February 2023 - ciaooo!

CORONAVIRUS & MONKEYPOX

1. HERE’S THE NY SCOOP

THE STATS:

1,211,669 vaccines bivalent vaccines
388 new hospitalizations
1,103 new cases

GOOD NEWS

Remote Work May Be Coming to City Employees– DC 37, NY’s largest public employee union is in negotiations with Mayor Adams to include remote work…something he vehemently was against in order to keep NY’s economy booming. Could this be a sign of change?

BAD NEWS

Three Eyed Fish, Here We Come! The Hudson River may become the new dumping ground for over 1 MILLION gallons of nuclear waste due to the now-defunct Indian Point Nuclear Facility located just 23 miles outside of NYC. Critics argue that this is wholly unsafe, while others say it is the standard removal process. What do you think?

$224 Million in PPE Auctioned Off for $500K – The Dept of Citywide Administrative Services has tried to auction off equipment that is no longer needed that they purchased during the height of COVID-19. So far, the city has only recouped $500,000 so far. According to the CityNY, “A junk dealer from Long Island picked up the entire $12 million, 500,000-pound kit and kaboodle — for only $24,600”. What the heck?!

GIVE US THE SCOOP

2. TO BET, OR NOT TO BET?

Welcome to our latest deep dive (which is written entirely without the help of ChatGPT, but the random musings of yours truly). Today, we’re focusing on the toxic yet symbiotic relationship between New York State, Kathy Hochul and the volatile affair that makes, breaks and ends relationships…sports betting.

SPORTS BETTING…IT’S WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY?
In January of 2022, online sports betting was legalized in New York State by Governor Hochul. Since then, NY has generated over $709.2 MILLION in taxes from said bets which go on to fund NYS’s education programs. New York has now become the biggest legal sports betting state in the entire country.

IS YOUR UNCLE’S GAMBLING ADDICTION PAYING FOR OUR SCHOOLS?
Between January 8, 2022 and January 8,2023, gambling totaled $16,595,732,482 and generated a total net revenue to education of $709,247,358. The breakdown for funds is as follows:

$5 million to fund sports programs for underserved youths
$6 million to fund problem gambling education and treatment
The remaining majority to fund education aid

Politicians statewide celebrated the influx of funds for the state, which shattered revenue expectations within 10 Months. For context, the highest monthly mobile sports tax generated outside of NY was Pennsylvania in November 2021 at $19 million.

COLLEGE SPORTS BETTING IS LEGAL NOW While tax funds may be incredible for NYS’s budget now (which was in deficit due to the Pandemic), other challenges have been set forth including an increase in 25% in calls to gambling addiction hotlines and even worse, teenage gambling. The increase in funds has even inspired universities to legalize online sports betting within campuses, including marketing directly on grounds and even sponsoring their sports teams. While gambling has helped to fund education and sports programs at exorbitant amounts across the nation, it seems there is a longterm price to pay, especially in terms of breeding the next generation of young gamblers. This begs to ask the question…shouldn’t there be a better way to pay for education programs in the first place? What do you think?

KEEP READING

OH HEY, HELLO, ciaooo!

3. HIP HOP, A HIP HOP PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW?

Celebrate Black History Month with the brand new exhibition at Fotografiska, the photography museum in the Flatiron District, also the famed building that Anna Delvey tried to purchase as part of her malignant scheme to launch the Anna Delvey foundation.

The exhibit features 200 powerful photos by 57 photographers. “Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious,” presents images ranging from iconic staples of visual culture to rare and intimate portraits of hip-hop’s biggest stars from legendary pioneers including Nas, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, and Mary J. Blige to modern icons such as Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, and Cardi B.

Get your tickets here:
Fotografiska
281 Park Ave S, New York, NY 10010
Runs from now through May 21

RSVP

Community-first. Women-led. ciaooo! is on a mission to empower brands and organizations that make NYC a better place. Learn more!

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CORONAVIRUS & MONKEYPOX

1. HERE’S THE NY SCOOP

THE STATS:

1,198, 127 vaccines bivalent vaccines
747new hospitalizations
3,433 new cases

GOOD NEWS

120,000 Children Lifted Out of Poverty in 2021– The Child Tax Credit, a payment issued from the Covid-19 relief package last year reduced poverty across NYC and nationwide. Unfortunately, an extension for the bill was denied this year in Congress.

You May Be Saving $4,661 a Year by Working From Home– Manhattan commuters are spending less on food, excursions and happenings around their offices by working from home! Good for your wallets, bad for the city. But hey, at least you can get guac on the side now!

BAD NEWS

There Goes the Social Services –The Commissioner of Social Services, Gary Jenkins, is stepping down after a year on the job. His role oversees the city’s homeless shelter system, which has recently been under fire due to the city’s hardening on mental health and migrant crisis. Let’s just say we need someone to fill the role more than a rat czar!

GIVE US THE SCOOP

2. BEFORE TINDER, NEW YORKERS HAD TO FIND LOVE IN TAXI DANCE BALLROOMS

BY KEITH TAILLON AKA @KEITHYORKCITY

It’s Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re cuffed up, chuffed up or choked up, there’s nothing to satiate your curiosity than the “wooing” methods of lonely New Yorkers back in the day. Read about NYC’s salacious past with love.

HOW DID PEOPLE DATE BACK IN THE DAY?
There’s something about the notion of being “alone in a crowd” that rings particularly true for many people who wind up in this writhing metropolis. If you were a lonely man in New York in the first half of the 20th century, you could combat this urban loneliness by going to one of a number of “taxi-dance ballrooms.”

THESE DANCE HALLS WERE DESIGNED FOR “UNATTACHED MEN WHO YEARN FOR THE VOICE AND SMELL OF THE FEMALE SPECIES”

Clustered in and around Times Square, these dance halls were designed specifically for “unattached men who yearn for the voice and smell of the female species,” offering dances with girls for hire.

In December 1938, a reporter with the New Yorker visited several taxi-dance ballrooms (so-called because of the girls, like taxis, getting paid by the minute). He first visited Honeymoon Lane on the 2nd floor of 711 7th Ave.

He received one free dance ticket from the sidewalk barker outside, then ascended the stairs and was cleared by the bouncer. Inside, he found “eighteen or twenty girls in evening gowns, lined up behind a low rail opposite the entrance,” who quickly cried out to him in desperation to be his dance partner.

Have you heard of taxi dance ballrooms before? Tap the link to read more!

LEARN MORE

OH HEY, HELLO, ciaooo!

3. THE FIRE & ICE VARIETY SHOW RETURNS

Please join us for the RETURN (after a COVID hiatus) of the annual “Fire & Ice” variety show featuring a live band, award-winning dance performers, a hula hoop performer, and a few of the hottest comedians in NYC including Sachin Shaan and Pavan, and Adam Gabel.

Tickets and details are at:
Sat., March 4 at 7P
The Cutting Room
44 East 32nd Street (between Park and Madison)
www.FireAndIceNYC.com
All proceeds benefit Chemo Comfort, a local NYC charity focused on making life easier for those going through chemotherapy. (use code FIRE for $5 off until 3/2)

RSVP

Community-first. Women-led. ciaooo! is on a mission to empower brands and organizations that make NYC a better place. Learn more!

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Taly Matiteyahu, 33, is the founder of Blink Date, New York City’s solution to swiping incessantly on dating apps. The lawyer turned entrepreneur is on a mission to return the dating world to its humble roots, one phone call at a time.

“On average, it takes 600 swipes before you go on a date”, Taly tells me.

As I do the mental math, the numbers slowly begin to make sense. A quick google search on the terms “dating in New York City” pulls up articles like “8 Reasons Why Dating in NYC is Terrible”.

Then there’s the plethora of New York City dating folklore. Who could forget the unhinged stories, from “West Elm Caleb” to “The Tinder Swindler” and of course, the OG, “The Hipster Grifter”? Ask around to any of your friends, and you’d be sure to find a story of swiping for hours, awkward dates, tumultuous flings, and, of course, the perennial act of deleting and reinstalling dating apps.

Alas, it’s not to say everyone in NYC is horrible, but I think we can all agree that modern-day dating is certainly flawed, and lawyer-turned-founder Taly Matiteyahu is on a mission to fix that.

Blink is a new swipe-free dating app that allows daters to chat with a potential partner for ten minutes before they ever see a picture of them.

Launched out of NYC, the app already has a podcast, in-person events, and a 30% match rate. Inspired by a stint at a blackout restaurant where she ate in total darkness with strangers, Taly realized how freeing an experience it was to talk and meet without preconceived notions.

“We make judgments all the time based on everything from outfits to tattoos to height, and it’s just a shame because oftentimes people just aren’t necessarily what you think they are based on appearances.”

Today, Blink Date allows you to remove the nuisances of the modern NYC dating scene, like *ahem* ghosting and the never-ending doom texting…

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A post shared by Blink Date – Designed for Dating (@theblinkdate)

The app sets you up for a ten-minute blind phone call with someone they think you’ll have a spark with using filters like age, sexuality, proximity/ location, religion, and family plans. Once you match, you have an in-app phone date, no swiping necessary!

We were able to listen in on a few of these first dates, which wound up being a lot more adorable than expected. One such example included a sound designer (for Lizzo!!!), and a tech engineer turned guitarist by night, discovering their shared love for music and cats within minutes. As the conversation progressed, you could hear the awkwardness melt with each joke, and excitement grow with each shared interest.

“We’ve had online dating for years, and its changed what dating looks like and made it superficial. It’s built like a slot machine, and it makes you think ‘bigger, better, next’.”

The app flips the traditional mindset of modern-day dating on its head, and instead of choosing a partner based on their love for The Office, tacos, or sarcasm, you skip right to the good part and chat to see if you vibe.

Being able to hear the nuances of someone’s jokes or to hear them speak about their interests adds texture and context, avoiding the group chat analysis of the actual meaning of someone’s text.

The gamification of our dating lives affects our mental health. Like all social media apps that give us that micro dopamine high, so are these swiping apps. Swipe, and you’ll be rewarded by connecting to a probable suitor and then proceed to doom text for the next 3+ months.

Raise your hand if you still get that random “hey” from someone you matched with a year ago.

With Blink Date, Taly hopes that dating can be more intentional, with people getting to know each other for their shared values.

“If you ask a room of people who are together why they are together – they’ll never say it’s because their partner is over 6 feet tall, or their butt or a job. They’ll say they feel heard, recognized, or seen. Those aren’t the things we focus on in a dating app. You can’t distill that in a profile”.

Perhaps the solution to modern-day dating is to start internally, with ourselves, “How do I want to feel in a relationship, and how would I make a partner feel”?

While dating starts with initial attraction, some of the green flags on our checklist should be:

Do we share the same values?
Do they have self-awareness?
Are they accountable to themselves and the world around them?
Do they ask questions about you?
Are they kind?

Of course, these may not be all things that you can gather from an initial 10 minute conversation, but you’ll be able to tell very quickly if you don’t vibe.

When asked about launching Blink, Taly shared “just as there’s never a good time to switch careers or have a baby, there’s never a good time to start a startup – you just need to take the leap. There’s beauty in trying and too much stigma in failure – take the leap and trust that it will work out the way that it should.”

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