15 YEARS AT GRANDAISY
amNY has a feature on Grandaisy, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary on Monday with a jazz band and free loaves.

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON
The Times did a moving feature (thanks to K. for sending) on the folks across the city who kept public schools open and running throughout the pandemic, including Theresa DiCristi, the custodial engineer at PS 276. “Her school has only had a few positive virus cases since the students returned, and she said she’s looking forward to having all the students back in September. ‘As long as we know that the kids are happy and the teachers are happy,’ she said, ‘that’s what we’re here for.'”

ARCHITECT OF SALT SHED DIES
The Times has an obit on Michael Friedlander, who worked for the Sanitation Department as an architect for 40 years and would ultimately design the Spring Street Salt Shed. “He became an in-house architect, a project manager and finally the director of special projects — all the while never giving up on a singular crusade: to transform civic architecture, from being exercises in intrusive mediocrity, as the public tended to see such buildings, to being something worthy of approval, and even veneration.”

FIDI FOOT TRAFFIC AT 50 PERCENT
Crain’s reports that daily foot traffic “across the city has recovered to 92 percent of its pre-pandemic average as of May 8, according to an analysis by Flatiron District startup Foursquare. Yet in Midtown and the Financial District, daily foot traffic is still hovering around 50 percent of its February 2020 volume.”