NYC NOW - August 9, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

A travel advisory is in effect for New York City through Friday as heavy rain and strong winds move through the region. Meanwhile, as part of its ongoing fight against rats, the Department of Sanitation is ordering up to 1,500 large trash containers that will initially be placed in front of large buildings in West Harlem. Plus, WNYC’s Arun Venugopal reports on a state commission that's studying reparations for New Yorkers of African descent. And finally, we team up with the nonprofit Street Lab to highlight local stories in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, August 9th. Here's the midday news from David First. There's another travel advisory in effect for New York City as rain continues to threaten the boroughs and surrounding region. The city emergency management agency says to expect one to two inches of rain today with the potential of flash flooding, strong. wind gusts, thunderstorms, and the potential for tornadoes. Most of this bad weather happening this afternoon and tonight, officials say the Bronx, northern Manhattan, and northern queens are

most vulnerable to flooding. The MTA is banning empty tractor trailers and tandem trucks on its bridges, beginning at 3 o'clock this afternoon. That ban is expected to last through 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, though that is subject to change based on conditions. New York city is calling on Spain to help out in its war on rats. The sanitation department plans to order up to 1,500 large containers from the Madrid-based company Contenure. They'll be placed in parking spaces in front of large buildings in West Harlem. It's all part of the city's effort to put an end to the mountains of trash bags on sidewalks that serve as buffets for rats. The sanitation department says they're also ordering new trucks to pick up the bins. Instead of loading trash bags into the rear,

the new trucks will have arms on the sides to pick up and dump the new containers. The Spanish bins will arrive in May. The city is testing them out uptown and plants to roll them out across the city in the coming years. 79 degrees cloudy and breezy today with a high of 82 degrees and a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Stay close. There's more after the break. A state commission tasked with studying reparations for New Yorkers of African descent is now a in the early stages of its work. WNYC's Arun Venigapal says increasingly the state's reparations movement is powered by

young people who seek change. Last year, New York state legislators were in a bind. Months earlier, they'd passed a bill authorizing the creation of a state reparations commission. But with just weeks to go before the end of the session, they lacked something they needed, the signature of Governor Kathy Hokel. Then something happened. When black people get free?

We all get free. A group of young activists got involved. They dropped a banner at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. That was followed by a demonstration with NYU students at Washington Square Park. Now! We are in a governor to sign the bill. Two weeks later, the governor signed the bill. That made New York the second state to create a reparations commission after California.

Assembly member Mikhail Solage sponsored the legislation. to create the commission. She says the work by young activists was pivotal in overcoming conservative opposition and getting the issue on Governor Hockel's radar. These young people doing this work helped us secure and helped us to elevate this issue and work with the governor's office to convince them that this is something that is a community-led issue and that it needs to be done with community. There's an awakening, I believe, believe around this power that we have. Nicole Cardi is the 36-year-old executive director of Get Free, a new youth-led group that helped

organize the actions. She says many young Americans in years past had relied on older generations to enact change. Now we're coming up into a moment where we realize we're the adults in the room. We get to decide what actually happens. Get Free formed last year. It now has five full-time staff members in their 20s and 30s, along with dozen people. of volunteers. These include Trevor Smith. He's also the co-founder of the Bliss Collective, which promotes collaboration between Black and Indigenous communities. The 30-year-old says one of the

highlights of the work was attending the governor's signing last year. We were in the room with both young reparations advocates and elder reparations advocates. It was actually a really beautiful day and something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Assembly member Solange says she's struck by the collaborative nature of the young people entering the movement. She says it's a welcome change from some of the activists she's dealt with. Even those people who agree with reparations, some of these groups are antagonistic. They're getting your phase. They don't feel that collaboration of civility is a way to get to the end goal.

It's quite the opposite for these young people. Get Free's executive director, Nicole Cardy, says her family offers a window into the issue. Thanks to the civil rights movement, her father got a job at Merck, then at IBM. But at the same time, she has cousins who died at the age of 50. She says young people of different backgrounds increasingly recognize the problem of systemic racism and are now ready to address the problem by acquiring and wielding power. Young people have incredible power. They are the engines behind every social movement in the United States history.

And millennials in Gen Z right now, those two generations are coming up in leadership in this country. They get to change and decide. the future of this country. The first meeting of the state's new reparations commission took place in July. Assembly member Solange says the work is still in its early stages, and commissioners will soon partner with experts to discuss New York's history, from chattel slavery all the way to urban renewal. That report is due next year.

Arun Van de Gopal, WNYC News. WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk regularly. teams with the nonprofit street lab to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop at Murder Avenue Plaza and Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood. Here's some of what we heard. My name is Suman Raguenathen. I live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and I'm 48. I spent the last almost 25 years advocating and being an activist in support of immigrant rights,

racial justice and civil rights. I'm South Asian. My daughter is South Asian and white. My parents immigrated to this country from India 54 years ago at an incredibly different time. They were so privileged to be welcomed into this country. I'm at a little free street festival and I've been thinking about the ways that New York is so beautiful and multiracial. Right now, we're We're contenting with a level of political polarization and racial polarization that is unprecedented. Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, and it's my vision for what I want the United States to look like as a multiracial, diverse democracy that welcomes folks from different backgrounds, but builds them into and weaves them into a community that has a place for everyone to be fully themselves and to feel joy. My name is Beryl Edwards. I'm 69 years old.

I came to America 32 years ago. A lot of my family came because of the political climate in Liberia. Even though we are not in Liberia, we still feel at home because there's just certain Liberian communities that are very large. Again, in New York, Staten Island have a lot of Liberians. So when you're out there, in Staten Island, you feel like that. like you home, I have no plans to go to Liberia. I've gotten used to America, so I feel like America is my new home. I like being part of this community. A neighbor was telling me that she noticed

I'm always out and she said, you just say one day and say, I'm not going to go outside. So I said, no, that would make me restless. My name is Darius Office. I'm from PG County, Landover, Maryland, DMV, Washington, D.C. area. I'm 41 years. old. I'm in Brooklyn, New York today. New York is like my second home. This is where my heart is, my spirit is, and I'm just out here vibe more the people on Myrtle Ave. Spirit-wise, I feel 25. Sometimes my knees feel 50, but, you know, it's all good. I'm making the best of it, and I enjoy it. During the pandemic is when a lot of thinking and not an introspection going to hand, because you don't have no time but to think. It was a scary time. And I made a pact of myself, it was like,

yo, when this is over, I'm going to live no matter what. I'm going to live to my best of my ability. I just try to go traveling is the main thing, and I'm a father too. So spending time with my daughter, try to take my health serious, emotional intelligence, financial independence. I'm cultivating those things so I can instill in my daughter as well. My name is Seku Karadine. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, in Clinton Hill. I am 50 years old. Can you believe it?

So 19 years ago, I was a very popular model on the fashion game with about 20-plus campaigns overall, Times Square, lived in 32 countries. In 2004, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is a degenerative disease. The diagnosis of MS, I mean, mine wasn't threatening, but it still messed up my life. So I wrote this letter about kicking MS's butt and how I'm going to get out of, you know, you're going to get out of my life. And that started the healing process. That started the fire of me being angry about this autoimmune situation. And so that kind of got me here. And I've been focused more on community outreach and been able to actually do things that felt good.

I'm at a point now in my life where things have to feel good, where I'm able to stay happy, stay healthy. voices from the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.