When Twitter Becomes a Weapon of War

Mother's Day in Manhattan's Chinatown and the Lower East Side will be busier than usual this year.

Paramount Pictures is staging a film production with military vehicles and prop weapons in Lower Manhattan throughout the day, according to public notices.

People could be stopped on the sidewalk during stunt sequences. There will be traffic diversions at the busy intersection of Bowery and Canal Street, complicating access to the Manhattan Bridge.

A second shoot will happen at the Brooklyn-bound outer roadway, pushing Brooklyn-bound traffic to the lower roadway for at least three hours. And Paramount will hold parking on more than a dozen blocks.

The shoot is scheduled for Sunday from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the notices, which were posted in English and Chinese on lampposts across the affected blocks.

Separate towing warnings list the name of the project as “Little Falls.” A listing on castingnetworks.com describes the production as a feature film and seeks “military types” for the Mother’s Day shoot.

The plans have drawn concern from some Chinatown residents, who say they were caught off guard by the timing and wartime imagery on a holiday when families typically gather at neighborhood restaurants.

Paramount Pictures did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a locations department contact listed on the flier.

Under city rules, notices for filming don’t go up until about 48 hours before filming. That's meant to help minimize the chance that a shoot will draw larger crowds, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

The agency coordinated closely with the production, community stakeholders and city agencies for months to “minimize disruption and ensure the operation is conducted safely and responsibly,” Commissioner Rafael Espinal said in a statement.

“The production has also worked with several local Chinatown businesses and organizations directly as part of the shoot,” Espinal said. “Film and television production supports thousands of New York City jobs and small businesses, and we remain committed to balancing that economic activity with the needs and quality of life of local communities, including being mindful of production concentration in heavily impacted neighborhoods.”

Still, some residents said the plans weren’t well communicated — and they aren’t happy about it.

Susan Lee, a Chinatown community activist and a former candidate for City Council, said she first learned of the shoot Wednesday night through an Instagram post from Explore Chinatown.

She began posting about it on social media and said she heard from neighbors and small business owners who were frustrated by the timing. Lee said three friends told her they were rescheduling Mother's Day plans because of the shoot.

“One of my friends said it best: ‘What, Chinatown has no mothers?’” Lee said. “Why are they doing this on Mother's Day?”

She said she's worried the parking disruptions would hurt local businesses and the military imagery would startle seniors who likely haven’t had more advance warning about the filming.

Lee connected Gothamist with other residents, including a longtime Chinatown physician and a member of a local block association, who shared similar concerns.

Dr. Wah Lee, a physician who has practiced in Chinatown for nearly 20 years and is unrelated to Susan Lee, said he saw the notices outside his building Thursday morning, three days before filming.

He said he and his neighbors are accustomed to film crews using the iconic neighborhood as a backdrop — "Law & Order" shoots regularly nearby, he noted — but the wartime imagery gave him pause.

“I have treated patients that have, you know, gone through World War II, and people from the Vietnam War,” he said. "If they're not sure what's going on, they look out the window and they see a bunch of soldiers and a tank rolling down the street, I'm just concerned for their health and wellbeing."

He also questioned the timing. Families, he said, typically gather at neighborhood restaurants on Mother’s Day, but filming can make getting around difficult.

“They have stop-and-go measures, but I also know that sometimes when they shoot a scene, they can be shooting that scene for quite a while,” the physician said. “The only way to get around there is to really circle an entire block.”

That’s a challenge when you’re walking with “your elderly mother out on a rollator,” he said.

Dorina Yuen, a member of the Elizabeth Broome Block Association, which represents residents near the border of Chinatown and Little Italy, said she also learned about the shoot on Thursday, when it became a topic in her community group chat.

Yuen questioned whether production had given enough notice to a broad enough range of community contacts.

“We're not just a tourist destination but densely populated residential areas,” she said. “For Paramount to close off these major thoroughfares on a weekend is more than enough of an insult, but to do so on Mother's Day … is really a point of disrespect.”

The wartime imagery was particularly troubling, she added, on a day when “families are trying to celebrate happy moments.”

Parking will be held on stretches of Bowery as well as Canal, Elizabeth, Hester, Chrystie, Grand, Broome and Delancey streets, according to the notices.

The first scene is set for Bowery and Canal, with traffic diversions in place. Brooklyn-bound traffic on the Manhattan Bridge's outer roadway will be diverted to the lower roadway between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. for a second scene.

Good Friday morning in New York City, where the "freeze the rent" crowd has a reason to feel optimistic.

Here's what else is happening:

• The MTA has demoted a safety superintendent who was caught using forged parking placards so he could park outside the transit agency's headquarters.
• There are still a lot of Gilded Age mansions in Manhattan.
• New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is cracking down on restaurant reservation trading apps, which allowed diners to bid on tables at all the Garden State's hot, buzzy restaurants.
• Not sure if it counts as hot or buzzy, but The Muffins Cafe on the Upper West Side looks like my kind of scene.
• Come on, don't cackle during serious Broadway plays.
• Order some pills off TikTok and find out.
• The pope wears Nikes.
• And finally, waiting patiently:

The teenager accused of stabbing and killing a man near Times Square on Monday night found him sleeping on the sidewalk and woke him up before the attack, prosecutors allege.

According to a criminal complaint from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, 17-year-old Jayden Sanchez and two other people approached 39-year-old Leonides Baez around 11:30 p.m. as he slept on the ground outside a building on West 43rd Street near Broadway.

The complaint didn’t specify how exactly the group roused Baez, but prosecutors and police said the encounter quickly turned into a physical altercation.

Surveillance video from the scene showed Sanchez pulling something out of his vest pocket and chasing Baez into a nearby passageway, where he stabbed him in his chest, the complaint stated. Baez sustained multiple stab wounds and was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, law enforcement officials said.

Sanchez and the two other people fled the scene and boarded the subway at Columbus Circle, according to the complaint. Officers took him into custody on Wednesday evening in Coney Island, where they stopped him after he jumped a turnstile, officials said.

Police later found a scalpel on him, according to authorities, and were investigating whether it was the weapon used in the Midtown attack. Sanchez then told investigators he attacked Baez as part of a social media trend, officials said.

The teen was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday on charges of murder, assault and criminal weapons possession. He is also charged with several counts of robbery for allegedly stealing cash and other items from newsstands and stores near Times Square throughout April and May.

A judge ordered Sanchez held without bail as his case proceeds. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a message early Friday.

Police said they are still looking for the two other people they suspect in the attack on Baez. His last known address was in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to the NYPD.

Charles Lane contributed reporting. This story is based on preliminary information from law enforcement officials and may be updated.