NYC NOW - July 3, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: July 3, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams is again criticizing Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending thousands of migrants to New York City, arguing it's part of a coordinated attempt to undermine cities led by Black mayors. An investigation is underway after a 14-year-old boy drowned in the Rockaways Sunday. A coalition of Attorneys General from ten states, including New York and New Jersey, is set to sue the EPA over lax wood-burning stove regulations. And plans to redesign Brooklyn’s treacherous McGuinness Boulevard face opposition from a group linked to a politically powerful family.

NYC. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, July 3rd. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Mayor Eric Adams is again criticizing the governor of Texas for sending thousands of migrants to New York City over the last year. He says it's part of a coordinated effort to undermine cities led by black mayors. We are being hoodwink right now. We're being baboozoo. We're being duped into believing that this is happening by accident. I think this is a well- orchestrated plan. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has bussed migrants to Chicago and Los Angeles, which also have black mayors. Adams was speaking over the weekend during a panel for mayors hosted by Essence magazine. He made similar comments about Abbott back in May, the Texas governor pushed back on the accusation saying migrants were sent to the cities they chose. An investigation continues after a 14-year-old boy drowned in the Rockaways yesterday.

Officials say they responded to a 911 call near Beach 76th Street, about 6 p.m. The Parks Department says lifeguards had closed the beach about an hour earlier because of thunder and lightning. The teen whose identity wasn't released was pulled out of the water by the NYPD and another beachgoer and taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Attorneys general from 10 states, including New York and New Jersey, plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. they say the EPA's failure to review and ensure emission standards for residential woodburning stoves has allowed the continued sale of appliances that unduly worsen pollution.

The states say that means programs encouraging people to trade in older stoves and other wood-burning appliances, such as forced air furnaces, have not been working to improve air quality. The EPA declined to comment. 82 right now, near 88, later and quite humid, that could bring some showers later in the afternoon and maybe heavy thunderstorms. Independence Day tomorrow, partly sunny, and a chance of showers. For WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. A plan to redesign a dangerous Brooklyn Boulevard is facing backlash from a campaign

that may not be what it appears. Multiple people have died or been hurt in the last decade on the Guinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, but when the Department of Transportation recently proposed new safety measures, the move was met by an aggressive campaign against the state. it from a group with ties to one politically connected family. Reporter Gwen Hogan has been following the story for the news site the city and joins us now. Let's back up a little bit here. So there's this treacherous roadway.

DOT came up with a plan to make it safer. Explain what happened next. Right. So they want to reduce this four-lane highway, this Robert Moses-era street that sort of serves as a shortcut between highways down to two lanes and add protected bike lanes. But shortly after their proposal came out in early May, we saw this sort of renewed campaign from this group called Keep McGinnis Moving. And since May, there have been billboards and signs that are going up, robocalls, texts. People are getting mailers sent to their homes sort of far away from McGinnis Boulevard.

And as I started to look into this effort to block these bike lanes, I was able to find this connection to the Argentos. Basically, there's a list of about 180 businesses who oppose the street redesign that was on their website. And I wasn't able to trace about a third of these companies back to the Argento family. You found almost two-thirds of the companies behind the group Keep McGinnis moving. We're tied to a single family. Who are they? Right. So the Argentos, like I mentioned, this is siblings, Tony, and Gina.

They own this company Broadway Stages, which has been in Greenpoint since the next. 1990s, they own dozens of soundstages in Greenpoint in Long Island City. Big proponents of the film industry there, sort of brought the film industry, put it on the map in Greenpoint. Gina is on the community board. She sits on the Transportation Committee. She's also a board member on the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Their longtime donors to Eric Adams dating back to his time in the borough president's office. And their concerns about the bike lane seem to go to the that they're they're fearing that it will slow down their trucks that are sort of coming in and out of the industrial business zone that's right there.

Why is this one family able to have this level of influence? Well, you know, they're helping to back this campaign. It's not a traditional political campaign. They're not lobbying elected officials in the traditional sense, so there aren't, you know, financial filings of what they're spending. They're lobbying the public. And there's not, as far as I'm aware, a reporting requirement to disclose how much is being spent here. But this campaign, it's clear that it is resonating sort of beyond just this one family.

I was at this jam-packed town hall meeting at one of their sound stages last week, hundreds of attendees. And a lot of the concerns that I heard are sort of, they're sort of being overlaid onto anxiety about neighborhood change and gentrification. that, you know, a lot of legitimate concerns that do exist there, but sort of ones that extend far beyond what the possible changes or not changes of Guinness Boulevard could have. And I will say after that sort of town hall style meeting where people opposed it, there was a subsequent march of people who say they support the safety design. They took the street McGinnis Boulevard and marched along it. You know, it's clear that this is becoming sort of a political lightning rod in the neighborhood where arguments are spilling out. out onto the streets. Gwen, quickly here. What happens next? So the DOT says it's finalizing its plan and taking into all the community feedback they've heard while they're doing that. Their plan was to

begin implementing the changes as soon as this summer. So we'll be watching that. There's also the threat of a potential lawsuit. So we'll have to watch that as well and see how that plays out. Gwen, keep us update on this, please. Glenn Hogan, is a reporter with the new site, the city. Gwen, always good to talk to you. Thanks, Michael. 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. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

More this evening.