Metropolitan Diary fans, it’s time to vote for your favorite

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. We’ll find out what your role is in choosing the best Metropolitan Diary entries of the year. We also get details on the latest milestone in New York State’s recreational marijuana rollout.

New York Today always ends with Metropolitan Diary, the New York City-focused column with fans far beyond the five boroughs. But this New York Today starts with something about Metropolitan Diary, because it’s time to vote for the best Diary items of the year. Ed Shanahan, editor-in-chief of Metropolitan Diary, explains:

A snarky sandwich maker. A pepper mill that is out of place. A midwife who pauses mid-birth. A lost football. A burial at sea.

The elements at the heart of the five entries in this year’s Best of Metropolitan Diary competition may be ordinary, but the stories they anchor reflect some of the humor, whimsy, warmth and friendliness that defines the column, which is now 47 years, so extraordinary endurance.

This is the third time we’ve asked readers to vote for their favorite among the finalists, chosen from the approximately 250 items that have appeared in the column over the past year. Click here to read the final five and cast your vote. Voting remains open until midnight on Monday. The winner will be announced in the column that will appear the following Sunday.

As editor of Metropolitan Diary, I read through several thousand entries to arrive at the relative handful we published in 2023. I went back and reread that handful to narrow the field down to about twenty strong contenders.

My colleagues from the Metro desk helped with the finals by ranking five favorites.

So now it’s up to you.

If you’re a fan of the column, you’ll probably remember at least some of the choices. You’ll also probably remember at least one or two that you think should be on the list. I know how you feel: some of the ones I liked the most aren’t among the contenders. There’s always next year. In the meantime, thank you for casting your vote.

Weather

Enjoy a crisp day with sunshine and high temperatures in the mid-40s. In the evening, temperatures will drop into the upper 30s.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In force until December 25 (Christmas Day).

The latest Metro news

The rollout of legal marijuana in New York State continues. The board that regulates marijuana is allowing medical cannabis retailers to expand their offerings to the broader public this month. I asked my colleague Ashley Southall, who covers the marijuana industry, to explain:

The decision by the state Cannabis Control Board followed a contentious debate over whether retailers already operating in New York – selling cannabis for medical purposes – could start selling it to recreational customers. Of the six approved last week, several are part of larger companies accused of anticompetitive practices in other states — practices that critics say conflict with New York’s goal of creating an inclusive marketplace.

The medical cannabis companies are the only companies in New York currently allowed to grow marijuana indoors and sell their own products. These are significant benefits that have caused great concern among farmers who grew the state’s first recreational cannabis crops. Farmers are only allowed to grow marijuana outdoors and are not allowed to sell directly to consumers.

One of the six medical suppliers, the Cannabist Company, has already rebranded itself to a more consumer-oriented name. It used to be called Columbia Care. It was said to be making plans to open a pharmacy. It also announced a wholesale deal with Herbal IQ, a licensed pharmacy in Depew, NY, near Buffalo.

Cannabist and the other five companies will eventually be allowed to operate as many as three recreational dispensaries, but they can only open one in 2023, and then only in the three days between December 29 and the end of the year, if they are ready. . The companies must also pay fees totaling $20 million each, although only $5 million is required upfront. Also, half of their shelf space must be reserved for products that they do not make or own.

Matt Darin, the CEO of Curaleaf, one of the six companies and one of the largest cannabis companies in the world, had said the approvals were needed to help build a strong legal market, a key element in shutting down illegal operators who have flooded the market. stands. “This deal represents a real opportunity to create a fair marketplace where everyone can thrive as we all work together to make New York a national leader in the cannabis industry,” he said.

Kaliko Castille, the president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, had said that allowing medical cannabis companies early access to recreational markets has been “one of the biggest causes of unequal outcomes” in other states.

But David Feuerstein, an attorney who represented three of the companies in a recently settled lawsuit, had maintained that established companies bring much-needed infrastructure to newly regulated markets, helping generate tax revenues needed to support social equity and small business programs .

Regulators initially proposed letting the companies wait three years after the start of recreational sales to give small businesses and social equity licensees a head start in the new market. The companies said the forced wait hurt their businesses as cannabis sales elsewhere fell and investors grew skittish. Several cannabis companies have withdrawn from other states. New York eventually reduced the delay to a year.

The change came after Feuerstein filed a lawsuit in March challenging the companies’ exclusion from the first round of recreational licensing, which was reserved for businesses owned by people with marijuana convictions and some nonprofits. The lawsuit was settled on December 1, with conditions requiring regulators to set a timeline for allowing the companies to begin recreational sales.

Jeff Jones, a cannabis farmer in the Finger Lakes region, said before the board voted last week that he feared New York would follow California, where he said small businesses were “barely surviving” because they were competing with larger companies and had an out -of-the-art market. -control of the illegal market.

METROPOLITAN diary

Morning coffee

Dear Diary:

I grew up in Manhattan. He grew up in Brooklyn. We met and fell in love at NYU. We married shortly after graduation and were together for 52 years until he died of cancer.

Being a widow was hard. It was quiet in the house. Most afternoons I went to the local library and read the books, newspapers and magazines there. I often stayed until closing time.

I decided to join a club. One Sunday I was looking online for the club’s events and saw a photo of a male club member holding his dog. They both seemed to be smiling. It was an appealing image.

Below the photo was the man’s email address. I made a bold move and emailed the man and invited him for an espresso with me. He soon wrote back and agreed to meet.

I was nervous at first. This was a stranger, after all. What had I done?

A few days later, we met in the morning and talked for five hours while drinking espresso and eating almond cookies at Monteleone’s Bakery in Brooklyn. He was a widower and also lonely.

Eight years later, we continue to have our morning coffee together, only now in the home we share, knowing how blessed we are to have found each other in this great city called New York.

— Joan Marans Dim

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send your entries here And read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. – JB

PS Here is today’s Mini crossword And Game competition. You can find all our puzzles here.