely dependent on cket revenue and donaons. When museums closed their doors to stop the spread of COVID-19, that revenue disappeared overnight. Now one-third of museums may never open their doors again. If we want to ensure that our cultural heritage is sll there when this pandemic ends, and that the hundreds of thousands of museums workers have a job to go back to, we need to make sure our museums have the resources they need to stay afloat, like any other employer.”
Johnson Feeds His Homebound Constituents
The office of City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (Midtown West, Chelsa, Hell’s Kitchen) will provide 2,000 pantry boxes to families and seniors in his district unable to leave their homes, amNY reported Tuesday.
IAC and High Line collaborated to put together the boxes, which together contain $50,000 worth of groceries from Fresh Direct. Volunteers delivered the first 500 boxes Monday. The rest will come over the next two weeks.
“When times are tough, New Yorkers come together and help one another,” Johnson told amNY. “During these hard times, we must all work together to ensure that not one of (our) neighbors goes hungry. Moments like this make me so proud to be a New Yorker. I want to thank the High Line, IAC, Fresh Direct and the dozens of volunteers who are coming together as one community.”
Seawright Questions Roosevelt Island Patient Transfer
Yesterday, Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright (D-Roosevelt Island, Upper East Side) sought further information about a makeshift hospital at Roosevelt Island’s NYC Health & Hospitals Coler nursing center.
NY1 reported that as of Thursday, 145 patients without coronavirus or with stable symptoms from it had been transferred to offset the surge in cases at other public hospitals.
Seawright, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D), and State Senator Jose Serrano (Roosevelt Island, East Harlem, Bronx) sent Dr. Mitchell Katz, who heads Health and Hospitals, a letter expressing their concerns.
“[G]iven that the science about methods of transmission is limited and evolving, and the Coler building may not have been constructed in an era of modern HVAC technology, we would like all residents of the nursing home portion of the building tested once a week for COVID,” it read.
