NYC NOW - February 22, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

New York State's Supreme Court ruled that a city law, which would have allowed noncitizen residents the right to vote in local elections, is unconstitutional. Plus, a third of New York City’s families could benefit from changes to the federal child tax credit that Congress is considering. Also, WNYC’s Ramsey Khalifeh reports on a push to bring more money to the city’s neediest green spaces. And finally, we’re celebrating Black History Month by highlighting Black-owned bookstores in our region.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. You can't just on a whim say, all right, now we're going to allow hundreds of thousands of people they want, even though they're non-citizens, the right to vote and choose in local municipal elections. New York's top court says a city law that would have allowed non-citizen residents the right to vote in local elections is, constitutional. The three-to-one opinion issued this week upholds most of a state Supreme Court decision issued in 2022 that struck down the law. Cesar Ruiz is an attorney with the group Latino justice. He says the law was an opportunity to give more rights to immigrants who are often called

essential to our economy, essential to our workforce, essential to our society, asking them to risk all their livelihood. It really gave them the promise of being able to participate meaningfully. opponents of the law called the decision common sense, but Ruiz and other supporters say they haven't ruled out an appeal. Congress is considering changes to the federal child tax credit, which would benefit a third of New York City's families. WMYC's Karen Yee has the details. Under the proposal, more than 260,000 low and middle-income families, especially those with more than one child, will be able to claim bigger tax credits and more quickly put money in their pockets. That's according to estimates by the Center for New York City Affairs. The amendment awaiting U.S. Senate approval will let families access the full $2,000 credit sooner than currently allowed.

But the proposed changes to the longstanding child tax credit don't go as far as the temporary changes made during the pandemic. That boosted the credit to $3,600 per child, eliminated minimum income requirements, and cut child poverty rates by a third in the city. The changes under consideration leave work and income requirements in place. City officials say a guard at a Brooklyn juvenile jail has been arrested and fired from his job for smuggling contraband. WNYC's Bahar Ostadon has more. Police say Corey Brooks was smuggling cell phones and SIM cards into a juvenile jail in Brownsville. A jail director was searching teenager's cells when he found the contraband and purchase receipts inside a radiator. That's according to the Brooklyn.

District Attorney's Office who's charging Brooks with two counts of promoting prison contraband. This isn't the first sign of contraband at the Brownsville Youth Jail. WNYC reported last year that staff, even at the leadership levels, had snuck in drugs, alcohol, and even razor blades. Guards said some detainees even use the phones to order fast food like Chick-fil-A and ask guards to pick it up for them from the jail lobby. Stick around. There's more after the break. New York City is a place of haves and have-nots, and that inequity is apparent when you look at hundreds of neighborhood parks

that have fallen into disrepair. WMYC's Ramsey-Colife reports on a push to bring more money to the city's neediest green spaces. Claremont Park in the Bronx sits on a hilltop filled with playgrounds, basketball courts, and a public pool. But its trash cans are constantly overflowing and its sidewalks are left on Kent. That's because the park relies on a little bit of the park. limited pool of city funding for maintenance, which Mayor Eric Adams wants to cut as a part of

citywide deficits that his office says is the result of the migrant crisis. Adam Ganser is the executive director of the advocacy group New Yorkers for parks. If we're not increasing the parks budget, you know, the outcome of that is pretty simple. Parks become less safe, they become dirtier, and people don't feel comfortable going to them. And where that is typically happening the worst is in places like where we are right now, in the Bronx. He says a lack of funding means more problems for under-resourced parks like Claremont, which sits in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

You really are going to end up with trash-strewn parks. The lack of maintenance isn't a problem for wealthier areas like Central Park, which raises money through a nonprofit. The Central Park Conservancy brings in more than $140 million a year, but areas like Claremont can't tap into that funding. Council members Shaykar-Kr-Krishnan, the Parks Committee chair, is proposing legislation to establish a fund to help clean up parks in underserved neighborhoods. When our city significantly underfunds its parks, the harmful impacts of that are not felt

equally across the city, where they're felt most are in communities of color like my own, that already have very little access to green space. Claremont Park staffer Joe Thomas says the lack of funding makes his job harder. It's something that's always talked about among my coworkers. We can't keep up with the amount of trash that's being put out here. Thomas says there's only two other permanent staff members he works with on any given day. Advocates say cutting parks funding would cause them to fall further into disrepair, and that an expanded budget and funding reforms are desperately needed to clean up the city's green spaces.

That's WMYC's Ramsey Calife. Most bookshops have a food section, but two sisters in Brooklyn are stocking their entire inventory with food-related titles. This Black History Month, we're highlighting Black-owned bookstores in our region. And this one is an online pop-up bookstore, which may soon become a brick-and-mortor. My name is Danielle Davenport, and I am a co-founder of Bem, Books and More. My name is Gabrielle Davenport, and I am also a co-founder of Bembux and Moore. We're sisters.

We are a Black Food Bookstore. Bem comes from our grandmother's initials, Bernice Mumford and Marjorie Davenport. We're devoted to food literature. of the African diaspora across genres. So an amazing collection of cookbooks for sure, but also poetry and fiction and kids' books. Everything that we carry is black-authored and deals with food in some smaller big way.

Bem exists online and in pop-ups and events around the city. We've been operating for about three years now, and the vision was always to open a brick-and-mortar in our neighborhood of Bedstuy. So hopefully before 2024 is up, we will have a shop to welcome you all into. We were inspired by a lifelong love of indie bookstores and a deep connection to food and literature through our family. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen with our mom and aunts and family members in general.

We went through a couple of ideas before landing on, oh wait, you know what, we haven't seen yet, a wonderful indie bookstore that's really dedicated to black food. It's so interesting to think about the way food stories show up throughout history, especially Black History Month to think about the food stories that are really central, but also some of the smaller moments. You think about the biscuits and the opening scene of Beloved, but also Nikki Giovanni's Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is always one of the ones we go to right away when we're thinking about the way food shows up throughout our poetry selections.

There are so many wonderful kids' books, wonderful like grandma and grandbaby across cultures. Nana Aqua goes to school. We have octopus stew. We have penny butter fudge. There's just like this whole sort of sub-canon of like grandma goodies with gorgeous illustrations and beautiful storytelling. It's been a wild adventure. We've learned a lot.

Family businesses are exactly what they say about family businesses. You know, like it's wonderful and super challenging. But it wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't the two of us doing it together. And that feels really special. This is Danielle. This is Gabrielle. Danielle and Gabrielle Davenport on BEM Books and more.

Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.