Gilbert Gottfried Revisits Aladdin's Iago in 'Life Animated'

In New York City, the coming of summer can be sensed as much by the warming temperatures as it can by the increasing number of lineup announcements for outdoor performances.

SummerStage released its lineup late last month, and now the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival — the city’s other significant and long-running source of free outdoor music each summer — has also made its lineup public.

Highlights of the 2026 season schedule include “Queen of Percussion” Sheila E., Brooklyn-born father-son DJ duo Saint James Joy, and Grammy-winning rapper Common. The few ticketed benefit shows (which are still free for those within earshot to listen to) include performances from “Godmother of Soul” Patti LaBelle and Gen X rock legends Sleater-Kinney.

In all, Celebrate Brooklyn’s 47th season will feature 15 free shows and three benefit concerts from June 4 to Sept. 19 at Prospect Park’s Lena Horne Bandshell. Entry works on a first-come, first-served basis, but festival organizer BRIC Arts Media encourages attendees to RSVP for shows online beforehand.

The full 2026 Celebrate Brooklyn! schedule below:

• Thursday, June 4: Sheila E., Leon Knight, and DJ Spinna
• Saturday, June 13: Antibalas, KidsRead with Kate Yamasaki, and DJ Marc Bars
• Friday, June 19: Infinity Song, Annie and the Caldwells, Victory Boyd, and DJ Duane
• Saturday, June 20: Wayne Wonder, Lila Iké, and DJ Gravy
• Friday, June 26 (benefit show): Patti LaBelle
• Friday, July 10: EMEL, Mai Elgizouli, Nesrine, Yacine Boulares and the Habibi Festival House Band, and Yalla! Party Project
• Saturday, July 11: Saint James Joy, Pahua, and Puppetmobile
• Saturday, July 18 (benefit show): Royel Otis, and Ax and the Hatchetmen
• Friday, July 24: Cindy Blackman Santana, The Patricia Brennan Septet, and Lucía. (This show takes place on Park Place between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues.)
• Saturday, July 25: BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Brower Park with Black House Radio
• Friday, July 31: CARRTOONS & Hailé Supreme, Sofía Valdés, and Julia Zivic
• Friday, Aug. 7: DakhaBrakha, Yeison Landero, Sally Baby's Silver Dollars, and Sunju Park
• Saturday, Aug. 8: BRIC Celebrates Aaliyah: One in a Million
• Friday, Aug. 14: Lyricist Lounge 35th Anniversary
• Saturday, Aug. 15: Yola, Dom Flemons and the Traveling Wildfires, and Cleo Reed
• Friday, Aug. 21: Sasha Velour's NightGowns
• Friday, Aug. 28: Common and Special Guests To Honor the Social Justice Legacy of Harry Belafonte
• Saturday, Aug. 29: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso Presents Dominican Night at the Bandshell
• Saturday, Sept. 19 (benefit show): Liz Phair & Sleater-Kinney, and The Flannel and The Fury 2026

Gov. Kathy Hochul says she’s reached a “general agreement” on a New York state budget — but major policy proposals still aren’t settled, including Democrats’ plan to tax pieds-à-terre in New York City.

The Democratic governor said Thursday that she has had productive talks with leaders in New York City, but it’s proven tricky to determine a method for assessing the high-value second residences that she and Mayor Zohran Mamdani seek to tax.

As a result, basic details like the rate of taxation or exactly how many housing units will be affected still aren’t settled, the governor and her aides said.

What was supposed to be a victory lap instead laid bare the difficulty of taxing wealthy individuals who employ accountants and lawyers to minimize their bills.

“They have certainly managed the tax system at all levels to their benefit,” said James Parrott, a left-leaning economist and senior adviser at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, said he had “no details” about the tax. He criticized Hochul for prematurely announcing a budget agreement.

“Even on the policies that she put out there today, some of these things are still incomplete,” he said.

Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins had both supported a tax on pieds-à-terre before Hochul said she wanted to tax residences worth more than $5 million whose owners live outside the city. The plan would capture Russian oligarchs who own property in the five boroughs, as well as President Donald Trump, who has a gold-plated triplex on Fifth Avenue, Hochul said.

Parrott, who sat on a commission convened by former Mayor Bill de Blasio to examine the city’s property tax system, said these kinds of properties are generally assessed at a lower value than they sell for.

Hochul described the city’s current property tax system as “bizarre” and said she was trying to find a new way of determining the values at which to apply the new tax. The goal remains to raise $500 million for New York City, she said.

“Properties that are worth $200 million, for example, could be assessed at $7 million,” she said. “We’re looking at the difference between what is currently assessed but also market value.”

James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said the difficulty should give state lawmakers pause. “Poorly designed or hastily implemented taxes risks reducing, rather than increasing, overall revenue for the city, state and the MTA by discouraging investment and transactions,” he said.

Mamdani said he will propose an executive budget on Tuesday. He’s relying on the state to help fill a $5.4 billion deficit, and said that he was satisfied things are moving in the right direction.

“A lot of those conversations are ongoing, and we've said time and again that we're confident in that [pied-à-terre] tax's ability to raise half a billion dollars a year, which will be critical in putting the city back on that firm financial footing,” the Democratic mayor said.

Progressive groups cheered Heastie and said the still-unfinalized budget provided an opportunity to push for income tax hikes and more spending.

Hochul acknowledged that there is no agreement on whether New York taxpayers will pick up the tab for nearly 500,000 people set to lose state-backed health insurance because of a federal law passed last summer.

“We have yet to see details on how New York will close the budget gaps of cities across the state, raise progressive revenue, or stop New Yorkers from losing their healthcare coverage,” Working Families Party co-Director Jasmine Gripper said in a statement.

Fiscal watchdogs said Hochul’s announced $268 billion price tag was too high.

“The governor provided a smattering of details on state finances — but to be clear, we have yet to see a budget,” Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein said. “What we do know is that the budget is bigger, but not likely better for fiscal stability.”

In addition to the question of extending healthcare coverage, another major unsettled variable has to do with sweetening pension benefits for public employees hired after the Tier VI retirement law passed in 2012.

Unions are seeking changes that would let people retire with a full pension at 55 instead of 63 and reduce their required contribution rates. Their plan has a $1.5 billion price tag, much of which would be borne by local governments to which the state is sending bailouts.

Hochul proposed moving the retirement age to 60 and reducing contribution rates by half a percentage point, according to three people familiar with her negotiations with legislators. That idea was rejected, two other people familiar with the talks said, and lawmakers are now trying to reach an agreement on pension sweeteners that will cost around $500 million.

The governor said she is trying to balance the ability to recruit public employees against additional costs.

“We are willing to look at this and make changes, but a much more scaled-back, monetarily, proposal,” she said. “We'll release those numbers as soon as it's absolutely done.”

Jon Campbell, Brigid Bergin and Samuel King contributed reporting.

The column first appeared in Looped In NYC, a newsletter to help New Yorkers make sense of the city. Sign up to get the email which also features event listings, NYC news to know and a reader photos.

All respect to the sheeple out there grinding away from 9 to 5 before tucking in for their doctor-recommended eight hours, but this is New York City: a place where you can also thrive while working or playing at weird hours!

As a 12-year veteran of the early morning news shift, I’ve long been an appreciator of off-peak city life. The pre-dawn R train full of napping ironworkers. The midday Central Park suntanning session. The near-empty 2 p.m. Trader Joe’s.

I could count on two hands the number of times I passed the same couple doing it al fresco outside a certain restaurant during my 4:30 a.m. walks to the train.

Whether your favorite off-peak activities are done alone or with a partner, fully clothed or less so, we asked “Looped In” readers: How do you take advantage of the city at odd hours?

It wasn’t exactly a surprise to learn that off-peak chores are a hit.

Reader Sam Shapiro takes advantage of a “Free Dry Thursdays” promotion to get his laundry done midweek.

And Sandy Naidich likes to get her grocery shopping done at 2 a.m., when the crowds are gone and you can count on the shelves being fully stocked.

“The other [day] I was in Whole Foods and they were out of mint,” she lamented. “Late at night, you never run into that problem.”

Then there are the off-peak exercisers.

Mihalis Alisandratos said he gets his cycling in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the roads have fewer cars and the park loops have fewer pedestrians. Will Kang plays midday pickleball.

And Nate Maretzki, a Columbia University undergrad, said he schedules all his classes around midday trapeze sessions at the New York Circus Academy in Bed-Stuy.

“Looped In” tagged along last week for a class, where we also met a Long Island retiree, a stagehand for “The Rocky Horror Show” on Broadway and some people “with jobs” getting their swings in.

“The midday crowd, we get people skipping work, faking doctor’s appointments,” said instructor Sam Hart. “I’d say the midday crowd is more dedicated.”

Keeping weird hours doesn’t have to dampen your social life. Glenn Krasner, a doorman who works from 4 p.m. to midnight, Friday through Tuesday, said he and his fiancée (single off-peakers, there’s hope!) take advantage of their odd schedules for easier date nights.

“Valentine’s Day, for instance, fell on a Saturday this year,” he said. “So we celebrated the Wednesday before — we went to dinner and a Brooklyn Nets game.”

But for others, having some prime alone time in a city of 8.5 million people is its own treat. Graham Schranz, a self-described introvert, said he hits the road late at night — and even when the streets are empty, he keeps it slow just to take in the sights.

“If driving in New York by day is a constant overlapping cluster of frustrations, then driving by night feels like you own the city,” he said.

P.S. Comment on our video with how you like to take advantage of NYC off-peak.