Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at an unusual mural that just got a refresh. We’ll also meet a candidate who has joined the race for the House seat that Representative Jerrold Nadler is vacating.
Large murals need touch-ups after a while — perhaps not the all-out restoration that the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel got after 400 years, but some primer and paint on little worn spots. That will explain why a thicket of scaffolds and ladders went up in the West Village last week, and why a swarm of people climbed on. They leaned and reached with paintbrushes dipped in familiar, eye-popping colors, brightening up what they see as a four-block-long mural. Another way to describe the installation is as a long line of loading-dock doors — corrugated-metal garage doors at a UPS facility that went from boring to bold in 2022, painted in colors like Miami Green and Bahama Sea Blue. As he did touch-ups with a shade called Berry Wine Oriole, one of the painters, Alan Weng, said, “Anything can always use a fresh coat of color.” Weng works for Publicolor, a nonprofit that runs programs for students at risk of dropping out of school. Hudson Square Properties, which runs 13 buildings, including the one across the street from the UPS garage, turned to Publicolor to give the neighborhood a more appealing look. Publicolor sees painting as a way to prepare students for later life. Often, they start the way Weng did: by painting the hallways in their own schools. Publicolor has brought color to more than 370 schools and 260 community sites, and it says that all the students in its after-school workshops go on to college or accredited programs after high school. “We tell every principal that we work with in the schools that we’ll come back for the next three years to do touch-ups,” said Ruth Lande Shuman, an industrial designer who started Publicolor in 1996. “With UPS, we said definitely that we would come and do touch-ups because we knew from the get-go that these gates would get a lot of wear and tear.” Publicolor brought in students from its programs over the weekend after alumni like Weng and adult volunteers — office workers from companies in nearby buildings — worked on a few of the gates during midday breaks during the week. Weng, 25, said that having students and volunteers paint the garage doors was not exploitation by companies that could hire professional painters if they wanted to. “They’re giving us a canvas,” he said. “It all starts with something to paint.” Weng learned about Publicolor when it painted his middle school in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens. “It was the first moment where I was able to see how impactful colors can be,” he said. “Schools that were built in the ’50s and ’60s, a lot of them were painted with muted colors, browns and grays.” Or, as Shuman put it, “We go into schools that look and feel like prisons.” She said the long-term benefits of painting schools went beyond eye appeal. “Every principal that we’ve spoken to after we painted their school tells us that attendance has improved for both students as well as teachers,” Shuman said. “Teachers? That’s incredible,” she added. “And when the kids are painting in their schools, they’re learning the importance of showing up on time, the importance of showing up with a good attitude, the importance of working as a team, the importance of completing a project — and how to take a big project and break it down into doable projects. It was students who told me they use that way of thinking when they’re given large homework assignments.” WEATHER Today will be sunny and breezy with a high near 80. Tonight, the sky will turn partly cloudy with a low near 63. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Sept. 23 and 24 (Rosh Hashana). The latest New York news
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. A protégé joins the race to succeed Nadler
It has been two weeks since Representative Jerrold Nadler, who at age 78 has spent 42 years in Congress, announced that he would step down when his term ends. That set the stage for what will probably be a crowded primary in a heavily Democratic district. One candidate, Liam Elkind, a community organizer who started a nonprofit to deliver food and medicine to seniors, announced that he was running even before Nadler said he would leave Congress. Now a second candidate has joined the race — Micah Lasher, 43, a Nadler protégé who was elected to the New York State Assembly last year, representing the Upper West Side. My colleague Grace Ashford writes that Lasher said in a video that his top priority would be fighting “the Trump regime and their reactionary program.” He said that Democrats in Congress should vote against Republican budgets, even if doing so forces a government shutdown, rather than underwrite the Trump administration’s “fascist policies.” Lasher endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor a few days after Nadler, who had supported Scott Stringer in the Democratic primary, did so. Nadler has not endorsed a potential successor, but someone familiar with his thinking said that Nadler would most likely support Lasher as the race heats up. Several other Democrats — including Erik Bottcher, a City Council member from the West Side; Alex Bores, a state assemblyman from the East Side; and Jack Schlossberg, a grandson of President John F. Kennedy — have indicated they are considering running. METROPOLITAN DIARY Teresa
Dear Diary: It was February 2013. With a foot of snow expected, I left work early and drove from New Jersey warily as my wipers squeaked and snow and ice stuck to my windows. I drove east on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was tied up worse than usual. Trucks groaned on either side of my rattling Toyota. My fingers were cold. My toes were colder. Got to get home before it really comes down, I thought to myself. By the time I got home to my little red bungalow a stone’s throw from the Throgs Neck Bridge, the snow was already up to my ankles. Inside, I took off my gloves, hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and snow boots. The bed, still unmade, was inviting me. But first, I checked my messages. There was one from Teresa, the 92-year-old widow on the corner. “Call me,” she said, sounding desperate. I looked toward the warm bed, but … Teresa. There was a storm outside, and she was alone. On went the pants, the sweater, the coat, the scarf, the boots and the gloves, and then I went out the door. The snow was six inches deep on the sidewalks, so I tottered on tire tracks in the middle of the street. The wind stung my face. When I got to the end of the block, I pounded on her door. “Teresa!” I called. No answer. “Teresa!” I called again. I heard the TV blaring. Was she sprawled on the floor? I went next door and called for Kathy. “Teresa can’t answer the door,” I said. “Probably fell.” Kathy had a key. In the corner of her neat living room, Teresa, in pink sweatpants and sweaters, was sitting curled in her armchair, head bent down and The Daily News in her lap. I snapped off the TV. Startled, she looked up. “Kathy! Neal!” she said. “What’s a five-letter word for cabbage?” — Neal Haiduck Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Makaelah Walters and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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