NYC NOW - June 1, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Public health teams are detecting early signs of a COVID-19 resurgence in New York City and several adjacent suburbs. And, amid a mounting migrant crisis, City Hall faces increasing demands for transparency. More on this from WNYC's Elizabeth Kim. Lastly, the primary election for the entire New Jersey state legislature will take place on Tuesday, June 6th. While mail-in voting is underway and early voting kicks off this Friday, a spate of legislative retirements has led to the highest number of open seats in 12 years. However, as reported by WNYC’s Nancy Solomon, these open seats haven't necessarily resulted in more contentious races.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, June 1st. I'm Jenae Pierre, and here's your midday news. Public health teams are seeing early signs of a COVID-19 rebound in New York City and some surrounding suburbs. Data from the New York State wastewater surveillance network shows coronavirus sewage levels began rising in early May. They're now high and indicate community transmission. City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin-Vosson says it's too early to know if this is a surge, but New Yorkers know what to do if one arrives.

We have shown that we can start to regain a sense of normalcy and rebuild our city, even with COVID still circulating, and we should all take those sensible steps, you know, getting vaccinated, getting tested and treated, wearing a mask in sensible setting. Fewer than 20% of city residents are current on their COVID vaccines. City Hall is facing calls for more transparency as the migrant crisis continues to escalate. WNYC's Elizabeth Kim has more. City controller Brad Lander is demanding that Mayor Eric Adams release more detailed data on the migrant population. It comes nearly a month after City Hall abruptly stopped providing breakdowns of where the migrants are staying across different types of.

shelters. Administration officials have not explained the change in reporting, which comes as Adams is seeking to modify the city's right to shelter rules. Deputy Mayor Anne Williams Isam says the city is providing twice a week updates to elected officials. She says city officials want to make sure that they are being, quote, accurate with our numbers. It's 79 degrees out there. You're listening to WNYC. The primary election for the entire New Jersey State Legislature is Tuesday, June 6th. Mail-in voting has already begun, and early voting begins this Friday. A wave of retirements in the legislature has created more open seats than the state has seen in 12 years. But WNYC's Nancy Solomon reports those open seats haven't resulted in more competitive races.

This is the first election for the New Jersey State Legislature since the district. districts were redrawn last year. Twenty-six legislators are stepping down, and that's more than double the typical number. Nationally, when incumbents don't run, that increases the competitiveness of elections. Julia Sass-Rubin, a professor at Rutgers University, says not so in New Jersey. Even when incumbents are stepping away, even when there is a climate that should encourage competition, our system is such that there really is no competition. And a lot of ballots have no contested races at all. In the elections for the 120 member state legislature,

only 13% of the races are competitive. SAS Rubin says elections are far less competitive in New Jersey because of the way most counties lay out their primary ballots. It's called the county line, and it groups candidates who are endorsed by the party committees together with the biggest names at the top of. of the ticket, usually a governor or a U.S. Senator. Sass Rubin crunched the 2020 election numbers and found candidates get a large advantage when they're on the county line. Elected officials

know this and candidates know and understand this. And so if you don't get the endorsement of the party, if you're not going to be on the county line, there's a very strong inducement to drop out because the odds of you losing are just overwhelming. One of the few exceptions this year is the newly drawn district that includes part of Newark, Irvington, South Orange, and Maplewood. Incumbent Cleopatra Tucker of Newark and Garnett Hall, a longtime member of the Maplewood Democratic Committee, got the parties backing for the two assembly seats and will run on the county line. Another candidate, former Maplewood Mayor Frank McGeehe, is making the unusual choice. He's staying in the race without any party endorsement and will have to sit on his own row on the ballot.

The endorsement decision was made by the heads of the Essex County Democratic Committee. We don't have a convention. District leaders never vote on anything. Rebecca Sheer is a resident of Maplewood and a rank-and-file member of the local party committee. She says she likes the two women running, but objects to the county line. That's essentially electioneering on the ballot. You know, you have to stand 500 feet away from your polling place if you have any candidate literature, and then voters go right in and they see the ballot. And that's essentially telling them on their ballot, these are the real candidates.

These are you want to vote for. The endorsement process differs from county to county. But in three of the largest Democratic strongholds, Essex, Camden, and Hudson, the decision is made by party leaders. Hoboken City Council member Tiffany Fisher says she objects to Hudson County's endorsement process. It's a small group of people handpicking their friends to be in elected roles and influencing roles. And because of the broken ballot that we have in New Jersey, because of the appointing friends and people close to you for those positions, it's really more of like an autocracy than it is an actual democracy, right? Both parties use the county line. But Matt Hale, a professor of political science at Seton Hall University, says Democrats in New Jersey are better organized and more powerful.

In terms of the Republicans, they're a little bit less organized overall than Democrats. and that leads to the ability of non-party-approved Republicans to take a shot. Party members who defend the endorsements say it's those active in the party who know the candidates best. An ongoing court challenge is trying to do away with the county line, and a coalition of good government advocates has formed better ballots NJ to fight for reform. But that's a difficult mission, because almost the entire New Jersey State Legislature got there by running on the county line. Nancy Solomon, WNYC 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 dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More this evening.