NYC NOW - June 6, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

New York is getting closer to recognizing Diwali and Lunar New Year as school holidays. Plus, insulin prices are dropping but only some New Yorkers with diabetes reap the benefits. Also, New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board is considering an increase of up to 7 percent for stabilized tenants. And finally, Cornell “Black Benjie” Benjamin is honored a half-century after his death.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Jenny Pierre for WNYC. For hundreds of thousands of South Asian New Yorkers, this is the government saying, we recognize you, we see you, and we hear you. New York state lawmakers are closer than ever to recognizing Davali and Lunar New Year as school holidays. But it's not a done deal and time is running short.

Democratic Senator John Liu is chair of the New York City Education Committee. It's more important to have official recognition of days that are actually very important to people, including important to their religious faith. Devali is celebrated by many South Asian cultures. There had been a proposal to swap it for Brooklyn-Queen's Day, but lawmakers are now considering other options. Lou says he wants both Lunar New Year and Diwali to be recognized statewide. The city's school system already recognizes Lunar New Year, but not Davali. The legislative session is scheduled to end Thursday. Some New Yorkers are paying less for insulin, thanks to recent actions by federal

lawmakers and drug manufacturers. WNYC's Caroline Lewis explains who benefits. Seniors on Medicare are spending less on insulin this year, thanks to a rule that went into effect in January, capping their out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for a one-month-s. supply. According to pharmacists, some Medicare patients were previously paying hundreds of dollars for their first insulin prescription of the year because they had yet to meet their annual deductible. Insulin manufacturer Eli Lilly recently implemented a similar price cap for those on commercial insurance, but patients have to download a special discount card and hope their pharmacy will accept it. A Lilly spokesperson said about 85% of pharmacies are participating in the program.

The panel that sets the rent for New York City's 1 million stabilized apartments is expected to take a final vote on potential increases on June 21st. At a public hearing in the Bronx Monday night, DeMardi Barbosa urged the rent guidelines board not to raise the rent with so many residents facing eviction. Growing up in the Bronx, I've seen the beautiful, the ugly, and the most expensive. Right now it's rent stabilization, we're being told it to. year lease, it's going to go up to 7%. We're struggling as it is. So how can we live? The board is considering an increase of up to 7% for stabilized tenants.

Landlord groups say they need to hike rents in order to cover rising costs. On Thursday, the Rank Guidelines Board will hold another public hearing in Queens at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center. Stay close. There's more after the break. The intersection of East 165th Street and Rogers Place in the South Bronx now bears the name of Cornell Black Benji Benjamin Way. It honors a gang leader whose death sparked a truce among local gangs and is also credited with paving the way for the birth of hip-hop.

WNYC reporter Aria Sundaram has the story. The birthplace of hip-hop, as the story is often told, was a back-to-school party in a South Bronx apartment building. It was 50 years ago this August. From there, it's spread from other block and house parties across the borough. But with gang violence, those parties wouldn't be possible without what's known as the Ho Avenue Peace Treaty. That's according to Fordham history in African American Studies professor Mark Nason.

No police, no social workers, no teachers. And you have a party with 1,000 people from 9 p.m. to 3 in the morning where kids come from all over the Bronx and nobody gets shot in 1975. Could that have happened without the gang truce? I don't think so. And the truce wouldn't be possible without Black Benji. He was a member of the Ghetto Brothers gang with a unique role. Another former gang member, who goes by the nickname Topaz,

said he remembers the day Benji became a peace counselor in charge of breaking up gang fights nearby and keeping kids in school. That was like a real beam of light. Kind of like a ray of hope in the darkness. He was beaten to death in 1971 at the age of 25, while trying to break up a fight. To me, it was the worst day in South Bronx history when he got killed. Officials and gang members alike expected a wave of violence. But his mother called for peace.

And the ghetto brothers hosted a meeting with 20-some local gangs at a local boys club on Ho Avenue. They ended up agreeing on the historic Ho Avenue peace treaty that allowed gang members to move more freely across turf lines. And last week at the intersection where Black Benji died, dozens of students, former gang members, and his nieces and nephews gathered in his honor to rename the street after him. It was a local school social worker named Bonnie Massey and a group of eighth graders who spearheaded the renaming effort. Massey said too often the Bronx and its people are unfairly misjudged. You don't hear this other part of the story, which is that it was young,

black and Puerto Ricans, other Latinos in the Bronx that made change in the Bronx. that came together. They're the ones that did that. And she says people in the Bronx have a right to that legacy. That's WNYC reporter Aria Sundaram. Thanks for listening to NYC now. From WNYC, catch us every weekday. Three times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.