NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Threats to NYC’s Education Budget, Lawmakers Propose Legislation to Help Sexual Assault Survivors, City to Fine Compost Slackers and Imaging Women in the Space Age

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

A change by Gov. Hochul would take hundreds of millions of dollars away from city schools every year. Plus, a recent court ruling makes it harder for some sexual abuse victims to sue the state but some lawmakers are trying to change that. Also, next month the sanitation department will issue tickets to New York City building owners who don’t separate their compost from the rest of their trash. And finally, an exhibit at the New York Hall of Science celebrates America’s female astronauts.

Threats to New York City's education budget. Lawmakers proposed legislation to help sexual assault survivors. City officials will soon find compost slackers and imaging women in the space age. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre. Governor Kathy Hockel is facing pushback to a proposed change that would take hundreds of millions of dollars away from city schools every year. The governor wants to update the state's funding formula that decides how much money is sent from Albany to local school districts. It's a move that many reformers say is long overdue, but they also say Hokel's plan would actually reduce the amount of money sent to the city.

The changes would be implemented through the state budget, which is due next week. Queen State Senator John Loo plans to work with Hockel on the funding formula. In these last rounds of budget negotiations, we're going to fight to make sure that New York city is not short change. The governor's office says even with the formula change, the city would still see a net increase in funding over last year. A recent court ruling makes it harder for some sexual abuse victims to sue the state, but some lawmakers are trying to change that. WMYC's Jimmy Veilkind has more. Even after five decades, Bernard Musa Macy says the details of the sexual abuse he suffered at a state-run school keep him up at night. I mean, I remember,

their name every single one. I was 10 years old. I wouldn't write this stuff down. It's up here. I mean, I wish I can get rid of it for again. But a lawsuit he's filed against New York State is stalled, in part because judges have ruled Musa Macy wasn't specific enough about exactly when and where he was abused. Those things are required in the Court of Claims, a special court that weighs lawsuits against the state. His case is one of around 10,000 filed under the 2019 Child Victims Act, which opened a window for people to sue over abuse that happened long ago. People abused at scout camps or religious institutions don't have the same requirements as people abused on state property. Michael Pollenberg of the Victim Assistance Organization's Safe Horizon says that's not fair.

Whether the offender is part of a private institution or part of a public institution should make absolutely no difference. Lawyers for the state have pushed to dismiss dozens of cases using this theory. They recently won a case in the Court of Appeals. Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Lang argued that the law is the law. The result may be harsh, but it's really for the legislature to reconsider if that requirement poses too much of a barrier. Assembly member Linda Rosenthal plans to do just that. She sponsored the Child Victims Act and says she's disappointed by the recent ruling. This decision lies in the face of the intent of the law, especially because the nature of this crime is so traumatic that people do forget.

Paulenberg says dozens of cases could be dismissed if the law doesn't get changed. That's WMYC's Jimmy Veilkind. Composting has been the law of the land in New York City since October, but most residents aren't following the rules. Next month, city officials will begin issuing fines to building owners who don't. More on that after the break. Beginning April 1st, the sanitation department will issue tickets to New York City building owners who don't separate their compost from the rest of their trash. The problem?

Hardly anyone is actually following the new rule. WMYC's Liam Quigley reports on the bumpy rollout of the city's new composting program. The side streets of Canarsie make up a quiet residential pocket of Brooklyn. There aren't many corner stores and most residents live in one or two family homes with driveways. Unlike streets with dense apartment buildings managed by super's, people here haul their own trash from the kitchen to the curb. Locals take pride in keeping their street clean, but many were surprised to learn about the required changes to their trash routines.

Starting next week, they'll risk $25 fines if they don't put their compost out in a separate bin from their regular garbage. Is that true? When does this start? I'm glad to tell them, because I guess I'll try to start it. That's John Hunt, who lives on East 100th Street. The 75-year-old Brooklyn resident knows about the city's rules requiring garbage to be put out in bins is part of Mayor Adams' so-called trash revolution. And he has a compost pile in his backyard for leaves and dead plants.

But he had no idea he's required to separate his food scraps into a separate bin. The city processes food scraps and yard waste into finished compost for gardens and prevents it from becoming food for rats or ending up in landfills. That's going to be hard. That's going to be a pain in the neck, really. I'll probably just do it the regular way until I get a ticket. Hunt is not alone. City data showed the sanitation department as diverting just about 5% of household organic waste away from landfills. And in Canarsie, it's all but impossible to find someone who is composting.

Marshall Marquieu is one of just a couple people. on a stretch of East 99th Street who's following the compost rules. He says he's not sure why his neighbors haven't gotten on board. I don't know. I think it's just a personal thing that I'm sure that, I don't know, maybe people don't have enough time.

Marku says he's throwing out so much compost every week that he sometimes doesn't even need to take his regular trash to the curb. I basically, like this week, I don't have any of the large garbage bags. The sanitation department continues to defend the program, including the fines it plans to impose on people who don't participate. The agency says it's mailing out millions of flyers about the rules and creating a new way for people to report larger buildings that don't offer composting to 311.

Acting sanitation commissioner Javier Lohan told a city council hearing this week that New Yorkers should step up and start composting. We have made participation easy. Now it's up to New Yorkers to follow the law. law or faces summons. Sanitation officials say that issuing fines should get more people to participate. But for now, the department will keep sending out trucks and crews to pick up compost that, in many cases, simply isn't there. That's WMYC's Liam Quigley. A new exhibit has landed at the New York Hall of Science, just in time for Women's History Month. It's called Imaging Women in the Space Age. The exhibit celebrates America's Female astronauts and considers their impact on television, fashion, and design. Dr. Julie Wask is the curator.

What motivated me is that in 2019 you had the first all-female spacewalk, there's going to be the first woman on the moon with the Artemis 3 mission. So all of this was kind of percolating and culminated in the exhibit. Some prominent women are its main focus, like Sally Ride, America's first woman in space. And Mae Jemison, the first woman. African-American female astronaut. There's also mention of another astronaut from Queens. Ellen Kay Baker was an NASA astronaut and physician, and she did several space missions, and she also happens to be the daughter of Claire Shulman,

who was the Queensboro president in 1986 to 2002. So she has a wonderful connection to New York politics, too. As you can imagine, the women highlighted in the exhibit faced various challenges in their field. But Wask says they did it with style. The fashion part of the show, I think, is one of the fun parts for me, how designers have been inspired by that space look. But often they were just decorative.

They haven't always been shown as being skilled. It really wasn't until Sally Ride made that milestone trip to space, that there was a feeling that women were now going to be totally engaged in this enterprise. Wask hopes visitors walk away inspired by all the things these women have accomplished and endured, especially younger visitors. These are very inspiring images. They tell young people, especially girls, that they can engage in STEM professions, science and technology and math professions. And they can aim for becoming astronauts, space scientists, planetary science, mission control specialists. So their whole range of careers, they can begin thinking about at an early age. And I think it's good for girls and boys to see the kind of achievements women have done.

Dr. Julie Wask is curator of the new exhibit Imaging Women in the Space Age. That's over at the New York Hall of Science. Check it out. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.