NYC NOW - March 28, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

The man accused of killing NYPD officer Jonathan Diller is facing murder charges that could land him in prison for life. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst and Brigid Bergin discuss early voting for New York���s presidential primary. And finally, WNYC’s Community Partnerships Desk shares what they heard from residents of Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. Guy Rivera, the man accused of killing NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, is facing murder charges that could land him in prison for life. Police say 31-year-old Diller was killed during a shootout in Far Rockaway on Monday as officers investigated in a legally parked car. The car's alleged driver, Lindy Jones, was charged. Wednesday with weapons possession after a loaded pistol was found in the glove box. Dillers Wake began Thursday on Long Island. He had been with the department for three years. New York City is turning some of its public housing campuses over to private managers to unlock new funds and complete upgrades.

But the company tapped to run a Brooklyn campus has its own set of issues. WMYC's David Brand has the details. Pinnacle City Living was running day-to-day operations. at Hope Gardens in Bushwick, until the developer that hired the company, accused it of mismanaging the campus, alienating tenants, and failing to curb out-of-control costs. The developer outlined the complaints in a letter to Representative Nidia Velasquez. The member of Congress says she was caught off guard by the decision. A pinnacle spokesperson disputed the claims. The company was recently picked to manage two other public housing complexes on Staten Island and in Harlem.

Early voting is underwent. for New York's presidential primary. We'll have that story and more after the break. If you want to participate in early voting for New York's presidential primary, time is running out. Early voting ends Saturday, March 30th, and primary election day is Tuesday, April 2nd. Sure, we already know who the presumptive nominees are for the 2024 presidential election,

but the primary is still a. important. For more, WMYC's David First talked with senior political reporter Bridget Bergen. Let's start with the basics. Who can participate in this election? So this is a primary election for registered Democrats and Republican voters. No other registered voter can cast a ballot in this contest. Now, depending on which party you're registered in, your ballot will look a little different. Democratic voters will see a list of presidential candidates and a list of delegates for the Democratic National Convention, and Republican voters will only see a list of candidates. Bridget, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are already their respective

parties' presumptive nominees. They have secured enough delegates to be their party's nominees at this point. So why are we doing this? Well, David, it's really all part of a process leading up to the official nomination of the candidates at each party's respective conventions this summer. Republicans are going to gather in Milwaukee the third week of July. Democrats will be in Chicago in mid-August. And so under party rules and state election law here in New York, the candidates who filed

to be on the ballot in New York remain on the ballot even if they've suspended their campaigns. So Republicans are going to see Vivek Ramoswamy, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, and Donald Trump on the ballot. And Democrats are going to see Joseph Biden Jr., Marion Williamson and Dean Phillips. And they're also going to see a list of Democrats. National Convention delegates, but those are all delegates who are pledged to Biden. In other states, some voters who wanted to voice opposition to President Biden's policy in the

mid-east have voted uncommitted in the Democratic primary. Is that happening here in New York? Sort of. There is this movement among some voters who want to show opposition to what they see happening in Israel and Gaza, but there's not a space to write uncommitted on the Democratic ballot, So the only way a voter could do that in New York, whether it was on the Democratic ballot or Republican ballot, frankly, is they would simply cast a blank ballot. And Bridget, even this week, long after she dropped out of the race, we've seen a significant number of Republican voters still choosing Nikki Haley in primary contest and some other candidates. Do you expect the same in New York? I don't know that there is an organized movement to turn out voters here in New York, to turn out Republican voters per se, in support of Haley's campaign here. but I think people will be looking at the numbers to see how strong the support is for both parties' presumptive nominees.

Okay, and how does a voter find out where to vote, since it's usually different from where you vote on Election Day, right? That's definitely right. Here in New York City, you are assigned to a specific early voting location. You can find out where that site is by visiting vote. That's the New York City Board of Elections website. They have a poll site locator link on that page, and it will take. you to the information about where your poll site is and what hours it's open. The hours vary by day, so it's always a good idea to check before you go out. Now, if you're a voter that's outside of the five boroughs, you can cast your vote at an early voting site anywhere in your county. Finally,

the early voting period, it's normally nine days long, David, but for this election only. Early voting will only run for eight days. It's going to end Saturday, March 30th. It wasn't mentioned in the law that was passed that set the dates for this primary. But as we know, Easter Sunday is on March 31st, which normally would have been the last day of early voting. And so they're ending it a date early so it does not overlap with Easter. That's WMYC's Bridget Bergen talking with my colleague, David First. Every now and then, WMYC's Community Partnerships Desk teams up with the nonprofit Street Lab to collect stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop.

on Thadford Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Here are a few voices from the community. My name is Daniel Fields. I live in Brownsville for 62 years. What I really like about Browns is that we're trying to get a unity thing going on in Brownsville. And it's working because you see more young people. It's asking more questions. Like, looking for a sense of direction.

And so what my purpose has been all this time is just trying to guide them in the right way. I came to realize that by giving, instead of always trying to receive and where your blessings come in from. Like working a pantry on Saturdays, and I see the people that's online. It'd be like the 200 people's, 300 people's every Saturday at the pantry line. Because everybody's in the need of something.

I'm handicapped, but I'm never sitting down. I'm always out in the community trying to help anybody I can. The thing about Brownsville, all we need is more unity. My name is Gregory Gates. I'm on a business right around the corner here. Unity means to me about everybody coming together, black, white, it doesn't make a difference what color you are. That means participating in my community, not taking from my community, but giving back to my community. I come from an era when I was doing the things that these young brothers is doing right now that I don't do no more.

I try to mentor them and show them, listen, that's not the way to go. I don't want everybody else to follow my footsteps to go to prison to realize that that's not what's going on. This is what's going on now in Brownsville. I'd be 61 this year, and it took me a long time to learn better. And I thank God for still being here to tell my story, and it feels good. I feel wonderful. My name is Olivia Martinez. My story is I live here from 2001, and I never have problems with nobody.

And my neighbors, they're nice to me, and I'm nice to them. and I love everybody and everybody's loving to me. Like a family member, family member, you know, they look after me and I look after them. And we sit in here in the summertime, we talk, we have parties, we have fun, everything together. My name is Quasi Johnson and I'm from Brownsville, Brooklyn. Right now I'm the communications manager at the Brownsville Justice Community Center and part of my job requires me to capture events and programming, different things that happen in the community.

I love photography. I love perspective. Being able to show mine and to perceive others, that's a really big part of my life. It doesn't really feel like work. You know, I get to show people themselves in real time. There are a lot of perceptions of Brownsville based on its history. The pictures that I've been able to capture kind of show that other side of Brownsville. It shows resilience through all the things that we've been through and constantly go through.

It shows, like, a community that cares. I just think people need to learn to tell their story. So, like, everyone's perspective kind of contributes to the overall narrative. And if we're more aware of our differences and similarities, like, and kind of bring us together in a more genuine way. My name is Justine Roper. I've lived here almost all my life. It's a beautiful neighborhood.

And what is so great about it is that it's like very hospitable. I'm the president of the community garden named Jess Good Rewards Children's Garden. It's a very active garden. The community really loves the garden. At this time, it is beautiful. But all the tulips and the daffodils and the croak is, Brownsville love it. You know, this garden has been the subject of people trying to take it over and put housing here.

But we all come together and we have saved this garden. And I'm so dear to Brownsville because this community does help out. And it loves the garden. That's a collection of voices from Brownsville, Brooklyn. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jinné Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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