NYC NOW - June 24, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

A new survey shows that over 8-in-10 migrant street vendors in New York City say they can't find other work due to a lack of child care. In other news, critics of solitary confinement may see an end to the practice in New York state after a group of prisoners won a class action lawsuit last week. WNYC’s Matt Katz reports. Also, New York State’s insurance regulator is notifying all insurers licensed in the state of a new law banning discrimination based on tenant income. Finally, as part of WNYC’s Radio Rookies program, 17-year-old TaoHeng Chen reflects on the impact of gambling in his community.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm NYC now producer Jared Marcel. Over 8 and 10 migrant street vendors in New York City say they can't find other work because of lack of child care. That's according to a survey out this Monday by volunteers with the aid group, Algun Dia. They interviewed 75 migrant vendors with children in all five boroughs. Liza Schwartzwald is at New York Immigration Coalition. which funds the group. Like, no one is telling families where to go and how to find assistance.

So even when programs do exist, they're not being told about them. Nearly all the respondents say they hadn't been assisted by any organizations. Less than a third lived in a city shelter. Al-Gundia launched earlier this year, in part, to fill that information gap by connecting vendors with social services. Over a third of the vendors were women under 25. Three-quarters were from Ecuador. Critics of solitary confinement believe the practice may soon end in New York State after a group of prisoners won a class action lawsuit last week. WNYC's Matt Katz reports.

The 2021 HALT Act prohibits incarcerated people from being held in solitary confinement for more than three days without documented reasons and for more than 15 days under any circumstances. But activists, attorneys, and prisoners say the practice has continued despite this rule. Now, a judge has agreed, saying the state is violating the ban and illegally disciplining prisoners with solitary. State officials said they are reviewing the decision but have made policy changes to comply with the new law. Attorneys from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit, said they will continue to monitor the state's compliance. New York State's insurance regulator is warning companies that they can't deny coverage to property owners who rent to tenants with government housing subsidies. The state's Department of Financial Services says it's sending letters to all insurers licensed in New York to notify them of a new state law banning discrimination based on tenant income. The law was included in the most recent budget.

A WNYC investigation revealed how property insurers routinely asked landlords if they rent to tenants with government housing vouchers and then deny them coverage or raise rates based on their response. Landlords say rising insurance rates are driving up housing costs. Up next, casinos are coming to our area, and we'll hear from one of WNYC's radio rookies about the impact of gambling on his community. That story after the break. Three new casinos are coming to the New York City area. The State Gaming Commission is expected to issue the licenses late next year, and as residents across the city debate the pros and cons of having casinos in their backyard, one teenager has been examining the effects of gambling not just on his family. but his entire community.

17-year-old Tao Hank Chen is a youth organizer who put this story together as part of WNYC's radio rookies program. When I was little, my mom would tell me I was good luck. She always said, you have a big nose and big ears, which means you bring big luck. She always took me along

when she went to play cards with her friends. She would meet them in basements or apartments in Chinatown behind creepy metal doors. Would they have to know you to let you in? These rooms are filled with cigarette smoke and chit-chat. People sit around tables, playing cards, and passing around tens and 20s. It's almost like a family game night, but with money involved. To this day, whenever my mom's not working, she meets her friends to gamble at one of these apartments.

She works long hours, and she says this is her way of relieving stress. My parents moved here. from China when I was five, and they've worked hard ever since. My mom found a job at a beauty supply store and my dad works at a restaurant. They just want to make enough money to live a comfortable life. But gambling has gotten in the way of that. When I was 12, my dad lost $30,000 in one month in Atlantic City. When he broke the news to my mom, they almost got a divorce, and it took them seven years to pay off the debt. I thought my family was the only one dealing with this, but as I got older, I realized we weren't alone.

A lot of families in our community haven't hurt because of gambling. It's not necessarily putting us in poverty, but it's definitely taking a significant amount of our income. That's my friend Caitlin Moy. She's also Chinese, and she grew up going to Atlantic City all the time with her parents.

She told me that casinos give out gifts and incentives. They offer, you know, free hotel rooms, free buffets. So much of the stuff we own is from these casinos. Wow. Like I have a projector, and it literally says, the name of the casino we got it from Bogota. Our pots and pans might even be from there. I'm not even joking.

Kaelin and I are youth organizers, and we're passionate about issues that affect our communities. Since last year, we've been fighting against a proposed casino in Flushing Queens. Ultimately, three new casino licenses will be issued next year for the New York City area. And whether the new casinos end up in Flushing or Times Square or Coney Island, they'll all be dangerously close. Even like my family who's super into. I mentioned this and they're like, it's not a good idea to put a casino near us.

Like, even they're self-aware. And we aren't alone in our concerns. Earlier this year, State Assembly member Grace Lee and State Senator John Liu hosted a roundtable discussion at City Hall. Now, for quite some time, I've been somewhat aware of the harmful impact that gambling and specifically addiction to gambling has had disproportionately on the Asian American community. The conversation brought together experts and researchers, including Yiling Tan, who works on health equity policy at NYU Langon Health.

Research suggests that Asian Americans are at greater risk of problem gambling than the general population. Simone Kwan is an NYU professor who researches health outcomes in ethnic and racial communities. She said certain factors make Asian American immigrants and low-income people in general, drawn to gambling. Gambling represents a way to make money. is an outlet for stress. And casinos are often the only recreations that are open late at night after work shifts

when other types of recreation is closed. This reminded me of my parents. How my mom said she gambles to relieve stress. How my dad was hoping to win money to open his own restaurant one day. What I was more surprised to hear from Simone Cuan is that casino specifically targets Asian Americans. Asian themed games, foods, musical acts, and designs are key strategies to, reaching and engaging East Asian gamblers.

There is targeted and marketed free casino buses with voucher distributions daily in Chinatowns and Manhattan and Queens. When resorts World Catskills Casino opened, the Times Herald Record reported on the ways that casino was hoping to, quote unquote, wow, the Asian market. Things like hiring a fomshui consultant to help design the building and including games that originated in China, like Pai Gow and Sikpah. These elements can make casinos a place where many Asian Americans feel welcome, which is significant because about 80% of Asian Americans here in the USA

do not feel like they belong. That's from an annual survey by the Asian American Foundation. Mainstream society isn't always geared towards immigrant communities, right, in terms of sort of just basic language access, basic feeling welcome, and so forth. That's Ben Hires. He leads to Boston-Chinatown Neighborhood Center, a social services group that helped put together a research report on problem gambling. It found that gambling is often tied to a sense of isolation that Asian immigrants feel in the U.S.

People are just bored. They're not engaged. They don't have a big family network perhaps, or they don't have a big friend network, or they don't feel connected to their communities. And so, again, the casino understands that and kind of says, hey, we can fill that gap. The Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center is now trying to create alternatives for people. So we're doing ping pong, we're doing karaoke. We don't necessarily mark it as like, you know, this is an anti-gambling ping pong night, right? It's more of like build a place where people do feel like they belong. People can have a good time.

People feel like they're welcome. I always looked at gambling as a problem my parents struggle with. Now I know the real problem is a sense of isolation they feel. This is all much bigger than fighting against casinos in our neighborhoods. People will always be able to find some place to gamble. as long as they feel that lack of belonging. And we need to find solutions for that. That 17-year-old youth organizer and radio rookies reporter, Tau Hang Chen.

Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jared Marcel. We'll be back tomorrow.