Friday Funny: It Doesn't Get More New York Than Pizza Rat, Brooklyn Settler

The streets of New York lived up to their infamous reputation this week with two viral videos that seemed almost too perfect.

1 minute read

September 25, 2015, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


First came the unbelievable video of a rat schlepping an intact slice down four stairs of a subway station before fleeing from the glare of impending stardom. The video launched a thousand think pieces, reaching all the way up the upper media echelons, with a satirical article by Silvia Killingsworth in The New Yorker.

Then came the video (warning: full of vulgar and racially charge language) of an adult white male jogger in Brooklyn absolutely losing his head over an encounter with a stroller-bearing adult white male. The encounter led the jogger to provide a history of settlement that gives full and complete credit to his own pioneering efforts, as expressed in one of the vulgar phrases hurled from the adult white male jogger at the stroller-bearing adult white male: "The only reason white people like you live here is because I settled this fucking neighborhood for you!" Taylor Berman provides a play-by-play of the encounter and provides new versions of the video after the original was removed from YouTube.

Monday, September 21, 2015 in The New Yorker

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 13, 2025 - Inside Climate News

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Black and white photos of camp made up of small 'earthquake shacks' in Dolores Park in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees

More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

April 15, 2025 - Charles F. Bloszies

People walking up and down stairs in New York City subway station.

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving

Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

April 18 - Scientific American

White public transit bus with bike on front bike rack in Nashville, Tennessee.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan

Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

April 18 - Bloomberg CityLab

An engineer controlling a quality of water ,aerated activated sludge tank at a waste water treatment plant.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding

The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.

April 18 - Smart Cities Dive