Aaron Randle

Now comes another player — mopeds.

A moped-sharing program that started modestly with 68 electric vehicles in a small slice of Brooklyn has expanded dramatically in recent weeks to 1,000 Vespa-style scooters, spread across many more neighborhoods in Brooklyn and now reaching into Queens.

Frank Reig, a founder and chief executive of Revel, the company that started the program, said moped sharing “fits New York City of 2019.”

Too much of the city’s public transportation network, he said, is focused on funneling riders into Manhattan while treating the other boroughs as afterthoughts.

“But if you need to move anywhere within Brooklyn or Queens and get within the 6 million people that live here, it’s a hassle,” said Reig, during an interview at his company’s cavernous headquarters in Gowanus, Brooklyn. “That was the genesis for this.”

For many Revel users, the program offers a quicker alternative to CitiBike, the city’s bike-sharing service, and a more exciting option than ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft.

“We’re all looking for new experiences in this city, and this is a fun new experience,” said Jesse Cannon, 41, a record producer who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and has started using mopeds to commute to his job in another part of the borough.

But his favorite time to hop on a moped is not when he’s alone.

“They’re very good for dates,” he said. “I definitely prefer that to the single ride.”

Lauren Meyer, 38, has also started riding mopeds rather than taking a bus to her job. Otherwise, on hot days, she said, “I am a sweaty mess.” Now, she added, “You get some fresh air, plus there’s a little bit of a thrill.’’

The reason some riders love the vehicles — their speed — is precisely why others are terrified of them. Revel’s mopeds can travel up to 30 mph, faster than the 25 mph speed limit all vehicles are restricted to on most New York City streets and 15 mph faster than electric scooters. Their expansion in New York comes at a time of heightened anxiety about street safety in New York, with the deaths of 18 cyclists so far this year, 13 of them in Brooklyn.

“I’m as worried about the Revel operators as I am the pedestrians,” says Daniel Flanzig, a lawyer who focuses on cases involving cyclists and traffic accidents. He represents a cyclist who recently filed a lawsuit against Revel, saying he had been hit by a careless moped user.

The cyclist said that a Revel user rammed him from behind while he and the moped rider were trying to make a left turn. He fractured his ankle.

A spokeswoman for Revel said the incident was “unfortunate” but had no further comment.

Flanzig said he was a “big fan of alternative transportation” but added: “My fear with Revel is they haven’t tested this thing. They’ve brought them out and about without any real study.”

Other New Yorkers echo his concern about how Revel has proliferated with little municipal oversight.

“I dislike that inexperienced riders can simply pick one up and start riding,” said Daniela Asaro, who lives in Williamsburg and describers herself as an avid cyclist. “I’ve seen people riding them on sidewalks, blowing through red lights without even stopping to check for incoming traffic, riding with one leg out.”

Revel, unlike CitiBike or electric scooters, which may soon be permitted in parts of New York, did not need any specific city approval to start its program because state law already allowed mopeds on public streets. There are some restrictions — the mopeds cannot be driven on sidewalks, in bike lanes, on bridges or in tunnels.

“So far we aren’t seeing any big safety issues,” said Polly Trottenberg, the city’s transportation commissioner. “We seem to think this is a good addition to the city’s transportation system, but obviously we keep our eye on the safety piece of it.’’

A handful of cities, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have either introduced or are starting sharing programs involving mopeds or similar devices. A pilot moped sharing program that started last year in Atlanta was shut down last month.

There are more than a dozen moped-sharing programs in other countries, including Cityscoot in France and Vogo in India. It was while visiting Europe, Asia and South America that Reig said he was inspired to create a sharing program in his hometown. “I kept thinking, ‘How are these not in New York?’ ”

Taking the wheel of a moped is relatively easy. After downloading the Revel app for $19, users take a photo of themselves and their driver’s license, which is checked to ensure it is valid and the driver has a clean record. Each ride costs an initial $1 and then 25 cents per travel minute or 10 cents for each minute the ride is paused.

For a first ride, users are given a brief operating tutorial on the app that covers the basics like how to start and accelerate (watch out for the sensitive throttle) and requirements, like wearing a helmet (two are included in the moped’s trunk).

Personal lessons from a Revel employee are available (if riders are willing to wait a month) but are not mandatory, which is disconcerting to those who have had close encounters with the mopeds.

“It seems very dangerous to be able to rent one of these without taking a lesson,” Asaro said.

Company officials say “hundreds of thousands of rides” have been taken each month since the program expanded in June but were unwilling to provide specific figures.

Joe Cutrufo, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, said mopeds can be another substitute for the cars that are choking the city’s streets.

“Would you rather live in a city that’s full of these small electric vehicles that move relatively slowly,” he asked, “or would you rather live in a city that’s full of cars?”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/nyregion/mopeds-nyc.html" id="a01307c4-2c4c-357f-a393-cf168158050d">The New York Times</a>.

Now Crowding New York's Streets: Rented Mopeds Going 30 MPH

NEW YORK — Competition for precious street space in New York City just keeps growing, with cars, trucks, buses, bicyclists and pedestrians all trying to navigate an increasingly congested city.

Though other cities, including Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and Washington, have designated the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day, New York has so far not followed suit. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo marched along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in the 75th annual Columbus Day parade Monday and did not make appearances at the event honoring Native Americans.

“Politicians not showing up, that’s something we’re accustomed to. We’re the side New York seems to have forgotten about,” said Cliff Mattias, the founder of the Indigenous Peoples Day New York City event. “But look around. There’s an eclectic mix of people here. Indigenous. Black people. Anglos, allies from around the world. That makes it special.”

He added: “This isn’t a day about protesting Columbus, it’s about celebrating indigenous people.”

The two-day event, branded a “communal gathering,” was free, inviting and festive. Attendees sat in a large circle (traditionally called a “continuous hoop”) and were entertained by musicians, dancers and speakers from around the world — in addition to North America, there were representatives from the Caribbean, Polynesian Islands and South America.

Outside the circle, vendors and artisans sold incense, native clothing, custom jewelry and more.

The longest lines were for the food — traditional dishes like Native American fry bread, venison, bison and maize.

Activism was part of the celebration, too. Pua Case, a climate activist from Hawaii, left a protest against the building of a telescope on Mauna Kea to attend. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a Lakota historian and principal founder of the camps protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, also came.

For some, supporting indigenous people also meant voicing disapproval at honoring Columbus. After a review last year of statues in the city, de Blasio announced that the statue of Columbus would remain in Midtown Manhattan with the addition of “markers” explaining the history of the period.

“Columbus Day is an insult and a slap to the face,” said Serena Davis, a black woman from Harlem. “I came to pay homage to the true natives of this country.”

Still, the overall tone of the event was one of positivity and fellowship.

Anthony Vairacocha, a 25-year-old from Manhattan and member of the Kichwa tribe, has been coming to the New York event since it began in 2014. He has made lasting connections, he said. “I’ve met friends through this. Bonds have been formed here.”

This article originally appeared in

The Unofficial, Columbus-Free Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration

NEW YORK — Roughly 5 miles from the nation’s largest Christopher Columbus celebration, hundreds gathered Sunday and Monday on Randalls Island to celebrate indigenous people at an event that has become part of a larger conversation about how New York City should honor controversial historical figures.

<h1>NEW YORK — “It’s so fulfilling being here, seeing this,” said Savy Dunlevy, 23, a gender nonconforming audio engineer. Sporting a tapered bob cut and blue blazer, Savy stood June 13 on the back terrace of House of Yes, the cavernous warehouse-turned-disco in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, and thought on the awkwardness of an earlier prom.</h1>

Then a self-identifying queer woman, Savy remembered teasing the idea of going to prom with a crush in 2014 while a senior in high school — only to have the girl respond with an awkward “no.” “You see this and then you think of yourself from 10 years ago and you want to tell yourself, ‘You’re going to figure it out. You’re going to be OK.’ ”

Savy and hundreds of others had gathered in Bushwick for Pride Prom, a revisionist soiree thrown by the dating app Hinge in celebration of World Pride 2019. The 21-and-over celebration served the dual purpose of raising money for It Gets Better, the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention nonprofit, and affording community members a chance to relive a possibly painful moment of self-suppression.

“Prom for so many can make them feel like they don’t belong,” said Justin McLeod, Hinge’s founder and CEO. “They don’t feel like themselves, so we felt it would be cool to create a prom where everyone feels welcome and can show up and be totally themselves.”

And so for hours, partygoers — which included a 31-year-old gay dentist from Tennessee, a 24-year-old lesbian from Georgia and a drag queen from the Bronx — danced to music provided by Boston Chery, a DJ who identifies as a lesbian, and had their photos taken by a transgender photographer.

Jonathan Van Ness of the Netflix series “Queer Eye,” who served as host, thanked Hinge for “throwing a prom where people that are like me, or whoever you are, can be celebrated and feel a place to thrive and, you know, meet people and have a gorgeous moment.” Van Ness then put down his mic and judged the evening’s gender-neutral prom court dance-off.

Like most proms, Pride Prom had a theme: Jungle Disco Floral, which led to a profusion of tropical fronds, floral patterns and animal prints.

Many of the looks — men in floor-length dresses, gender-nonconforming women in tuxedos, self-described “butch queens” in leather — made political and sartorial statements. “I came to be seen, honey!” one young man in a shimmering blazer said to a friend nearby.

What is prom night without canoodling? The frequent moments of public affection that occurred on the dance floor — and in the dark corners beyond — seemed to take on a heightened sense of aplomb.

As one pair shared a kiss, Cher’s “Believe” boomed in the background. Another partygoer shouted “Woo!” in approval while passing by the couple and then said to them, “Bet you weren’t doing that at your last prom.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/nyregion/pride-prom-new-york.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.

Proms can be painful, but pride prom is different

Savy and hundreds of others had gathered in Bushwick for Pride Prom, a revisionist soiree thrown by the dating app Hinge in celebration of World Pride 2019.

Sporting a tapered bob cut and blue blazer, Savy stood June 13 on the back terrace of House of Yes, the cavernous warehouse-turned-disco in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, and thought on the awkwardness of an earlier prom.

Then a self-identifying queer woman, Savy remembered teasing the idea of going to prom with a crush in 2014 while a senior in high school — only to have the girl respond with an awkward “no.” “You see this and then you think of yourself from 10 years ago and you want to tell yourself, ‘You’re going to figure it out. You’re going to be OK.’”

Proms can be painful Pride prom is different

NEW YORK — “It’s so fulfilling being here, seeing this,” said Savy Dunlevy, 23, a gender nonconforming audio engineer.

Proms can be painful. Pride prom is different

<h1>NEW YORK — France McDonald stood outside his 3-year-old daughter’s funeral last week in tears, smoking a cigarette and wondering what kind of man he was.</h1>

If he were fleeing from a burning building, trying to lead his family to safety — his skin stinging with heat, his lungs filling with smoke — and he heard a child crying out from the flames behind him: What would he have done?

“I can’t imagine it. On one hand you’ve got your family. But then, it’s a little girl,” McDonald said as he wiped his eyes. “I don’t know, man.”

But 19-year-old Lucas Silverio did know. It’s why he died Wednesday.

The Bronx teen went into cardiac arrest, with more than 80% of his body covered in third-degree burns, three days after he rescued Yasleen McDonald, France McDonald’s daughter, from an apartment fire June 9 in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. She died one day later.

The tragedy, and Silverio’s heroism, have captivated New York City and left many astonished at the selflessness of the teenager.

But to those who knew Silverio, nothing about what he did was surprising.

“He had such an immense heart, so full of love,” his second cousin, Jesse Alvarez, said. “Knowing who he was — there’s no way he was going to leave that kid behind.”

To his girlfriend, cousins, friends, uncles and high school classmates, altruism and compassion were Silverio’s trademarks.

“The first word that comes to my mind is ‘kind,’” said his girlfriend, Yamilet Rosario.

Rosario thought of the time she scolded Silverio after he had given money to a panhandler on the subway, for what seemed like “the hundredth time in a row.” Or how annoyed she would get when a stranger would stop Silverio on the street and he would always — always — stop and listen, no matter how ridiculous the conversation.

“I didn’t know a person could be so good,” she said. “Things like this, they shouldn’t happen to good people. This should have been avoided.”

There is no official word on what started the fire June 9 in the Twin Parks complex that killed two and injured 11.

The blaze, which began about 2 a.m., started between the 14th and 16th floors, near the apartment’s trash compactor, according to the New York City Fire Department. The fire marshal is investigating the cause.

Earlier that night, the Silverio family — Silverio, his mother, several aunts, a grandmother and a cousin, Jeury Martinez, among others — had gathered inside a 15th-floor apartment to celebrate Silverio’s younger brother’s confirmation as a Roman Catholic, Alvarez said.

After the celebration ended, Silverio showered. It was while he was in the bathroom that he heard his mother shouting about a fire, according to Alvarez. He quickly exited the shower and attempted to dress. “No time!” his mother yelled before telling him to just wrap with a towel and get out.

By the time Silverio left the bathroom, most of the family had begun the trek through the smoky corridors and down the winding 15-floor stretch of stairwell. Silverio joined his cousin, who was escorting their grandmother to safety.

“It was pandemonium,” said Kina Laws, a Twin Parks tenant who lives below Silverio’s family on the 14th floor. “Pure chaos.”

It was somewhere between the 12th and 14th floor, while escorting his grandmother, that the teenager heard the cries of 3-year-old Yasleen.

It is unclear how Yasleen, who McDonald said was in the apartment with her mother and other relatives, became isolated.

“At that moment Lucas told Jeury, ‘Take grandma downstairs, I’m going to go back and get the little girl,’” Alvarez said. He then turned and went back toward the fire to grab Yasleen.

“He was safe,” said Carlos Mendoza, Silverio’s uncle. He “could have got out of there. He sacrificed himself.”

Soon after the young man located the girl, an explosion knocked him to the floor, disorienting him. The blast awoke Laws on the 13th floor. A number of residents said no sprinklers or alarms went off during the fire.

“I got up and opened my door, and the smoke came into my apartment so quick and so thick I couldn’t breathe,” Laws said. She grabbed her 4-year-old daughter, wrapped her in a bath towel and began their escape.

On the 12th-floor landing came a scene of horror.

“There was a naked man bleeding and his skin was falling off,” Laws said. “And I saw another man trying to help him up.”

Laws said she tried to convince the man, Martinez, to leave the burned teenager. “He was trying to drag him and I just thought — looking at how bad it was — that he might make it worse,” she recalled. “I thought we should go and get help.”

But he refused to leave his cousin. The two had always been inseparable, friends said. They were best friends, born one week apart.

Scared by the chaos and worried for her daughter, Laws said she was too nervous to stay and try to convince Martinez to come along. So she kept moving.

“I had to step over him,” she said. “I wanted to help. God I wanted to help, but I had my daughter.”

She exited the building, and, soon after, so did Martinez and the critically injured Silverio and Yasleen.

Alvarez has been the sole public spokesman for the family since the tragedy, and has also been spearheading fundraising efforts to assist with Silverio’s funeral costs.

For two days, Silverio’s family sat by his side in the hospital as he slipped in and out of consciousness, fueling him with words about how the tale of his heroism had spread.

“In a week you’ll be out of this,” Rosario told her boyfriend as he was unconscious. “And you’ll see: Everybody thinks you’re a hero.” She made plans for how the two would spend her birthday on June 19 together.

Silverio was studying at Bronx Community College to become a physical therapist, his cousin said.

“We were like brothers. I loved that kid so much,” Alvarez said. “This is total devastation.”

Alvarez, who has acted as a kind of ambassador between the two families, first met McDonald at Yasleen’s funeral Thursday, one day before Silverio’s funeral, which took place Friday afternoon.

With embraces and tears, the two families, bonded by tragedy, waded through the pain together.

“Lucas, he’s a hero. No other way to put it,” McDonald said emphatically. He then paused.

“What clicked in his head to go save my little girl?” he asked.

“It wasn’t his head,” answered McDonald’s younger brother, Paris, who had been standing nearby.

“It was his heart. That was all heart.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/nyregion/bronx-fire-lucas-silverio.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.

Close to Escaping Fire, Teen Turned Around to Try to Rescue Girl

But 19-year-old Lucas Silverio did know. It’s why he died Wednesday.

Close to escaping fire, teen turned around to try to rescue girl

<h1>There was a time when the mention of the two high-end dog breeders came with a shower of praise and admiration.</h1>

The New Jersey couple at the helm of Rocky Ridge Russells kennel could proudly boast of dozens of American Kennel Club winners and a 2009 Westminster Kennel Club best in breed champion.

But neighbors near their farm in rural Stockton, New Jersey, had warned of a far less illustrious operation. And Tuesday, authorities revealed the scope of the kennel’s troubling truth: Nearly 200 unkempt dogs — some of them pregnant and many that appeared visibly sick — were removed from the home on County Route 519.

A “small number” of dogs were found dead on the 10-acre farm, according to an animal welfare official involved in the rescue.

The Hunterdon County prosecutor’s office has begun an animal cruelty investigation, and authorities said charges were pending against the homeowners.

“It all just got out of hand,” said Martin Strozenski, one of the breeders who lived at the home with his companion and business partner, Marcia Knoster, 70.

“This wasn’t backyard breeding,” he added. “Things just went sideways.”

About 8 a.m. Tuesday, a coalition of animal welfare and law enforcement agencies — including the prosecutor’s office, the state police, St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center and the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — descended on the property.

They reported finding at least 188 Parson Russell terriers and dachshunds. The rescue came after the couple had previously surrendered 30 terriers to local authorities, prosecutors said.

A decade ago, Rocky Ridge was a well-known and respected kennel. In 2009, a Parson Russell terrier bred by Knoster (“Keenan”) would win best in breed at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the world’s oldest and perhaps most respected breed competition. The victory made Keenan the No. 2 Parson Russell terrier in the United States.

Yet even amid that victory, the financial crisis of 2008 had already begun to spell doom for Rocky Ridge, Strozenski said.

“The economy fell out,” he said. “We were in the process of breeding. We were putting people on waiting lists. Then all of a sudden the economy crashed, and all of the people just went away.”

The lack of interest in terriers created an overflow of dogs, Strozenski said. Over time, a couple dozen terriers grew to nearly 50. Then 100. Then 150. “We couldn’t give them away,” Strozenski said. “It was a hobby turned bad.”

Strozenski said the dead dogs were “in the process of being buried.”

Some of the rescued dogs were pregnant. Others were suffering from physical wounds, skin conditions and external parasites. Nearly all were scruffy, covered in dirt and showing signs of physical neglect, according to officials with St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center.

As news of the rescue spread, many social media users reacted with anger and sadness and accused the owners of being hoarders.

Strozenski admitted to being partially responsible for the poor upkeep of the animals but said the media reports of the rescue had grossly exaggerated the dogs’ living conditions.

“They weren’t well cared for, but they had their primary needs — food and water, and I changed their bed every day,” he said. “I was spending 12 hours a day with these dogs.”

A lawyer for the couple, Dante DiPirro, did not return calls for comment.

Nora Parker, who works with St. Hubert’s, said the dogs were in neither optimal or life-threatening conditions.

“No dogs needed emergency care or were in dire straits,” she said. “They appeared, most of them, to be well fed. But that’s not all a dog needs. They need space and socialization and human contact, and it appeared they were not getting enough of that.”

Most of the dogs are being temporarily housed at St. Hubert’s and are being treated by a staff of veterinarians and behavioral therapists, Parker said. They will be restored to full health before being placed for adoption, which for some dogs could come as early as next week.

Officials with the Westminster Kennel Club would not comment on Knoster or Strozenski directly, but they released a statement expressing sadness at the Rocky Ridge rescue.

“Supporting and promoting responsible dog breeding and ownership has been a key core value of the Westminster Kennel Club for over 140 years,” the statement read. “We are saddened to learn of this unfortunate situation and are grateful for the care being provided to the affected dogs.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/nyregion/dog-hoarder-new-jersey.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.

188 Sickly Dogs Are Rescued From Breeders Whose 'Hobby Turned Bad'

A “small number” of dogs were found dead on the 10-acre farm, according to an animal welfare official involved in the rescue.

188 sickly dogs are rescued from breeders whose 'hobby turned bad'

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