NYC NOW - July 18, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

New York City Councilmember Susan Zhuang is facing charges that she bit an NYPD officer during a protest Wednesday in Brooklyn. Plus, WNYC’s Jon Campbell shares insight on New York’s delegates. Also, WNYC’s Samantha Max reports New York City is doling out millions of dollars to programs that use restorative justice. And WNYC’s Matt Katz talks with former CCRB Chair Maya Wiley about police accountability in the tens years since the police killing of Eric Garner. And finally, WNYC’s Stepen Nessen shares details on a proposal for a high-speed train from New York City to Boston.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Janae P.A. A city council member is facing charges that she bit an NYPD officer during a protest Wednesday in Brooklyn. Officials say council member Susan Zwang was protesting a proposed homeless shelter in Bensonhurst when she allegedly resisted arrest and bit the officer. Zwang's spokesperson says she was trying to help an elderly woman who had fought. fallen between the barricades when she clashed with police. Police say Zwang faces charges of assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of governmental administration.

Delegates. It's a word you may hear a lot when we talk about the national political conventions, like the RNC happening this week. But who are these delegates? And who made the list in New York? WMYC's John Campbell has more. New York, 91-5. Congressmember Elise Stefanik represents the North Country and the Adirondack region.

But this week, she was in Milwaukee, surrounded by dozens of New York Republicans on the convention floor. They were there to officially cast their votes for the Republican presidential nominee. President Donald J. Trump will always be a New Yorker, and New York will always love President Donald J. Trump. New York has 91 Republican delegates spread throughout the state, and their most of the state. And they're mostly elected officials and party leaders, people like Stefanic, Long Island Representative Anthony D. Esposito, and state GOP chairman, Ed Cox. On the Democratic side, New York has 307 delegates, and there's some big names. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former President Bill Clinton, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are all delegates. So too are Hazel Dukes of the New York NAACP and labor union leaders like Randy Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers. Governor Kathy Hockel is the de facto leader of the state Democratic Party.

She'll be a delegate too. I'm looking forward to joining our delegation. I'm having regular communications with those who are delegates from New York and everybody's excited and energized. The Republican National Convention wraps up this week. The Democratic Convention will be in Chicago. It kicks off August 19th. John Campbell, WNYC News. Restorative justice aims to build community and resolve conflicts through conversation.

Sometimes crime victims and perpetrators use it to make peace. Sometimes it's a tool to help people feel comfortable, having difficult discussions. New York City is doling out millions of dollars to program that use it. Here's WMYC's Samantha Max. A group of recent high school graduates are sitting in a circle on the second floor of the Kingsbridge Heights community center. They're learning how to lead restorative justice circles for younger teens in the neighborhood. Today, they're talking about how they act when they feel safe opening up. When I'm my most comfortable, I usually let go of a lot.

I can say whatever I want and I won't be wrong. I'm more myself. This Bronx Community Center is one of 16 organizations across the city that's getting a combined $6.5 million for restorative justice programs. Some will train people to lead conversations like the one in Kingsbridge Heights. Others will work with school students, people with addiction, domestic violence survivors, and teens arrested for carrying guns. That's just to name a few.

It's part of the years-long plan to close down the Rikers Island jail complex and invest more money in groups outside the jails that make community safe. Hopefully we could become a restorative city. Rochisha Ford is with CUNY. She helped the mayor's office to pick the recipients for the grants and says these programs shift away from the traditional instinct to punish people when they cause harm. Restorative justice work allows you to slow down for a minute and really think and reflect. Restorative justice isn't a cure-all for crime.

But some studies have found it can reduce suspensions and arrests in schools. In Kingsbridge Heights, 19-year-old Ramzes Porto Real says he's learning to lead a restorative circle for younger teens in his community because he wants them to have a space where they're comfortable sharing what they're feeling, no matter what's going on in their neighborhood. I feel like this is really up to youth because They probably don't feel safe outside or at the home. So this is for them to come, feel safe. He says the circles are helping him to open up, too.

That's WMYC's Samantha Max. Coming up, we discuss police accountability with the former head of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the organization that investigates police misconduct. More on that after the break. This week, WMYC is taking a look at police accountability in the 10 years since the police killing of Eric Garner on Staten Island. My colleague, Maghats, talked with Maya Wiley, the former chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Here's their conversation. As chair of the CCRB Civilian Complaint Review Board, why did you recommend firing Daniel Pentaleo, whose chokehold led to the 2014 death of Eric Garner? And why did it take five years for this officer? to be finally fired. Well, there. That's an important question, Matt. And let's just start with the fact as evidence from the video itself that went viral of the

awful killing of Eric Garner, that Daniel Pantaleo without cause put him in a chokehold that ended his life. It really is that simple and that horrific. And I think we have to remember that Eric Garner was being accused. of selling a cigarette. It really is that simple. Now, what is more complicated are your other questions, which is why five years? And the first and really important one to remember is that due process is important, but it's also the case that the federal government, the Department of Justice at the time, had opened a criminal civil rights investigation, and the Department of Justice

asked that the city of New York not move forward with investigations in order for it to assess and evaluate the case. And that request was in effect even when we sent the case over to the New York City Police Department with our recommendation of charges, the most serious recommendation the CCRB can make. Because it had been five years. It was too long. And no longer in my view, and I'll speak just for myself as chair at the time, was it credible that Daniel Pant-Talea was going to face any real accountability unless we sent the case over? Let's get into a little more about that CCRB effectiveness. Complaints against the NYPD are actually up 51% from a decade ago. But just to give listeners a brief overview here, the CCRB can recommend charges, but it's up to the NYPD Commissioner to decide on punishment.

since Eric Garner's death, there have been high-profile police killings that have not resulted in any discipline. Does the CCRB, as it's currently constituted, have enough power and actual power to hold cops accountable? Well, the short answer is no, because it may be an independent agency, but it doesn't have the direct power even to demand and get the evidence it needs to, investigate. Arva Rice, who was just asked by this administration to step down from her role as chair, was doing her job by pressing for more resources for the CCRB. What that tells us is it is critically important, one, that that entity have independence. We've had actually two commissioners under the current administration that have really greatly reduced their willingness to take the recommendations of the CCRB. We had a much higher compliance rate in the previous administration,

and part of that was because whether there was willingness in the mayor's office to ensure police accountability. You were at the CCRB eight years ago. Eric Garner's death was a couple of years before that 10 years ago. Big picture, do you see us in a better place when it comes to police accountability or a worse place than we were when Eric Garner was killed? You know, after Eric Garner was killed, we did have some real meaningful reforms. The problem is that now, and particularly over the last few years, and after George Floyd's, I Can't Breathe, we keep seeing police unions and police departments retrenching from some of the progress we've made. So now in New York City, stop and frisks are at the highest rates they've been since Eric Garner's.

was killed. We have seen a weakening of civilian oversight and we have seen less accountability over the past few years. So all I can say is we have the ability, if we have the will, to save more dollars for prevention and then real accountability and oversight of police misconduct. That's public service. That's former CCRB chair, Maya Wally, talking with WNYC's Matt Ketz. Before we go, an exciting proposal is picking. up steam. There's a push underway to build a new high-speed rail route from New York City to Boston. WMYC's Stephen Nesson has the details. 100 minutes between the two cities. That's the pitch labor leaders and prominent transit planners

are making for a new high-speed train route. They envision it would run from Penn Station out to Long Island. There, it would travel through a new 16-mile-long tunnel under the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. Michael Ethel is the National Legislative Director for the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalman. He says high-speed rail projects are underway in California and Las Vegas. High-speed rail is coming to America. There is no way in hell. New York City's not going to get a taste of it. You know as well as me. There's too much going on in New York to keep high-speed rail out of there. Organizers hope to officially launch the plans in the fall with support from lawmakers. We'll follow up with transportation reporter Stephen Nesson as the plan comes together in a few months.

like me, you're thinking a high-speed train could be a big game changer for the region, especially for sports fans. 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.