NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NY State Dips into Rainy Day Fund, NYC Parks Commissioner Steps Down, NJ City Rethinks Law that Would Jail Homeless People and National Teachers Appreciation Day

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders are taking $8 billion from reserves as part of the New York state budget deal. Plus, New York City’s Park Commissioner Sue Donoghue is stepping down later this month. Also, city council members in Summit, New Jersey have been considering a contentious law that would allow police to arrest homeless people camping in public places. And finally, a special thanks to all teachers on National Teacher Appreciation Day.

New York State dips into its rainy day fund. New York City's Parks Commissioner steps down. A New Jersey City rethinks a law that would jail homeless people. And National Teachers Appreciation Day. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. New York State is tapping into its rainy day fund. Governor Kathy Hokel and legislative leaders are taking $8 billion from reserves

as part of the state budget deal. They're using it to pay off. an unemployment insurance debt that balloon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hogle says it'll save businesses money. I'm doing this to help the businesses prepare to weather the storm that we are entering. I think we're in for a recession. New York businesses had been paying more in taxes to pay off the debt. At the same time, unemployment benefits had been reduced.

Lawmakers are expected to start voting on the state budget deal later this week. New York City's Parks Commissioner is stepping down later this month. WMYC's Liam Quigley has the details. Sue Donahue has overseen nearly all of New York City's green spaces since early 2022, including its beaches. She's been credited with helping the Parks Department regain control over lifeguard hiring during a time when the city has struggled with shortages. Now she's joining a growing list of commissioners leaving Mayor Eric Adams administration

with the mayoral primary just weeks away. In a statement, Adams thanked Don Hugh for her work and wished her well. Her next move is not yet clear. The mayor's office imposed multiple budget cuts on the Parks Department during Don Hugh's tenure. Officials of a wealthy city in New Jersey are rethinking a law that would jail homeless people living on the streets. More on that after the break. City council members in Summit, New Jersey, have been considering a contentious. Intentious law that would allow police to arrest homeless people camping in public places.

It's one of several New Jersey towns that have either thought about it or adopted similar laws in recent months. But it's set off an uproar among residents and summit, and lawmakers there may now be backing away from the measure. WMYC's Mike Hayes has the story. Under the proposed ordinance, homeless people could be jailed up to 90 days for camping in public spaces and or fine $2,000. and it's set off a firestorm in the summit community, including over three hours of public testimony at a council hearing two weeks ago. You can't just jail someone into housing. This lot doesn't address the root cause of homelessness.

It hides it. It's absolutely ridiculous and insane. This ordinance is not needed. That was Enrique Guincardi and Karen Olsen. City Hall staff had to provide multiple overflow rooms to accommodate the crowd of more than 200, that showed up to oppose the measure, including Joseph Marizidi. It's a classic case of blaming the victim for their unfortunate position.

I wanted to understand why this proposal got the people of Summit, which is one of the wealthiest towns in the state, so riled up. So I went to Summit, where I met with someone who's been working a lot with the city's homeless population. Sometimes they're on the other side of the train station, other times they're down on the tracks. So I figure we just walk around a little bit and see who we see if we see anybody. Rich Uniac is the president of Bridges Outreach.

His job is to engage homeless people on the street and try to get them into a home. We walked around downtown, the train station where he says people sometimes sleep on benches, and we checked some of the covered bus shelters near the village green. But no luck. Here we are. talking about this in the context of the ordinance and not able to find anybody who's unsheltered in town at the moment. Uniak says there used to be dozens of homeless people in Summit. But in 2024, a year before the current ordinance was introduced, Mayor Elizabeth Fagan established a homelessness task force.

It brought together nonprofits like bridges, first responders, and elected officials to rehouse people. Together, Uniak says, they've been able to find housing and socials. services for most of those who need it. We started with 35 names over the past year and a half. We've kind of reduced it to five or six. So wait, so this whole debate is around five or six people in this city? Yeah, I mean, it's down to single digits and kind of unsurprisingly, the folks at the end are the folks who are the hardest to get to that.

line. Nonetheless, Uniak says, the Homelessness Task Force has been working. Earlier this year, Summit received recognition from the National Alliance to end homelessness for how it was addressing the issue, which has left a lot of Summit residents asking why the city needs a new law. And the story of how that happened starts with a phone call. Typically, my daughter doesn't call me unless it's like for money. She said, Daddy, I got to tell you something. Council member Jamel Boyer is a Republican who was elected in 2023. He's a former detective for the state's Attorney General's office and ran on a public safety platform. His daughter, he says, was calling from a street in downtown summit. And I said, oh, what's up? She says, I was out in front of Lulu Lemon with my girlfriends,

and this guy had approached us and asked us for money, asked us for like a dollar. And we told him we didn't have any money. And he pulled a knife on us. And he was chasing us. And we ran all the way to Starbucks. He filed a police report. The man accused of pulling the knife was arrested. And then, less than a month later, Boyer introduced the camping ban ordinance at a council meeting. We are balancing compassion with accountability

and upholding law and justice. It's not about criminalizing homelessness, but it's about doing the right thing. We want to prevent homelessness, not maintain it. The ordinance was expected to pass. Four other towns in New Jersey have approved similar laws after the United States Supreme Court upheld the law in Oregon last year, banning homeless people from using blankets, pillows, and cardboard boxes for shelter and protection.

But then came Summit's council meeting late last month. Counselman Boyer, I am so sorry for what happened to your daughter, but I don't think that this is the right way to solve your issues of safety here. To have this ordinance all of a sudden up for vote is the epitome of a knee-jerk reaction. That was Abigail Cain and Eric Salcido. An overwhelming number of people at the meeting spoke against Boyers' ordinance, though some were there that night to support it, including Tom Zebra and Irwin Miller.

There's nothing compassionate about enabling individuals who are clearly already facing hard times to sleep on concrete. If there are people who aren't accepting our help, and they don't want to be helped, we can't have our kids be at risk. The meeting dragged on until 2 a.m. Attorney Jeff Wilde is a founder of the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness. He warned the council about the legal risk of voting yes. I applaud how you have made so much progress here,

and please don't blow it when you're about to take the last step here, because legally there is a fatal flaw in this ordinance. While the Supreme Court may have given the okay for laws banning homeless encampments, Wilde says what Summit was proposing violates New Jersey's Constitution. There is a right to pursue and obtain safety, among other things. And that's right in the very first article in section of New Jersey's Constitution. It's not a crime to be on public land when you have nowhere else to go. Wilde says it was violate someone's constitutional rights to arrest them if there are no shelter beds available.

He later met with the council on revising the ordinance. And now, Summit Council members appear to be backing down from the original proposal. On their agenda tonight, a new ordinance with significant changes that they'll be introducing for a vote. The revised ordinance, if it is acceptable to summit, will have a carve-out, an acceptable, for anyone who does not have access immediately to adequate indoor emergency shelter or housing. The State Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the legality of summit's ordinance and public camping bans in other parts of the state. That's WMYC's Mike Hayes.

It's National Teacher Appreciation Day. So before we go, a huge thanks to all the teachers and instructors who are making a difference in the lives of students all over the world. Students like 16-year-old Xavier Lyons at Bronx River High School. He has a special shout-out for his former teacher at a different school, Miss Brandy Kovac. This teacher was actually my math teacher last year. And at first I struggled because I really did not like the class I was taking out of time. I was taking geometry.

And I really sucked at geometry. But she kind of convinced me like, hey, why? Why are you holding yourself back by just saying, hey, I can't do it, you know, I'm not good enough, and I'm just not going to try. She's like, try and see what happens. So I used to do like lessons with her every day and to help me study for the regions. And the regions, I mean, I thought I was going to fail the regions. I thought I was going to retake it constantly and constantly. She was like, just give it your best shot.

And I passed. And I was like, that's great because I did not think I was going to pass at the beginning of the year because I had no faith in myself. She just kind of helped me build my confidence and paid off. Thank you, Mrs. Kovac, for all your help. Thank you so much. Thanks, Mrs. Kovac, and happy National Teachers Appreciation Day to all. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre.

We'll be back tomorrow.