NYC NOW - August 16, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

New York City Mayor Eric Adams responds to subpoenas he and his team received as part of a sprawling federal investigation into his 2021 campaign. Plus, the street vendor market at Corona Plaza is struggling since reopening last Fall, following a city crackdown on unlicensed vendors. And finally, WNYC’s Arun Venugopal takes us to a cultural center that has emerged in the depths of a Jackson Heights subway station.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. We're going to turn over any information that is needed to come to a swift conclusion in this review. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is responding to subpoenas he and his team received as part of a sprawling federal investigation into his 2021 campaign. He says his team is turning over all the documents. investigators requested, and he's certain they will find he did not commit a crime. We've been extremely transparent about making sure if there are documents that's looked at, they want to see text messages or any other items.

We're going to turn it over and walk away, I believe, showing that I did nothing wrong. That's the mayor speaking on the Reset Talk Show, an internet radio program. These were his first comments since the New York Times reported that he and his team received grand jury subpoenas last month. Next week, the mayor heads to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. The popular street vendor market at Corona Plaza in Queens is struggling since reopening last fall, following a city crackdown on unlicensed vendors. WMYC's Aria Sundaram has more.

Some days, Rosario Troncoso doesn't sell a single one of the wallets or backpacks at her stall in Corona Plaza. And now the ventas are much backes, very badas. The city created a special agreement for the market to reopen last fall, this time legally, with shorter hours and fewer stalls at once. But most vendors have left altogether, and Troncoso said those who remain say their sales have plunged. We're for us, we're going to,

continue to work for this, because all we need to work dignamente and tranquillamente without going to go out of the police or the department of sanity. She and others say it's still worth it to work. legally there in a dignified way and avoid the police. Neighbors, meanwhile, have fewer complaints about trash and congestion, which spurred the crackdown last year. Queensborough President Donovan Richards said the city recently sent out staff to survey neighbors

around the plaza. They even spoke to some of the businesses who had complaints about the seat vendors, and guess what came back? Everything is great. Like, they're like, it's night and day. Vendors are calling on the city to expand the market. once celebrated by food critics and touted as a potential model for other neighborhoods across the city. That's as the city negotiates a new contract for management of the plaza.

The current one is set to expire at the end of November. A cultural center has emerged in the depths of a Jackson Heights subway station. More on that after the break. There are dozens of empty storefronts scattered across the city's subway stations. But a new initiative is trying to change that by offering some of them up for free to cultural organizations. WMYC's Arun Venica Paul was at the opening of one such space in Jackson Heights, Queens. It was a typical evening rush hour at the Jackson Heights train station with thousands of people on the move. But not everyone was in a rush.

A few dozen people had crowded into a storefront on the mezzanine level. The kind that you've probably rushed right past hundreds of times. It was the opening of the newest cultural center in Queens, a subterranean space operated by the grassroots cultural group Los Erderos, which means the inheritors. They were throwing a party. Inside, the patrons mingled or swayed to the music. Some snacked on empanadas or samosas and took in the arts,

suspended from the ceiling. The group's executive director and co-founder is Naomi Storm. We were on the hunt for a space for several years. But she says the cost of even a shared basement in the neighborhood was way beyond Los Erder's means. Then she heard about a new MTA initiative. There are 194 retail spaces across the subway system, of which just 53 are currently in operation. MTA senior official Jamie Torres Spring says the agency wants to activate vacant spaces to improve the atmosphere of city subway stations. Mauricio Bayona is a co-founder of Los Eraderos and remembers the moment when an MTA official brought him to what became their new space.

They just opened the door and we say, here we go. This is the space that the community needs. Other cultural groups have also taken advantage of the MTA program. These include the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Shashama, an organization that turns unused real estate into visual art sites. Another is Art on the Ave, which runs a busking stop for musicians inside the 81st Street subway station, near the Museum of Natural History. Barbara Anderson is a former middle school teacher who started Art on the Ave. She lived abroad for a decade and returned to New York in 2019.

She was struck by the number of empty storefronts. It hadn't been like that 10 years prior, and so it was quite shocking to see. She says the group has transformed all sorts of abandoned retail spaces into places into art and culture. She thinks it benefits property owners because the spaces don't turn into blight. And she says the city needs to accept that the retail landscape has changed, both above ground and underground, possibly for good. I don't feel it's going to come back to any extent the way it was before. There is an abundance and abundance of retail space available in the city

and the competition is very high for those owners to find the tenants that they want. Two years ago, she stopped teaching and devoted herself full time to art on the app. She believes art needs to be brought to the people. This is Diversity Plaza on air. This is the same belief that, guides the work of Los Eraderos. We are broadcasting live from Jackson Heights, Queens, specifically from Kebab King. The group has an online radio station, LH Radio, which is broadcast from all sorts of places,

including Pakistani restaurants. That work will now continue from their new space in the station. During the opening night party, DJ Rekhas spun tunes from the corner while patrons sipped non-alcoholic drinks. I think this is great. We'd be interacting with thousands of people daily. Armando Suarez-Cobion is a poet and filmmaker from Williamsburg. They are messengers of culture, messenger of music.

The scene inside the space drew curious looks from many of the commuters rushing home from work or backed up on the escalator to the seven-train platform. According to the MTA, the station is the ninth busiest in the entire system, with nearly 50,000 people passing through on an average. weekday in May. One of them was a British tourist, Tahima Karim. She's South Asian and was with her family. She wore sunglasses and a hijab and says one of the pieces in the new space caught her eye. I saw a hijabi, so that represents me, so that was nice. And that's what made me actually walk in. Her 11-year-old daughter Ayana Rehman gave a nod of approval.

There was a lot of diversity in there. Los Erderas is also counting on longtime Jackson Heights residents who simply want a place together, like Arif Ula. I was just in there and I reconnected with a friend who I hadn't seen in years. So it's a real, I would say a hub. One patron, Caesar Martinez, says the experience is fundamentally different from standing and encountering art in a conventional gallery. When you put a work of art in a different place like a gallery, they're putting a subway station, it's completely changed the meaning. Los Arredero's co-founder Bayona says he hopes other organizations emulate his group's cultural outreach. in subway stations across the city.

Because we are located in Queens and Jackson Heights, but what about Brooklyn? What about the Bronx? We really hope that other people get and understand that those spaces are for the community. He says the organization won't have to pay the MTA rent for one year. Beyond that, he's not sure what will happen, but he hopes the group's new home will remain free,

or at least affordable. The Los Eredero space will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, starting this month. LH Radio, Pensamos Local, Connectamos Global. Harun Van Gogh, WNYC News. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Bowdage, Ave Carrillo, Owen Kaplan, Audrey Cooper, Leorae Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel and Wayne Schoemeister,

with help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WNYC Newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrata. I'm Jenae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.