NYC NOW - February 9, 2024 : Midday News

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

A new city law will give domestic violence survivors access to free and speedy lock changes within 3 days of filing a report. Also, the New York Heat Act, if passed, will provide an online calculator allowing New Yorkers to see how much they’d save on their energy bill. Plus, former 70’s drug kingpin turned activist, Joseph Hayden, passed away last month. Hayden advocated for marijuana legalization, ending solitary confinement and expanding voting rights for people with criminal records. WNYC’s Samantha Max shares his story. Finally, in 2022 there were 71 domestic violence homicide deaths in New York in a report released by the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence. WNYC’s Sean Carlson sits with acting commissioner Saloni Sethi to talk about the findings.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, February 9th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The New York City Council will enact on law to make free and speedy lock changes available to domestic violence survivors. WNYC's Jesse Edwards reports. Under the new law, the city will send a locksmith to the home of anyone who reports being a victim of domestic violence to have their locks changed within three days.

The aim of the law is to help survivors stay in their homes. Domestic violence is one of the key drivers of homelessness in New York City, according to city data. Before now, local non-profits have been providing a lock-change service. Council member Shahana Hanif says having the city offer the service will ensure that it is city-funded and always available. These services can be the difference between a survivor staying in their home or leaving for a shelter.

The city program will be up and running within 30 days, lawmakers say. In the meantime, survivors can contact the nonprofit Safe Horizon. A new online calculator would let New Yorkers see how much they'd save on their energy bill. If state lawmakers approve it, the New York Heat Act would cap utility bills at 6% for low-income households. Advocates say more than one New Yorker is 60 days or more behind on their energy bills. Shea O'Reilly is the campaign manager at Spring Street Climate Fund. New York Heat is going to save money for a lot of families, and so we're trying to make that visible. Experts agree energy is only affordable when it costs 6% or less of a family's income,

but a lot of our New York families are spending way more than that. National Grid says it opposes the legislation. 49 and sunny right now, mostly sunny, and on the way to a high of 53, maybe a little bit warmer than that. And then tomorrow, slim chance with showers, clouds, and up near 60. Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC. Joseph Hayden was a kingpin in one of Harlem's most powerful drug gangs in the 1970s, and he served several stints in prison.

But after an epiphany behind bars, he became an activist. And long before it was popular, he advocated for marijuana legalization, ending solitary confinement, and expanding voting rights for people with criminal records. Hayden died last month at the age of 82. WNYC Samantha Max has his story. Five Mualim Ack can't walk down 125th Street in Harlem without thinking about his late godfather Joseph Hayden or his friends called him jazz.

Policies against solitary campaigns, organizing, voter registration rights for people in Harlem right here. When Mualim Ack was with Hayden, he says it sometimes took them hours to travel just one block because so many people would stop them to say hi. As is such an icon that even walking with him in Harlem is impossible. Everybody knows him. Early in his life, Hayden sold millions of dollars worth of drugs in Harlem,

and he spent years cycling in and out of jail and prison on various charges, including manslaughter. But one day in the prison mess hall, he had a revelation. I think it was the point that he was like a millionaire sitting in jail, eating normal food like any other prisoner, is when he realized all that was for, what? So Hayden committed to changing his life. While incarcerated, he got a bachelor's and a master's. Mualim Ack says he organized one of the first legislative panels behind bars. We started mentoring people from prison to come home and make that change. Mali Mokk says many of the people Hayden mentored are running the criminal justice reform movement in New York

today. Because he showed him that you have to be that voice, right? He used to always say, we need a seat at the table. Stanley Richards is one of Hayden's former mentees. He's the CEO of the reentry organization, The Fortune Society. He's also formally incarcerated. We are creating the table. Richard says Hayden was hopeful, even when it was hard. Even if he's judged on the worst thing that he's ever done,

that he can get up every single day and continue to fight the good fight. And fight he did. In the early 2000s, Hayden sued then-Governor George Pataki. At the time, New York barred people in prison and on parole from voting. Hayden's lawsuit argued the ban was unconstitutional and discriminated against people of color. Hayden told WNYC's Brian Lairn in 2003 that he believed people convicted of felonies still deserve to have a voice in the political process. You're now out of prison, but you're currently on parole? Yes, I'm currently on parole.

So you still can't vote? Absolutely. Yet I pay taxes. Without a vote, he said people in prison were essentially powerless. In terms of the relationship between prisoners in the state, in terms of trying to get any substantive change in the system, the best we could do would find ourselves being beggars. He didn't lost the lawsuit.

But his voting rights campaign continued. And in 2021, the state made it legal for New Yorkers convicted of a felony to vote after they leave prison, even if they're still on parole. Hayden also filmed police officers on the job. He started years before footage of Eric Garner and George Floyd went viral. At the height of the NYPD's stop and frisk era, he walked around his neighborhood with a camera in hand,

recording police stops and posting them on his website, all things hartham. Here he is talking to a man who just got pulled over. Excuse me, sir. Why would you stop? I don't have no idea. Did they tell you why they? Fellow organizers say Hayden was one of the first people to push for policies that have now become mainstream in New York.

Victor Pate is the co-director of the Halt Solitary Confinement Coalition. He says seeing Hayden discuss criminal justice reform with lawmakers, made him feel like he too could push for change as a formerly incarcerated person. Just think the fact that one of us could sit at the table with people that we'd, never thought we would be in the same space or time with was an inspiration. Pate says Hayden influenced a whole generation of activists who will keep advocating for the policies he put on the agenda. Samantha Max, WNYC News. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC. New crime data for New York City paints a dim picture of how we're getting along in our

own homes. There were 71 domestic violence hospital. Homicide deaths in New York in 2022. That's up nearly 15% from the year before. That's according to a report just released by the mayor's office to end domestic and gender-based violence. Here to talk about the findings and the lives behind the numbers is the acting commissioner of the office, Saloni-Sethi. Commissioner, all told, there were 854 domestic violence homicides in the city between the years 2010 and 2022. That's according to the report. What's driving those numbers? And is there Any sense the picture improved in 2023? So our office really thinks about domestic violence as nothing short of a public health crisis. And unfortunately, when we're looking at the data for 2023, we haven't really seen any improvement from 2022. We've seen a slight uptick. I think right now we're at about 73 homicides related to domestic violence.

And when we're using the term domestic violence, I think it's really important that we sort of acknowledge that we're talking about intimate partner violence, which is violence that occurs between people who are in any kind of intimate relationship, a dating relationship. relationship, living together, any kind of romantic relationship, and family violence, which really includes everything else. So we're talking about violence between siblings, aunts and uncles, child on parent, parent on child. Yeah, you note these inequities in the numbers. And the report says there are persistent racial and gender disparities that show up in the data. Black and Hispanic women make up a disproportionate share of the victims. What is the explanation behind that? So I think, you know, one of the things that that we know is that our system sort of have

baked in bias and inequity in them, right? And that the systems that we've built don't work for everybody equally, especially when so many of our solutions to these problems rely on systems like our criminal justice system, which is great when it works, but we also know it doesn't work for everybody equally and doesn't reach everybody. So I think for our office, what's really important as we look at this data is to really look at like, where are the gaps? Who are we not reaching? Right. I think one of the great things that this report does is it really says, which systems are in contact with these folks and which ones aren't and sort of gives us a direction to move forward.

How is your office responding to these challenges? Is there a strategy in place? I think one is really, really around prevention education. I think when I grew up, we didn't really have conversations about what was healthy or unhealthy in relationships, right? And sometimes these unhealthy behaviors get normalized. So really thinking about how do we uplift relationships that are healthy? How do we uplift healthy behaviors? How do we talk to young people about navigating conflict and consent and boundaries. And the other thing that, you know, I think our office is really dedicated to

that is really new for the field in general is we're really exploring accountability for people who cause harm, right? And that's something that that's coming from the survivors that we work with who have often been asking. They've been saying, you know, it's, I don't want to leave my relationship, I don't want to end my relationship,

I just want the abuse to stop. So I think for us, we've been working on developing what that looks like in terms of programs or people who cause harm to hold them accountable for their own behavior and provide them tools to change behavior. Commissioner, the Urban Resource Institute, it's a service provider and advocacy group, has been critical in working with these issues. Now, it says in its own report that budget cuts have hurt efforts to address the problem and pending cuts would be disastrous. What is the outlook for funding? So for our office in particular, we've been incredibly fortunate in that I know that the city has is obviously in a budget. crisis has been in a budget crisis, right? But in terms of our own services, we actually haven't had

any cuts to the services that our office provides, which includes, you know, direct free walk-in services for all survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. So we've actually been able to expand funding and expand for certain key programs. So for instance, you know, we have a hotline for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, and we've been able to add funding to that so that as of this summer, it'll also include text and chat functionality, right? providing another kind of way to reach folks. I'm sure that there are some people listening to this who can see themselves or maybe loved ones showing up in these numbers. What would you tell them about what help looks like or where they can turn to for support?

Sure. The first thing that I'd say to anybody that's going through this, I think it's really important for folks to know that you're not alone. And that help is not going to be pushed on you, right? that our real goal is to make sure that you and what you need and what you want is centered at every step in the process. And it's really about having a conversation to understand what your options are. So you can walk into any of our five family justice centers. There's one in each borough to receive services that day and talk to somebody that day about what your options may be. And services are available in all languages regardless of immigration status.

They're free. They're confidential. We have a hotline. You can call it Domestic Violence Hotline. That number is 1-800-621- Hope or 1-800-621-4-673. And we have a website which, again, has resources and information, right? You might not even be sure whether you're in a relationship or in a situation that you may need help. So what are the signs?

What are the red flags, right? So that website is www. n.n.n.com. Soloni-Sethi is Acting Commissioner of the Mayor's Office to end domestic and gender-based violence Commissioner, thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep vows.

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