NYC NOW - July 1, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

A 20-year-old man is in stable condition after being shot overnight in Greenwich Village as Pride festivities were wrapping up. Police are investigating. Meanwhile, congestion pricing may be on indefinite pause, but Governor Kathy Hochul is still showing her MTA pride. WNYC's Catalina Gonella has more. In other news, a ban on smartphones is likely coming to New York City public schools. WNYC’s Sean Carlson speaks with education reporter Jessica Gould, who has been talking with educators locally and nationally about the logistics of the move. Plus, WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk regularly collaborates with the nonprofit Street Lab to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop at Abolitionist Place Park in Downtown Brooklyn, a newly opened green space commemorating Brooklyn's abolitionist history.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, July 1st. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Police are investigating an overnight shooting in Greenwich Village that happened as pride festivities were wrapping up. Officials say a 20-year-old man was shot around 2 a.m. near the corner of East 9th Street and 5th Avenue, just blocks from Washington Square Park, which had been crowded with people celebrating pride, but police are not confirming that it had any connection to that. The man was hospitalized and is stable.

Police have not made any arrests. Congestion pricing may be on indefinite pause, but Governor Kathy Hokel is still showing her MTA Pride. WNYC's Catalina Gonella has more. The governor was spotted wearing an MTA Pride t-shirt at the NYC Pride March over the weekend. It was the same day congestion pricing was set to start charging drivers a toll to enter Manhattan

south of 60th Street. The money was slated to fund MTA upgrades and projects, but Hocal suspension blew a massive hole in the agency's budget. Transit advocates reacted to the governor's fashion choice on social media, pointing out the irony of her representing the agency they feel she betrayed. The governor defended her decision to pause the program on MSNBC, saying the state will continue investing in public transit. 74 and some clouds now, 82 this afternoon. This is WNYC in New York. Stay close. There's more after the break.

On WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. A ban on smartphones is likely coming to New York City public schools soon, but the devil is in the details. WNYC education reporter Jessica Gould has been speaking with educators here in the five boroughs and around the country about the logistics of the move. She joins us now to talk more about it. So Jess, first off, why is a ban on phones in schools gaining such momentum? Yeah, well, as you know, there's growing concern among parents and educators about physical safety and mental health of students, children, given what we know now about what can be really negative effects of social media. And there's also this epidemic of distraction, including in schools, where, you know, 70% or even over 90% of teachers, depending on the study, say that kids are distracted in class by their devices. So states and school districts are starting to take action.

Florida and Indiana are already pursuing bans just last week, L.A., which is the second largest public school district after New York City, approved a ban, which is going to start next year. And Governor Hockel says she wants a ban, though she doesn't know exactly how it would work. Similarly, this week, Chancellor David Banks says that he is in favor of a ban and that he's going to make some big announcement in the next two weeks, but he's still figuring out how it would work. And as you said, the devil really is in the details here.

Will the band just be in classes during instructional time, or will it be all day? An expert said it really needs to be for the whole school day. So arrival to dismissal, bell to bell. This raises another question. Like if you're taking a kid's phone when they're at school, where do they go? Who keeps the phones? Yeah, so some schools here in New York City and across the country have had success with these yonder pouches.

Maybe you've used them at concerts. You can get your phone locked up in these pouches and then they are reopened at dismissal. But administrators should know that I've talked to some students who say they've figured out other ways to get around that by putting in like decoy phones into the pouches and keeping their real phones on them. That said, I've talked to students who say they're actually in favor of a ban. they consider it like a forced detox or a retreat from their phones or even rehab. But others say they think this is kind of condescending of the adults. So here's Selleleh hails from Medgar Evers College Preparatory School. This is what she said.

And with this new phone policy, I feel like it just already creates the notion of we do not trust you to be able to use a cellular device in 2024 properly in a safe matter in your school. And she pointed out that adults are just as addicted to their phones as kids. Yeah, that's for sure. Now, this is a bit of a grim question, but we do live in an age of climate emergencies, school shootings. Would a ban on phones represent a threat to school safety if you can't use it in those situations? This is the biggest concern that parents have shared with me, and it's across the country that parents are worried about this as well as in New York City. I talked to Paulette Healy. She's a parent of two high schoolers and an advocate for students with

And she said that's exactly why she's against the ban because of safety concerns. This administration is very, very slow in terms of emergency responses. Snow days, flooding, toxic air, even like with sheltering in. If the children don't have access to their devices, their smartphones, there's no way for us to reach our kids. But the experts say actually phones can be a distraction during an emergency when you really have to listen closely for directions. What do teachers and principals have to say about this? Their unions say that they understand the importance and they're on board, but they want to be part of the conversation at the top about how it works. They say a key issue is a really clear policy for all schools with guidance and funding.

And then there also have to be meaningful but standardized consequences for students who break the rules. Now, Jess, this is not a totally new concept, right? New York City had a phone ban in public schools a while back. Why is it coming back now? Yeah, there was a phone ban more than a decade ago under former mayor Michael Bloomberg. And there were critics at the time who said that compliance checks on these phones took time and attention away from academics. And it sort of added to policing in schools. And that was part of why Mayor Bill de Blasio right after took it away, took the ban away. But now with so much research on screens and social media and the dangers, the pendulum has swung way back.

It's WNYC's Jessica Gould. Jess, thanks so much for filling us in on this. Thank you. On WNYC, I'm David First. WNMIC's Community Partnerships Desk regularly teams up with the nonprofit street lab to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop at Abolitionist Place Park in downtown Brooklyn. The newly opened Greenwood.

space commemorates Brooklyn's abolitionist history. My name is Curtis Flimister. I'm born and bred in Brooklyn. I'm now at Abolitionist Park with my eight-year-old daughter, Mackaya Flimister. Actually, very good to be able to laying out. I'm usually so busy. And today, it's like just me and her day. She's the youngest in the house. Although two sisters older, I've already moved out. So it's just three boys, which are my three sons, my wife and myself and her. As far as the immediate future, I'm going to bring my three sons back because we just found out that this park actually has some historical significance. Being able to sit and enjoy the park and then vicariously learn the history of the park is very beneficial to me.

Parks themed like this in our community where not only you have time to play, but you get time if you actually communicate with somebody, you can actually find out there's more significance. My name is Suzanne Ogansonia. I live in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. I'm mom to two elementary school kids, ages 7 and 10. This is now our new Wednesday ritual. After school, we come to the abolitionist park, and they get to hang out with their friends

in a way that they hadn't been able to do before the park opened up. It's like a really crucial part of their just socializing with their friends in an unstructured manner. It's like this really important public space where you can come and sit. I was here this morning. After I dropped my kids off,

just a moment to just collect myself before I start the day. For me personally, my hustle starts from 6.30 when I wake up until I drop my kids off at 8.20. And before this park, I would just go to the supermarket

or hop on the train and get on with my day. We're on top of each other in the supermarket, in the trains, everywhere. So here, it's nice where you can kind of create a little bit of space from everyone. It's an opportunity. to take a breath that I didn't have before. My name is Lindsay Franissan, and I'm from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

I'm here today because we just registered my son at a new public school. We just want to go to our zone school. We're like number 62 on the wait list for our zone school. It's kind of frustrating. We accepted an offer over here. We didn't really know what to expect. And then we came to check it out today, and it's just been really heartening to see that, like,

we got something that's better than just good enough. you know, and we're super excited. My son's going to be in pre-K. There is still 3K in this city, and I know that's like sort of a vulnerable program right now, so we're feeling pretty grateful that we got at least one kid through. I have an 18-month-old daughter. Like, God-willing, 3K still exists in the city.

It just feels like everything does in the city where, like, maybe that program will be there in six months, and maybe it won't. Things change and turn over so quickly. I hope that my two kids can go to the same school for grade school, That would be really wonderful to have like one pickup and one drop off. My name is Mariana Deramee, and I am enjoying this wonderful weather and just remembering that it's going to be 20 years that I'm in New York City.

So I was born in Mexico. My mom is Mexican and my dad is French. So we moved around between Mexico, France, and the U.S. a lot. New York City has a little bit for everybody. You just have to go out and look for it. Sometimes it's a little difficult, but you just have to persevere because it is really important to love where you live so that you can be happy and you can be one with your community. I can't really imagine myself being anywhere else. Every time they fly out to visit family and then I land and I take a taxi.

There are two spots in particular where you see the city in the background and all the buildings. And I get that feeling of like, I'm home. Voices from Abolitionist Place Park in downtown Brooklyn. 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 dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.