NYC NOW - June 5, 2024: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: Documents show a pledge by Mayor Adams to investigate and penalize landlords who reject tenants with rental assistance vouchers is going unenforced. In other news, New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim will face Cape May hotel developer Curtis Bashaw in the Senate race in November after easily winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday. Meanwhile, New York lawmakers plan to approve a bill that would prohibit platforms such as TikTok and Instagram from subjecting kids and teens to an algorithm-based feed without parental consent. Finally, WNYC’s David Furst speaks with Melissa McCart of Eater New York to understand why the price of coffee is going up.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, June 5th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. Document show a pledge by Mayor Adams to investigate and penalize landlords who reject tenants where the rental assistance vouchers is going unenforced. WNYC's David Brand reports. The city's housing agency announced the plan to crack down on source of income discriminate.

by hiring investigators known as testers 15 months ago. It was just a few weeks after Adams described the effort in an annual address. If you tell a potential tenant that you don't accept Section 8 vouchers or other rental assistant, guess what? That tenant may be an actor hired by the city and we're going to take enforcement actions against you. But budget documents show the city is yet to follow through on the pledge to hire testers. City Hall now says they're planning to issue a contract to hire. them later this year. New Jersey Democrat Andy Kim will face a Kate May hotel developer in the Senate race in November. W&YC's Nancy Solomon reports on yesterday's primary results. Andy Kim easily won the

Democratic primary after vanquishing the governor's wife who pulled out of the race in March. Now he'll face Curtis Bashaw who beat the Trump endorsed candidate in the Republican primary. Kim says he'll focus on convincing voters that he has what it takes to govern. People want someone that has a proven record of being able to bring people together, as I've demonstrated as someone who's won a district Trump won twice, rather than someone who's untested. Kim will also face the incumbent Bob Menendez, who says when his trial for bribery and corruption is over, he'll run for re-election as an independent.

New York State is set to restrict how social media companies interact with young people. Lawmakers plan to approve a bill that would prohibit platforms such as TikTok and Instagram from subjecting kids and teens to an algorithm-based feed, at least without parental consent. Assembly sponsor, Neely Rosette. Our legislative intent is very clear. This is about protecting minors and young people. Governor Holt has been pushing the bill, but trade organizations for tech companies say it could violate free speech rights. Lawmakers plan to pass the bill before the end their annual session tomorrow.

65 and clouds out there now. Fog this morning, mostly cloudy and 82. Shows and thunderstorms tonight are low around 70. And then tomorrow showers and possibly a thunderstorm, a high of 82, that is. Friday looks like we dry up, mostly sunny and 83 for a high. Saturday and Sunday, mostly sunny and near 80. Sunday has afternoon shower chances. Stay close. There's more after the break. For WNYC, I'm Junae Pierre. For many, the day doesn't truly begin until they've had their first cup of coffee. However, if you're not brewing your coffee at home, you might have noticed that the cost per cup is climbing.

Eater, New York reports that the average price for a specialty coffee now ranges between $6 and $7. To understand why, my colleague David First recently spoke with Eater, New York's Melissa McCart. You wrote this piece for Eater. The headline is the price of your fancy coffee drink just went up again. Reasons why we're seeing price hikes. So let's go over those reasons. What's the first? The market can bear it.

People are trained to buy coffee out. It's like a small luxury. People might be cutting back and going out to dinner because the price of dinner, particularly in New York, has gotten quite expensive. They're still going to go out for coffee. or maybe even a pastry because they're attainable. Okay, you say the market can bear it. People still willing to splurge on coffee.

What's next? The price of beans, of harvesting the beans and getting them to the shop has increased. So the cost of farm labor has gone up, which is good. People should be getting paid for their work. But then you also have the cost of gas increases. And if it's being shipped, getting it to harbor or transporting it from point A to point B in a truck, all that has increased. The minimum wage went up as it should, but there's going to be an effect of that in that the price of coffee is going to go up. Coffee prices are up across the board, right? Is it worse in New York

City? It's a little bit worse in New York City, and there's some really interesting reasons why. The price of paper goods have gone up, whether it's paper towels or cups. And from what I understand, there are fewer players in terms of those serving cups. So remember those cups from the classic New York cup, it is a pleasure serving you, the Greek diner paper cups. Like, those are gone. And now there's, like, essentially fewer suppliers. So as a result, the prices have gone up on cups. So really, the price of a cup of coffee has gone up because the price of a cup of coffee. The cup is what's gone up also. Absolutely. And now the cost of insurance has tripled. Every kind of insurance, you know, accident insurance, health insurance. And then

And the last one, which is an obvious one, the cost of rent has gone up significantly. And from what I hear, there seem to be a lot of landlords who are trying to make up for lost time from the pandemic. And the cost of renting a space can be punishing. It's much, much higher than it was pre-pandemic during the pandemic with landlords trying to make up for lost time when they weren't getting rent. What about just a regular cup of coffee with maybe a splash of milk? Is that going up to? You know, it varies from coffee shop to coffee shop. A lot of places like to keep that even around $3 because they can afford to and they have

lost leaders like the latte can go up or the cold brew can go up because those are the drinks that everybody orders. But, you know, a lot of coffee shops have told me they don't want to punish the regular drip coffee drinker and they're still charging around $3. And if you had to pick your favorite coffee drink, what would it be? I'm latte all the way. I basically told your listeners how old I am. I feel like latte is like your Gen X drink and the pourover is a like millennial drink.

And then, you know, the durian coffee is like the Gen Z drink. So if I'm making drip coffee and my thermos, what is that? Are we talking Jurassic period here? No, I actually think that's like kind of punk rock of you. Oh, I am cutting edge. Well, Melissa McCart, editor of Eater, New York, thanks for joining us. Enjoy your latte. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.