The Hell Gate Podcast

Come we now once again to the end of March, a time of madness, the gathering crescendo of a great tourney, the end of a road upon which many set out, but only a few traverse entire.Since we first published our second annual Hell Gate March Madness Hot Take Bracket earlier this month, the public has been in understandable general uproar. Families have been torn asunder, bar brawls are up an astounding 237%, and Eric Adams was so shaken to his core, he found God (again).The bracket provoked conversation, discussion, takes about the takes, and a metadiscourse about chopped cheese that we're now even sorry we started.But now the takes must battle it out! From these 64 exemplary competitors, only one will win. So we've put together some hot take bracket-ologists, who also happened to author the hot takes, to get to the bottom of the hottest take of all, previewing some of the spiciest match-ups, But now the takes must battle it out! From these 64 exemplary competitors, only one will win. So we've put together some hot take bracket-ologists, who also happened to author the hot takes, to get to the bottom of the hottest take of all, previewing some of the spiciest match-ups, like:If you live within a 15-minute walk of a restaurant, you should not be allowed to order delivery from it (5) vs. You should only be able to order delivery from restaurants within a 15-minute walk from you (12) Andrew Cuomo should be mayor, it's a proper punishment for his misdeeds (7) vs. Bill de Blasio is a catch (10) The Carbone private dining club looks fun and I would appreciate an invitation (7) vs. If you live in an apartment with a dog and it barks for hours every time you leave it alone, your neighbors are not in the wrong for complaining to your landlord (10) If someone on the street asks you for a dollar, and you pull out your wallet and all you have is a $20, you must give them the $20 (5) vs. If you see someone selling candy on the subway, buy some candy (12) Those nut vendors should be banned for false advertising (they're not that good) (2) vs. Clipping your nails on the subway is fine but EATING on the subway is not (15) There should be a thing where on every subway car, one person is algorithmically selected to be able to share their phone screen onto all the video screens in the car (4) vs. If you actually want me to compost, I'm gonna need a City-sponsored coupon booklet or a tax write-off or some other incentive. Until then, my food waste is going in the trash! (13) Flaco should have lived out the rest of his life in a cage the size of a minivan (3) vs. All the animals in the Central Park Zoo should be freed and allowed to roam the streets of New York City, like Flaco (14) The MTA should play piped-in Muzak in subway stations (7) vs. Weed is too strong and New York state should pass a law to make it weaker (10)Who will be victorious? Will we even announce a winner? Possible not! Even so, we felt it was time to bring back the now-irregularly-released Hell Gate Podcast!

We're back with part two of our special two-part episode about our new project THE ERIC ADAMS TABLE OF SUCCESS, an interactive website exploring dozens of people who are in the mayor's orbit, their connections to each other, and why it all matters.On part two, a roundtable of Hell Gate writers discuss Eric Adams's connections to the world of nightlife, exactly who does what at City Hall, and his cop friends who know him from way back in the day. Be sure to check out the whole project here

We mark the return of the Hell Gate podcast with a special two-part episode about our new project THE ERIC ADAMS TABLE OF SUCCESS, an interactive website exploring dozens of people who are in the mayor's orbit, their connections to each other, and why it all matters.On part one, a roundtable of Hell Gate writers discuss Eric Adams's connections to the world of business, who's who in his campaign, and who he parties with.Stay tuned for part two coming early next week, and be sure to check out the whole project here.Happy holidays, from Hell Gate!

When the Daily News reported a few weeks ago that Whitestone Lanes was closing, it was like a mighty redwood was being chopped down. The Flushing bowling alley has been a neighborhood gathering place since the 1960s, and in the age of upscale bowling joints built for corporate expense accounts, Whitestone is one of those no-frills, all-charm spots that truly are for everyone. So this week, Hell Gate hit the lanes to hear how bowlers feel about the impending loss of one of the last bowling alleys in Queens.Plus: Hell Gate writer-editor Adlan Jackson brings his Leave Your Apartment column to the pod, talking with Screen Slate founder Jon Dieringer about New York's thriving indie film scene and a trashy B-movie you won't want to miss.

How did what started as Instagram drama around two missing rescue cats spiral into a NYPD and ASPCA raid—and 44 charges of charges of animal neglect—that rocked New York City's cat rescue community? Hell Gate writer-editor Katie Way takes listeners behind the scenes of her recent investigation into animal altruism gone wrong.

This week, the Department of Motor Vehicles unveiled its design for a new license plate celebrating New York City, the first of 10 regional license plates to be released this summer. But instead of dipping into New York's inexhaustible iconography, the DMV settled on a design that has the vibe of what can best be described as a "subway ad for a for-profit college," featuring a phallic One World Trade towering over a tiny Statue of Liberty. The plate is objectively bad and ugly—but what if that's the point? What if the plate, as Hell Gate's Adlan Jackson wrote this week, is another artifact (along with the reviled We <3 NYC logo) of the city's current expensive, contemptuous "Age of Design Apathy?"

New York's beaches kicked off the summer season over the last month with plenty of wind, sun, nutcrackers, and an extremely limited number of lifeguards. As the Parks Department revealed earlier this spring, the City currently has roughly a third of the lifeguards needed to fully open the City's beaches and pools. The lifeguard shortage isn't new—the City struggled last year to hire enough lifeguards before the summer season, waiting months to take action and raise pay to entice the part-time employees to get back in the tower.Knowing full well that this would be an issue heading into the summer, City Hall worked to make the lifeguard test easier and less opaque, and redoubled outreach efforts to high schools to get people into training programs. But the new push only yielded 200 new lifeguards, and just 280 returning lifeguards. So what's standing in the way of the city hiring lifeguards? Is it part of a national phenomenon, or is this way more of a local issue? While New York City's Park Department, which runs many of its beaches, is way below its hiring goals—adjacent beaches, run by the National Parks Service, or the state, are doing just fine—and don't plan on closing any stretches. So what gives? Are we just going to live with limited pool hours and closed beaches forever? Hell Gate went to the Rockaways to find out.

Last spring, the Adams administration began talking about the arrival of migrants into the City’s shelter system—and promised that New York would step up where other cities wouldn’t. But more recently, the mayor has started busing asylum seekers upstate, claiming that the migrant influx has “destroyed” the city and will cause deep cuts to its social services. How has migration, which has been at the core of NYC’s identity for so long, become a headline issue, and why has the Adams administration taken such a dramatic turn? Felipe De La Hoz and Gaby Del Valle, who write the immigration policy newsletter Border/Lines, join us to discuss these questions and more.

Ah, Memorial Day weekend. Time to hit the beach and crack open a nice cold can of...Celsius? That energy drink from the bodega?! From the drink of the summer, to the song(s) of the summer, our taste-making staff is here to guide you on what's in (speed dating) and out (barefoot boys) for summer 2023.Hell Gate's songs of the summer:"Summer Glass," Julie Byrne"Mrs. Officer," Lil Wayne"I Wanna Sex You Up," Color Me Badd"Breezin'," George Benson"Everywhere," Fleetwood Mac