((PKG))  EMPTY NEW YORK CITY   
((Banner:  New York, Paused))  
((Reporter/Camera/Drone Camera:  Aaron Fedor)) 
((Map:  New York City, New York))    
((Main characters:  1 female))  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
At the Museum of the City of New York, we think a lot about 
what makes New York, New York.  And when we bring it 
down to just four ideas: money, density, diversity and 
creativity, they're all rooted in and felt in the vibrant street life 
of New York.  And that energy of New York’s street life is 
what I find most viscerally absence during this strange and 
quiet time of sheltering in place, staying at home, social 
distancing and quarantine.   
((NATS:  Computer Train Announcement)) 
Use soap and water and wash for at least 20 seconds or use 
hand sanitizer.  Please cover your nose, mouth and your 
elbow when you cough or sneeze.  Let’s work together to 
keep our state healthy.  
((NATS)) 
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
The streets are dense.  They're diverse, full of creative 
people.  People from all over the world.  The crowds, the 
jostling, people bumping up against strangers and hearing all 
the languages of the globe.  That's typically the experience 
of moving through the streets of New York.   
((NATS:  Computer Train Announcement)) 
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.  
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
So much of the way the city was organized and the systems 
that were built were designed to fight the unhealthy 
environment that was understood to be the sources of 
disease.  And so, big pieces of infrastructure were created 
like the water system, the very existence of the sanitation 
system, the housing codes that shape the way the buildings 
were built.   
((NATS)) 
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
But as you get into the 20th century, the changes that you 
see as a result of infectious disease are more metaphorical.  
They're about human behavior, shaping how people relate to 
each other and how we think about certain spaces.   
((NATS)) 
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
It's going to be interesting to see the aftermath of this really 
historic period and whether it changes the direction or the 
slope of New York's development. 
((NATS)) 
((Voice of Sarah Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, 
Museum of the City of New York)) 
New York has a lot of monikers and nicknames.  One is 
famously “The City That Never Sleeps”.  Yet right now, 
people are feeling that the city that never sleeps is at least 
napping.  And yet, when you look closer at what it takes to 
keep this city moving and all the people putting their lives on 
the front lines, whether literally in hospitals or just keeping 
the subways and buses moving, deliveries coming and food 
on the shelves, there are still a lot of people not sleeping in 
New York.   
((NATS:  Nurses)) 
Thank you firemen.  Thank you.