NYC NOW - July 26, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

The Paris Olympics kick off this Friday with a special guest from New York City: the NYPD canine unit. WNYC’s Bahar Ostadan has the details. Meanwhile, New Jersey is receiving $250 million in federal funding to build charging infrastructure for electric trucks. Governor Phil Murphy says the project will help create a “clean corridor” along I-95 in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland. Plus, on Thursday, the New York City Charter Revision Commission approved five ballot measures. With a thumbs-up from Mayor Eric Adams, these potential changes to the city charter will be on the ballot in November. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with reporter Michelle Bocanegra, who covered the vote. Finally, residents near the North Woods in Central Park are complaining about drug use on the park grounds. WNYC’s Rosemary Misdary reports.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, July 26. Here's the midday news. For WNYC in New York, I'm Alec Hamilton. The Paris Olympics kickoff today with a special guest from New York City, the NYPD K-9 unit. WNYC's Bahar Oostodan has the details.

One NYPD dog was photographed, posing politely. in front of the Eiffel Tower last week. The NYPD says the dogs and their handlers are in Paris for two weeks to help with security sweeps at the Olympics, sniffing out potential explosives and drugs. Experts say these dogs can detect the odor of raw ingredients like T&T and ammonium nitrate from inside a sea of people. One expert told me, when you and I walk into a pizza restaurant, we smell pizza. But when these dogs walk in, they smell not just every ingredient. but even the preservative on the cheese. The NYPD wouldn't say how many canines they sent or how much the deployment cost,

but they assured us this didn't cost taxpayers a dime. New Jersey is getting a cut of federal funding to build charging infrastructure for electric trucks. Governor Phil Murphy says the $250 million project will help create a clean corridor along I-95 in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland. More than 24 charging locations will be built, with over 400, charging hookups. Freight trucks make up a small percentage of all vehicles on the road, but produce a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas. The money comes from the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Mostly sunny today with a high near 85 and breezy. Tonight, mostly clear with a low

around 68. Looks like a pretty nice beach weekend ahead. Both Saturday and Sunday should be sunny, highs in the upper 80s, not too much wind. Might be kind of nice out there. Right now, it's 79 degrees and sunshine at WNYC. Stay close. There's more after the break. For WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. Mayor Adams' Charter of Revisioning Commission is still going, but the process is almost done. The Commission voted to approve five ballot measures yesterday, meaning that

with a thumbs up from Mayor Adams, a list of potential changes to the city charter will be in voters' hands come this November. WNIC's Michelle Bocanegro, watch the next. and pass it. She joins us now to discuss the latest. Hi, Michelle. So we've talked about the Charter Revision Commission a few times before, but remind us what this group is and why we should care. Well, Michael, it's funny because if your eyes glaze over when you hear the words Charter Revision Commission, you're not alone, but it is, it is an important group. It's a group that's tasked with considering changes to the city charter, which matters because it's effectively the city's

Constitution. And, you know, Mayor Eric Adams picked 12 people to sit on it. They've been holding public proceedings, including hearings over the last several weeks to figure out potential changes to the charter, which city residents will vote yes or no on in November, or amendments, rather, to the charter. And, you know, it matters because these are the rules that govern the city. And there's one proposal in particular from the commission that has gotten a lot of attention. It would It would add procedural requirements for any public safety legislation proposed by the council that affects the police fire and corrections departments. And the reason that was given by the commission in its report for this proposal, particular, were these two city council bills that ultimately became law. And they were publicly opposed by the mayor and police and corrections officers.

And those bills both fell in the realm of public safety. How does the council see this commission? Well, they see it as an affront to their attempt to get their own proposal on the ballot. They've been seeking and expand their power over mayoral appointments for heads of city agencies. They call it advice and consent legislation. And they've criticized this commission as a rushed operation to block their ballot proposal. And because of the way it shakes out is, you know, if the commission, puts forward their proposals for the ballot by August 5th, which they, you know, voted to adopt

yesterday. Those supersede what the council set out for the ballot themselves. And tell us more about what happened yesterday. So the commission voted unanimously to accept all five proposals. There were no negative votes, no abstentions. Is it fair to say that everyone on the commission was on the same page then? Well, you know, on the one hand, there was no defections, which was expected ahead of the vote, but there was this one moment in which the commission's leadership was fielding questions about a change to their proposal for ballot question number three, which we talked about just a few moments ago.

So, I mean, commissioners were told by the chair to look at the new language that they were given at the top of yesterday's meeting. and folks started asking questions. Here's one exchange between Chair Carlo Chisura and Commissioner Max Rose. All it does is say when the council is going to propose this legislation, it adds a 30-day period where there can be hearings. So it delays, for all intents of purposes, it delays legislation by 30 days to further inform the process. I would respectfully disagree with the word delay. So it definitely seemed like there was confusion even within the commission in the lead-up to this unanimous vote.

WNIC's Michelle Bocanagra, and you can read much more of her reporting about the city charter commission on our news site, Gothamus. Michelle, thank you. Thank you. The Northwoods is the largest forest in Central Park. There are waterfalls and boulders to climb in plenty of shade across 40 acres, but for the last year, local residents say they can't enjoy it, and they blame open drug use. W&MECISRI's Rosemary, Ms. Derry, reports from the park.

That's a gold one right there. This is a syringe cap. This is another syringe cap. Patrick Buckley lives just north of Central Park. But instead of taking his three-year-old son to play there, he picks up discarded syringes, vials, and fentanyl cap. capsules, also called trash cans. There's a trash can right there.

They're pointed and sometimes flat at the bottom. You get down closer, you see more trash cans, more syringe caps. There's four right there. You get closer and you're like, wow, it really opens up. It's like looking close at grains of sand. Trash can, trash can, trash can, trash can, trash can, trash can, trash can. Trash can. So many.

Buckley, like many Harlem residents, feels unsafe in the northernmost section of the park. I always carry a little blade with me. just in case and just constantly looking over my shoulder. Is somebody coming? Is somebody coming to use? It only takes him an hour to fill a bucket about a quarter full of drug litter. He shows photos he's taken of piles of the colorful, dangerous refuse. I love the Northwoods, even with his problem because of its natural beauty. And it's one of the reasons that we live up here.

On a recent weekday morning walk with Buckley, the winding paths of the North Woods are strewn with discarded clothing, plastic bags of human feces and bright orange syringe caps. People shoot up in clear view of park goers passing by with strollers or dogs. Where people end up using drugs is shaped by prohibition and is shaped by poverty. Ricky Bluthenthal is the chair of public health sciences at the University of Southern California. Drug consumption sites are giving people the resources they need to be safer and to keep community safer. So if you had more of them, you would have less of them.

this litter. He says there needs to be more recovery centers closer to where patients live. More than 70% of people getting treatment at Harlem clinics are from outside the neighborhood. Bluthenthal adds that visitors to those clinics are not the same ones using in the park. If someone's on methadone, they're less likely to commit crime. They're more likely to be housed. They're more likely to be employed. Residents say they want the drug paraphernalia littering the park cleaned up, and more funding for recovery programs and support services. Xavier Santiago is the chair of Local Community Board 11, which covers East Harlem. We need programs for our people who don't have those financial resources.

These are human beings that we want to help as well and get them back to functioning and society and being contributing members. He says the top complaint to his office for the last year involves drug use in the North Woods, playgrounds, and streets. He says the board continues to contact. city agencies and politicians for a solution. The sooner we do so, the sooner we'll have a return to safer streets to be able to walk in our parks without seeing the needle-refuse, which is a danger to the community, kids who

want to play there and should be able to play there. There are drug cleanup programs currently in place. The municipal health department has six teams dedicated to Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Last year, they collected more than 173,000 ground syringes. The Central Park Conservancy also says they pick up drug paraphernalia. But parkgoers say they've complained about the drug use and litter for at least a year without seeing any improvement. Rosemary, Mzdery, New News. 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 vibes. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.