NYC NOW - August 23, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control is urging doctors to offer patients a range of pain relief options before they get an IUD which is a long-term birth control. In other news, the City of Newark is concluding Peace Week with a free community event called "24 Hours of Peace." Plus, thousands of new homes are planned for the East Bronx after the city council passed a rezoning proposal earlier this month near two new Metro-North stations. WNYC’s Sean Carlson speaks with John Doyle, a district leader in Northeast Bronx, to learn more.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, August 23rd. Here's the midday news. I'm Jene Pierre. The Centers for Disease Control is urging doctors to offer patients a range of pain relief options before they get an IUD. That's a form of long-term birth control growing in popularity, but some patients say the procedure can be extremely painful. Dr. Morin Kuse is working on a clinical trial at Mount Sinai to test out one potential option for relief.

It's called a tense device, little machines that emit electrical currents shown to reduce pain for other conditions. It's important that we as physicians and clinicians remain vigilant in considering new strategies that might offer some promise for patients. She said existing pain relief options work for some patients, but not all. OBGYNs in New York City say they typically offer options such as IBGYNs, such as IBGYNs, as ibuprofen, local anesthesia, or anti-anxiety medication before an IUD placement. The city of Newark is wrapping up a week of community events with what they're calling 24 hours of peace. Peace Week has been underway in Newark since last Saturday with daily activities like group walks and bike rides. This evening at 5 p.m. an African drum ceremony will open the event in the West Ward at South 10th Street and Central Avenue.

In honor of this year's theme of women empowerment, a roster of all female performers will take the stage, including R&B singer Maya and many others. 24 hours of peace is free and open to the public. It's 74 degrees, mostly sunny skies, and it'll remain that way throughout the day. You can expect a high around 82 degrees. Clear skies ahead tonight with lows in the mid-60s. And a lovely weekend ahead, sunny skies on Saturday and Sunday on Saturday. You can expect a high around 85, Sunday, a high of 8. 86. Stay close. There's more after the break.

On WNYC, on WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. Thousands of new homes are coming to the East Bronx after the city council passed a rezoning proposal earlier this month near two Metro North stations. Joining us now to talk more about it is John Doyle. He's a district leader in the Northeast Bronx. Hey, John, can you tell us about what exactly the new rezoning plan means for residents in the East Bronx? Yes, Sean. I think it's a definitely Definitely cause for excitement. We're talking about nearly 7,000 housing units, but more importantly, we're also talking about the Metro North stations coming. We are a transportation desert. We have some of the highest commute times in the entire city, particularly in the East Bronx, which is a very low-density residential area. So this is really going to be transformative to people to get them all the way into Midtown Manhattan in 30 minutes. I mean, that's just tremendous progress. Now it can take in some communities up to 90 minutes to get there. When can residents start to see actual change? 2027 is when this is all supposed to be completed.

There have been delays in the past, though, so it may take a little longer, but right now they're projecting 2027. Now, the Adams administration has been trying to end parking mandates for new housing. Those are rules that say, hey, when you build a new development, there's got to be some parking associated with it. Can you tell us about some of the concerns from residents that you've heard about the rezoning plan? Sure, you know, just in terms of context, the East Bronx primarily, was zoned into a lower density growth management area, that's similar zoning to most of Staten Island. So you're dealing with a lot of one and two family homes,

a lot of lower residential area, commercial strips that are very small as well, that may not have housing above them. So I think that's been part of the concern. Parking is always a concern in this area. Most of the census tracks surrounding the Metro North Station and Morris Park do have the auto ownership rates are a majority

in most of those census tracks. I understand the construction. concern that people have. And I hope that the compromise that was proposed, rather, will address some of those concerns. Do you see the rezoning potentially adding stress on the community that's currently living there? There's a very high concentration of senior citizens in the area. So obviously for them, you know, change can sometimes be a scary thing. At the same point, I do view it in terms of optimism and opportunity. You know, I work in the area in Marse Park and I represent half of Morris Park as a district leader. and the areas particularly along Eastchester Road and Stillwell Avenue, I mean, these are areas that, you know, there's a lot of chop shops and heavy industrial use, car repair, bus depots, things along that nature. And that area could go to better use, especially with the train coming, to provide homes for people.

So not all change is bad, I guess, is what would be my baseline remark today. What sorts of people do you think that the new homes will bring to the Bronx? And do folks have concerns about gentrification? Totally. Just by context, the census indicates that the median income in Morris Park is about $75,000. So that's better than the $45,000 overall in the Bronx in terms of that people are, you know, living a little bit more middle class. However, still to make rent is still difficult for many people if they're making rent

or they have a mortgage and a home payment. So gentrification is always a significant concern. I remember about 10 years ago, one of the politicians did a local study. that indicated home values will rise about $100,000 on average, which is great if you own your home. But if you're renting, you know, that is going to add a squeeze. And I know only 1,700 of the 7,000 apartments are going to be constructed via affordable housing. So, you know, it's a concern. Hopefully we'll be able to meet the challenge before us.

One of the things in this new rezoning is more land for community and business sites. What do you hope gets built there? And what do you think that this area of the Bronx needs more of? definitely community centers. There's a lot of young people as well and finding things to keep young people occupied between the hours at 3 o'clock to 8 o'clock on the normal day. I think it would be great. I was very encouraged to see that there'll be money spent on parks and recreational areas in the district. I think that's definitely something that's needed in here and I want to be positive about that. And I think it's $50 million for parks. That's wonderful. And I know there's concern and

I don't think there's anyone here who's trying to do a massive housing boom on small tree line blocks of one and two family homes. You know, on the commercial strips, there is the possibility of doing more housing there. And that might be something the community would welcome to kind of help bring rents down. The more supply you have, the less of a demand they'll be. Now, this is a housing victory for Mayor Adams and his administration. It goes hand in hand with his goal of boosting the city's housing supply and also his city of yes for housing opportunity proposal. What else do you want to see from city officials working on the Bronx specifically? Well, I live on City Island, which is about 10 minutes away from Metro Northside by car.

So I was very encouraged that there's going to be a lot of flood protection being planned for flood prone areas because that definitely affects us in all the coastal communities, whether that City Island, Throgs Neck, Country Club. There are even areas that are very vulnerable in Morris Park to flash flood it, believe it or not, and making sure that we have adequate drainage. and other forms of irrigation as well as resiliency projects is very important to me personally. That was district leader, John Doyle. John, thanks so much for joining us. Pleasure was all mine. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC.

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