Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Nantasha Williams

Nantasha Williams

  • Proposed NYPD Rule Could Allow Widespread Drone Activity in New York City

    Drones ready to fly (photo: Caroline Rubinstein-Willis/Mayoral Photography Office)


    A new proposed rule by the NYPD could pave the way for private drone flights over much of New York City, opening a new frontier for anything from high-altitude advertising to spying.

    Today, private drone flights are allowed in only a handful of areas on the outskirts of the city, tightly regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NYPD to ensure safe and unfettered airspace in the nation's

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  • Carrying Juneteenth Forward in New York City

    City buildings lit up for Juneteenth (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Black Americans who had been enslaved in Texas finally received word that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring them free two years earlier on January 1, 1863. 

    It’s easy to imagine the hopes and dreams, long held within, that finally were released into the universe, and the disappointment that surely followed when Black Americans realized that freedom

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