NYC NOW - April 3, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

A trifecta of bad weather is hitting New York City and the area as a ‘multi-hazard storm system’ descends on the region. The National Weather Service is warning of coastal flooding and high winds through Thursday morning. Meanwhile, you may have seen stories of ‘squatters’ taking over homes in New York City on social media or talk shows. But how common is this? WNYC’s David Brand reports. Plus, the average Broadway ticket price has steadily increased since 1980, according to data from industry trade group the Broadway League. Tickets now average an all-time high of more than $128 in the most recent full season. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with reporter Ryan Kailath, who has been looking into why Broadway is so expensive. Finally, there’s a new viral croissant hybrid in town called the ‘crookie.’ It’s a combination of a croissant and a chocolate chip cookie. WNYC’s Precious Fondren looks into why people are so obsessed.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, April 3rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. A trifecta of bad weather is hitting New York City in the area today. As a, quote, multi-hazard storm system descends on the region. The National Weather Service is warning of coastal flooding and high winds through early tomorrow. Meteorologist Dave Rodell says, as the region should watch out for the gust, which could hit 60 miles an hour.

These winds have the potential to blow down some tree limbs and maybe even some trees and some power lines for those highest gusts, in addition to making some travel difficult if you're in a large vehicle. Up to three inches of rain are expected tonight into tomorrow. You may have seen stories of squatters taking over homes in New York City on social media or on talk shows, but how common is this? W.D.M.C.'s David Brown reports. A squatter is a person who moves into an empty property without the owner's permission.

Getting them out can be a nightmare. But attorneys who spoke with WNYC inside Queens Housing Court this week say those cases are rare, and they're not seeing any more than usual. Landlord lawyers say the real problem is the slow pace of court for much more common eviction cases, like when tenants stop paying rent. Tenant lawyers say the term squatter only applies to a very small subset of people. They fear the focus on a few extradition. extreme examples could undermine renter protections. The state's Office of Court Administration runs

the court system and says it doesn't track squatter cases. Forty-two with rain and wind out there, a coastal flood warning for the Jersey Shore. Flood watches posted now, and later on the day as well, high wind and storm warnings as well. Today, rain, showers this afternoon, staying cool in the mid-40s, breezy and gusty, more rain tomorrow, and slightly on Friday. Stay close. There's more after the break. It's an age-old question for New Yorkers and tourists alike. Why do tickets to Broadway shows feel so expensive? The average ticket price has been increasing steadily since 1980.

Now, this is according to data from Industry Trade Group, the Broadway League, reaching an all-time high of more than $128 in the most recent full season. And, of course, tickets to hit shows can cost even more. more. WNIC's Ryan Kailoff has been looking into the question of why these prices keep increasing, and he joins us now. Ryan, the average price for a ticket is in the triple digits. Why is Broadway so expensive? Hey, Michael.

The simplest answer is because it can be. I mean, there's a few nonprofit theaters on Broadway, but these are mostly commercial enterprises. So they can charge whatever they want, and what they want is profits. Now, the producers and the theater owners, they're not necessarily going to tell you that. I talk to several. They tend to repeat an old line that Broadway is expensive to see because it's expensive to produce, which it is. I mean, it costs millions of dollars to take a show from, you know, an inkling of an idea to opening night.

And once you get to opening night, it costs a lot to keep it running week after week, multiple performances. So cost is one thing, but price is another. and it sounds as if it's set by basic supply and demand? I mean, to an extent, yeah, the supply part is simpler. There is limited supply, right? There are officially 41 theaters on Broadway. They have a fixed number of seats. They can't magically add more.

Meanwhile, attendance is down from its pre-pandemic highs. So, you know, if shows want to keep revenue steady, they have to raise prices on that smaller number of seats they're selling. Another piece of why these high prices exist is because people will pay more at the top. I talked to a professor, Rosie Brown-Locan. She teaches at University of Nevada and has written extensively about the economics of the industry. Here's what she said. Producers are finding that, you know, they're really increasing prices at the top.

There is no limit to what rich people will pay to see Broadway. And so you have premium tickets, you know, they didn't used to exist. And now they're $500, $600, $700 to see Hamilton. But, Ryan, there's more to the story, right? Inflation has been a serious force these past few years. Those costs are rising on Broadway as well. Yeah, I mean, people may remember the price of lumber going crazy during the pandemic. Well, guess what they use a lot of on Broadway building sets?

Also, electricity, those famous bright lights, electricity is up 25% in the New York area since just before COVID. There's also a lot of tension around labor. Labor costs have increased a lot and pretty much guaranteed to keep increasing. There's more than a dozen unions representing the labor pool on Broadway. And they won a lot of concessions coming out of the pandemic around health and equity and diversity. Take the actors union, for example, they won some of the most generous price increases in recent history in their latest contract. Actors on Broadway make a minimum of about 2,500 a week right now with increases of 4 to 5% a year. And the president of the actors union, Kate Schindle, she said they got a lot of pushback on pay. Here she is.

It's an interesting Rashamon exercise. When one of these stories comes along, is the employer side going to point to labor costs as the reason that Broadway is more expensive? And the answer is often, yes, union contracts are expensive. But do we think that these big multi-million dollar projects should be providing living wages to the workers who make them happen? I say yes to that. What about all these Hollywood stars performing on Broadway? Daniel Radcliffe, for instance, from Harry Potter, is starring on Broadway in. Marely, We Roll Along, Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal are doing Othello soon, for example. Yeah, this has been going on for a while, and it works. Stars boost attendance and they boost revenue.

But a lot of that goes right back to them as high compensation. They have, obviously, the bargaining power to negotiate really nice contracts when they want to start. are in theater. Now, we've been talking a lot about these rising costs, and those are definitely getting passed on. But I want to underscore something I said at the top. These are for-profit enterprises. So I grabbed the data and charted the rise in ticket prices since 1980 over general inflation in that time. And it's significantly over inflation. So, you know, not every show is a hit, but the ones that are make these huge profits and pay those back to their investors. And speaking

of Hollywood, you're hearing that Broadway is changing ways that mirror the film industry. Tell us more about that. Yeah, this is interesting and kind of makes sense. Everyone told me the industry is shifting to a hit-driven model, just like the movie business and the music business where it's franchise Marvel

or Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Producers on Broadway now prefer to pour big money into name brand projects with stars attached, or, you know, jukebox musicals featuring the music of Tina Turner, Neil Diamond, and Juliette is doing well right now. That features the catalog of pop producer Max Martin. And producers are hoping, I'm told, that these known quantities will deliver

big profits that their investors want. Even those aren't a guarantee, not all of them succeed, but some insiders are telling me this means we're going to see fewer original works, fewer risky works, creative, and, you know, more versions of shows about well-known songs or brands. Ryan Kyloth on why Broadway tickets are so expensive and getting even more expensive. Ryan, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Michael. Maybe you've heard about the cronaut or the supreme croissant. Well, buckle up because there's a new viral croissant hybrid in town.

It's called the crookie, and it's a combination of a croissant and a chocolate chip cookie. But why are people obsessed, and how do you get one? WNYC's precious fondron, invest. The crookie started in France in 2022 and has been going viral on NYC TikTok since early March. Influencers are sharing videos of themselves, trying the dessert, making it, and suggesting which drinks to pair it with. Stores across the city are selling out, and it can be hard to get your hands on one. Columbia University students Sophia Zarnski and Darya Ordinant met up to try the dessert at the cafe Noah in Kipps Bay. I live 40 minutes from here, so I came, took two trains to get here, and it was worth it.

To make a cookie, first you slice a croissant in half and add chocolate chip cookie dough in the middle and on top. It's then baked to create a gooey dessert. Fancy is just the right amount of sweet and salty. Ordnott says she was drawn to the novelty. It's very, like something that we haven't seen before. People haven't been doing, like, cookie croissants before. So I feel like that's something that draws people's attention, They just want to know what it tastes like.

Pasty Chef, an owner of sugar couture, Penny Stankowitz, says she hasn't tried a crooky yet, but she knows how viral trends come and go in the city. New York City, we're jaded, right? You've seen everything. We have the best of everything. We have the worst of everything available to us within a couple of blocks of us. There's not going to be enough interest to sustain the kind of ferocity that you're seeing, right, around this right now. And something else is going to come and replace it.

If you want a crookie, you have a few different options. Janie's life-changing baked goods has locations in the West Village, Upper West Side, and East Harlem that sell them. Mother and daughter duo Kimberly and Anika Bartel were at the West Village location recently. They were trying to experience the cookie after striking out at the sold-out Upper West Side location. The girl behind the counter was like, you need to pre-order them. Otherwise, you'll never get them. You can also grab a cookie from Setapani Bakery in Williamsburg on Saturday and Sunday. Belina Satipani is the bakery's pastry chef and says if people want to secure a cookie, they'd better show up before noon.

This is become such a whole neighborhood and everyone really excited about it. Like so many things in New York City, you can get a cookie. You just might have to be strategic about it. Precious Fondren, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day. For your top news headlines and occasional news.

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