Happy Friday and welcome back to another roundup of what’s happening today. It’s William Shakespeare’s 457th birthday, so why not read more about last year’s rediscovery of London’s fabled Red Lion theater?

Salone del Mobile president Claudio Luti resigns

Only four days after Milan’s Salone del Mobile was confirmed for this September, President Claudio Luti has resigned, once again throwing the fate of the furniture fair into doubt. A short press announcement was sent out this morning confirming that Luti was stepping down, but the reason appears to be dissatisfaction with the size of the proposed festival.

While the Italian government lifted its ban on trade shows starting July 1 and promised to implement health measures to keep visitors safe, apparently vendors and participants weren’t convinced. Faced with the possibility of a smaller Salone del Mobile, Luti chose to express his disappointment by stepping down.

H/t to la Repubblica

A city in Brazil is building a taller Jesus statue than the one in Rio de Janeiro

Move over, Christ the Redeemer, there’s a new Jesus statue being built in Brazil that will be even taller. Christ the Redeemer towers over Rio de Janeiro and is perhaps one of the most famous statues of Jesus in the world; from the peak of Corcovado mountain, the 125-foot-tall statue (including the podium) has looked over the beachside metropolis since 1933.

Now, close to the southern tip of Brazil in the city of Encantado, the third-largest Jesus statue in the world is under construction. The head and outstretched arms of Christ the Protector were added last week, and once finished, the new statue will stand 140 feet tall sans podium. Surprisingly, the project is only expected to cost $355,000.

H/t to the BBC

The superrich are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for “trophy trees”

Happy belated Earth Day; the ultra-wealthy are reportedly paying six figures to source the perfect trees for their properties and to anchor their megamansions. Whether the trees come from Florida, California, or are flown in from Italy, there’s a burgeoning business for landscape architects and horticulturists to source, transport, and install highly sought-after mature trees.

H/t to the Wall Street Journal

Florida makes it a felony to damage monuments

Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Combating Public Disorder Act” into law, making it a felony for any to intentionally damage or topple memorials or other pieces of historic property. Defacing such statues (including Confederate monuments, which the bill is likely targeted towards) is now a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, while pulling such a monument down could come with up to 15 years punishment.

The ACLU has, predictably, come out against the new bill, calling it “purposely designed to embolden the disparate police treatment we have seen over and over again directed towards Black and brown people who are exercising their constitutional right to protest.”

H/t to Art Net News

The New York City Department of Buildings introduces sweeping safety changes

Yesterday, the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) proposed five new construction safety bills that, if approved to amend city’s Construction Codes to increase inspections for cold-formed steel installation, require DOB-licensed safety inspectors on projects between 7 and 9 stories, ban stand-off brackets for C-hook hung scaffolding, and more.

“Life-changing injury or worse should not be the price of an honest day’s work. We are joining our colleagues in the Council to introduce bills that will help protect our fellow New Yorkers on construction sites citywide,” said Buildings Commissioner Melanie E. La Rocca in a press release. “At the same time, by working with industry experts and stakeholders, our updated codes will make our built environment safer for everyone living and working in our great city. These critical pieces of legislation will help us continue building a safer and fairer New York City for all.”

New York begins work on its latest water-delivering mega tunnels

Digging tunnels to deliver fresh water to New York City is hard going, which partially explains why it’s taken 184 years to do so. The Croton Aqueduct snakes 41 miles underground to deliver clean water to the city from the Croton Reservoir, but thanks to funding delays, much of Queens and Brooklyn still hasn’t been connected to City Tunnel No. 3, which would provide backup water if the first and second water tunnels failed.

Now, ground is finally about to break on the latest extensions, which, when operational, will finally allow the city to shut down and perform much-needed maintenance on the other aging water tunnels.

H/t to Gothamist