NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Opposers Say No to Waymo, Judges Appoint a U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, Bronx Site Eyed for Affordable Housing, and Immigrants Jump Hurdles to Build Digital Skills

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

A street advocacy group is calling on the city to revoke approval for a pilot program that'll allow a self-driving taxi company to test out their cars in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Plus, federal judges have formally appointed Joseph Nocella Jr. as U.S. attorney for New York's Eastern District. Meanwhile, a nonprofit housing group wants to build an affordable housing complex in the South Bronx. And finally, immigrants across New York City want safer, better paying jobs but they face a major hurdle: building digital skills.

Opposers say no to Waymo. Judges appoint a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. A Bronx site is being eyed for affordable housing. And immigrants jump hurdles to build digital skills. From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. The Street Advocacy Group Open Plans is calling on the city to revoke approval for a pilot program

that will allow a self-driving taxi company to test out their cars in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The company Waymo received a permit last week that lets them test eight autonomous vehicles on city streets, so long as a human is behind the wheel as a failsafe. Michael Sutherland is a policy researcher with open plans. He says the process is moving too quickly and without enough transparency. From a safety perspective, this is technology that hasn't been tested out in incredibly dense cities like New York City. Waymo is already active in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They argue their vehicles are safe. than human operators. In order for Waymo to begin offering taxi services to New Yorkers, lawmakers would have to change a state law that requires a human to operate a moving vehicle on the road. Federal judges have formerly appointed Joseph Nosella as the U.S. Attorney for New York's Eastern District. The district's jurisdiction spans Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Nocella was sworn in on an interim basis back in May. He'll serve until the Senate confirms a but his formal appointment now means he could remain for the duration of President Trump's term. Nocela previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn back in the 90s.

A nonprofit housing group wants to build an affordable housing complex in the South Bronx. WMYC's Arun Vanekapal has more. The project is called Rosa Del Monte and would be located in the Foxhurst neighborhood. If built, it would include 75 units for formerly homeless New Yorkers. and hundreds of other units for people making well below the average median income. Going back to the 1890s, the site has housed various industrial activities, including businesses that assembled toys, refinished toilet seats, and manufactured clothes.

The nonprofit that seeks to build the affordable housing, Phipps houses, filed papers two years ago to initiate a brownfield cleanup on site due to the presence of petroleum, pesticides, and metals in the soil, and metals in the groundwater. FIPS did not immediately respond to questions about the housing project or the cleanup. Immigrants across New York City want safer, better-paying jobs, but face a major hurdle, building digital skills. More on that after the break. Learning basic digital skills can help immigrants find higher-paid jobs or safer work,

and it's a way for them to feel connected to the city. But WNYC's Karen Ye reports, there are few programs in New York City that do this. Inside a two-story house in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, children play on the floor beside a group of women sitting around a large table, learning how to use Zoom. They're taking a computer class taught by the non-profit Sapna, NYC, that aims to help South Asian immigrant women. The instructor alternates between Bengali and English,

helping a student sign up for a free account, create passwords, and learn the most important thing. Okay, we all have to mute ourselves. The organization provides child's care on site so the women can focus on learning how to use their lended laptops. 52-year-old's Fizia Jahan says she now uses Zoom to talk with her daughters, who were away at college. Actually, I use the computer, email, and the Google Meet, Google Zoom. Many of the jobs available to new immigrants come with higher risks, such as day labor, cleaning, or delivery work. Advocates say learning digital skills can help them stay safer and find better jobs. But despite demand, there are few programs in the city that teach digital literacy to immigrant communities.

Being able to use the internet, like even just basic Google searches, opens up so much information for families. Sapna Executive Director Dia Basu Sen says learning to learn. Tech skills also makes life easier. Whether it's looking for food pantries or being able to access the kind of my chart for their doctor's appointment or the student portals for school. She says it can also help parents look up fun activities for their kids. Buy tickets online. So it's like it's so many tiny little things that we don't think about that just makes

life so much easier. While the public library and other programs offer coding or advanced computer skills, Immigrant groups say their communities sometimes need more basic training, like how to use their iPhones, because most of the women have iPhones, but some of them they use the iPhones just to do WhatsApp. Ligia Gualpa runs the Workers' Justice Project, which is training domestic workers on how to use different apps on their smartphones. You know, we have been teaching how to use chat GPD to respond to their employers in a professional way. Gualpa says learning even simple tools like how to use the GPS on their phones so they don't get lost can be transformative. That's WNYC's Karen Yee. And she joins us now to walk us through her reporting on this story.

So Karen, how did you find this group of women? So I first started reporting on the Bronx's digital divide, right? Through a report that I found that was done by the Center for an Urban Future. And in that report, there was an organization named Sabna, who was doing some work to bridge the digital digital. divide. And when we talk about the digital divide, it's very multifaceted, right? So we're talking about not just lack of access to broadband, not just lack of access to devices, but lack of knowledge and education on how to use those devices, right? And so what was interesting to me about Sapna is that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to bring digital literacy skills, but to an

immigrant population, right? And when you talk about digital literacy for immigrants, there's even more barriers, right? There's language barriers. There's child's care barriers. There's child's care barriers, right? Which that's why you hear kids in the background because this organization provides child's care. So the women can come, can focus on learning on their devices, while another worker takes care of their kids. Karen, there are so many facets to this story that I am so intrigued about and I want to know more. But what are some of the little ways that digital literacy can help the immigrant community? Yeah, I mean, something interesting that I learned reporting this is that we talked about food stamps, right? A few weeks ago, SNAP. When you are a family on SNAP,

you have to recertify. You have to renew and show that you're still eligible. And this is a process that's done online, but a lot of families that don't know how to use devices or the internet actually pay a middle person to renew their SNAP. And, you know, this can range in cost, but just learning how to be more comfortable navigating the computer, navigating the app on your phone, that cuts out that middle person. That gives you a little bit more agency and independence. I mean, the other little thing, especially for the immigrant community, is being able to check on your asylum case online, right? Not having to go to your lawyer and pay the hourly rate that you have to pay. Another way that Sapna can help is also for women that may be victims of domestic violence.

They can go online, research resources to help them find a domestic violence shelter. So it's all these things that you don't really think about. But just being able to navigate the internet really opens up another world of possibility. I really enjoyed the focus on women in your story. But I'm wondering, are they impacted differently by lack of access to devices and tech skills than men? Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you picked up on that. Absolutely. So women in general tend to run their households.

There is a workforce piece here, like learning these digital skills to be able to get better work and maybe remote work. So if you have child care issues, you can get maybe part-time work. But if you don't have digital skills, you can't even apply for those jobs. But it also helps in just being your house manager. You can calendar your appointments, all those doctor's appointments for your children, all those activities for your kids, just having that and some sort of Google calendar really helps take the load off. And then, you know, I think in a lot of households where there's multiple kids, there's a partner, maybe that partner is working. You know, women sometimes don't always get priority for the device, right? So if there's a limited number of laptops, you know, maybe your kids need it for school and your husband needs it for work.

you're not really getting access to that, right? So there's all these ways that women are sort of left out. And, you know, something that Sapna told me, too, is, you know, if you're new to this country, you may feel a little bit more isolated. You may not know the city. You may not know how to use public transportation. And so I think being digitally connected can help you learn about the city that you need to and that you're learning to live in.

Karen Yee covers homelessness and poverty for WMYC. Before we go, a note for our neighbors and news. New Jersey. A boil water advisory is still in effect for parts of Patterson, Prospect Park, Heldon, and North Heldon. Workers have fixed a water main break from over the weekend that left many without water. But the Passaic Valley Water Commission is still flushing out 2,000 hydrants to ensure the water is safe to drink. It's the second time in recent weeks the city has imposed a bowl of water advisory due to a main break. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Junae. We'll be back tomorrow.