NYC NOW - June 7, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

The unusual weather pattern causing New York's smoke-filled air is set to break by the end of the week. Until then, Governor Kathy Hochul’s message is simple…stay indoors. Plus, what you need to know about New York state’s primary election later this month. Also, New York City enacts its Homeless Bill of Rights. And finally, a lawsuit claims that low-income homeowners in Brooklyn are deprived of lawyers as the courts speed through foreclosures.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Junae Pierre for WNYC. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires continues to harm New York's air quality, and Governor Kathy Hochle's message to New Yorkers is simple. The bottom line is this. If you can stay indoors, stay indoors. This is detrimental to people's health. The governor urged those with asthma to take particular caution and said everyone should consider wearing an N95 mask when outdoors.

The state sent a few fire rangers and wildfire experts to help battle the blazes in Canada, and Hockel says she's prepared to send more if needed. Meanwhile, as the bad air quality continues in the area, people who work outside are in many ways bearing the brunt. Matthew Endelcio is a sanitation worker in New York City, and he says it's not comfortable working outside. Honestly, it's kind of hard to breathe with the air quality that's going on, so that's why I'm kind of like taking a little walk right now.

but it's very, very scary, to be honest. The bad air is expected to linger through Thursday and Friday. We'll continue to keep you posted. There's a primary election later this month in New York. WNYC's Bridget Bergen explains what you need to know to cast your ballot. Let's start with the date. The primary election is June 27th, but there are also nine days of early voting from June 17th through the 25th.

You must be a registered voter in a party with a primary. to cast a ballot that usually means a Democrat or a Republican. Due to last year's redistricting process, there are several competitive city council primaries. Those races will use rank choice voting to determine the winner. There are also primaries for district attorney in the Bronx and Queens. Those contests will not use rank choice voting. To find your poll site for early voting or primary day and to view a sample ballot, use the poll site finder on the New York City Board of Elections website. You can find a link. at Gothamist.com.

Stick around. There's more after the break. In Brooklyn, hundreds of low-income homeowners have been facing foreclosure without legal help. A state law requires courts to make sure people in that situation have access to attorneys. But now, a new lawsuit accuses the state court system of violating that requirement. WNYC reporter David Brand has the story.

Carl Fanfare bought his bedstuy. Brownstone for about $200,000 back in 1999. Today, the three-story home is worth about six times that, but fanfare and his family are in danger of losing it. This is where we've done everything together. It's a part of our heart. To even fathom the thought of losing this, I mean, I can't even begin to think. They fell behind on their mortgage early in the pandemic after Fanfare lost his job as an appliance

repairman. They received a pre-foreclosure notice last year. state law requires courts to determine whether low-income homeowners can afford an attorney or if they qualify for free legal representation. Fanfare says, in his case, that never happened. It's a very unbalanced situation at that point, because anytime you have lawyers on the other end and you stand in for yourself, you might be in a problem because you don't know the laws. Now he's the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

It claims hundreds of other Brooklyn homeowners are being done. denied lawyers. Here's NYCLU attorney Terry Ding. The result is most of these folks who can't afford a lawyer, go through the entire process without a lawyer, and are much more likely than to lose their homes to a full closure that might have been avoidable if they had a lawyer. Across New York, nearly half of homeowners don't have a lawyer at their settlement conferences. According to data from the state's office of court administration, NYCLU attorney Daniel Lambright says that number is likely much worse in Brooklyn. What we've seen is it's mostly black and brown homeowners, particularly in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Bedstuy and Brownsville, who have been in their homes for, you know, many years

and who have suffered some adverse consequences of the COVID pandemic. Van Fair says homeowners like him encounter huge obstacles and need help from a lawyer as early as possible. You're in a mess of a situation. And then after a while, it's like, you know, the aggravation and the stress is like, you know, I might as well just give this up because, you know, the distress alone might not only make me lose the house, but might kill me. He says he still doesn't have a lawyer in the foreclosure case, but he's optimistic he can negotiate a loan modification to hang on to the house. That's WNYC reporter, David Brand. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.