A Man Hangs a 'Vote Nature' Banner Off the Brooklyn Bridge, a Four-Story Billboard Wants Herald Square, a Look-Alike Contest Takes Over Washington Square, and the City Wants a Treadmill for Illegal E-Bikes

Vinnie clocks four New York scenes from the week of October 19–25, 2026: a man in a construction vest hangs a banner off the Brooklyn Bridge and leaves before anybody can arrest him, a developer asks the city to rewrite its zoning so a four-story LED billboard can wrap the corner of Herald Square, Washington Square Park holds a look-alike contest for the stars of a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, and the City Council pitches a folding sidewalk treadmill that tells the NYPD whether your e-bike is legal.

Wednesday, October 21, about 3:30 p.m.: an unnamed protester dressed as a construction worker hauled a bag out onto the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan side, climbed above the traffic and tied a large banner reading "vote nature" to the steelwork. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. Extinction Rebellion claimed responsibility. "The environment is not even in the top ten issues that voters care about, but it is essentially the most important issue that you need to care about," the protester said, adding that the alternative is lab-made food, machine-made air and "a dump." Tourists stopped taking selfies and stared up. He was not arrested at the scene, less than a month before the midterms. 1

JEMB Realty, through an affiliated company, wants a 2,333-square-foot LED advertising display on Herald Center at 1293 Broadway, across from Macy's. Architectural drawings show three connected panels wrapping the building's angled corner, spanning 58 feet, starting about 60 feet above street level and rising another 40. Current zoning prohibits advertising signs at the property and generally caps other signs at 40 feet, so the developer is asking for a zoning text amendment and a special permit — with proposed wording that, according to Community Board 5, the developer's attorney acknowledged would apply to Herald Center only. The developer's family also owns Herald Towers across Sixth Avenue, roughly 690 apartments including 49 rent-stabilized units as of 2025, and the board says the applicant offered to "consider" blackout shades for bothered tenants case by case and never committed to brightness limits. "To me, this is something I call Times Square everywhere," said Nancy Aber Goshow, who chairs the board's land use, housing and zoning committee. "We need to have Times Square where it is." The board's three-dimensional analysis estimated the display could be visible from 53 buildings within five blocks — about 1,700 residential units — and 89 within ten. An October 9 complaint filed with the Department of Buildings at Herald Towers' address already alleges that light from an existing digital sign nearby is disrupting a resident's sleep. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal recommended rejection on October 14, arguing that rewriting the rules for one building invites more requests; developer Louis Jerome says the billboard would help a struggling West 34th Street retail corridor. The City Planning Commission holds a public hearing Wednesday, October 28, and every recommendation so far is advisory. 2

Sunday, October 25, around 1 p.m., several dozen people gathered at the Washington Square arch dressed as filmmaker Nathan Fielder and as Elizabeth Holmes, the subject of the documentary "You Can See Everything." Contestants donned blonde wigs and stared wide-eyed to capture Holmes; the Fielders swung headphones around their necks and carried laptops. Kor Skeete, who appeared in Fielder's "The Rehearsal," was guest MC. "We're getting community together," co-organizer Maddie West said. "Doing an event like this is just getting people together to do something fun." Comedian Nicole Travolta, who has been doing Holmes impressions for three years ("she doesn't blink, it's very in the mouth, the voice"), and PR worker Joe Sivick, who has played Fielder for several Halloweens, took the crowns. "I don't think I've really ever won anything," Sivick said. "To win something like this for someone who I admire so much, it's kind of the honor of my life." 3

Tuesday, October 20: City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Transportation Chair Shaun Abreu released a social media video promoting Intro. 986, a bill that would require the NYPD and the Department of Transportation to test dynamometers — treadmill-like machines that measure the speed, power and torque of an electric bike or scooter. "It's about the size of a treadmill, but it folds up and can be used by law enforcement on our streets," Menin says in the video; she notes Amsterdam already uses them and that New York would be the first American city to do so. Legal devices are capped at 25 mph of assisted speed and 750 watts, and riders have been held to a 15 mph city speed limit since last year. "Right now, there's no definitive way to tell on the street whether a micromobility device is legal or not," Abreu said. At a September 30 hearing, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for legal matters, Michael Gerber, called the bill "very interesting" and asked how the department would actually run it: "It would be new to any major American city. That raises a host of questions in terms of procurement and cost and operational functionality, right?" A council spokesperson says the vote is expected in the coming months. 4