NYC NOW - March 1, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

New York's Attorney General is threatening to sue Nassau County after its Executive Bruce Blakeman issued an order banning transgender women and girls from participating in women's sports at county-run facilities. Plus, the Legal Aid Society says New York City paid out nearly $115-million dollars in police misconduct lawsuits last year. Also, WNYC’s Arya Sundaram checks in with migrants who have exited the city’s shelter system. And finally, WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein talked to neighbors of two brothers in Queens indicted last month for amassing a small arsenal in their apartment.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jene Pierre. New York's Attorney General is threatening to sue Nassau County after its executive, Bruce Blakman, issued an order banning transgender women and girls from participating in women's sports at county-run facilities. Attorney General Leticia James issued a statement Friday, saying, quote, the law is perfectly clear. You cannot discriminate against a person, because of their gender identity or expression. She's giving Blakman five days to rescind his order.

If he doesn't, she says her office will not hesitate to take decisive legal action. New York City paid out nearly $115 million in police misconduct lawsuits last year. That's according to the Legal Aid Society. WMYC's Baja Ostadon has the details. The city is spending more and more money to settle police misconduct lawsuits. Those lawsuits have run the city over half a billion dollars in the last five years. That's according to this analysis by the city's Legal Aid Society.

In one instance, the NYPD settled a case for nearly $3.7 million after two officers were accused of fabricating a robbery charge. That case sent a man to prison for two years. Both officers had been named in past lawsuits and neither were disciplined by the NYPD. Police refer WNYC to the city law department for comment. A law department spokesperson said that reason for the payouts is that prosecutors are re-investigating a number of old cases. Coming up, we'll check in with neighbors in Astoria Queens, a month after two brothers were arrested for making bombs and stashing guns in their apartment. Stay close. It's all ahead after the break. A growing majority of migrants who have funneled through New York City shelters in the last two years have since left the shelter system.

But the city doesn't track where the migrants land, raising questions about their well-being once they leave. WMYC's Aria Sundaram reports on some of their new homes, including a refitted school bus. There's a school bus parked on a quiet side street along the banks of the East River in Brooklyn. You probably can't tell from the outside, but it's where Miguel and Alejandra now call home, after months of bouncing between shelters. When they left Venezuela, they never thought it was. would come to this. They asked not to share their last names for fear of jeopardizing their immigration cases. They light a camping stove to make meals and open the hatch on the roof to let out any smoke,

even in the cold. With the frio, we do it? They wrap themselves in blankets at night to stay warm. It's easy, they say and laugh. They say it's better than a shelter and that's sleeping in the street. Miguel and Alejandra are among the more than 110,000 migrants who have left the shelter system since spring of 2022. Mayor Adams has repeatedly touted that statistic.

Now one child, now one family, not one individual has to sleep on the streets of the city of New York. What we have done is working. But new and concerning cases of ad hoc migrant shelters have come to light in the past week, which call into question just how successful the mayor's policies have been. New York City officials say more than 70 migrants living on the first floor and basement of a Queen's furniture store have been relocated since they were discovered. And a similar story surfaced again the next day.

The New York City Department of Buildings says a Bronx juice bar was illegally housing. dozens of migrants from West Africa. Mayor Adam says those cases have been few and far between. When you move that large volume of people, are they going to be a small number that someone is going to do something inappropriate? Yes. Some migrants are also finding their own apartments. They're relying on the help of friends and acquaintances. And in many cases, to save money, they're bunking up with two or three people in the same room. Historians say that's in keeping with past generations of new immigrants in the city. I spoke through a translator to one migrant named Fall,

who asked me not to use his last name. He shares his room and his bed with another migrant from Senegal, he found on a WhatsApp group. Are you able to fully stand up or you have to crouch the whole time? He can stand up. He's in the side of the door. I see. He still says it's the best place that he's lived in months.

And another 30,000 migrants have taken up the city's offer of free plane, train, and bus tickets to other cities, which has cost over $7.5 million. It's one of the many nudges the Adams administration has given migrants to help them find other places to stay. But advocates like Amaha Kasa at African communities together worry that more migrants will be sleeping in ad hoc living situations after being forced to leave shelters.

If we don't get leadership from Mayor Adams on the migrant crisis and on housing, protecting the right to shelter, we are going to see sleeping bags and tents all over New York City. Mayor Adams has also limited shelter stays for migrants to a month. They can reapply, but have to wait potentially weeks to be relocated to another shelter. In the meantime, the city says they're offering temporary spots in buildings without beds. Advocates worry that some migrants are misunderstanding the rules, or just not wanting to endure the long, cold waits. Fall, for example, said he slept for a couple nights in the train station in Jamaica.

He said he didn't know what to do because he was so overwhelmed and it was raining, and he just didn't know where he should spend the night. He's one of several migrants who told me they slept on the street, trains, or other public places after being kicked out of shelters. That's WMYC's ARIA syndrome. Every New Yorker's nightmare is a noisy, nosy, or nasty neighbor who makes your life miserable. But what if that neighbor is downright dangerous? How would you know? And what can you do? WMYC's Brittany Crickstein talked to neighbors of two brothers and queens, indicted last month for amassing a small arsenal in their apartment.

Here in this quiet four-story seven-unit building on 36 Avenue and Astoria, neighbors say something was odd about the people in apartment two are. We all knew they were just like off. That's Shailene Heffernan, who spent years living just one floor above the Hatsia Jealous family. But nothing prepared them for the day when brothers Andrew and Angelo Hatsia Jealous were hauled out by police for allegedly stockpiling guns, ammunition, and even homemade bombs in their apartment. There was no giveaway that there was something that you had to be suspicious about.

I never thought so. That's Shannon Ayala, who lived right across the hall from the brothers and their mother for the last few years. Shalene Heffernan says she's still trying to process the details of the case. Prosecutors alleged the Hotsie Ajealous brothers were plotting to take out people like celebrities, judges, and politicians. What kind of headspace are they in that they would make a manifesto and a hit list? And then you feel bad because you're their neighbor.

And like, could you have done more? Whatever the neighbors may feel, the brothers are presumed innocent until they stand trial. But their aversion to getting involved in other people's business is common in big cities like New York, especially if something happens close to home. Distant gunshots and violent fights will often go unreported. People worry. If I call the police, am I going to get targeted? Am I going to get involved? Is it going to cause threat to myself or my family? That's Amherst College psychology professor Catherine Sanderson. She identified three central reasons why people don't take a more active role. Fear is one. Another is not being certain about what they're witnessing. And finally, there's a belief that it's not their responsibility.

If I'm aware, all these other people are aware, so why would I speak up? And there's not a feeling of personal responsibility. Louis Berigete knows the fear firsthand. She still regrets not calling the police sooner when her upstairs neighbor was killed as part of a murder suicide in the Bronx in 2021. She's saying if she could go back in time, she'd definitely call the police after hearing gunshots upstairs. It wasn't until things turned gruesome

that somebody finally called the authorities. The bodies of the deceased couple began to rot, and maggots infiltrated apartments on almost every floor. Betty Gette says she was so traumatized by the whole situation that she couldn't sleep,

had to go see a psychologist, and finally decided to move out of the building. I took to go to psychologist, because I could not die. I was sent me very bad. I had to move out of there. Even though Shalene Heffernan says she did what she could to get to know the Hatsia Jealous family over time, bringing the baked goods and trying to converse, she says neighbors overall should work harder to try to get to know each other or call attention to situations that seem unsafe. I don't think we should be afraid. I think we should be able to openly discuss it and say, hey, I see you. It's not okay.

The NYPD still champions the slogan, if you see something, say something. Officials encourage New Yorkers to call 311 or the crime. crime stoppers hotline if they notice any strange activity next door, and they emphasize that callers can always remain anonymous. The Hotsie A jealous brothers pleaded not guilty in their initial court appearances. One of their lawyers declined to comment, while another could not be reached for the story. If convicted, they each face up to 25 years in prison. That's WMYC's Brittany Krikstein. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Boutage, Amber Bruce, Ave Carrillo, Audrey Cooper, Leora Noam Cravids, Jared Marcel, Wayne Schoemeister, and Gina Volste, with help from the entire WNYC Newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrato.

I'm Jenae Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. We'll be back on Monday.