NYC NOW - April 22, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

At least 100 people have returned to protest at Columbia University on Monday. Plus, New York state lawmakers have finalized the state budget. Also, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking to hire the controversial attorney Randy Mastro to be the city's top lawyer. And finally, there’s a new record-holder for the longest number of consecutive chess matches.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. At least 100 people have returned to protest at Columbia University Monday as the school moved to remote learning. It all comes less than a week after the NYPD cleared out protesters encamped in tents on the university's main lawn. And a day after the White House issued a statement condemning intimidation of Jewish students there. Jafferra Silvad is a Columbia student who's camped out. She says the protest itself is peaceful.

We've had no internal issues. We've set up internal governance and everything has run really smoothly. So despite what you're seeing in the outside world, it's very peaceful here. You can hear the birds chirping. Protesters are calling for the school to disinvest in Israel and for more transparency from the school about its investment with Israel in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking to hire the controversial attorney Randy Mastrow to be the city's top lawyer. WMYC's Elizabeth Kim has more. Mastrow was among the most hard-charging deputies for former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

As a private attorney, he's defended oil giant Chevron and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal. He's fought against bike lanes, homeless shelters, and even congestion pricing. That track record could derail his chances of becoming the city's corporation council. It's among the few roles that require city council approval. Some progressive council members say Mastro doesn't reflect the city's values. In an interview this week, Chief Adams' advisor, Ingrid Lewis Martin, dismissed the concerns, saying they only come from, quote, parts of the council. The mayor has yet to make the pick official.

Boyers in Albany spent the weekend finalizing the state budget. The $237 billion spending plan was finalized Saturday after weeks of delay. Housing was a major sticking point. The budget includes some additional protections for renters and renewed tax breaks for developers. The budget also extends mayoral control of New York City schools with some strings attached. The Adams administration must spend billions to meet class size limits that will be phased in over the coming years. There are also measures that crack down on retail theft and unlicensed marijuana shops. And there's legislation that adds about two dozen offenses to the state's hate crime law.

For more on the budget deal, my colleague David First talked with WNYC's Albany reporter John Campbell. Well, let's talk about what's in this budget. There is a housing deal that's something Governor Hockel and lawmakers have been working on for two years. Tell us about it. Well, we do know that the two big pieces in this housing deal for New York City are a tax break for housing developers and some new eviction protections for renters. The tax break, it's a renewed version of a prior tax break that expired two years ago. It'll allow developers to get this long-term property tax exemption in exchange for making 25% of their units affordable to lower income tenants. So on the tenant's side, many renters are going to be getting what's known as good cause eviction protections. And basically,

that means landlords won't be able to evict them without good cause, like if they trash their apartment or they stop paying rent. And the landlord also won't be able to just hike the rent to kick them out either. Tenants will be able to challenge rent increases of 10% or 5% plus the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. There are some exemptions to the eviction protections and tenant advocates aren't happy about it. So how many renters are actually going to be protected? That's a huge question here, David. And if you live in a New York City apartment that's high priced, more than, say, 245% of the fair market rate, sorry, you don't get these good cause protections. And it's the same thing. If you live in a building that's owned by somebody who owns less than 10 units and new construction will be exempt for 30 years. But tenant advocates, they all say that waters the protections down. Governor Hoke will address that criticism when she spoke with our own Brian Lairor. Everybody wants what they think is a perfect deal, but this is so much more than they had, and I think I would take that as a win. Given all that, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader says about 70% of runners will be protected in New York City.

Advocates question whether that's accurate. Okay. Well, let's talk about some of the other things in this budget that will directly affect New York City, a long-awaited proposal known as Sammy's law. We'll let the city reduce its speed limit. How did that come about? Yeah, that's a bill that'll allow the city to go. from 25 miles an hour to 20 miles per hour in its default speed limit. It's something traffic safety advocates have been pushing for years.

That includes Amy Cohen. She's the mother of Sammy Cohen-X-D. That's who the bill is named after. He was a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy killed by a speeding driver a decade ago. Really, I was surprised this made it in. I've got to be honest, there was some pushback from state lawmakers in the outer boroughs. But in the end, there's a carve-out for streets that have three or more lanes of traffic going in one direction and they'll get to keep that higher speed limit.

Okay. And what about SUNY downstate hospital in Brooklyn? I understand it might not be closing. Yeah, that's right. The state had been looking at closing that hospital, replacing it with an outpatient clinic. Basically, what the legislature and the governor have agreed to is hit the pause button. They're going to create a community advisory board to assess the future of that hospital and then pick it back up next year to figure out what to do. That's WMYC's Albany reporter John Campbell. talking with my colleague, David First. Still ahead, a Nigerian chess champion reached 60 hours of nonstop gameplay as he set out to break the Guinness World record for the longest chess marathon.

That story and more after the break. Stay close. There's a new record holder for the longest number of consecutive chess matches. Nigerian chess master Tunday Anacoya, clocked in 60 hours of chess in Times Square over the weekend. Two players, sometimes three, over and over again, in the rain and cold amid a thick crowd of tourists and many of his own countrymen.

WMYC's Charles Lane stopped by to check out how Tunday did it and why. Under the cloying saturation of Times Square's billboards, Onokwheres toggles his head between two chess boards seemingly oblivious to the dancing street performers and crush of tourists around him. On one board is Faramating Akani. Her queen is in trouble. Two minutes later, game over.

13 moves on checkmate. And the quickest, it was amazing. I didn't think it would last that long, to be honest. I thought two moves out, we'd be checkmated and out. But 13. It was an interesting game. They stand and shake hands. While Akani debriefs me on her loss,

Onokoya arranges the items on his table. A thermos, coffee cup, energy drink, bottle of Advil. You can see him. He's having an Advil or two, so headaches, pain relief, cough meds. Akani, like most of the onlookers, ringed around the players, is also from Nigeria. She traveled from her home in New Jersey to come play Onokoya. I would love to play him again. I think that was too short again.

That's the quickest checkment I've ever had since playing chess. I mean, of course, there's a master's, but I think I can do better than that. Onokoya is in a jacket and scarf bundled against the mid-April. He's been at it for eight hours now, another 50 to go. Onokoya turns back to his other game against professional chess coach Sean Martinez. Martinez's rook bears down on Onokoya's queen. The match looks close. Onokoya appears antsy, and he stands up and calls an organizer.

They both jump over the velvet rope and sprint towards a restaurant, I assume, for the bathroom, which raises a list of other questions. like sleep, food, it's going to rain. Martinez gets up and wanders near. Can I ask you, how is it going? It's exciting, and I can't believe how many people are showing up, hour after hour, and it's pretty tiring, too. We've been in already eight hours.

Martinez says he's there to help Onokoya have a constant opponent to achieve the record. When the rain comes, they'll move under the scaffold. Did he have to go to the bathroom? Yeah, so every hour we get a five-minute break. He had a rush to the bathroom, so he's going to use five minutes of the break. He says they've had a steady stream of fans wanting to play against Onokoya. I'm told Nigerian corners of social media are on fire with him. There's more to this chess marathon than just a world record.

Surrounding the tables are QR codes leading to the donation page of the charity The Gift of Chess, which donates chess sets in hopes of expanding opportunity for children. Onokoya and his helper come jogging back and he settles behind the board again. Martinez's rook is still pinning his queen, but Onokoya frees up some brain space for a mini-interview. A little cold. A little cold? This is going to go on for another 50 hours.

Yes, yes. Are you worried at all? No, I think I can do it. I think my greatest opponent is staying awake, sleep, basically. But yeah, I'm doing it for the dreams of thousands and millions of children across Africa without access to education. So that should keep me up enough. His worst theory says is,

two in the morning when it gets really cold and there aren't as many people to watch him play. That's WMYC's Charles Lane. And you should know by the time Tunday finished playing, he raised $96,000 for the gift of chess. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.