NYC NOW - July 9, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

NYPD officials say the driver who killed three people after plowing into a crowd in the Lower East Side on Independence Day was not only drunk but his car also had a fake license plate. Plus, WNYC's Rosemary Misdary looks into the restoration of oysters in New York City. And finally, WNYC’s Sean Carlson talks with Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn about ways to help folks in the Caribbean, after Hurricane Beryl hammered most of the tropics.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. NYPD officials say Daniel Hayden, the driver who killed three people after plowing into a crowd at a park in the lower east side on July 4th, was not only drunk, but his car also had a fake license plate, also known as ghost plates. Here's NYPD Chief of Transportation, Philip Rivera. The driver was using a ghost plate on his car.

to avoid parking summons, red light enforcement cameras, and bridge tolls. This tragedy underscores the importance of the work that we've done. The MTA and NYPD have joined forces to crack down on drivers with fake plates at bridges and tunnels across the five boroughs. So far this year, they've impounded more than 1,500 cars and arrested over 300 drivers for using ghost plates. Restoring the once-plentiful oysters of New York City isn't an easy job. Scientists have been added for more than a decade, but they're still far from the goal of planting a billion bivalves in the water.

WNYC's Rosemary Misdairy reports from the Hudson River near Tribeca. When Henry Hudson first arrived in New York Harbor in 1609, he came upon an almost unimaginable bounty of oysters. He described oysters as large as dinner plates. Now, oysters' best days in New York City are long gone. Experts are trying to bring them back. Between the piers along Tribeca, scientists have dropped more than 250 man-made reefs on the riverbed. The structures are three-foot-wide hollow concrete balls called reef balls, and steel cages called gabians that are about the size of a vintage trunk and filled with shells.

Twice a year, scientists working with the Hudson River Park Trust pull the structures out of the water to check on the oyster's progress. Carrie Roble is vice president of the Trust River Project. We're going to use a boat hook to get the buoy that's attached to our gabians or our reef balls. Then we're going to attach it and hoist it up with this crane here to bring it on our vessel. Once the man-made reef is securely aboard, the field team takes out their calipers and measures the live oysters. 22. 37 again. 29.

Some reefs come up empty. I mean, it's like nothing on your school. Do you have the notebook? Yeah. That's just straight down and it's bare. Others are teeming with thriving adults alongside baby oysters. So the coverage on this reef ball certainly is more full. It's coming down the sides of the reef fall.

And that's exciting to see. It's a pattern the scientists have seen for years. Restoring New York Harbor's oyster glory is a history is a hit or miss endeavor. The scientists are collaborating with the Billion Oyster Project, which has planted 122 million bivalves in water surrounding the city.

Data shows about half of those oysters die, and so far, none of the oysters are reproducing on their own. There are live oysters. One ear. Dead, dead. It's alive.

Meredith Comey is the oyster restoration expert for the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University. She is a lot of life. He says part of the problem is that there are many unknowns about jump-starting oyster reproduction. Researchers say they're focusing on increasing the population so they can reproduce independently. The population of oysters here is functionally extinct. There's no larval source.

It's kind of like we have to do everything from scratch. We're putting out structures, but it's like a needle in a haystack if they find them. The research team says it's a build-it-and-they-will-come scenario, eventually. If they succeed, the oysters would provide huge benefits. Oysters can defend shorelines from flooding. Reefs break the intensity of waves. They are also good at cleaning up. An adult by-valve can filter 50 gallons of water per day.

Oysters are keystone species, so they're kind of like the building block of the estuarine food web. The Billion Oyster Project hopes to live up to its name by 2035. This winter, the Hudson River Park Trust will release the results of its third year of monitoring. Scientists will use the data to create more effective strategies for restoration and hopefully speed up the process. That's WMYC's Rosemary Mystery. After hammering much of the Caribbean, Hurricane Barrel has made landfall in the U.S. remnants of the storm are expected to hit New York this week.

But before it heads this way, one local leader is finding, ways to help residents of the island nations. More on that after the break. Hurricane Barrel made landfall in the U.S. Monday after leaving a path of destruction throughout much of the Caribbean. Remnants of the now weakened storm will bring possible rain and thunderstorms to New York City this week. Meanwhile, residents of island nations like Grenada, St. Vincent, and Jamaica continue to dig their way out while authorities assess the damage. WMYC's Sean Carlson talked with Assembly member Rodney's Bashad Hermelin. She represents a central Brooklyn district with a sizable population of New Yorkers with roots in the Caribbean.

Here's their conversation. What are you hearing from residents that have been affected by the storm? We are getting many calls from the residents, especially those of Jamaican descent, Canadian descent. We, many of the elected officials of Caribbean descent, met to talk about the horrifying. devastation of the aftermath of a barrel hurricane, leaving 60% of Jamaica without electricity, and Grenada being one of the three islands that was hit the most. We also are looking at working with donations to Caracou and Petit Martinique and Union Islands.

So, you know, we are working every minute, every day, working with the governor, working with the mayor, working with us, and we also have some of us who will be going to Grenada in particular to see how we can help with the resources that we have. We also have been meeting with the Council Generals regarding how we can help, and these Council Generals have been gathering with all of our elected officials in terms of getting water, essential medicine and first aid, cots, and sleeping bags, pillows, flashlights, soap power, things of that nature. We're trying to hurry up and expedite all of this help.

We're working with NYPD precincts across New York City. The mayor has been really great on that. We also continuously are having drop-offs at different elected officials, including my office, elected officials like assembly member Cunningham, who's also a descendant of Jamaica, assembly member Jamie Williams, who's straight-adian, who's been also leading the effort, an assembly member, a hyman who's out in Queens. So, you know, it's big.

It's unfortunate. And some of these islands have not been hit by the hurricane. And I know how devastating could be, being that I am of Haitian descent, and the hurricane is always hitting Haiti. And so, you know, we kind of are used to having to, you know, get all the resources to help. devastating countries like Haiti, but now, you know, we're focusing on the countries like Grenada, Jamaica, Caracou, and Petit, Martinique, because these are small islands and also, you know, the poverty is, has heightened. Yeah. Assembly over, how can everyday New Yorkers, like our listeners, help?

Well, you know, we are asking everyone to please watch out for donations, drop off locations. So we are looking to have people drop off things at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, which is in central Brooklyn. We also have God's Battalion of Prayer, which is a large church also in Brooklyn, working with many of the elected officials like Senator Kevin Parker, Councilmember Farrell Lewis, Mercedes, Narcisse. So all of these elected officials in Brooklyn have opened their office to collect donations. And, you know, again, I've joined Support Every Life Beyond Yours, which is Selby, Inc. It's a Hurricane Barrow Relief Drive for the Caribbean.

And we're just asking for donations up until July 31st. In our last minute here, do you know if there are people who fled the storm who are currently in your district? And is the city doing anything to assist them directly? We have gotten some calls. The city is trying to help. We had actually some elected officials who were over in Jamaica, you know, who is. had experienced the hurricane firsthand, Senator James Sanders. And so he is safe and sound back.

But what we're doing as we receive the calls, we're just directing them where they can get resources directly. That's Assembly Member Rodney's Bashat Hermelin talking with WMYC's Sean Colson. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.