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Esther Wang

@estherxlwang.bsky.social
889 followers 10 following 54 posts

Freelance writer and editor | Formerly: @hellgatenyc.com senior editor Get in touch: estherxlwang@gmail.com

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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
What a privilege to be a small part of Hell Gate. Become a subscriber to the best local news outlet in all of New York City: hellgatenyc.com/membership
hellgatenyc.com
Hell Gate
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
A necessary condition of fixing [gesturing haphazardly] all *this* is building back the press as a robust independent pillar of civil society. @hellgatenyc.com is doing just that, with worker-owned local journalism. If you believe in that mission, we’re having a subscription sale right now:
hellgatenyc.com
All Rise for the Hell Gate Trial Subscription Sale!
Pay just $4.99 for your first four months of Hell Gate, and we'll throw in a Courts of Contempt zine!
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
If you vote in NYC, you've probably wondered: "Who are these people running to be judges? Why doesn't it feel like I have much choice about voting for them? How were they selected? Why do many judges seem to be... bad?" May I present to you @hellgatenyc.com's latest big project: Courts of Contempt.
courtsofcontempt.hellgatenyc.com
Courts of Contempt - Judges
Judges wield enormous power. Here in the five boroughs, they are often the ultimate arbiters in deciding how many New Yorkers get sent to Rikers Island, where and how new housing will be built, and wh...
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Anna Oakes @annaoakes.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Rats have infested the walls, bedrooms, and bathtubs of a Brooklyn housing complex – all the way up to the 10th floor. Now, there's a livestream! For @hellgatenyc.com 👇
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
"The hallways...were absolutely lined with ICE agents. And immigrants were scared to leave, even though their cases were still open. What happened was that ICE agents then stormed into the courtroom, kicked out the attorneys, and detained everyone in the courtroom over the judge's objections."
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 04/04/2025
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch keeps insisting that 5-year-old discovery law reforms are driving a recidivist crime wave, causing cases to be "dismissed en masse" on "technicalities." It's a big claim, and one for which she has offered zero evidence. hellgatenyc.com/tisch-cant-s...
hellgatenyc.com
NYPD Commissioner Tisch Is Lobbying Hard to Bring Back the System That Failed Kalief Browder. Her Argument Doesn’t Add Up
Tisch keeps blaming recidivism on discovery reform, but offers no evidence.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 02/04/2025
Amidst rising deaths once again on Rikers Island, Mayor Eric Adams seems content to just shrug his shoulders. Sometimes you put people in a cage for an indefinite period of time. Sometimes they die. What's everyone pointing the finger at him for? hellgatenyc.com/rikers-death...
hellgatenyc.com
Eric Adams Would Like to Remind Us That People on Rikers Are Just Gonna Die, OK?
And other links to start your day.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
This leaves the real estate lobby's long-shot lawsuit pretty much dead in the water, legal experts told Hell Gate. "The whole lawsuit is baloney, it's a lottery ticket,” said NYU public law professor Roderick M. Hills.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 03/03/2025
A law passed in 2020 was meant to prevent ICE from detaining people in NY courthouses without a warrant. But a memo now tells court officers to "neither obstruct nor assist" if an ICE agent shows up without a warrant and insists on making an arrest: hellgatenyc.com/ny-courts-me...
hellgatenyc.com
Statewide Memo Tells Court Officers to Let ICE Make Arrests in Courthouses
If federal officers try to execute an arrest without a warrant in a courthouse, the February 6 memo states, “UCS uniformed personnel should neither obstruct nor assist in any way.”
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 03/03/2025
Another staffer recalled how Cuomo wanted to enshrine Roe v. Wade into the state constitution...yet at the same time was backing the breakaway Dems in the IDC, which was blocking the Reproductive Health Act in the state legislature hellgatenyc.com/andrew-cuomo...
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Nick Pinto @nickpinto.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
What's this? Cuomo's own people talking in specific and urgent terms about why he'd be a terrible mayor? hellgatenyc.com/andrew-cuomo...
hellgatenyc.com
Andrew Cuomo Would Be a Lousy Mayor, According to Former Cuomo Staffers
Several people who worked for Governor Cuomo say voters should be deeply skeptical of his candidacy.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
truly thought this memo was a parody at first
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
dream interview for @hellgatenyc.com: jonathan tarleton x timothee
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 14/02/2025
Threats from other Paul McCartney fans, waiting in the freezing rain for hours—read all about one fan's efforts to secure the hottest ticket in town: hellgatenyc.com/my-journey-t...
hellgatenyc.com
My Three-Day Journey to Get a Paul McCartney Ticket
On Thursday, imbued with a grim determination, I got on line at 3:45 a.m. for a shot at the ticket to ride.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 13/02/2025
PBS Removes LGBTQ Teaching Resources in Response to Trump's Executive Orders
hellgatenyc.com
PBS Removes LGBTQ Teaching Resources in Response to Trump's Executive Orders
New York's PBS station, WNET, helped produce the materials with NYC Public Schools and the City Council.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 13/02/2025
Eric Adams, who had no issues railing against the Biden administration for failing to give him enough federal aid to shelter migrants in New York City, can barely muster a light rebuke against Trump for taking $80 million out of the City's pocket.
hellgatenyc.com
Trump Just Stole $80 Million From NYC. What Is the Mayor Gonna Do About It?
Not shit. Plus, more news for your Thursday morning.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 12/02/2025
"It's important that New Yorkers take pride in the fact that we are a city that's founded on immigration, and then also understand that the people who are behind the scenes making delicious food for them should be respected and celebrated and protected." hellgatenyc.com/new-york-res...
hellgatenyc.com
New York's Kitchens Prep to Resist ICE
Organizers and immigrant rights advocates are teaming up to teach servers, kitchen staffers, restaurant owners, and delivery workers their rights when it comes to dealing with law enforcement.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
from @nickpinto.bsky.social: "Trump controls the man elected to speak for New York City, and, when New Yorkers take to the streets to speak for themselves, Trump will control the man who directs the police who will greet us." hellgatenyc.com/eric-adams-p...
hellgatenyc.com
Eric Adams Played Himself—And Screwed New Yorkers in the Process
From mayor to hapless MAGA floor manager.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
"We have management here that's making over a million dollars a year...The executives making millions of dollars say they're going to take a 10 to 20 percent cut, but we have no proof that there is any cut."
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Bitch Mayor, Now Trump's Bitch
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 10/02/2025
Mr. Marathon Is a 26-Mile Tribute to Cheap Produce
hellgatenyc.com
Mr. Marathon Is a 26-Mile Tribute to Cheap Produce
Mr. Marathon involves visiting all 13 stores in the Mr. Fruit chain, and buying (and consuming) a thematically appropriate product at each one.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
"do not interfere"
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 10/02/2025
"The mayor didn't go public with this because he knows it's in defiance of the existing law. To have a mayor do that, is really scary." Dozens of local elected officials, healthcare workers, and immigrant groups rallied on Sunday against a new ICE guidance memo. hellgatenyc.com/adams-city-h...
hellgatenyc.com
City Lawmakers Urge Mayor Adams to 'Grow a Damn Spine' in the Face of Trump's ICE Operations
The Sunday rally called on the mayor to rescind a controversial memo Hell Gate revealed last week.
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Colin Kinniburgh @colinreports.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
🐦 @hellgatenyc.com with the crucial bird flu reporting the lede is a winner too but you'll have to click through for that hellgatenyc.com/bird-flu-egg...
I'm currently staring at 35 pigeons on my fire escape. Can I get sick from them? 

Pigeons are among the more than 100 species of birds that have been found to be susceptible to the virus, but our beloved winged rats are bizarrely resistant to the disease, and somehow bad also at passing it on to other animals. 

Researchers once tried to spray into pigeons' mouths liquid drops containing up to 1,000 times the concentration of the H5N1 virus they’d find in the wild and still couldn't infect them. That being said, it's probably best not to let them perch all over your body like Larry in Washington Square Park.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 06/02/2025
NEW: A memo prepared by City Hall and recently distributed to migrant shelter operators gives workers a broad exception to allow ICE officers to enter shelters without a warrant, undercutting both the City's longstanding "sanctuary laws" and previous guidance. hellgatenyc.com/new-memo-ice...
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 05/02/2025
OLD HAT: Incredibly stylish, did not fit all heads. NEW HAT: Incredibly stylish, much-improved fit! New subscribers can get an annual Believer subscription (which comes with our new and improved hat!) at a 25 percent discount. SALE ENDS AT MIDNIGHT TODAY: hellgatenyc.com/all-caps-sale/
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 04/02/2025
A new federal law will send Trump's deportation plans into overdrive. City Hall has gone silent on how it plans to protect immigrant New Yorkers, as indicted Mayor Eric Adams says that he doesn't believe immigrants deserve due process. hellgatenyc.com/eric-adams-l...
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 04/02/2025
NEW: Parents say Mount Sinai Health System, the largest hospital network in the city, has also been canceling surgery consultations for young trans patients since as early as December, before President Donald Trump's executive order and before he was even president. hellgatenyc.com/mount-sinai-...
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
my personal favorite:
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 30/01/2025
New York's public renewable buildout is stuck, thanks to a hamstrung authority that wasn't all that interested in doing it in the first place and a governor that refuses to fund our clean energy transition. You can kiss those 2030 climate goals goodbye. hellgatenyc.com/nypa-bpra-cl...
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
look at our NEW HATS! these hats are reserved exclusively for our believer-level subscribers. and for a limited time only, new subscribers can get an annual believer sub for only $150: hellgatenyc.com/membership
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 28/01/2025
Who is the asshole who got MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED speed camera tickets last year? (And more stories to start your Tuesday)
hellgatenyc.com
How Are NYC's Streets Still This Deadly?
And more stories to kick off your Tuesday.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
incredible that this is what the owner and publisher of bushwick daily thinks about people who live in bushwick hellgatenyc.com/whats-going-...
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
If the City can't even get the "worst landlord" in NYC (who has been jailed *twice* over his refusal to make basic repairs) to ensure his tenants live in decent conditions, what can be done? Steven Wishnia dives deep into the limitations of existing HPD programs, and some possible solutions:
hellgatenyc.com
Pigeons, Collapsed Ceilings, and Mold: Daniel Ohebshalom's Tenants Are Still Living in Hell
Two years after Ohebshalom was deemed New York City's "worst" landlord, his tenants say conditions haven't meaningfully improved.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
also desperate for some laghman
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
desperate for the ad on the subway featuring Bill de Blasio, intimate wipes spokesperson "You want to last two terms? Brother, you need Hims wipes."
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 14/01/2025
FIRST IN HELL GATE: Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has had an extremely good fundraising haul. He's netted $642,339 in donations, putting him in position to get an additional $2.4 million in public matching funds. hellgatenyc.com/zohran-mamda...
hellgatenyc.com
Zohran Mamdani's Extremely Good Fundraising Haul
And more news for your Tuesday.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
the City is evicting single men from migrant shelters—& sending them to the randall's island shelter, which is slated to close by 2/28: "If you say you're not going, they'll take you out of the system, you won't have a place to sleep, you won't have anything to eat." hellgatenyc.com/adams-admini...
hellgatenyc.com
The Adams Administration Is Sending Scores of Migrants to the Randall's Island Tent Complex They Promised to Close
Some of the men who were transferred to Randall's Island in below-freezing temperatures told Hell Gate conditions at the sprawling tent shelter remain poor.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
I need to know everything about this!
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
this hed somehow undersells the story—eric adams complains that public urination is now legal (not true) and neglects to mention he supported turning it from a criminal to a civil offense while boro prez. and then! cops are issuing MORE criminal summons for public urination under his admin.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
she charmed me!!! hellgatenyc.com/kari-ferrell...
hellgatenyc.com
The Hipster Grifter Looks Back
An evening at Union Pool with Kari Ferrell, whose memoir "You'll Never Believe Me" is out today.
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
"Most alarmingly, Katz said the fake Zyn also contained a far higher amount of synthetic cooling agent—up to 40 times as much."
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Esther Wang @estherxlwang.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Great work from a great publication!
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 23/12/2024
Sleepless nights, strange, hallucinatory dream visions. Usually, people can only see Christian Marclay's 24-hour film "The Clock" during the daytime hours...But this weekend, MoMA offered a few people the chance to watch it all night. Our scene report. hellgatenyc.com/all-night-vi...
hellgatenyc.com
Time Gets Weird at the All-Night Viewing of 'The Clock'
At MoMA's all-night Christian Marclay madness.
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Hell Gate *subscribe today!* @hellgatenyc.com · 23/12/2024
Of the top 30 NYPD overtime earners last year—all of whom earned more than $100K in OT and at least doubled their base salary—more than a third had substantiated misconduct charges or were named in a lawsuit the City paid to settle. hellgatenyc.com/nypd-overtim...
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