NYC NOW - August 2, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

In Queens, Corona Plaza vendors are rallying against the city’s latest enforcement sweep. Plus, a New York City vendor accused of wasteful COVID spending receives a new $219 million contract. Also, former MTA executive Andy Byford is criticizing his new employer. And finally, WNYC’s Community Partnerships Desk posts up in Newark, New Jersey and shares what’s top of mind for residents there.

Good evening and welcome to NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre for WNYC. This is not a way to get safe streets. This is not a way to make a community safer by eliminating their income strength. We begin in Queens, where street vendors are protesting a city crackdown last week that has left up to 100 people without jobs. Vendors were already working with city agencies and elected officials to address concerns about overcrowding and cleanliness.

And more than 80 vendors had agreed. to a set of communal rules when they join the Corona Plaza Street Vender Association. Rosario Truncoso is president of the nonprofit organization. We want to work. We're trying. We're not asking nothing to the government, to that we maintain. No, we're going to work. She says vendors want to work, and they're not asking for the government's help to support them. They're earning their daily bread. On Wednesday afternoon,

the vendors were joined by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Queens borough president to protest the city's latest enforcement actions. A private health provider has just scored a new $219 million contract with the New York City government, just weeks after the city comptroller criticized the company for wasteful spending. WNYC's Jacqueline Jeffrey Wollinsky has the details. Executive Medical Services has been a city vendor for over a decade, but its municipal paychecks skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comptroller data shows it's received.

about $700 million in contracts since 2020. The city also contracted the company under a different name, affiliated physicians, to give out vaccines to migrants. The Comptroller's audit says the company overstaffed its COVID vaccine and testing sites to collect extra cash. City officials disagree with the findings. They say the COVID-19 response needed an all-hands-on-deck approach. Stay close. There's more after the break.

Andy Bifert, the former MTA executive who was often at odds with then-governor Andrew Cuomo, is now criticizing his current employer, Amtrak. WNYC's Stephen Nesson has more on the Zoom call that's raising eyebrows. Amid the swirling debate on how to renovate the existing Penn Station, Amtrak is still forging ahead with plans to demolish one Midtown block in the near future. It needs that space to add more tracks once the new Hudson River tunnels are built. Enter Andy Byford. With just three months into his new job as head of high-speed rail at Amtrak, he has some opinions in his personal capacity, of course.

I'm not speaking on behalf of Amtrak. I'm speaking just as a railway professional. I've worked in transit now for 34 years. Biford said demolishing the block south of 31st Street isn't necessary. And it would break my heart to see beautiful buildings torn down on 8th and 7th Avenue when they don't need to be. Byford believes the MTA and NJ Transit should share tracks, allowing trains to continue to other stops rather than terminating at Penn Station. Amtrak insists that would cause too much disruption. This wasn't the first time Biford's undiplomatic comments have made waves.

He regularly clashed in public with Governor Andrew Cuomo. Biford resigned from the MTA in 2020. Before dropping out of the meeting, Biford also had choice words for his former employer's $7 billion facelift of the current Penn Station. It's not just about building something that's more aesthetically pleasing. Important though that is, you know, Penn Station's kind of an embarrassment. But you can't fix it by just putting in a few light boxes, by just heightening the ceilings, by just widening a few corridors. That plan is favored by Governor Kathy Hockel. That's WNYC's Stephen Nesson.

Now to New Jersey, where WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk visited Essex County to get a calls on what's top of mind for residents in Newark. Here's some of what we heard from folks at Branchbrook Park. My name is Quiney White. I'm from Newark, New Jersey, also born and raised. There is a lot of pain here. There's a lot of pain. And I do know that. Hurt people, hurt people. So the reason why there's so much violence, so much crime and so much hurt is because people themselves are hurt. People themselves need help. People need healing. But I also do see the love. I see the spirit. I see the life. I see the yearning for more to feel. secure to feel loved and to also spread love.

My name is Jason Debeda and I live in the South Ward of Norc by Lake Park. I know if you know about you two a young Don and Saskod. He's actually recently converted Christian and I follow him's footsteps because he actually was in a place where I was in and he came from, you know, all the bad stuff, you know, drugs, women, lust and all that. And I know that I can relate to him because I had a history like that and I'm trying to convert, you know, to a better life and just progress myself to help my family. I'm actually really into sports.

So it was just like, I try these sports, like, oh, track, soccer, football, wrestling. I was just, I think I just picked up as a hobby. It's sort of like a coping. Just something I like doing. It just helps me like in my head out the where I stress, like, you know, I'm turning 18 or about bills and adulthood and responsibilities. Sports really just helps me like, okay, you can chill, relax, worry about this. Just keep pushing yourself and stuff like that.

My name is Deshawn Williams. I was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. I'm 21, working. You know, got big dreams, big goals that I could definitely accomplish. I want to help my community out. I want to give back in a positive way, impactful way, and just put smile on people's faces. My name is Kaz.

Mineral Beauty, Kaz, Fleming, and I'm from Hillside, New Jersey. Mino Beauty is a community that I started for women 50 and older that are going through menopause, and it just helps women go through the menopause journey, which is new to many of us. and there's so many pieces that is involved in this journey that we don't understand, depression and the hot flashes and the mental stability as our body changes.

So it's just a community and a safe space for women to talk about menopause. I do events, big events, small events, and just get the word out about a mental beauty. So a mental beauty is a woman that's 50 and older and she's still beautiful. So menopause, mental beauty. I was born and raised here in Newark,

actually right up the street. up the street on 7th Street and Park Avenue so I frequent the park, Branchbrook Park, often. And I just like giving back to my community. I have a lot of memories here. And I'm thinking about possibly if available purchasing my childhood home. My name is Jalisa Simpson. I live in Newark here next to Branchbrook Park and it's really just been a wonderful couple of years, honestly. I'm originally from Brooklyn and didn't know too much about Jersey. It just came here because it was cheaper and it felt like the best thing to do. And honestly, finding the park across street, it kind of helped me find a little bit of love in Jersey. I think that I definitely

found my Zen here doing yoga and just meeting new people and kind of integrating into the space. So it's been really nice. I really like it. I would definitely say that Brooklyn is a little more fast-paced than Newark. It's definitely a little more family-oriented, I think, over here, so life is a little bit slower. Even when I hang out with my friends from here, I realize that I walk faster than them. And it really is a difference, but I like it because it gives me a sense of serenity. My name is Mark Roberts. My family's heritage as we go all the way back to after World War II. You say I'm a second-generation Newarker. We've been living here since since I was born, family's been here for a while.

I feel like I have a personal connection with it, you know. Grandmother was a teacher in Newark Public Schools, so grandfather worked in the area and stuff, coming from the military. So I have a lot of history here in Newark. The summers, you've got the basketball tournaments going around in the city, you've got the house music going around. You hear the music going around the city around every time,

mostly house music and hip-hop. There's a lot of Newark pride in this person right here. That's a collection of voices from residents visiting Branchbrook Park in Newark, New Jersey. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.