NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYPD Gang Tracker Under Scrutiny, High-Tech Flood Barriers to Protect Manhattan, Youth Vaping Lawsuit and a Community Champion

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

The NYPD and members of the City Council are sparring over a bill that would ban police from using a tracker to monitor gang members. Plus, city leaders demonstrate new technology that will help defend Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood against rising sea levels. Also, Attorney General Letitia James goes after e-cigarette companies for violating New York’s ban on flavored vapes and contributing to a youth vaping “public health crisis.” And finally, a church volunteer oversees a food pantry that has become an important community resource.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. This information helps the department interrupts cycles of violence and prevent acts of violent retaliation. The NYPD is defending its use of a tool that tracks thousands of alleged game members in the city. Some lawmakers argue the department's criminal groups database unfairly targets people of color and undermines due process. But police and other council members say it's an important crime-fighting tool. Bronx Council member Althea Stevens authored the bill that would ban police from using the tracker. There are other tools that you should be using, especially when this is, you can, it's clear evidence that this is racial profiling.

Police officials contested the characterization, saying the tracker supports precision in how they deploy resources. If passed, the bill would create penalties for city workers who violate the law. It would also allow for members of the public to sue over such violations. New York City officials say high-tech floodgates will play a key role in defending Manhattan's two bridges neighborhood against coastal storms and rising sea levels. City leaders demonstrated the new technology under the FDR Drive Monday at the Manhattan Bridge, showcasing a system that flips into place at the touch of a button. The project should be completed by 2026. It's just one of many launched in the aftermath. of Hurricane Sandy.

The barrier is part of a broader $349 million coastal resiliency initiative designed to protect New York City's waterfront. New York Attorney General Letitia James is accusing popular e-cigarette companies of fueling a public health crisis. More on that after the break. What do I NYC notice? New York State Attorney General Letitia James is going after e-cigarette companies. The AG filed a lawsuit against nine.

e-cigarette manufacturers that she says are violating New York's ban on flavored vapes and contributing to a youth vaping public health crisis. My colleague Tiffany Hansen talked with WMYC's health reporter Caroline Lewis for more on the lawsuit and youth vaping. All right. So first of all, where do city, state, and federal laws stand on flavored vapes? So both New York City and state both have a ban on e-cigarettes that taste like anything other than tobacco. And on top of the state, both have a ban on e-cigarettes that taste like anything other than tobacco. And on top of that, only a handful of e-cigarette products are actually approved by the FDA for sale in the United States. None of those have flavors other than tobacco or menthol. But that really has not stopped New Yorkers from accessing these products. They're common to see on the streets. You know, you can get them at

smoke shops or online. And, you know, James noted in her lawsuit that some distributors are selling flavored vape brands that come from China. I know that a lot of consumers say there's also knock-offs of popular brands going around. What does she hope to accomplish with this lawsuit? Well, of course, she's trying to get these companies to stop making and selling flavored vapes to New Yorkers, and she's looking to get them to pay significant financial damages that her office said could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. She also wants a judge to order these companies to pay into a special fund that would be used

to help address youth vaping. It sounds similar to a fund that the state set up to handle settlements. with opioid companies, you know, and those have been used to address drug addiction. She calls it a public health crisis, Caroline, but what do we really know about the state of youth vaping here in New York? I don't know. For example, how it compares to regular cigarette use. Part of the concern about e-cigarettes and especially flavored ones is that they became popular with young people at a time when conventional cigarette use had been on the decline for years. And, you know, that was this big public health triumph.

But then vapes started introducing kids to nicotine again. And it really took off over the past decade or so and remains much more popular than conventional smoking among teens. But it actually is already on the decline. So, you know, federal data shows that about 8% of high school students vaped in 2024. And that's down from 14% just two years prior to that. I can remember vaping being presented as something less dangerous to smoking or like an off-ramp for. people who were smoking cigarettes who wanted a quote-unquote healthier alternative, right? So what do we know actually about the health risks? Well, I think part of the challenge is we don't have the same

long-term health data on vaping that we do on smoking tobacco the old-fashioned way. But that doesn't mean we don't know anything, right? According to the CDC, the aerosols produced by e-cigarettes contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals, you know, chemicals that can cause cancer. And they also have tiny particles that can damage the lungs. You know, a couple years ago we were hearing about kids with something called popcorn lung. E-cigarettes don't necessarily produce the same number of toxic chemicals as conventional cigarettes, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're safe. Studies also show that nicotine can be harmful for the developing adolescent brain and can trigger withdrawal symptoms once someone tries to quit. Well, I'm sure vape companies have something to say about this,

so what are they saying? One of the companies named in the complaint Puff Bar, says they're being unfairly targeted because they're actually trying to comply with the law. The company's co-CEO said they don't ship their flavored vapes to New York, and he said they actually stopped selling vapes with nicotine altogether. So you puff them, but there's no nicotine. He also said Puff Bar has spawned just a ton of knockoffs, and it's those companies and those knockoffs that are ruining their reputation. One of the other companies named in the suit is Demand Vap, a distributor based in Buffalo.

That company has argued in the past that e-cigarettes are actually, like you said, helping adults who want to quit smoking. You know, he's making the argument that it's actually good for public health. And in response to this lawsuit, an executive at the company basically said he thinks the attorney general should focus on more important things. That's WMYC's Caroline Lewis talking with my colleague Tiffany Hanson. Across New York City, people support their neighborhoods by being a positive resource in their communities. We're calling them community champions. Let me introduce you to Frankie Tompkins. She's volunteered with the Advent Lutheran Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side since 2004.

Tompkins currently serves as the church's volunteer food pantry director and runs several of their special projects. Volunteering for me has just always been important. I was always raised with the belief that you shared blessings. And I think this is just one way that, you know, I can share some of my blessings. I got involved with Advent right after I moved to New York in 2004 when I was 25 years old. I was looking at places to volunteer and walked by, saw the church and talked to the pastor at the time. And that was just over 20 years ago and I haven't left since.

Advent is unique because it's involvement within the community. They've had language classes. We've had cooking classes. We've had immigration clinics. We've had a number of different things in addition to our food ministry. put a lot into action so you can find people here so many different days of the week and I just think that's beautiful. The pantry has evolved so much in 20 years. When I first came in and started working, we had one small bag once a month, maybe 75 of them prior to COVID. We were around

150, 175 bags a month and now we operate twice a month and we serve about a thousand households a month. And each bag is significantly larger, contains a lot of fresh produce, shelf-stable milk that we never had before. And logistically, we also started a reservation system. Our pantry doors open at 10.30 in the morning. When I get here at 7 o'clock, people are lined up already. The system shortens people's time from waiting for groceries for hours to 15 minutes. There are a lot of misconceptions about people that come to the food pantry. One of the largest ones is that people aren't working. And that's not true for so many of our guests.

A lot of them work a couple of jobs. They might be taking care of family members or they're retired and maybe not in a position to work anymore. They always say at the pantry, the core of it is food, but it's about so much more than that. We build trust with the community. People know that we're here. They know we'll show up, whether it's a holiday or bad weather. you know, we're not just behind the table passing out things. Like, we're actually out there with

our guests talking to them because we want to be seen as a resource looking out for you with the love of a neighbor. Frankie Tompkins lives in Harlem. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenei Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.