NYC NOW - June 28, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

In New York, all eyes are on November now that the primaries are behind us. But as WNYC's Jon Campbell reports, Democrats may have a Joe Biden problem. In other news, the heads of Amtrak and NJ Transit say they’ll conduct more frequent inspections of trains and equipment on the tracks between New York City and Trenton after a series of train meltdowns along the Northeast Corridor in recent weeks. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst speaks with photographer Rob Stephenson, who is documenting his visits to every neighborhood in New York City. Finally, on the first Friday of every month, the Brooklyn Pride Center in Crown Heights hosts a trans and gender nonconforming swim night at the community pool upstairs. WNYC’s Ryan Kailath has more.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, June 28th. Here's the midday news from Tiffany Hanson. In New York, all eyes are on November now that the primaries are behind us. But as WNYC's John Campbell reports, Democrats may have a Joe Biden problem. Even before the debate, recent polls showed this year's presidential race was tighter than usual. in the state. A Sienna College poll earlier this month found Biden had an eight-point lead over

Donald Trump in New York. That's too close for comfort for Democrats in congressional battlegrounds. They rely on presidential candidates to boost turnout. Steve Greenberg is Sienna's pollster. He says it's still early, but... If I were working for the Democratic Party or any Democratic campaign in New York in a hotly contested congressional legislative district, I'd be shy of I'd be scared. Last time, Biden won the state by 23 points. The heads of Amtrak and New Jersey Transit say they'll conduct more frequent inspections of trains and equipment on the tracks between New York City and Trenton. The plan to investigate the transit system more thoroughly comes amid a series of train meltdowns along the Northeast Quarter over the last several weeks.

Governor Murphy joined the transit leaders for an announcement of their stepped-up cooperation yesterday. He says the recent issues with the trains are unacceptable. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit also say their equipment will undergo external reviews by industry experts. Sixty-nine degrees, headed up to 78 today, nice low humidity and sunshine. A few clouds moving in tonight overnight, a low of 65, and then just a small chance for an afternoon shower for your Saturday. Saturday's high, 81 degrees. We're at 69 currently in Central Park. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First.

According to the Department of City Planning, New York City is made up of 339 neighborhoods. And photographer Rob Stevenson is visiting every one of them. Not just visiting, but documenting, with images and audio, and a new entry appearing weekly on his newsletter, The Neighborhoods. Rob joined us this week to talk about his project and to highlight a few of his favorite neighborhoods so far. My name is Rob Stevenson. I am a photographer who's been photographing around New York City

for a little over 20 years. When I started this project, I had no real idea of how many neighborhoods there were in the city. Turns out the Department of City Planning puts it at 300,000. 39. There's always controversy when it comes to neighborhood names and borders. I found out. The New York Times did an interactive crowd-sourced map, and they came up with the number of 350. So that's my new working number. I go to each neighborhood, walk around for several hours with my camera, taking pictures of pretty much anything that catches my eye. I also have some microphones and make these field recordings. I just thought it added another layer to this,

document that I'm trying to create this archive. It's always hard to find something that differentiates one neighborhood from the other sonically. Spight and Ivel is in the northwest section of the Bronx, right where the Harlem and Hudson River meet. People, there's debate about the name, but the consensus is it means spouting or spitting devil. That's because the creek that ran right alongside the neighborhood had treacherous currents and whirlpools. There's a small group of people who think the name means in spite of the devil from a Washington Irving book in Knickerbocker history of New York where he talks about the trumpet player Anthony van Corleyer who was tasked with warning settlers along the Hudson of a British invasion so he was going up

Manhattan and he got to the river you know with his treacherous currents he was focused on his task so he said he was going to jump in in spite of the devil cross the river and keep blasting his trumpet to warn people of the British, but he drowned. In the story, he drowned. And, you know, there's a myth or a legend that you can still hear his trumpet. When the conditions are perfect, you can still hear the trumpet of Anthony Vanquilier. After researching the story, I was wandering around the neighborhood. In the background, I heard this high piercing horn. It sounded like a trumpet, but I wasn't sure. So I get closer and closer, and I saw, it was actually a man practicing Casey and the Sunshine Band.

shake your booty, but a very loose interpretation. And, you know, I'd like to think he was maybe partially inspired by Anthony Vanquilier. Metamere Queens is one of the city's smallest neighborhoods in the far southeast corner of Queens, right across from JFK Airport. If Metamere's not the smallest neighborhood in New York City, it's definitely, it's one of the smallest neighborhoods. According to New York Times article, it's got about 60 people who live there. There are four roads in Meadowmere. There's one business, which is the M&B bait shop. You know, maybe not the smartest thing when I am already contending with 350 neighborhoods

to add micro-neighborhoods. But it's technically part of Rosedale. They weren't even on city maps until 1995. I guess the roads are 20 feet wide, but to be an official city road, it's supposed to be 50 feet wide. So they had no city services. They recently just got sewer drainage system installed. but they definitely feel like they're their own place.

Next is Lighthouse Hill and Staten Island. There's a 90-foot lighthouse right in the middle of the neighborhood, which is interesting because it's pretty far inland, almost in the middle of Staten Island. It's the Staten Island Lighthouse. It's what's known as a Range Lighthouse. It works in conjunction with a lighthouse out in the harbor, the West Bank Lighthouse,

and the two lights line up from the two lighthouses. The ship captains know they're headed the right way through the channel. It's a beautiful neighborhood right off the Stateness. Latin Island Greenbelt, so there are a ton of trees. When I was researching the neighborhood, the first thing I read about was the Jacques Marche Museum of Tibetan Art. It's a replica of a Himalayan monastery. I saw that they were offering a sound bath. And a sound bath is essentially, it's kind of, you get into a meditative state lying on the floor on yoga mats. The woman in charge of the sound bath walked around with a variety of bowls that she would hit with a mallet, banging them

and swirling them around your head. I mean, it's interesting because I'm I was lying down with my eyes closed the whole time. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't realize there someone was going to place a bowl actually on my abdomen. But I thought it was amazing, especially approaching this project with that layer of field recordings and sound to be so immersed. Photographer Rob Stevenson talking about his project, The Neighborhoods. You can read much more about his plan to visit and document all of New York City's neighborhoods

at our news site, Gothamist. and we'll have links there to Rob's weekly newsletter. On the first Friday of every month, the Brooklyn Pride Center in Crown Heights hosts a swimming night at the community pool upstairs. Specifically, it's a trans and gender non-conforming swim night. As WNYC's Ryan Kailas reports, the pool party provides extra room for people to be who they are.

The pool at the Crown Heights Armory is separate. 75 feet long, and about 40 people are piled into the shallow end, while others do laps a few lanes over. They're saying hi to old friends, playing with pool toys. Someone's trying to get the Bluetooth working. Oh, I love swimming. I've been swimming since I was a kid. You know, I go into the beach, going to local pool. It's just something that's so freeing for me, relaxing. Jessica Grace grew up in Queens. She transitioned late in life after trying to live as a male for more than 30 years. Being in a type of environment that's almost exclusively trans is a very safe and affirming thing. I don't really have to worry about being made to feel uncomfortable about my body,

which dysphoria is something I struggle with. So this, I'm able to just kind of relax. That's exactly why this swim night exists. The Brooklyn Pride Center, housed in the same building hosted the first one in 2022. You know, swimming is an intimate thing. Sam Grassland moved here from Florida six months ago. It's their second time at this swim night, which has been a great way to meet people. This is a nice place for people who are gender divergent to get to enjoy one of life's beauties, which is swimming in a safe area where they know they won't be called out for the way

they look. Where it's rain? I'm a trans guy, 36, South Brooklyn. Rain Valentine says the early stage of transitioning reminds him of another time in life. It's an awkward stage of puberty, basically. And puberty at the pool, man. Yeah, you're changing body.

I'm like, I'm going to turn to a werewolf now. Valentine says being with people who are on a similar journey puts him at ease in a way that the beach and public pools don't. It's his first time here, and he'll be back next month. Ryan Kailoff, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day,

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