NYC NOW - June 3, 2024 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

A new report says New York City families with younger children are twice as likely to leave the city than those without young kids. Plus, New Jersey is gearing up for the statewide primary election on Tuesday. And finally, we’re back at “Bubbles Are Us” in Paterson, New Jersey, for our election engagement project, “Suds and Civics.”

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. New York City families with younger children are twice as likely to leave the city than those without young kids. That's according to a new report. Findings released Monday by the Fiscal Policy Institute say the high costs of raising children and housing are pushing New Yorkers to flee the state. Brooklyn parent Michael Allen Gugh says his family is considering moving. because they can't afford child care for their twin four-year-olds.

He says he was able to secure two pre-k seats, but the program doesn't offer care past 2.30 in the afternoon. I have to hire a nanny, or I have to take off of work, or my husband has to take off of work. There's just so many logistics that I didn't think I had to worry about once they're in the program. The new report comes as Mayor Eric Adams is facing pressure to fully restore proposed budget cuts to early.

childhood education. Now to New Jersey, where polls are set to open at 6 Tuesday morning for the statewide primary election. WNYC's Nancy Solomon gives us a preview. President Biden and Donald Trump are on the ballot, as is a race to fill the Senate seat of Bob Menendez, who's currently on trial on bribery and corruption charges. Eleven members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election, and there's one open seat because Congress member Andy Kim is running for the Senate. Many New Jerseyans have already voted, either by mail or in-person early voting. The New Jersey State Division of Elections website at vote.nj.gov has lookup tools to find a polling place, track a mailed-in ballot, or check whether a voter is registered. Polls are open until 8 p.m.

We're going to hang in New Jersey a bit longer. Patterson, to be exact, a local laundromat there welcomed WMYC's Community Partnerships Desk for its election engagement project, Suds and Civics. More on that after the break. As the November election draws near, WMYC is focusing on what people in our region have to say about political issues and voting. To do that, we're using laundromats across the New York metro area as hubs for civic engagement. WMYC's Community Partnerships Desk spent the morning at Bubbles RU in Patterson, New Jersey, where voters prepare for their statewide primary. Alongside the whirling and spinning of washing machines, WNYC's Michael Hill talked with Bridget Harrison,

professor of political science at Montclair State University, and Lauren Nance with the League of Women Voters of Patterson. We start the conversation with New Jersey resident Pam Ocasio, who expresses a sentiment we've heard many times this election season. I just went this year and had my name removed from the voter rolls. Because I don't want to vote. It doesn't matter who you vote for. They're going to do what they want to do anyway. Lauren, we've all heard of people being apathetic, not voting,

but how common is a sentiment that strong these days in Patterson and in New Jersey as a whole? It wrenches my heart that my neighbors like Pam made that decision because especially at the local level, our vote really does matter. Our voice really does matter. And so apathy is. is at a high, but the League of Women Voters has been working diligently in that grassroots effort that we're so known for to make certain that people understand that their vote really does matter, their voice does matter.

Bridget, turning to you, what do you think is driving voter apathy? Well, I think that you're having two separate issues. The first one is we have two candidates, one in his late 70s, the other in his early 80s, And a lot of voters say, is this the best that the parties can do? There's a real gap in enthusiasm amongst voters who would vote for either candidate. But there's also this big phenomenon of double haters, voters that just can't stay in either candidate. You have on top of that the economy, particularly issues with inflation, and then you have this Israel and Hamas war, where we see.

you know, a lot of people who could potentially support Joe Biden, just really taking issue with the U.S. stance on this and saying, you know, maybe I'll sit out, maybe I'll protest vote, but it has become a real strangle hope on him. George, you've heard from a wide range of people at Bubbles or us over the past few months. Remind us what issues people are, what do they tell you matter to them? Yeah, it echoes what Bridget is saying here about the economy. first and foremost the cost of groceries, inflation, certainly. Gun violence is a big concern, though we should point out that gun violence is down by about 33%

in Patterson from last year. Immigration also comes up a lot, and several people we talked with are also upset with where the United States is directing taxpayer dollars. Here's 40-year-old Tanya Bradley. Ukraine has an emergency. Palestine has an emergency. Israel has an emergency. On our land, on our home and our own time.

town. We have an emergency. Everybody has an emergency, but it's so hard for me to understand how is it that everybody else's emergency seems to get dealt with and handled, but ours just seem to get looked over. Bridget, is that a common refrain among voters this election season? It is a common refrain, and we see particularly because there's so much in the news about increased expenditures for Ukraine and for Israel. The reality is that when you ask people, are we giving too much money in foreign aid? Everyone says yes, and they think that we're giving about 25% of the budget.

In reality, we are giving about 5%. And we're giving most of that money to about 10 countries. Voters think that it should be at about 10%. So this is kind of a bit of a fallacy. People hear about these big ticket-ish items that we're sending to Ukraine, but they don't really make the connection between that proportion of the budget and what is actually being spent in other ways.

Lauren, talk to us more about how the League of Women Voters is working to increase political participation in New Jersey. Do you have specific areas you're focusing on? Absolutely. One of the most effective ways that we found to reach voters is really in the neighborhood, in small groups, in sharing with them not only the importance of voter, but also education, and making certain that they understand how to register, how to remain registered, if you were formally incarcerated, what your voter rights are. And so we've been finding a lot of movement

in that grassroots, small group mobilization to make certain that folks get to the polls. Let's share one more piece here. This is of tape from the launch, Madam Patterson. It's a message for the candidates from 41-year-old Melissa Matos. sit down with the poor people, us, the middle people, and see what's going on. And what we really need is not sit down and not do nothing and just do something about what's going on. Lauren, what is the league doing in New Jersey to hold candidates accountable to people like Melissa Matos?

Wow, that's such a great question. We have 30 local leagues across the state. And with each of our local leagues, they are so passionate about not only, building relationships with the candidates, Republican, Democrat, Independent, we're a nonpartisan organization. We want to build relationships, and those relationships really help them to be more aware of what their neighbors, what their constituents are looking for, and we're a bridge builder in making that happen. Bridget, I have to ask you, are there laws or policies that can make it easier for people to vote in New Jersey that aren't being addressed right now?

Well, Michael, the reality is that New Jersey is one of the states where we have pretty generous laws when it comes to voting. We have no excuse absentee balloting. We have a pretty wide window from October 26th to November 3rd, the time during which people can cast their ballots early. The only thing that I can think of, you know, there are four states that allow everyone to ballot. You'll probably remember this during the 2020 elections. every voter got a mail-in ballot and they could use that ballot. Today you have to request one. So that would be one policy that would increase participation.

Not many states do that, but that would be one thing that might be effective in increasing turnout. That's Bridget Harrison, Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University, and Lauren Nance with the League of Women Voters of Patterson talking with WMYC's Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.