Dana Okafor

All Articles

• A Rising Comic Films Her First Special in the Brooklyn Theater Where She Bombed at 19

  In a full-circle taping, a comedian who got her start — and her worst early failures — in a Brooklyn theater returns to film her first hour-long special there.

  Entertainment · Dana Okafor · August 5, 2026

• Last-Mile Warehouses Reshape Outer-Borough Industrial Land

  A surge in delivery-focused distribution centers is transforming former industrial sites, bringing jobs but also truck traffic and neighborhood pushback.

  Business · Dana Okafor · August 2, 2026

• New State Incentive Aims to Turn Empty Offices Into Thousands of Apartments

  A tax-abatement program launching this summer offers developers breaks for converting underused Manhattan office towers into mixed-income housing.

  Politics · Dana Okafor · August 1, 2026

• A Brooklyn Nonprofit Builds Open AI Tools for City Agencies

  Wary of locking public services into pricey vendors, a small civic-tech group is developing transparent AI systems that any agency can inspect and adapt.

  Tech · Dana Okafor · August 1, 2026

• Beat the Heat by the Scoop: A Guide to the City's Wildest Frozen Treats

  From soft-serve towers to shaved-ice mountains and savory sorbets, the city's frozen-dessert makers are competing to cool you down in the strangest ways.

  Lifestyle · Dana Okafor · July 27, 2026

• Hochul Signs Bill Toughening Enforcement of Rent-Stabilization Rules

  The new state law raises penalties for landlords who illegally deregulate apartments and creates a tenant-tip hotline, drawing cheers from housing advocates and pushback from property owners.

  Politics · Dana Okafor · July 20, 2026

• Brooklyn's Soundstages Are Full, and the City Is Racing to Build More

  A surge in streaming and television production has filled the city's soundstages to capacity, driving an expansion that boosters say is minting middle-class crew jobs.

  Entertainment · Dana Okafor · July 17, 2026

• Public Hospital System Launches $60 Million Nurse Recruitment Drive Amid Staffing Squeeze

  Signing bonuses, loan forgiveness, and expanded child care are at the center of a push to fill more than 1,200 vacant nursing positions across city hospitals.

  Health · Dana Okafor · July 16, 2026

• A Lower East Side Archive Races to Record the Voices of a Vanishing Block

  Volunteers are recording oral histories from longtime residents of a rapidly changing tenement block before rising rents scatter the families who remember it.

  Culture · Dana Okafor · July 13, 2026

• Albany Lawmakers Advance Rent-Stabilization Overhaul in Rare Summer Session

  A package tightening rules on major-capital-improvement rent hikes cleared a key committee, setting up a fall floor fight with landlord groups.

  Politics · Dana Okafor · July 11, 2026

• Rockaway Reinvents the Classic City Beach Day, One Boardwalk Block at a Time

  New food vendors, tide-pool tours, and late-evening surf sessions are stretching the peninsula's summer far beyond the towel-and-umbrella basics.

  Lifestyle · Dana Okafor · July 8, 2026