ye7 7 People (and One Coyote) Who Made New York City a Better Place in 2024

The past 12 months have hardly amounted to a banner year in the annals of New York City history.ye7

The mayoral administration imploded under Eric Adams as he faced federal corruption charges; the migrant crisis deepened; violent crime was down but certain quality-of-life crimes, like retail theft, which can sour enthusiasm for city living, ticked upward.

Still, there were many moments in the light: Let’s not forget that the Albert Einstein College of Medicine received a $1 billion dollar gift to make tuition free forever (thanks to Ruth Gottesman); that Central Park’s Harlem Meer got ready for its close up (thanks to a $160 million, historic renovation); that “Anora,” Sean Baker’s film about a Brooklyn sex worker and the Russian oligarch’s son she impulsively marries, won the hearts and minds of moviegoers and the Palme d’Or.

And then there is all the human capital, the real reason to live in New York — all the under-the-radar (and on-the-radar) people who make the city worth the chaos. Meet seven of them, plus one awesome nonhuman.

Sean Malik FlynnImageSean Malik Flynn is the main character in the documentary “Keeper.”Credit...Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

When his oldest daughter moved out of his house in the Bronx, Sean Malik Flynn, a single father, opened the window of his home’s newly spare room and got into beekeeping. Along with his daughter Alaura, who was still living with him, he started cultivating hives.

Eventually, they began donating them to churches and community gardens, figuring that the more bees they could bring to the area, the greater the output of those gardens could be and the higher the chance that the Bronx could shake its reputation as a food desert. Mr. Flynn also started making his own product: Boogie Down Bronx Honey. As his passion grew, he was moved to teach beekeeping to children in the neighborhood.

“The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening government function,” she said. “Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration.”

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his lawyers argued strenuously for him to be released on bail, proposing to a judge that he put up a $50 million bond and hire a security team to monitor him at all hours. The judge rejected the proposal, saying that he had concerns about Mr. Combs attempting to witness tamper, landing him in a special housing unit that often holds high-profile inmates.

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