Mediaboss Marketing

Meet the three amazing women shortlisted in the Inspiration of the Year category for Stylists second Remarkable Women Awards in partnership with philosophy, then vote for your winner.

Juliet Can, 39, is the founder of Stour Trust, a social enterprise creating affordable workspaces for artists and low-income workers.

Ive had a passion for equality and justice ever since I moved to the UK from Uganda in 1990, age 10. My parents and I left without warning, without a suitcase, without saying bye to my friends, to get away from the civil war. We tried to claim refugee status in the UK but it took a decade for our paperwork to be seen. It meant we were placed in temporary accommodation and moved around a lot. It was unsettling. Then, age 15, I fell into a coma from carbon monoxide poisoning from one of the places we stayed at. The doctors said if I woke up I wouldnt have any brain function, but I went on to get As in my GCSEs a few months later. The experience made me realise I wanted my life to be meaningful and, as I got older, I became more passionate about people having access to a home they can afford and a space to connect with others.

The idea for Stour Trust came about after the Olympics were announced for London in 2005. I was working as a consultant for charities that helped local communities and I felt tensions between the artistic community (who felt their towns were changing), new businesses (who were redeveloping the area) and residents (who felt pushed out). So, myself and two artists decided to convert a warehouse in east London using recycled materials and volunteers into a place where everyone could come together. Its now big enough for 40 creators to use as a work and recreational space.

We named it Stour Space and, in 2014, it became the first UK workspace to be protected, so it cant be demolished. Today, we have four sites across the city that empower locals to work and create, with more in the pipeline. Anyone can walk in at any time to work for free, and private spaces can be hired at less than half the market rate.

In December 2019, Stour Trust worked with developer Future Generation to secure 25% of their space, just down the road from our original Stour Space, at no rent for 150 years. Thats 500 square metres that will be made into affordable workspaces and studios. I wanted to achieve something that lasts beyond my lifetime, and this is it. Ive spent more than 20 years campaigning for people to have the opportunity to thrive. The dream is that everyone in the world can have a roof over their head in which they can learn and live.

To vote for Juliet email remarkable.women@stylist.co.uk with her name in the subject line before 29 February.

Lizzie Carr, 34, founded online community and app Plastic Patrol to educate people about pollution and their environment through adventure.

It started after I went through radiotherapy for thyroid cancer in 2013 I went to the Isles of Scilly and discovered paddleboarding as a low-impact way of exercising. I wanted to continue once I returned home to London but gliding up and down Regents Canal I became more aware of the citys plastic pollution problem. I saw rubbish everywhere, birds nests were full of wrappers, straws and bags, and plastic bottles would tumble onto one end of my board and pop out the other. It was disgusting. I was using the waterways as a place to restore my health, but they were in a worse condition than I was.

So I began collecting data from my paddles; Id log what litter I found and where it was building up. I knew I wanted to help on a wider scale but I also needed to understand more about the issue. In May 2016, I decided to paddle 400 miles from Godalming to the Lake District to find evidence of plastic pollution. Over 22 days I took 3,000 photos, and in each image there were hundreds of pieces of rubbish. I got carpal tunnel syndrome from gripping the paddle every day, but my social media began to grow and I had started to raise awareness.

People were messaging me to see how they could help, so I reached out to an app developer who helped me create the Plastic Patrol app where I could upload all the evidence. Others started doing the same,and now the app has over 300,000 uploads from more than 80 countries. It felt surreal but invigorating that there was a community ready to help, and I was blown away on our first global clean-up day last September when thousands of people from 20 countries went out on the same day collecting litter and logging it on the app for a huge simultaneous data collection on plastic pollution.

Over the past few years, weve also been working with researchers at the universities of Nottingham and Glasgow to help analyse and understand our data, and have just published our first impact report. Its a call to action for industries and government by highlighting the most-found brands and major litter hotspots. There are plans to present the findings to the government environmental policy team.

I work as an environmental consultant and run Plastic Patrol as my passion project. We dont get any government funding, but we accept corporate funding and sponsorship to keep the movement going. When I started paddleboarding, I was dealing with survivors guilt; many people who I met through treatment didnt make it. I felt I had a second chance but I wasnt making the most out of it. Plastic Patrol helped me find a meaningful purpose, and when I see the contributions from people around the world who understand the danger of plastic, it feels like Im making a real difference.

To vote for Lizzie email remarkable. women@stylist.co.uk with her name in the subject line before 29 February.

Kike Oniwinde, 27, is the founder of BYP (Black Young Professionals) Network, which connects black professionals with jobs and other people from their communities.

In the black community theres a saying that we have to work 10 times harder to get the same results. Ive been lucky in that I had a successful athletics career, competing at javelin for Team GB, and great opportunities such as scholarships to study a masters in Florida and work placements at Goldman Sachs. But no matter what I was doing, I never saw anyone else who looked like me.

This frustration came to a head in 2016, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. I felt like I couldnt change anything. At the same time, I noticed so many companies saying they couldnt find diverse talent, blaming it on a pipeline problem like we just didnt exist. It was infuriating. I had black professional friends who were unemployed for no reason.

So I started BYP, a network connecting black professionals with employers, and each other, to give them access to opportunities. It began as a networking event in London with 100 people coming together to mingle. People told me they wanted more, so I started running events every six weeks, while developing an app to connect our community. It reached 10,000 downloads in six months, and led to a Sky Women Tech scholarship in 2018 worth 25,000. I quit my job and put the money into the app now I have a team of 16 people.

Today, BYP works like a dating app but for careers. We have 40,000 users who match and talk with employers and other professionals to get advice and find jobs. We work with brands such as Facebook, Netflix, Sky and Lloyds, who want access to our talent. Someone recently got a job in tech at Soho House. She told me she never would have heard about it or thought of applying if it wasnt for us. And thats exactly what were about. BYP exists to change the black narrative. I hope there will come a time when we dont have to exist because opportunities will be shared equally. Until then, were shining a light on our community and raising aspirations for

To vote for Kike email remarkable. women@stylist.co.uk with her name in the subject line before 29 February.

philosophy is the wellbeing beauty brand inspiring you to look, live and feel your best, and is the official partner of Stylists Remarkable Women Awards 2020.

Photography: Louise Haywood-Schiefer

See the article here:
Remarkable Women Awards 2020: It's time to vote for your Inspiration of the Year - Stylist Magazine

There's more than one festival in the New Zealand Festival of The Arts.

Te Ata, a festival within thefestival, will focuson young people and issues of identity, social justice, and postcolonialism through the arts.

Curated by Lemi Ponifasio, Te Ata will be based in Porirua with artists from all over the world coming to perform, teach and engage with audiences.

SUPPLIED

Dance group FLEXN are part of Te Ata, a festival within the New Zealand Festival of Arts 2020.

The public will see performers address issues of social justice, cultural expectations and also talk about the problems they face within their own community.

READ MORE:*New Zealand Festival 2020: Venues, tickets, transport and food*New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2020: Top picks for the Christmas stockings*From the quirky to the powerful: New Zealand Festivalof the Arts 2020 programme release*US artist Laurie Anderson to guest curate upcoming New Zealand Festival of the Arts

Ponifasio said Te Ata wasnot a festival with buzzy words like "youth-led" - it was aboutthe community coming together to give focus on young people, to hear from them, to look and reflect on them deeply, through the arts.

"It is a moment for young people to collaborate and create and find expressions for how they experience life right now as they contemplate and develop their livesintothe future.

SUPPLIED

The group will perform for the public, create conversation, host a dance class for people to express their own stories and take part in a student summit which allows young people to talk about the most pressing social challenges facing them and their families.

"Te Ata is the hope that engagement through the artistic dimension can help us find new ways to listen, to be heard, to be included, challenged and reassured through exchanges and in finding other ways to understand each other and to give new expression to our ever-changing life."

Performing, teaching and taking part in a student summit is FLEXN - a crew of dancers from the very neighbourhoods where the Black Lives Matter movement began to rise.

Using flexing - a form of street dance - the groupexpresses "deeply human and sometimes heart-wrenching stories".

SUPPLIED

Te Ata has been curated by Lemi Ponifasio.

Flexing isa type of dance made up of snapping, pausing, gliding andhat tricks.

Aloalii Tapu & Friendsis alsobringingGoodbye Naughtonto Porirua, whichpays tribute to tara, the South Aucklandsuburb Tapugrew up in.

His parents gave himthe first name Naughton during a time when having a Samoan name caused confusion - Naughton also represented safety and the promise of future opportunity.

Through the show, he rejects that idea - giving himself the space to create his own identity through dance rooted in the Samoan culture he is proud of.

SUPPLIED

Goodbye Naughton pays tribute to tara, the South Auckland suburb Aloalii Tapu grew up in.

Tapu, his friends and singers Chris Taito and Uati Tui, take the audience through the realities of being "the man" from tara, cultural expectations and postcolonialism.

Te Ata ambassador Te Rau Oriwa Mitchell said by having the festival in Porirua, the city's youth would be able to take part in workshops and see performances from international artists they most likely would never get to experience.

With what was going on in the world, these were the type of performances people needed to see, Mitchell said.

Supplied

3 guest curators - 100+ arts experiences - 1000s of conversations sparked.

"Mental heath issues are at an all-timehigh and identity issues definitely contribute to that, it needs to be addressed.

"We need to offer pathways for people to heal people and to understand who they are and where they come from."

* Te Ata opens on February 21 and runs untilFebruary 29 at Te Rauparaha Arena Pataka Art + Museum.

Read more:
New Zealand Festival 2020: Te Ata, a festival within the festival - Stuff.co.nz

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:20 15.9MB)

Subscribe: Android |

Part I: Reactions to the Mayor

The announcement came yesterday from Mayor John Hamilton: the city will not privatize the farmers market in 2020. The Board of Parks Commissioners voted to remain under city leadership by a unanimous vote on Thursday.

Parks Commissioner Lisa Thatcher said at the meeting that the city had greater concerns of protesters at the market than Schooner Creek Farm.

Mayor Hamilton said he will work to improve the environment of the market.

Yael Ksander is the communications director for the City of Bloomington. She agrees saying every constituent has the right to freedom of thought, including Schooner Creek Farm.

Black Lives Matter Bloomington said society is built around cities where mayors wield power that is often unchallenged by state-level authorities. The group said the mayor failed to take any bold measures, prolonging progress.

Both Ashley Pirani and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade agree that the citys handling of Schooner Creek Farms presence at the market has been ineffective.

The Indiana Daily Student reported that Robert Hall of the Grassroots Conservatives said he wants the city to keep protesters in Info Alley, a neutral space for protest, to bring stability to the market.

He said in a Herald Times opinion column that he condemns the mayors acknowledgement of SCF as white supremacists.

He said, It has not helped heal the community when the mayor continues to advance a false narrative.

After the most contentious season the farmers market has seen to date, the future remains unclear.

***

Part II: Outside Input

Sarah Dye said shes a member but not a spokesperson for the American Identity Movement. Again, she denies the group is a white supremacy group. When pressed on this question, Dye asked for a definition of white supremacy.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, white supremacy falls under the blanket of four qualifying tenets, 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own culture that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people.

Yael Ksander said the city thinks it is important to understand the threats tied to white supremacy ideology, however, the farmers market is not the place to solve these issues. This is why Ksander said the city turned to outside help.

Mayor Hamilton contacted representatives of The Divided Community Projects Bridge Initiative at Ohio State Universitys Moritz College of Law In August of 2019. The Bridge Initiative is a conflict consolation project that focuses on hate crimes and incidents.

The project researches local issues and then suggests solutions to local agencies and government. Hamilton asked the Bridge Initiative to help the community understand underlying issues that arose at the farmers market and to provide a structure for leaders to begin a plan for action, according to the report. The full report can be found on the City of Bloomingtons website.

Black Lives Matter Bloomington and the Purple Shirt Brigade criticized the Bridge Initiative.

BLM B-Town and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade said they agree the city needs to listen to members of the community, rather than bringing in outside sources who tell the city what they want to hear.

Milligan said this creates a communication gap between city officials and the community. He said its causing everyone in the community to suffer, including people of color.

***

Part III: People of Color

The city said it met with many community groups to seek solutions.

At the end of the two week period, the market reopened with a larger comfort zone created by two public streets being closed to traffic during market hours, an increase in security cameras, an increased presence of police, market ambassadors to create a welcoming environment, and signage indicating areas for protest and market rules.

Ksander said not everyone was satisfied with their new changes.

The idea of increased police was not met with open arms by Black Lives Matter. The group said an increase of police patrol does not mean a reduction in crime. They said it only increases tensions between marginalized communities and the city.

Black Lives Matter B-Town is a non-hierarchical organization. 3 of the 6-person core council spoke with WFHB. The group prefers to be referred to as a unit, rather than on an individual basis.

BLM B-Town said they criticize not only white nationalists but white liberals in city government who they believe enable white nationalists through inaction.

The group said Mayor Hamilton needs to take action through an anti-racist lens. They said there is a level of white fragility on behalf of city officials.

BLM said the Hamilton administration adopts a message of what they refer to as incrementalism, which means gradual change. The problem with this approach, they said, is that it impedes progress.

Three of the six core-council members agree that they feel abandoned by the city throughout its handling of the farmers market.

***

Part IV: The Contract

In the last episode we heard from vendor Susan Welsand, the Chili Lady, who vended next to Schooner Creek Farms booth in the past outdoor season. Welsand recalled a specific interaction with Doug Mackey which makes her think the issue is not only about freedom of speech.

Ksander responded to allegations of Mackey making such an offer.

Welsand mentioned a day when Patrick Casey visited the market and recorded footage that was later uploaded to the Schooner Creek Farms website entailing white- nationalism propaganda. The issue was that the video included the Citys Farmer Market Logo. Ksander said guidelines have been drafted to ensure this wont be a future problem of the farmers market.

According to the 2020 Vendor Handbook preliminary working draft, Behavior outside of the Market that relates to the Market must not reflect poorly on the Market or the reputation of the City and must be consistent with the mission and goals of the Market.

However, as Ksander addressed, according to the 2019 market season handbook, by posting the video Schooner Creek Farm didnt violate their contract.

Welsand also addressed another incident which we heard in the last episode. Yael Ksander talked about the Schooner Creek Farms stand assistants filing under false names.

Once again, the accused farm was in no violation. The 2020 Vendor Hand book preliminary working draft states, the City does not tolerate vendors or their stand assistants engaging in harassing or discriminatory conduct towards fellow vendors, members of the public or City employees at the Market on the basis of sex, race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, housing status or veteran status.

The Purple Shirt Brigade challenges this narrative. Ashley Pirani said she knows of at least two cases of harassment on behalf of two SCF stand assistants.

Pirani said she knows of a number of complaints filed against SCF, and she said the city failed to address them.

***Part V: American Identity Movement

The Purple Shirt Brigade said last year Casey mocked one of their protesters with a disability on social media. We checked his Twitter account, which was suspended in late summer 2019.

Executive Director Patrick Casey transformed the image and brand of Identity Europa with a suit-and-tie approach to his white nationalist ideology. He is the founder of the American Identity Movement. In a Facebook post, Casey defended Sarah Dye. He said the left considers Dye a threat, and he quoted an American Greatness article, which read Sarah Dye is a victim of a left-wing witch hunt involving Antifa terrorists and the mayor of Bloomington.

Patrick Casey showed up at the farmers market last season. Dye said she didnt invite Casey to the market. She defends Casey, saying hes a law-abiding citizen who rejects violence.

Nolan Brewer

In a 200-page document compiled by the FBI, Brewer said he briefly met with Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey.

In the interview, Nolan Brewer who spray-painted swastikas on a Carmel synagogue, said Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey werent aware of the vandalism before it happened.

Sarah Dye said she believes there were false reports about her connection with Brewer.In late 2018, a mutual friend of Sarah Dye and Doug Mackey arranged for the couple to meet Nolan Brewer and his partner over dinner.

The dinner was after the Brewers spray-painted swastikas at the synagogue. However, Dye said she didnt have any knowledge of the crime committed. She said it was only a week later when she discovered the news.

Nolan Brewer, a 21-year-old from Eminence, Indiana, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for violating federal civil rights laws.

The Transformation

Sarah Dye said it was a slow process for her transitioning from a left-wing activist to a conservative member of AIM. She said she was tired of the hate created by the left. She said she used to embrace the ideas of Karl Marx. She said the left follows political fads without extensive research. Sarah said she was embarrassed to admit her political past.

However, Dye said since her transformation to a member of Identity Evropa and then, she still claims to look at politics objectively.

Sarah Dye cited the U.S. Census Bureaus report that White Americans are projected to fall below half the population by 2044.

While this may be true, the U.S. Census Bureau says today the Bloomington is 83 percent white. The bureau said black residents make up about 4.5 percent of the population.

Dye said people should acknowledge the European history of America.

When asked about colonialism, Dye said she doesnt deny atrocities done to Native Americans during European colonization. However, she said there were atrocities during war in all parts of the world.

All forms of decimation cannot be underplayed. In todays society, protection of marginalized groups is up to the government. In this case, its in the hands of city officials.

***

VI. The Future

Mayor Hamilton announced that the city will continue its 46th year in owning the farmers market. After vandalism, threats, protesters, and arrests, more than 80 vendors sent a letter to city officials requesting them to continue control of the market. The city said it looks forward to improving the market community. Only time will tell the future of the market.

See the original post here:
What the Farmer's Market Part II - WFHB News

The last decade was a time defined by burgeoning activist movements across the globe. Among the most impactful and inspiring is the latest iteration of the centuries-old Black liberation movement, in which Toronto became a significant confluence for organizing and whose influence spread far beyond the city limits.

The 2010s was a time of courageous, fierce and unapologetic activism from communities of Black people tired of waiting for what had been promised for decades. And while I was involved in what was among the most visible movements as a co-founder of Black Lives MatterToronto activists and advocates were working in spaces seen and unseen across the city.

We organized against police brutality and carding until the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario could no longer ignore us. We intervened in anti-Black racism experienced in schools from primary school to post-secondary education. We supported the arts in our communities. We built educational opportunities for children and adults that would teach us what had been taken away from us in the formal education system. We brought attention to the detention of Black asylum seekers and supported families reeling from the violence of anti-Black racism.

The Black liberation movement of the 2010s was visibly organized and led through the brilliance and scholarship of Black queer and trans people to whom countless organizers in movements everywhere owe the deepest debt.

When Pride named Black Lives MatterToronto as the honoured group in 2016, we refused to be used by an organization that simply wanted to benefit from proximity to our cause. We demanded that which would genuinely honour us: a commitment to structural change within Pride that focused on stripping away the anti-Blackness our communities had experienced from Pride for years. That action, built by Black activist and queer and trans groups beyond just BLM-TO, sparked a shift in how Pride organizations engaged with Black and marginalized communities across the globe.

Most importantly, we changed the way mass culture discusses and engages with Blackness. At the beginning of the 2010s, anti-Black racism was an idea most people in power refused to acknowledge. Now, the world cannot claim ignorance in any discussion of anti-Black racism.

We reinvigorated what was possible not only for us as Black people, but for anyone who was willing to listen and learn from our work.

As we look toward the 2020s, we need to build a city (and a country) that refuses to take anti-Black racism lightly, and that refuses to acceptpoliticians who don Blackface and disappear the Black community along Eglinton West in favour of a gentrified condominium corridor.

We want to live in a place that builds permanent Black spaces; a place where Black people who contributed greatly to Toronto and so much of its culture and its sounds are not pushed to the margins. This is the work that we all have ahead of us if we believe in justiceforBlack people.

@nowtoronto

Read the original:
Decade in review: Black Lives Matter changes the face of Black liberation - NOW Magazine

NEW YORK (WABC) -- As the decade comes to a close, we are taking a look back at the stories that shaped the 2010s in New York City.

There was no shortage of tragedy and conflict over the past 10 years, but there were plenty of stories of triumph.

This was a decade of activism as our communities took to the streets to fight for what they believed in: Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Women's March, protesting the travel ban and demanding equal rights of all.

These are the stories that defined the last decade in New York City.

View stories of the decade through photos:

2010:

We kicked off the decade with a war against salt. In January, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Health Department unveiled a plan to make New Yorkers healthier and urged restaurants to reduce salt levels in their food by 25 percent. The effort was part of a constellation of initiatives to promote public health, but some derided the push as indicative of a nanny state.

The narrative of the year soon segued from health fears to terror fears. On May 1, a car bomb failed to detonate in Times Square in an attempted terror attack.

Faisal Shahzad was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to commit an act of terrorism.

While fears of terrorism lingered almost a decade after 9/11, a controversy brewed in lower Manhattan over the proposal to build a mosque near Ground Zero, called Park51.

The majority of the public was opposed to the idea, and some relatives of the victims of 9/11 said they found the proposal offensive, but others expressed support and were in favor of promoting interfaith peace and freedom of religion.

The controversy over the "Ground Zero Mosque" became a campaign issue in the 2010 midterm elections and also sparked a national debate over religious tolerance and sensitivity to 9/11 victims.

A story that fascinated the nation later that summer was the dramatic stunt pulled by disgruntled JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater on Aug. 9.

Slater apparently became fed up with passengers after their flight landed at Kennedy Airport and deployed the emergency slide from the aircraft and took off -- allegedly with a beer in hand.

Despite being arrested and facing serious charges, Slater's getaway stunt garnered him national support and made a viral star in these early days of social media.

Weather stories would prove to be defining moments of the decade.

A notable story involved tornadoes that spun through Brooklyn and Queens on the evening of Sept. 16 -- leaving a trail of damage in their wake. At least one person was killed in the storms.

And it was certainly a white day AFTER Christmas that year when a blizzard dumped between 18-24 inches of snow in NYC.

This was also the year that Humans of New York first launched -- giving the rest of the world a personal look into the lives of everyday New Yorkers.

2011:

The death of Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn shocked the city in July. The 8-year-old boy was kidnapped after he asked for directions during his walk home and his dismembered body was later found after an extensive search across the city.

The medical examiner said he was given a lethal cocktail of drugs before he was smothered to death. Levi Aron is serving 40 years to life for kidnapping and killing Kletzky.

Sept. 11 of that year marked the somber 10-year anniversary since terrorists attacked the Twin Towers.

The 9/11 Memorial was officially dedicated on the anniversary and opened to the public the next day.

Less than a week after the memorial opened, protesters descended onto Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan for what would become Occupy Wall Street -- a weeks-long movement in the Financial District to push the government to address a range of issues like unemployment, the funding of wars and the foreclosure crisis.

It didn't take long for the movement to spread beyond the streets of NYC and onto main streets across America.

Do you remember that it snowed this year on Halloween? A nor'easter that some remember as "Snowtober" brought an early blast of snow to the tri-state area.

The year came to an end as the mystery of the Gilgo Beach serial killer was only getting started. On November 29, police announced that they believed the previous deaths of multiple people were likely connected, leading to fears that a serial killer was lurking on Long Island just miles away from NYC.

The still unidentified serial killer is believed to be responsible for at least 10 deaths over the course of 20 years -- and the victims were mainly women associated with prostitution.

2012:

2012 was a year that started with excitement over sports, but will be remembered for the tragedy that struck by the end of the year.

The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. Not long after the excitement of that win, a personality from another sport stirred up a global frenzy.

In what will be remembered as "Linsanity," Jeremy Lin rose to fame after he unexpectedly led a winning turnaround for the New York Knicks.

The Knicks started selling his No. 17 jerseys and T-shirts and merchandise at stands throughout Madison Square Garden. Restaurants around the city started selling special food and drink items in Lin's honor, Ben & Jerry's created a special ice cream and he was even the subject of a documentary film that premiered at Sundance.

In baseball news, Gary Carter, a member of the 1986 world champion Mets, died on Feb. 16 at the age of 57 after a battle with brain cancer. The Mets added a memorial patch to their uniforms in Carter's honor for the entire 2012 season.

It was in April of that same year that the New Jersey Nets moved to the Barclays Center to become the Brooklyn Nets.

Although sports dominated the headlines for the first part of the year, the narrative shifted when Superstorm Sandy devastated the area at the end of October.

The storm slammed NYC with a surge of water that killed 44 people and plunged parts of the city into darkness. Flooding damaged tens of thousands of homes, drowned subways and forced hospitals and nursing homes to evacuate.

In a controversial decision, the NYC Marathon was canceled that year because of the storm's aftermath.

Communities are still recovering to this day after the damage and destruction left behind by the storm.

Hearts broke across New York City when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were murdered in a crime that shocked the world.

2013:

After a long life in the public eye, the former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, died on Feb. 1. Koch made his mark on the city during his tenure as mayor from 1978 to 1989.

That same year marked the beginning of another mayoral administration: Bill de Blasio was first elected to the position on Nov. 5.

The election year wasn't free of scandalous headlines -- this is the year that the infamous Anthony Weiner sexting scandal cost him the election.

Weiner had attempted to make a return to politics after his previous scandal in 2011, but ultimately lost the mayoral primary after admitting to sexting multiple women following his resignation from Congress.

2013 wasn't all about politics -- transportation also rolled into the headlines. Citi Bike officially launched on May 27 of that year and no one can forget about BridgeGate.

The first traffic closures that evolved into the infamous BridgeGate scandal happened on Sept. 9. Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly were later convicted of creating the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge for politically motivated reasons.

The year ended on a sad note with the Metro-North crash at Spuyten Duyvil on Dec. 1. Four passengers were killed and dozens were injured when the train derailed in the Bronx.

2014:

This year brought New York City into the national spotlight for multiple stories.

On the morning of March 12, a gas explosion in East Harlem leveled two apartment buildings and killed eight people. At least 70 other people were injured in the tragic incident.

The police chokehold death of Eric Garner on July 17 sparked protests around NYC and the country as it fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Dec. 20 murders of two NYPD police detectives sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn shocked the city. The gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, apparently cited Garner's death as a motive.

Garner's daughter publicly spoke out and showed her support for fallen officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

All eyes were on New York City earlier that year as the Ebola crisis arrived in America.

Dr. Craig Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola on Oct. 23.

After returning from working with Doctors Without Borders in Africa, city officials rushed to find other people he may have come into contact with in NYC. Before he showed symptoms, he rode the subway, walked the High Line and even went bowling in Brooklyn.

After he recovered from the disease, Mayor de Blasio declared that NYC was Ebola-free.

Finally, the eyes of America and around the world fell on New York City on Nov. 3 when One World Trade Center officially opened -- marking a chapter of rebirth and renewal after the terror attacks.

2015:

The first quarter of 2015 was marked with disaster:

-A Metro-North train struck a passenger car in Valhalla on Feb. 3, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others.

-Seven children were trapped and killed on March 21 when a fire broke out in their Midwood, Brooklyn, apartment.

-Two people were killed and 13 others were injured in a deadly gas explosion in the East Village on March 26. The owner of the building, an unlicensed plumber and a general contractor. would all later be found guilty in 2019.

The year also provided moments that will go down in pop culture history:

-On June 16, Donald Trump rode down an escalator in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue to officially launch his presidential campaign.

-Lin-Manuel Miranda did not throw away his shot and opened his mega-successful "Hamilton" on Broadway on Aug. 6 -- arguably changing Broadway forever.

-Two words: Pizza Rat. Who would have thought a video of a hungry rat enjoying a New York slice would be a part of NYC history? Pizza Rat remains a viral sensation to this day.

The Pope's visit to NYC was a highlight of the latter part of the year. Pope Francis visited New York City from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26 as part of his visit to North America.

In his short visit to the city, he addressed the United Nations, visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, visited children at a school in East Harlem, made his way through Central Park and even held a Mass at Madison Square Garden.

New Yorkers felt a sense of pride and hope as the Holy Father forever left his touch on our city.

2016:

2016 got off to a cold and snowy start when the biggest blizzard in our city's history hit NYC in January -- leaving behind more than 26 inches of snow.

In a still-unsolved mystery, a tourist from Virginia lost his foot when he stepped on an explosive in Central Park on July 3. It is still unclear if the explosion had something to do with celebratory firecrackers ahead of the 4th of July or if it was intentionally placed there to do harm.

Later that summer, the murder and sexual assault of 30-year-old jogger Karina Vetrano on Aug. 2. shocked the city.

Vetrano left for a run through the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens but she never returned home. Her murder went unsolved for six months until Chanel Lewis was arrested and charged in 2017. He was found guilty and sentenced to life without parole in April 2019.

September of that year was plagued with crime: Chelsea bomber Ahmad Rahimi set off pressure cooker bombs in New Jersey and Chelsea on Sept. 17. He was captured days later after a shootout with police.

Fortunately no one was killed or seriously injured in the explosions, but dozens of people were wounded.

It was the end of an era when the iconic Carnegie Deli closed its doors for good at the end of the year. New Yorkers said goodbye to giant pastrami sandwiches and huge slices of strawberry cheesecake.

2017:

After decades of talk, the Second Avenue subway finally opened on Jan. 1 and East Siders rejoiced.

On March 16, FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo was mowed down by her own ambulance while she was on the job. The mother of five's death struck a chord with New Yorkers.

On May 18, 23 pedestrians were mowed down in Times Square. Police said the driver was high on drugs -- - possibly synthetic marijuana. An 18-year-old tourist from Michigan, Alyssa Elsman, did not survive.

New Yorkers came together to support their brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria made landfall there on Sept. 20.

In October of that year, reports by the New York Times and The New Yorker would eventually lead to the downfall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. This reports not only led to his fall from grace, they spurred the #MeToo movement.

Because of the empowerment movement, women around the world broke their silence to speak out against the sexual assault and harassment they had suffered.

On Oct. 31, a day that should have been happy and full of fun turned horrific when Sayfullo Saipov drove a pickup truck onto a bike path full of runners and cyclists along the West Side Highway in a Halloween terror attack. Eight people were killed -- six of whom were tourists.

That wasn't the last act of terror that year -- on Dec. 11, suspect Akayed Ullah injured four people when he partially detonated a pipe bomb in a tunnel at Port Authority.

No one was killed, but several people were injured.

Just days after Christmas that year, 13 people were killed in an apartment fire in the Belmont section of the Bronx on Dec. 28 -- marking New York's deadliest fire in 25 years.

Officials said it appeared a young child playing with a stove caused the fire. The child's mother escaped the apartment with her kids but left the front door open, which acted like a chimney and allowed the fire to quickly travel up the stairs.

2018:

The death of innocent 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz on June 20 outraged people in his Bronx community and far beyond.

#JusticeForJunior soon went viral and became a cry for justice for the teen who was chased into a bodega by gang members and killed in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Fourteen suspects were arrested in the murder and the first five to stand trial were all found guilty and later sentenced to life in prison in 2019.

2018 will also be remembered as the year that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, rose to the national spotlight. The Bronx native was officially elected on Nov. 6 to serve as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th Congressional district.

That year she became the youngest woman to serve in U.S. Congress. And whether people loved her or hated her, there was no denying she made a splash in the world of politics.

The city was on edge for days in October when suspicious packages that supposedly contained pipe bombs were mailed to critics of President Trump, including CNN, causing the Time Warner Center in NYC to be evacuated.

None of the devices exploded, but the fear that they could prompted responses from bomb squads out of precaution. Eventually Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Florida on Oct. 26.

Read this article:
The 2010s: These are the stories that defined the decade in NYC - WABC-TV