NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYCHA Property Turned Over to Private Firm, Equity Debate at Elite NYC Schools, “Border Czar” Visits NYC and a Family Recipe

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

The New York City Housing Authority is turning over operations at the Manhattanville Houses to a private firm, as part of a city program. Plus, the debate about admissions and equity at some elite New York City high schools. Also, WNYC’s Sean Carlson and Arya Sundaram discuss Mayor Adams’ meeting with President-elect Trump’s “border czar.”

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenei P.A. Residents of nearly 1,300 public housing apartments in Harlem will soon start paying rent to a private company tasked with repairs and renovations. The Manhattanville Houses is the latest New York City Housing Authority property to enter a city program that turns over daily operations to private firms. The program changes the source of federal funding for each apartment and allows. allows the companies to issue bonds to raise additional money. Nicha says the deal comes with $445 million for the Manhattanville houses. The complex is home to more than 2,600 people in six buildings.

The debate about admissions and equity at New York City's most elite high schools is back on the front burner for the city's Education Oversight Board. WMYC's Jessica Gould explains why. Members of the board are considering whether to approve a contract for a new version of the SHSAT. That's the controversial standardized test that determines who gets into the city's eight super-selective public high schools, think Stuyvesant or Bronx Science. This contract would give kids a test by computer instead of paper. But some parents are opposed to the test altogether, because so few black and Latino students tend to get into the elite schools. Those parents say switching to a computer-based version could worsen inequities.

Others are worried that blocking the contract will throw an already high-stakes admissions process into chaos. New York City Mayor Adams met with President-elect Trump's border czar this week. More on that after the break. You're listening to NYC now. New York City has taken in hundreds of thousands of migrants over the past few years. This week, Mayor Eric Adams met with President-elect Trump's so-called border czar, Tom Holman. The meeting comes as Trump's Trump's. pledges to deport millions of undocumented immigrants when he returns to the White House.

For more, my colleague Sean Carlson talked with WMYC's ARIA Sunderland. You got a Democratic mayor of a longstanding immigrant haven, meeting with an immigration hardliner from incoming Republican administration. There typically wouldn't be a lot of ideological symmetry between the two of them. So why was this meeting so anticipated? I mean, the fact that this meeting even happened is striking, right? Adams recently said that he reached out to Hohman. He said he'd be willing to cooperate with ICE to help deport undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, which is, at least to say, an unusual gesture from a Democratic mayor, right? At a time when some other Democratic mayors are saying that they'll take drastic steps to push back against Trump's deportation efforts. Like in LA, you had the L.A. You had the L.A. Mayor work to expedite their city's new sanctuary policies. In Denver, the mayor said he'd be willing to go to jail to oppose the deportation efforts. And meanwhile, this is in New York City, right, where mayor, after

Mayor, Bloomberg, Giuliani, Giuliani, et cetera, you know, have touted themselves as champions of immigrants, as supporters of immigrants, and Mayor Adams has himself. What did the mayor say he spoke about with Homan? He was light on details. He only spoke for about 10 minutes in a press conference about this, but the main takeaway really was that he and Homan share the same goal. That is to, quote, go after, as he put it, undocumented immigrants who have repeatedly committed violent crimes.

He said he's looking into sitting down with ICE's legal team to iron out the details. And the main question moving forward really is how exactly does the mayor plan to cooperate with ICE to deport immigrants? I mean, especially considering currently the city sanctuary laws prevent city staff and resources from being used for immigration enforcement. Yeah, so the mayor spoke today about looking into his executive authority to work with ICE. What more can you tell us about that? So again and again over the last several months, the mayor has said that he, opposes the city's sanctuary laws, at least as they currently are, you know, particularly the changes under former mayor, Bill de Blasio. He says that the city's laws are currently too restrictive.

They handcuff law enforcement from keeping the city safe. And just as a reminder, the law generally prevents the NYPD from cooperating with ICE, with a major exception, that is, unless someone has been convicted of one of about 170 different violent and serious crimes. And the goal here was public safety for the most part, right? So for undocumented immigrants, to still law, largely cooperate with the police department on investigations and solving crimes and not fear immigration consequences if they do so. And Mayor Adams said that he wants to roll back those policies. He's asking his legal team if he can sign an executive order to do so. How exactly he wants to roll back the policies? Still unclear. Today, he suggested he's looking to expand the list of

crimes convictions for which the NYPD can collaborate with ICE. And in the past, he said that he wants police to be able to cooperate in cases where people have been accused of crimes, not just convicted. How did other elected officials, Aria, and advocates for that matter, respond to the news of Adams' meeting with Homan? So even before the meeting happened, the pile on from other mayoral candidates was immediate, right? And these are people that are looking to challenge Mayor Adams in June's Democratic primary.

And these are largely progressives, people that are attacking him from the left, as there's not really been a main challenger that's come at him from the right. So they were suggesting that he was anti-immigrant for having this meeting, you know, that his policies in general are not to be trusted here on sanctuary city laws, that he's even trying to seek a pardon from the president in his own federal corruption case, which is why he has hardened his views on immigration in recent weeks. There were also two different rallies at City Hall this morning condemning Adams' meeting and stance on sanctuary city laws. But I think it's important to note here really that voters might feel a little differently, though. A recent poll out of Santa College found that a majority of New Yorkers. That's in both the city and the state say that they want the state to cooperate with President Trump's deportation efforts. And not to mention the recent election we had, right?

More New Yorkers voted for President Trump in this last election than they have, you know, for other Republicans in decades. I mean, this was the best showing for Republican presidential candidates since George H.W. Bush in the 80s. And immigration was, as polling shows, a top issue for New York voters. Ariya, there was a point where thousands of migrants were coming to New York City every week that seems to have calmed down. Where do things currently stand? Well, there's certainly been a slowdown in the number of people arriving. So for the past 22 weeks, the numbers of migrants staying in city shelters has been on the decline. And now the migrant shelter census is the lowest it's been in about a year and a half.

And that's in large part because of border restrictions that President Biden put forward earlier this year, you know, that have cut down on the number of migrants crossing the year. U.S.-Mexico border and eventually ending up in New York City. And as the number of new arrivals are declining, the Adams administration is also scaling back the shelter system, that it rapidly expanded in recent years. So the city propped up over 200 emergency migrant shelters in recent years, and the administration has closed 11 of those shelters in recent weeks, and 14 more will close by the end of March. That's WMYC's ARIA Sunderum talking with my colleague, Sean Carlson. Food has a way of bringing back memories. This holiday season, we're asking residents in our area to share stories about recipes that mean something special to them.

My name is Joe Irving. I am 42 years old. I am from New York City. My family is originally from a small town in Mississippi called Itabina. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about recipes and my family coming together is always my mom's. Famous sweet potato pie. Making sweet potato pies was actually the first thing that I learned how to do growing up. That recipe brings everyone together. We have it at almost all of our family functions and everybody requested. It was passed down from my grandmother to my mom.

And it is definitely a connection for a lot of my family members. who are no longer here, it takes me back to a place of innocence and joy where life was a little more simpler. The one thing that comes to my mind is always Christmas and my grandmother and my mom being in the kitchen early getting dinner started and we smell the sweet smells of the potatoes

and the pie crust being made and butter being melted and brown sugars and white sugars and eggs and condensed milk and all the things being set out on the counter. It's an organic moment. It's a moment of nostalgia. My grandmother passed some years ago, and it is a joy that, you know, we have those recipes.

It's a legacy of who I am and, you know, my culture and where my family comes from. in the Delta. So whether I have aunts that are in Mississippi or cousins that are in California or in the Midwest or Chicago, we know that it's certain things that are going to be on our table that connects us. Joe Irving is a kitchen assistant with hotbread kitchen,

a nonprofit dedicated to training women, immigrants, and people of color for jobs in the food industry. Thanks for listening to Inverbalm. NYC Now from WMYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Bowdage, Amber Bruce, Audrey Cooper, Owen Kaplan, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, and Wayne Showmeister, with help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WMYC Newsroom.

Our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrado. I'm Jenae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.