New York Today: Tax Day Ritual Recedes

Todd Heisler/The New York TimesIn 2008, there were still lines all Tax Day long at the main post office.

Updated 10:01 a.m.

Good soggy Tuesday to you.

The time has come to render unto Caesar.

Way back when, it was one of the city’s hottest nightspots.

There were lines out the door and frenzy within. Amid the excitement, deals were made and hearts were broken.

We speak, of course, of the mad scene at the city’s main post office on Eighth Avenue as the clock ticked toward midnight on Tax Day.

“Even seven or eight years ago it was still a circus,” recalled Manhattan’s postmaster, Elvin Mercado.

“We had the H&R Blocks set up on the steps helping customers, soda companies giving out free soda, massage companies giving out free massages for the stress.”

Now with over 80 percent of taxpayers filing electronically, most of the magic is gone.

So are the boxes of 1040 forms by the door, the whole shebang just another communal ritual done in by the Internet.

Howie Seligman, an accountant in Midtown, said he missed heading off to the post office with a stack of returns.

On the other hand, he no longer sees mishaps like one that befell a client.

The man came in from Brooklyn to pay, only to realize he’d forgotten his checkbook.

He raced home, raced back to the post office and, in his haste, accidentally sent his rent check to the I.R.S. and his tax payment to his landlord, Mr. Seligman said.

“The landlord told the guy, ‘With what you pay in taxes, I’m going to raise your rent.’ ”

Here’s what else you need to know.

WEATHER

Tempestuous â€" good thing you’re not stuck in line outside the post office.

Rain all day, sometimes heavy, possibly thundery. Winds gusting to 40 miles an hour.

Colder through the day: mid-50s by lunchtime, freezing overnight.

But the rain should stop before it turns to snow.

The sun returns tomorrow.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended through Friday for Passover and Holy Week.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor de Blasio signs a law protecting interns from discrimination. 4 p.m.

- Rx for tax woes: free ice cream sodas and sundaes, at Bubby’s High Line in the meatpacking district. 2 to 6 p.m.

- The Mets are selling tickets to this weekend’s series at Citi Field against the Braves for $3.50, in honor of Shea Stadium’s 50th anniversary.

- The artist Vito Acconci talks about “architecture, interaction between people and spaces, unfamiliar sites and the utility of objects,” at I.S.C.P. in Williamsburg. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- The Diderot String Quartet performs on period instruments at Columbia. 6 p.m. [Free]

- New York Polyphony sings Renaissance works at St. Thomas Church in Midtown. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- A 13-year-old bystander was shot in the head outside a pizzeria in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. [New York Times]

- The “NYC” condoms the city gives out free are being smuggled to the Dominican Republic and sold. [Daily News]

- A pro soccer team will take up residence at Yankee Stadium. [New York Times]

- A construction worker died in a fall from a Midtown office building site. [New York Times]

- Staten Island’s borough president wants residents to share photos of themselves at their favorite island spots using the hashtag #siselfie. [DNAinfo]

- The city’s police horses are moving into a luxury apartment building on the West Side. [New York Times]

- This summer’s weather in New York will be as brutal as the winter was, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. [New York Post]

- New York is in the throes of a gefilte fish shortage. [New York Times]

- Photos of last night’s “red moon” eclipse as seen in the city. [EV Grieve]

- Scoreboard: Mets drive off Diamondbacks, 7-3.

AND FINALLY …

James Creighton, feared pitcher and slugger for the Excelsior of Brooklyn in the 1860s, was baseball’s first paid player and perhaps its first superstar.

Even his death was heroic â€" he is said to have fatally injured himself with a mighty home run swing.

Creighton’s grave at Green-Wood Cemetery, marked with an obelisk topped by a baseball made of marble, became a pilgrimage site.

But years ago, the marble baseball disappeared.

This afternoon, weather permitting, Creighton’s monument will be unveiled again.

With a new baseball in place.

Sandra E. Garcia contributed reporting.

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