NYC NOW - February 27, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

New York state Democrats are poised to approve a new congressional map that could bolster their chances of winning key swing seats in this year's election. Plus, a new report by the Five Borough Institute finds that 80% of New York City families can’t afford childcare. Also, WNYC’s Nancy Solomon reports on a competitive Democratic primary in New Jersey between First Lady Tammy Murphy and Congressman Andy Kim. And as Black History Month comes to an end, we visit Brooklyn’s Adanne Bookshop, a store started by an educator with a passion for promoting literacy and education around African American history.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Gene A Pierre. We're kicking things off in Albany. New York State Democrats are poised to approve a new congressional map that could bolster their chances of winning key swing seats in this year's election. Lawmakers introduced the latest proposal Monday night, just before the start of the petitioning period for candidates to get on the ballot. The state legislature can put it to a vote as,

soon as Thursday if Governor Kathy Hokel waives the three-day aging period. As of now, she's considering her options. There's a sense of urgency around this. People are out there with their petitions already, so I'm anxious to have this chapter wrapped up. The new proposal would add Democratic turf to two key districts, including Democratic Representative-elect Tom Swazi's seat in Queens and on Long Island. The other is in central New York.

Republicans have threatened to sue, accusing Democrats of Jerry. barmandering the map to their favor. More than 80% of New York City families can't afford child care. That's according to a new report by the Five Burrow Institute. WMYC's Karen Yee reports on the challenges of finding affordable care. Families shouldn't pay more than 7% of their household income to care for one child, according to federal affordability guidelines. But a new report finds child care costs very often exceed rent or mortgage bills.

The median cost of care in Queens makes up a third of a family's income and nearly half of a family's earnings in the Bronx. The Five Borough Institute says the lack of affordable options is driving young families, particularly black New Yorkers, out of the city. The Institute is calling on the Adams administration to expand access to free and low-cost care and better connect families to open seats in publicly funded programs. Stick around. There's more after the break. It's been 50 years since New Jersey has sent a Republican to the Senate. So the Democratic primary to replace Senator Bob Menendez will likely determine the outcome in November. But for the first time in decades, New Jersey Democrats have a competitive primary between First Lady Tammy Murphy and Congressman Andy Kim. WMYC's Nancy Solomon has more.

Tammy Murphy is married to the most powerful person in New Jersey, and the endorsements of her have very. flowed like a bottle of expensive wine. But Andy Kim is a three-term member of Congress with three hard-fought campaigns under his belt. When he jumps up on a chair to speak to a bar full of people in South Orange, his experience shows. I get it. I'm going up against some very powerful, connected competitors in this race right now. But I'm also standing before you right now as a son of immigrants, a public school kid that's currently 23 points up in the polls right now. In his standard stump speech, Kim talks about how he's motivated by his two young sons. Tammy Murphy's speech hits some of the same themes, but she has a different delivery.

I would just say to you all that I'm doing this because I cannot stand on the sidelines and watch as our world worsens for our kids. We need, we need ticked-off moms who have Jersey grit to go to Washington, D.C., to get stuff done. Murphy says this is her third statewide campaign because she helped get her husband elected twice. But Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray says this is the first time the Murphys have faced a truly competitive primary. And Tammy Murphy is not winning over the base. Her appeal isn't really resonating with them. You know, she talks really in kind of a very business manner, very transactional in the sense that I get

things done, but not kind of this overarching vision. A key difference, Murray says, is that Kim talks about democracy and corruption. And in a race to replace the indicted Senator Bob Menendez, that message fits the moment. So far, it's one Kim, the endorsement of every county democratic organization that's put the matter to a vote. In his stump speech, Kim says he decided to run because he was so outraged by the corruption indictment. We cannot be a party that claims to and champions the idea of protecting the democracy if we are not facing it here in New Jersey. When Murphy announced her candidacy, the Democratic Party bosses quickly endorsed her.

But the backlash among some Democrats has been Justice Swift. She lost the party convention vote in Monmouth County, which is her home turf. It reveals a lot about how this campaign is going to unfold. Ross Baker is a retired professor from Rutgers University, who specializes in congressional history. Andy Kim is sort of the candidate of the reformers, the good government people, and so on, whereas, you know, Cammy Murphy is the candidate of the bosses. That's certainly not the image the Murphy's were looking to project. In a recent debate, the First Lady criticized Kim for not supporting Medicare for all. and the central messages of her campaign are improving maternal health for women of color and climate change. But even that can backfire.

So thank you, Maria, and Kim and all of you who are here today. The First Lady held a press conference last week to pledge her opposition to a proposed gas-powered plant in the Ironbound community in Newark. Let's get away from the fossil fuels. Let's look to the future and let's do what's right for our kids. Murphy didn't mention her husband or the fact that he supports. the power plant and has the ultimate say in whether it gets built. Reporters gathered around her after the event. Are you making these comments today on behalf of the governor?

I am making the comments today as Tammy Murphy. I am not speaking for the governor and I am. I'm not here to stand up and speak for the administration. That's not my role here today. And if that's the essence of your questions with all due respect, that's the end of the conversation. It was another sign that the Murphy campaign. hasn't been able to shift the message away from the power that New Jersey's first couple holds. Two days later, she announced her campaign manager was out, and someone with ties to grassroots

activists in New Jersey was in. The primary is three months away. That's WMYC's Nancy Solomon. This Black History Month, we're highlighting the stories of Black-owned bookstores in our our area. As the month draws to a close, we visit Brooklyn's Adonnet Bookshop, a store started by an educator with a passion for promoting literacy and education around African American history. The bookstore first opened in Dumbo in 2021, but has since moved to a location in Bedstuy. My name is Darlene Oakpoe, and I'm the owner of Adonet Bookshop located in Brooklyn, New York. I opened a shop two years ago during COVID, May 2021 to be exact.

And it came at a point in my life where I knew that promoted literacy in America was very important because I was an ELA teacher and I taught in schools for five years as a full-time teacher and just knowing and seeing how much my kids love to read, but they wanted to read books with characters that look like them. Also going to Lehman College and studying. studying African American studies, I felt as a youth just grown up in New York City that I was robbed of my education because we didn't learn about African American history often in school.

And for me, I mixed those two together because I wanted people to experience the knowledge that I was experiencing. And most of the times when I were going to bookstores in my neighborhood, especially the big box chain ones, it was hard to find books by authors of color. After George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter movement, I saw an increase of people who just wanted to read about history, history in America, to be exact. When it comes to the civil rights movement, segregation, slavery in America, you can tell that people wanted to gain more knowledge, more understanding, and they wanted to do it by reading more books. I was told in the beginning of my book selling career to service my community. And at the time, Dumbo is pretty much white, right? And for me, I was like, I'm not going to do that because just because I sell books by authors of color and it's predominantly African-American history, you know, this is something that everybody needs to read, you know, regardless of where you come from, race, culture,

read about other people's history because that's how we connect. That's how we understand each other. Darlene Oakpo owns Adani Bookshop in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.