A gull endangered by a careless smoker’s discarded lighter carried it away from a neglected section of the West Promenade. Marta Balla caught it in a photo.
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Photos courtesy of Marta Balla
“I saw this bird trying to eat a lighter,” Balla wrote.
“I hated seeing this poor bird so desperate to get this lighter. I tried to get the lighter, but it didn’t let me.”
From bottle tops to pen lids, seabirds consume plastic discarded by thoughtless humans.
Often mistaking plastic objects floating in the sea for food, the adult birds pick them up and then feed them to their young, with disastrous consequences.
Is it so hard discarding used objects in appropriate containers instead of just dropping them in public spaces? Birds aren’t the only ones endangered.
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- Long-Term Health Effects Linked to 9/11: 25 Years LaterThe 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks brings renewed focus to long-term health effects linked to 9/11, with ongoing needs for survivors, first responders, and affected communities.
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The Line That Didn’t Land
I stood in the back of Good Shepherd Chapel on the evening of April 15, 2026, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, watching people adjust scarves and jackets before the meeting began. Benjamin Jones, President and CEO of RIOC, thanked us for attending and, without a pause, said he was “pleased to host tonight’s town hall on the city’s demolition of its steam plant.” The demolition, in other words, was not up for discussion.
