Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll look at the people who keep climbing in and out of the New York City sewer system.
Picture this: It’s around 4 a.m., and you’re camping outside Madison Square Garden to secure tickets to see Olivia Dean, an award-winning English singer and songwriter. You look across the street, and suddenly you see a group of people climbing out of a manhole. The last person straddles it, pulls the cover back on and walks away.
Since May, several New Yorkers have reported seeing people venturing in and out of the 7,500-mile network of pipes that make up the city’s sewer system. And while these explorations have fueled rumors of an underground society, the Police Department has not established a motive. My colleague, Miles Cohen, reported that the theories range from scavenging for valuables to undertaking risky urban exploration.
There’s even a debate about which cartoon characters the subterranean explorers resemble the most: the Minions from the “Despicable Me” movies or the Mario Brothers of video game fame.
The episode outside the Garden on Aug. 18 was the fourth one to have been reported.
City officials have warned against climbing into manholes, which provide entrances to both the city’s sewer system and some underground utilities, calling the action dangerous and illegal.
Footage from the scene outside the Garden was shared on social media, and some people took to the comments to share their opinions and express their concerns.
“The way that last guy popped out was too smooth, definitely not his first time,” Tony Hernandez, a retired transit officer, said in a comment.
Another TikTok user commented, “Hopefully the manhole is being closed up right every time.”
The comment pointed to a real danger: In May, Donike Gocaj, a 56-year-old woman from Westchester County, died after plunging 10 feet into an uncovered manhole after stepping out of her vehicle in Midtown Manhattan.
The first reported episode in which people were climbing in and out of manholes this year was on May 5, around 2 a.m., in Queens. Three men in chest waders walked toward an auto detailing shop in Astoria holding flashlights and a crowbar and entered a manhole on 20th Avenue.
City officials inspected the manhole and found “no damage to the system,” Déja Stewart, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said.
Two more episodes followed. On May 28, around 11 p.m., several people entered a manhole in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn, before climbing out about three hours later. The exit was caught on camera, and two of the men were later charged with criminal trespass.
At around 1 a.m. the following day, another group entered an uncovered a manhole in South Williamsburg and slid deep underground before also emerging three hours later. Both incidents remain under investigation, the police said.
The sewer divers are usually dressed in black, wearing headlamps. They are skilled at removing the manhole covers, which weigh more than 100 pounds, and they are cautious enough to travel at night, when they are less likely to be seen.
Are they really scavenging for items to sell? Steve Duncan, who spent two decades urban exploring in New York City, brushed off the idea. In his more than 100 trips into the depths of the conduits, he said, the most valuable thing he found was an expired credit card.
Councilman Phil Wong, who has received several complaints of missing, dislodged or damaged manhole covers, said he had spoken with cable workers in his district who told him that the sewer divers might be looking for old copper wires.
This month alone, his office reported at least six exposed manholes, he said, and three remain uncovered.
A fifth group was captured on video last Thursday entering a manhole on Long Island, according to a spokeswoman for the Nassau County Police Department.
Weather
Cloudy skies will make way for afternoon showers and a possible thunderstorm. Temperatures will near 84 before dropping to around 70 tonight, with cloudy conditions and rain expected to continue.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Monday (Labor Day).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I purposely didn’t watch it because I knew it would make me feel badly.” — Thuc Doan Nguyen-Brophy, a young college graduate who filmed the World Trade Center attack from the fire escape of her Chinatown apartment. Twenty-five years later, she finally watched it.
The latest Metro news
-
Day cares will get funding: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Kamar Samuels, the schools chancellor, announced that early childhood centers would have the supplies and funds needed to open next week for the first day of school, after many providers had said they were out of money and might close.
-
Trackers for airport rescue vehicles: Rescue trucks at the three major airports that serve New York City now have transponders, a critical piece of equipment that was missing from a fire truck that collided with a plane at LaGuardia Airport in March, killing two pilots. Transponders send signals to air traffic controllers whenever trucks are on the active airfield.
-
A two-on-one battle: A lawsuit filed by the Mamdani administration to block $10,000 bonuses for teachers’ aides has put the mayor at odds with the United Federation of Teachers and the City Council.
-
Neighbors rebel against knocking down a tree: Officials in Maplewood, N.J., have twice refused to grant a developer a permit to remove a 271-year-old London plane tree to build two homes. Lawyers for the developer have suggested a lawsuit, setting up a standoff that has tapped grievances that seem to spread well beyond the tree’s 98-foot canopy.
-
Met honoree steps away after criticism: Facing an intense backlash, John Galliano, a fashion designer who was convicted of an antisemitic hate crime, decided to withdraw from a planned exhibition in his honor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
-
Making ends meet: Fred Jacobs, a criminal court officer on Staten Island, made $155,159 last year, including roughly 600 hours of overtime. Officer Jacobs has also taken on a number of odd jobs, and makes and sells lamps made from liquor bottles.
-
Park Slope book crawl: The Brooklyn neighborhood is exceptional both for the density of its bookshop offerings and for their variety. Here’s a mini walking tour.
METROPOLITAN diary
Something healthy
Dear Diary:
I was visiting my son, who had been dumped by a woman he might have thought he would marry someday. He didn’t eat. He didn’t sleep. Of course I was worried.
I stayed at a hotel a few blocks south of the tiny apartment he shared in Kips Bay and walked back and forth during my stay.
One night, pretty late, I headed out to sit with him through a fresh wave of sorrow. On the way, I stopped at a basement-level store for a snack.
“Do you have an apple, a yogurt, something sort of healthy?” I asked the man behind the counter.
“Figs?” he suggested. “Figs are very healthy.”
He handed me a bag of figs. Then he asked: “Would you like one of these?”
He passed me a samosa from a heated glass case. I felt it would be rude to refuse. He took one as well and spread it with something from a jar.
“Try it with this sauce,” he said.
It was delicious.
We ate the samosas, I paid for the figs and went on my way.
My son is moving from Kips Bay as soon as he can. Too many memories. But I will hold onto mine of the warm samosa with sauce.
— Samantha Sparks
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. — D.W.
Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
The post What Motivates the Sewer Explorers? appeared first on New York Times.
