NYC NOW - June 6, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Members of the advocacy group Families for Safe Streets say they'll go on a hunger strike starting today to push for a new speed limit law, New York City Mayor Eric Adams vows to increase the nutritional value of meals in public schools, and in food news, Junghyun Park of Atomix restaurant in Murray Hill is named Best Chef, New York State at last night’s James Beard awards. Finally, New York City, long a Democratic stronghold, is seeing a red shift in areas such as suburban Westchester, Long Island, and parts of southern Brooklyn and Queens. WNYC's Sean Carlson discusses this political phenomenon with journalist David Freedlander, who covered topic for Politico. Is New York turning red?

NYC now. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, June 6. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Members of the advocacy group families for safe streets say they'll go on a hunger strike starting today until the State Assembly votes to pass Sammy's law. It's named after the 12-year-old boy killed by a speeding driver in 2013. let local officials set a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit on most city streets. But the bill is facing resistance in Albany with opponents saying it would just increase the fines the city collects for speeding violations. Governor Hockel and the city council both backed the bill. Assembly Speaker Carl Hasty didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mayor Eric Adams is promising improvements to school lunches. Adams says the city will increase education about nutrition in schools, improve meals, and add more school gardens. We have been feeding the health care crises in our city and in our country. The mayor's plan emphasizes analysis of meal participation rates and other data to ensure students are receiving healthy, culturally appropriate food. Speaking of food, there's a new top chef in New York State and it's Chongyang Park of Atomics, or Atomics restaurant in Murray Hill, and Park was honored at the James Beard Awards,

where he was named Best Chef, New York State, The ceremony was last night in Chicago. The award, sometimes known as the Foodie Oscars, aimed to honor American food culture. In a surprising twist, New York City chefs and restaurants did not win any national awards. Nationally, the big winner was the city of Philadelphia, which took top honors for Outstanding Restaurant, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Also in Philly, Ellen, of High Street Hospitality Group was named Outstanding Restaurant Tour. On WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. New York City has long been a democratic stronghold, and surrounding suburbs in Westchester and on Long Island have been increasingly trending blue with each successive election cycle.

But last year, Republicans received some of their biggest gains from those suburbs, sweeping all four congressional seats in suburban Long Island for the first time in decades. Meanwhile, state and local legislative seats in southern Brooklyn and parts of Queens also flip red. So what's going on in New York and are mega politics gaining a foothold in the state? the Empire State. David Freelander is a journalist who wrote on this very topic for Politico. He joins us now. Hello to you, David. Hey, how are you? Tell us about the recent wave of Republicans winning voters and reliably blew downstate New York. When did it start and really pick up? I think it really began interestingly, kind of like after Trump left office. You know, during the Trump years, kind of 2016 to 2020, they've always sort of been little pockets of republicanism in

New York City, its suburbs and New York State. But it was really kind of getting swept out, you into the sea in those years as a sort of new progressive energy was unleashed as a backlash to Trump and really sort of swept through the Democratic Party. But then after Trump left office, the things really started to shift. You know, 2021, Democrats thought it was a bloodbath for them in New York State. They just got really wiped out in downbound races in the suburbs on Long Island in particular. And then 2022 came along, you know, there was the sort of predictions that there would be a Republican wave and there'd be a backlash to the Biden presidency as often happens in midterms. And that didn't happen except in New York where Republicans, as you say, you know,

won four seats out on Long Island, almost won the House majority in a way simply by winning in New York State. I grew up in North Jersey and a lot of the Republicans in that part of the state and then in the region in general and in parts of the Hudson Valley there kind of the classic northeastern uh what we used to call country club or a Rockefeller Republicans typically fiscally conservative but uh more moderate on social issues what are these uh republicans now are they that classic Republican or are they full blown Trumpist mega Republicans I think that's what's sort of interesting is that you know for decades you know the conventional wisdom in New York had been for Republicans to win, they really need to be kind of Republicans in the George Pataki mode,

you know, focusing on economic issues, downplaying, you know, social issues. But what happened after sort of the Trump years within the Republican Party is they kind of turn distinctly Trumpian. And they cast aside that wing of the party. And they turned nativist, populist, also with a real sense of the kind of Trumpian sense of spectacle, where, you know, they, you know, they, It was all about kind of like creating these cultural hot flash, hot point moments. And then like, you know, there'd be a lot of outrage, a lot of media coverage and kind of exploiting that to their benefit. As the Republican Party turned distinctly Trumpian, they seem to do better. It's almost as if a kind of Trumpism without Trump is what the voters in New York sort of wanted.

What role does the New York Post play in this shakeup? I was trying to figure out, you know, why New York had this result. in 2022, and other places didn't. And a lot of the answer, well, crime. Crime was why, you know, the voters rejected the Democrats and elected Republicans. But, you know, crime is up in a lot of places. In fact, it's up worse in most places than it is in New York. It's up in Chicago, but Illinois didn't see a Republican wave. You know, it's up in Oakland and Los Angeles, but California doesn't see a Republican wave. So why would it be New York? And one thing that sort of pollsters and prooperatives and people that work in politics told me is it, you know,

here we have the New York Post. And none of those other places do. And that kind of sort of distorts the political ecosystem in a way because you have this newspaper that it's like willing to drive an agenda day after day. Of the final 25 days before the November 22 election, it devoted something like 17 cover stories to crime. You just don't see that in other places in this sort of media environment in other cities and states. Are Republicans looking at their chops right now, thinking that they can get more in New York in terms of gains? And how concerned are Democrats about it? Yeah. I mean, I think Republicans are feeling great. And I think Democrats are worried.

I mean, and it's not just that Republicans have done well. It's sort of where they've done well. I mean, they've done well in these, you know, neighborhoods in outer Brooklyn and outer Queens, which were really democratic strongholds. I mean, there are people, you know, longtime state lawmakers who have been elected by sort of. of, you know, every year by 95, 97 points. And they lost in 2022 to almost unknown opponents who the only thing people knew about them was that they had an R next to their name when they went to go vote. And those folks won by 20 points, 25 points in some cases. I think Democrats are wondering, you know, what the sort of future holds for them, because those were really thought

to be the base of the Democratic Party in a lot of ways. That's journalist David Friedlander, who resides in New York and writes about politics and culture. David, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. 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. More this evening.