NYC NOW - August 23, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins shares some advice for Vice President Harris on her path to the presidency. Meanwhile, New York City is advancing plans to build a waterfront greenway in front of the United Nations. Plus, tennis fever is sweeping through the city as the U.S. Open kicks off at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. WNYC’s Community Partnerships Desk spoke with local tennis enthusiasts during Fan Week to hear what the sport means to them.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads and listens, who is realistic, practical. A day has passed since Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her historic presidential nominee acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The political landscape is poised for a high-stakes showdown against former President Donald Trump in November.

Here in New York, we have our own representative who has already made history. State Senate Majority Leader Andrei Stuart Cousins is a fellow Democrat and the first black woman to lead a legislative chamber in New York. She offers Vice President Harris a bit of advice on how to deal with the challenges of what's ahead. The only challenge that, you know, is presented are the challenges of people who don't expect you to achieve these things, who don't want you to achieve these things, and who, even after you're achieving them, they'll want to discredit your achievements. And so I always say to anyone who's in this kind of position, I think, that you've seen the vice president do this masterfully. just keep your eye on what it is that you're there to do. Keep your eye on the prize.

Don't let the naysayers get into your head because what they say don't matter and it's not going to help you anyway. Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump will have their first debate in Philadelphia on September 10. New York City is finally moving forward with plans to build a waterfront greenway in front of the United Nations.

The plans call for a half-mile walking and bicycle path along the East River, starting at 41st Street. It's great news for cyclists like Paul Crickler, who often rides his bike around the edge of Manhattan. Typically, it's going down the west side Greenway, which is fantastic, and coming back up on these side. And unfortunately, we can't do that. There's obviously a huge missing gap. It's the latest move as part of a bigger project to close multiple gaps in the Greenway system that runs along the waterfront across Manhattan. If all goes, according to plan, the project will be completed in 2028 at a cost of $120 million. Coming up, the U.S. Open kicks off next week, but the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center has still been busy because of Fan Week.

We'll have more on that after the break. Tennis fever is sweeping New York City as the U.S. Open gets underway at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. WNYC's Community Partnership's Desk talked with local tennis lovers during fan week about what the sport means to them. My name is Nicole Drummond, and I'm from the Bronx. What I like about tennis the most is that I like seeing people that look like me reflected in there. I mean, I'm a black girl, and I'm also mixed, so I love seeing black girls. I love seeing people from different communities, you know, like Naomi Osaka. You know, she's also black and Japanese.

It's just so inspiring. People see that, especially young little girls see that and think, wow, like I can do that too. I don't know if I have the coordination to play tennis. I'm going to keep it to the pros. My name is Mercedes-Nesville, and I come from Westfield. Harlem, tennis is life, tennis is energy. Tennis helps you to understand healthy living. I play in Riverbank Park.

The camaraderie is great. We have built friendships around the tennis players who come, and it's just a very engaging and wonderful activity. My name is Neil Garfinkel from Fairlaw, New Jersey. Tennis means to me just the coming together of all different races, of all different ages. I was first introduced to tennis at a very early age. My father just played every day all day. I played with my boys.

My boys would rather play basketball. But my father, who's 85 years old, still plays every single day. He plays on hard courts and clay courts. So, you know, I'll go out with him sometimes. My name is Agnes Ford Burgess. and I'm from Freeport Long Island. I was first introduced to tennis through my husband, Daniel Burgess.

Like 35 years ago a little longer? My husband is deceased now. He introduced me to tennis before we got married. And then we got married. And on our honeymoon in Bermuda, we won the Honeymooners Championship. My name is Margie Lilling.

I'm from Taiwan originally, but I've been in Long Island over 40 years now. This is my 38 years. the ground to see the US Open. When you play tennis or watch tennis, you forget everything. My favorite player is Ralph Nadal. It's a very interesting thing when Nadal first came to the US Open. He was folding his socks the same way I folded. I noticed that and then he started to play better and better. So I just become his band. My name is Colleen Murray and I'm from Jamaica Queens and I'm originally from Trinna and Tobago.

Tennis means to me joy, excitement, love of the game. When I watch it, I get excited, especially when you see that player really at it and the ball goes outside and be like, oh man, it could have been inside. That's really the pumping, moving of your heart that gets you up in the stands. I really feel it for the player. I actually didn't love tennis before, but my aunt came on vacation like two years ago and she, like, doesn't have tennis going on? going on? I was like, it's supposed to. And then she pulled it up. And then I was like,

you're really enjoying it. She's like, yeah. I was like, but I don't understand the game, so I can't enjoy it. And she's sitting down and explain the rules and stuff like that ever since. We've been here. We're going to come into opening games. So I really love it now. My name is Stephen Glenn. I'm from Brooklyn, New York. Originally from Central America. I loved tennis because I played it in high school. So it was the first sport that really followed. I like the sort of problem solving to see, like, players that are down and then are able to come back. Even though I have. I'm nowhere near where these guys are right.

I think just the structure that it gave me, I thought, was very good, especially in high school. But I do play once in a while. I should play more often. My name is Amy C. And I'm from Nassau, New York. I love tennis because it's a great form of exercise. It shows good camaraderie. It builds your mental strength.

I was first introduced to tennis when I watched Yvonne Lendell, where his very tiny shorts. and I fell in love with tennis. That's when I first fell in love on a Saturday morning at 10 a.m. I would say that was 1980s, early 80s, falling in love with tennis with Yvonne Lendell. The U.S. Open's fan week runs through Sunday with a variety of free events. The tournament officially begins Monday. It ends September 8th. Also for tennis fans wondering if they'll be baking in the stands at this year's U.S. Open,

the answer is at least not on day one. The first round of the annual tournament is scheduled to start at 11th. 11 o'clock on Monday morning, with temperatures in the low 80s and a chance of rain building throughout the afternoon. The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center has some stadiums with retractable roofs, but other courts are out in the open. Spectators can bring umbrellas, but they won't be able to open them while players are playing. Champions Novak Djokovic and Cocoa Gough are among the players slated to compete in their

first matches on Monday. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Shout out to our production team and include Sean Boutich, Covey Carrillo, Owen Kaplan, Audrey Cooper, Liora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, Jenae Pierre, and Wayne Schulmeister. With help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WNMIC Newsroom, our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrato. I'm Sean Carlson. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.