NYC NOW - June 11, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Former President Trump’s guilty verdict could cost him his liquor license in New Jersey. Plus, what’s next for the thousands of New Yorkers who applied for federal housing assistance. Also, WNYC��s Arun Venugopal reports on the so-called “moped crisis” in one Queen’s neighborhood. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Brigid Bergin discuss New York’s upcoming state and federal primary election.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WMYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. Former President Trump's 34 felony counts could cost him his liquor license in New Jersey. That's according to Forbes. State officials are investigating whether to pull the three active licenses from Trump's three golf courses. A jury found Trump guilty on all counts in its criminal trial in New York last month. New Jersey law prohibits issuing a license to, anyone convicted of a crime, quote, involving moral turpitude.

Forbes says a state handbook defines that as denoting a serious crime that usually contains elements of dishonesty, fraud, or depravity. Hundreds of thousands of New York City households applied for the rare chance to land federal housing help last week. So what's next for them? Here's WMYC's David Brand. The New York City Housing Authority is planning to use a random lottery to select 200,000 applicants for its Section 8 waiting list, more than 630,000 applied over the course of a week.

Nica officials say they won't be done creating the list until the beginning of August. They say the agency will then start issuing 1,000 vouchers a month, but not everyone on the list will get one. Nica only has a few thousand to distribute. Section 8 recipients qualify based on income. They usually spend 30% of their earnings on rent, and the federal program covers the rest. Before last week, Nica had an accepted new applications since, 2009. Mopeds and scooters are increasingly how many New Yorkers get deliveries and get around town.

But as two-wheelers proliferate, so do concerns about safety. Now, what some call the moped crisis has come to a head in one Queen's community. WMYC's A Room Vinigapal has more. Luz Maria Mercado is a longtime resident of Jackson Heights. She fought for the creation of the 34th Avenue Open Street, which restricts traffic along a 26-block stretch of the neighborhood. She was thrilled her sons could freely ride their bikes on the street. Now, she fears for them. I always think that I love you, come home to me. Mercado spoke at a, quote, moped crisis town hall. It drew over 150 local residents to a neighborhood school. Many of them say they're scared of getting hit by a moped or e-bike. The event was

organized by the neighborhood council member, Shaker Krishnan, who says the same meeting could have been held just about anywhere in the city. We are seeing mopeds speeding down as if it was a highway for mopeds, and we need to address that problem head on. This is a problem we're seeing all over New York City. That's borne out by data from the City Department of Transportation. Last year, there were nearly 6,300 injuries involving motorized two-wheeler citywide. That's nearly five times as many injuries as there were in the citywide. 2017. But lately, the issue has gotten a lot more attention. But first, we have the latest on the two New York cops wounded in a shootout with a teenager who was on a moped in Queens. Earlier this month,

two police officers investigating robberies were shot in nearby East Elmerst. The NYPD says the suspect was operating a moped before he opened fire. Two days after the shooting, Mayor Eric Adams stood outside and said the city had confiscated tens of thousands of two-wheeler's in the last two years, far more than it had in the past. Around him were hundreds of mopeds. Moments later, two enormous earthmovers drove back and forth over the vehicles, pulverizing them. And when it comes to public safety, I'd like to say that we are crushing it. But the mayor himself acknowledges that this is a complicated issue and that police enforcement

won't suffice, in part because many of the people who drive two-wheeler are delivery workers and immigrants. Gabriel Montero is the Director of Development and Communications at the Workers' Justice Project. 91% of them are people of color. We do see them disproportionately targeted. And Montero says pedestrians aren't the only ones feeling unsafe. Delivery workers are worried, too.

Delivery work, unfortunately, has the highest fatality rate of any job in New York City. And one in five, delivery workers have been in an accident. In response, a Grubhubb Hub spokesperson says delivery workers, says delivery workers should never feel that they need to sacrifice safety to complete an order. And Doordash says workers can decline any delivery if they're unable to complete it in a timely fashion. Still, Montero says his organization endorses a bill recently passed by the state legislature that would prevent drivers from buying a moped without also registering them. The Addis administration also endorses the legislation, which now awaits Governor Kathy Hokel's signature.

That's WMYC's Arre. Vannegepaw. New York's state and federal primary election is just a couple weeks away. We'll share everything you need to know after the break. Stay close. NYC. It's primary season again in New York. After a fairly uneventful presidential primary back in April, voters will get to weigh in

on state and federal candidates in two weeks. My colleague Michael Hill talked with W.N. NYC's Bridget Bergen about what you need to know to prepare for the upcoming primary election. We have another election coming up. Let's start with some of the basics here. When is it and what's on the ballot? So we're talking about this June 25th primary election. It's for state and federal legislative offices. There's also some judicial primaries and elections for party positions like state and county committees. And early voting for these races actually begins this Saturday, June 15th, and runs for nine days. just like usual until June 23rd.

Richard, we make this point about primary elections in New York every year, but I want to underscore who is eligible to vote in these elections? It's a really good point, Michael. New York has a closed primary system. So you have to be a registered voter in the party holding the primary to be able to participate. So that means if you're a registered Democrat, you can vote in the Democratic primary. Same goes for Republicans. if you're not yet registered to vote, good news, you can still do that through this Saturday,

June 15th and vote in this primary. That's if you're not registered at all. And of course, that's if you opt to register with a party that's holding a primary. If you're already registered to vote, you know, either as a non-affiliated voter, also known as a blank, or you're with a different party than the party you want to vote in, you can't actually change your party registration in time for this election. That deadline was back in February. So are there primaries in both major parties for Democrats and Republicans? Well, yes, here in New York City, the vast majority of the primary elections are for registered Democrats. And not surprisingly, in many of these races, the primary is really where the big decision is made. So the winner in this race is likely to go

on in November to win the race overall, because so many of these districts are so democratic. There is one Republican primary contest on the ballot in this election in all of New York City, and that's for an assembly race in Queens. It's the 25th Assembly District. It's currently represented by Democrat Neely Rozick. Now, that district is in Oakland Gardens and stretches west to the northern border of Fleshing Meadows to Corona Park.

The two Republicans in that race are Kenneth Pack, a former NYPD sergeant and Kenneth Chu, a political consultant who actually served as a special assistant to former Brooklyn State Senator Jesse Hamilton and in a few other political roles. That information is according to, a voter guide produced by NYC votes. It's the voter outreach arm of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. It's a great resource for people who are trying to figure out who might be

the candidates on their ballot. What about all those Democratic primaries? What contests will voters see actually on the ballots? So there are no citywide contests happening. What you will see will depend on where you live in the city. And you can check your sample ballot at the New York City Board of Elections website at vote.n.yc. Go to their poll site. finder and pull up your sample ballot. But big picture today, for those federal contests, there are three Democratic congressional primaries. First term representative Dan Goldman, whose district includes lower Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn, is being challenged by two candidates, Bruno Grinsard. He's a business consultant who specializes in how to combat climate change.

And then there's Evan Hutchison. He's a progressive political organizer. And his main issue is really pushing for a permanent ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza. Over in eastern Bronx and in Queens, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing a challenge from Martin Dolan. He's also works in financial services. I wrote a piece about those races that you can check out and learn a bit more on Gothness.com. That's two races. Is the third that hotly contested race between Representative Jamal Bowman and Westchester County Executive George Latimer? That would be the one. It's in that 16th congressional district in the northern Bronx and parts of southern Westchester. Our colleague, Michelle Bocenegr, has been bringing us scoops on that contest and its implications for other nearby congressional races.

Most recently, she reported that the left-leaning working families party is pulling its support for Democrat Mondair Jones, who's running in the 17th congressional district trying to unseat Republican Mike Lawler in November. That party pulled its support after Jones endorsed Latimer. over Bowman in this primary. This is another race where the candidate's stance on Israel's Warren Gaza has played a major role in terms of endorsements and campaign spending. Bowman has accused Israel of genocide and Latimer has taken a much more pro-Israel stance. That's WMYC's Bridget Bergen talking with my colleague, Michael Hill.

Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. tomorrow.