NYC NOW - August 26, 2024 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Eligible families in New York State have a week to apply for a new Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program. Plus, WNYC’s David Brand visited the West Brighton Houses on Staten Island to find out how residents are feeling about recently announced renovation work. Also, WNYC’s David Furst talks with sports journalist Priya Desai for a preview of what’s expected at this year’s U.S. Open.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. Eligible families in New York State have until Tuesday, September 3rd, to apply for a new food benefits program this season. The summer electronic benefits transfer program provides up to $120 per child in EBT benefits that can be used on groceries. That's to ensure families have access to food all year round, not just during the school year. Children who receive snap or temporary assistance benefits or are certified for free meals through Medicaid or the National School Lunch Program can apply online. Renovation work is underway at a Staten Island Public Housing Complex recently turned over to a private developer. WMYC's David Brand visited the West Brighton Houses to find out how residents are feeling about the changes ahead.

Retired sailor Cruz Ruiz shows off his apartment at the West Brighton Houses. He's 90 and lives in a single-story building, a few yards away from a high-rise. About two dozen other bungalows like his have been sitting vacant and boarded up for more than 20 years. There's a glossy pamphlet laying on Ruiz's couch. It summarizes plans to renovate the campus. They're going to do all kinds of repair and stuff. West Brighton is the latest public housing development turned over to a private company for management. More than 60 other developments have already entered the city's permanent affordability commitment

together or PACT program. The developer BFC Partners is working with the management company Pinnacle City Living to renovate and run the buildings. Critics of the program say it puts public housing in the hands of corporations with too little oversight. But New York City Housing Authority Vice President Jonathan Gavea says PAC comes with more money to repair apartments, NYCHA couldn't fix on its own. What ended up happening over time was that the deterioration just,

built up, and NYCHA did not have the funding to restore them and make them habitable. Workers arrived at the end of June to begin gut renovations in the bungalows and to start long-awaited repairs in the high-rise buildings. Resident Association President Chikina Butler says it's about time. There was no work being done on campus. Absolutely nothing. So to have all these people here every day, completing a job after job after job, it is amazing. BFC says it plans to fix half of the boarded-up.

bungalows and turn the other half into a senior center. They also have to tackle elevator problems and ongoing water outages throughout the development. Tenants, advocates, and elected officials say developers have struggled to handle the workload at other Nica campuses, and they're not required to publicly report problems the same way Nica is, making it harder to find out what's going on and hold them accountable. A BFC executive says the company's up for the task. Nijja's Jonathan Gavea says he's confident too. We just closed this deal. in late June, and you've got a substantial number of people focused on this property and making the kind of investments that need to be made. Back at Cruz Ruiz's apartment, it's quiet, except for the occasional cargo ship passing through the nearby Kilvan Kull Waterway.

Ruiz says the new managers plan to movement to a high-rise building while they do renovations in his apartment. He's optimistic. Yeah, I'm happy about it, because this is my last stop here. I ain't going nowhere. Construction is scheduled to finish by the fall of 2026. That's WMYC's David Brand. The U.S. Open is underway in Queens. More on that after the break. Stick around.

The U.S. Open is finally underway, putting the national spotlight on the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens for the next two weeks. WMYC's David First talked with sports journalist Priya Dissai for a preview of what's expected. What is it about the U.S. Open that makes a lot of the U. It makes it such a classic New York City experience. I mean, even if you're not a big tennis fan, this is one of those annual events on the calendar that really helps define the city. For one, it's the last major of the year. So we're wrapping it all up. And the city really gets into it. It's the end of the summer, which is always sad. But we got tennis. And you start to

see little tennis events pop up throughout the city. And you really start to feel like the excitement. Does the U.S. Open bring in a lot of tourism money? Oh, definitely. So it brings in tourism money for New York City, and U.S.TA essentially has to lease the land. I guess that's what you would call it, pay the city to be able to play out in Queens. But if you talk to the neighborhoods that surround, they don't make a lot of money. There's never been a real push to get people to go outside of the tennis center, right, to like check out corona or flushing and see what they have to offer. So this doesn't spill into the neighborhoods? It doesn't, unfortunately. It does cause a lot of traffic, but it doesn't spill into the neighborhoods.

And it's always stated that we'll try a little harder next year, the city says, to kind of make this more of a community event amongst the neighborhoods. Well, give us a sense for how New York engages with this tournament. And are our audience is different here? Do players feel a different energy when they play? in New York? Oh, it's definitely less buttoned up. I mean, as far as tennis goes, it's still tennis. So, there's a formality. But the crowds are a little bit louder. The umps have to tell people to keep it down a lot more. But it's such a big New York event that, like, within the tennis center, you get to try all these, like, different New York City restaurants. Like, have you been to

Coca-Duck in Flatiron? I have not. Yeah, I haven't either, because I can't get rest of me. But if you go to the U.S. Open, you'll be able to try some of their food. So they really try to engage all parts of New York City when it comes to the tournament. So the Billy Jean King Tennis Center becomes a foodie destination as well. I mean, this is a complex of courts and stadiums. Aside from the games, what else is going on in there? You can really make it a whole family thing. The tickets, you know, they're not cheap for the main stage.

But you can also buy day passes and there's like games for kids to play. play and there's shopping, like tennis clothing shopping, just super cute. And you can buy stuff that like the players wear and the food. Yeah, the food is like idly, momofuko, Carnegie Deli. You can kind of try it all. And I think that really attracts people to spend a whole day there. So you can make a day there and not go to the big games. Can you still see some of the other games and not have to pay the top price? So this tournament spans two weeks, go the first week, and go to some of the smaller matches at the grandstand stadium. You'll get to see some up-and-coming players, and you really get to see the action because

it's a much smaller court. And who knows who you'll end up seeing. And plus, no matter what, you're seeing great tennis. Okay, well, help us get ready for the actual tennis. Who are the favorites? What are you going to be watching for? Well, we see Novak Djokovic is going to, he's just coming off of gold in the Olympics, and he won't be facing an adult.

all who had to drop out, unfortunately. And we're going to look who can take Djokovic out. That could be Carlos Alcarez of Spain. Now, also in that is if Djokovic wins, will he retire? Whoever gets to see this match, if it's his last one and he wins, is it the last match we'll see with him? Who knows? And then we have our favorites with Coco Gough, who won last year. She didn't really have a great time at the Olympics. So it's interesting to see if she can beat out the number one seed. Her name is Igachwantek. She's from Poland. So that will be an interesting fight to the finish on the women's side.

All right. If we can't make it to the tennis center, what else is going on around town? Are there watch parties we can attend? Hudson Yards, I believe, is going to have one of the largest screens set up and it's first come first serve. So you go out there and you can watch looking over the Hudson River, which is beautiful. And then also this year, what they're doing at the tennis center is during the final. they're having another fan fest where you can buy tickets to go onto the grounds

and they put up a huge screen. You won't be in the stadium, but you'll be able to hear it. That's sports journalist Priya Desai, talking with WMYC's David First. Officials say more than a million people are expected to flock to Queens for the U.S. Open. While anticipation builds about who will win

the legendary tournament this year, one thing's for sure. There will be traffic. closures affecting major roads like the Grand Central Parkway, Cross Island Parkway, and Long Island Expressway will also make for some sticky commutes. For a full list of closures, visit our news website Gothamist.

And if you want to beat the traffic, take public transportation to, from, and anywhere around the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.