NYC NOW - June 10, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

A City Council proposal for the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act, which would change how landlords and tenants pay broker fees, will be debated at a committee hearing this Wednesday. In other news, Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers have historically been designated as "white" in government reports and surveys, but a new state bill on the Governor's desk could reclassify them. Plus, WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with public safety reporter Samantha Max about a new lookup tool allowing New Yorkers to find information on judges.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, June 10th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. A city council proposal that would change the way landlords and tenants pay broker fees will be up for debate at a committee hearing later this week. Intro 360, also known as the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses, or Fair Act, would require whoever hires the broker, whether a tenant or a landlord, to be the one who pays the broker fee.

The measure was crafted to protect tenants from having to pay for a broker they didn't hire. It's scheduled for discussion at the City Council Committee on Worker and Consumer Protection Wednesday at 10 in the morning. That's not long after a group four and against the bill will sound off on the steps of City Hall. Historically, Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers have been designated as white in government reports and surveys. Now, a new state bill on its way to the governance desk would reclassify them. Salma Muhammad is the Associate Director of Advocacy and Engagement at the Arab American Family Support Center. She says the legislation will have significant benefits. We'll be able to understand specific health care needs, education needs, employment, housing, political representation,

and we'll be able to address them from a systemic perspective. So this is huge. The U.S. Census counts around 280,000 Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers. Lawmakers say the actual figure is likely much higher. As for the weather, this afternoon, mostly sunny, highs in the upper 70s, and just a little windy. Stay close. There's more after the break. On W.E.N.M.M.C. Michael Hill. New Yorkers will be able to find information about most of the names that appear on their ballots this fall,

but there's one office where that has not typically been the case, judges. Now, a new lookup tool is changing that. WNYC Public Safety reporter Samantha Max is here to tell us how we can learn more about the little-doned people who play a big role in our legal system. Hi, Sam. Hi, Michael. What's the goal of this database? So, as you mentioned, you know, the process for getting judges on the bench is kind of often

happening in the shadows. So there's this group called Scrutonize that recently launched that's been putting together all these different data reports on the New York State Judiciary. And this database summarizes some of their findings on each of the judges that are either up for re-election or reappointment this year in New York City. Scrutinize is doing this because they've really been working to increase transparency for the judiciary overall. It was founded by a former public defender. And so he's coming at it from a kind of criminal justice reform lens. And that founder, Odette Oren, says that his goal is to strengthen democracy in New York by gathering and sharing as much data as he can about this branch of government that is often

less transparent than others. If you don't know what the people in power are deciding and how they're deciding it, you can't really hold them accountable or demand change. in any ways. So Orrin says that more and more people are starting to realize the power that judges have in recent years, especially, for instance, after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and he wants people to feel empowered to make informed decisions as they are picking state judges. Sam, how does this database work? So there's a landing page with links to the 21 current state judges in New York City who are up for either. re-election or reappointment. And if you go to the website, you can basically click on the judge's name and see a range of information about them, like how long they've been on the bench, where they currently preside, and then some data on their records. For now, it's just city judges

in state court who are up for an election or up for, you know, a potential new appointment this year, but scrutinized plans to eventually expand this database to all state judges in New York. This is quite comprehensive. You know, judges have enormous power, as you're laid out there, and they judge all three branches of government, and they judge disputes in the private sector and determine whether to separate someone from society. Would you talk more about that, say? Judges really have wide-ranging power in a way that a lot of people don't always understand. They're deciding whether someone should stay in jail while they're awaiting trial. How long someone's prison sentence should be if they're convicted of a crime.

And then also on the civil side, they impose parameters for some of these landmark settlements that have really changed how things operate in New York, like stop and frisk for instance. And then there's also this bigger question at play right now that people are grappling with, which is should judges have a certain set of values and should those values influence their decisions? And for years, we've seen Republicans really pushing to get conservative judges on the federal bench because they see the power that judges can have

when they bring their values to court. And now we're actually seeing a similar effort among Democrats for state courts in New York. Are all judges in New York elected? No, they are not. It's a pretty complicated process. You have some that are elected, like Supreme Court judges. And then some judges are appointed by the mayor, like family court judges.

And then you have others that are appointed by the governor, like the judges on the court of appeals. So for judges who are appointed, there's typically an advisory group that's helping the mayor or the governor vet those potential nominees. and this database does include judges whose appointments expire this year and could potentially be appointed again. And then for judges who are elected, the local political parties have delegates that are endorsing candidates. Sam, how can members of the public access this database? They can find it if they go to our story on our news website, gothamis.com. There's actually a link in that story to scrutinize this database. WNYC Public Safety Reporter, Samantha Max.

What a story. Thanks, Sam. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.