NYC NOW - May 1, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

New York City officials say nearly 300 people are facing charges in the campus protests at City College and Columbia University. Mayor Eric Adams Mayor places some blame on professional agitators. In other news, over 150 former juvenile jail inmates are suing, claiming they were sexually abused by staff members. Also, a new survey reveals that one in five food delivery-app workers in New York City report being injured on the job. Plus, New York City plans to build new skate parks in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Finally, NYPD officers took control of Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday night to end a standoff with pro-Palestinian protestors. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with reporter Bahar Ostadan, who was at Columbia late Tuesday night.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, May 1st. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York City officials say almost 300 people are facing charges in the campus protests at City College and Columbia University. Mayor Adams continues to say that the unrest is fueled in part by Provinal. professional agitators. I know that they're those who are attempting to say, well, the majority of people may have been students.

You don't have to be the majority to influence and co-op in operation. Demonstrators at Columbia had been occupying parts at our campus and Hamilton Hall until late last night when NYPD officers went in and removed them. More than 150 people who were locked up in juvenile jails are suing, saying they were sexually abused by staff. members. Debelian-Masiz Bahar Oostodon has more. Dozens of plaintiffs are suing city agencies saying they were sexually abused from the 1970s through last year. Their lawyers say more than 75 percent of the victims were men. They were

sexually abused between the ages of 11 and 17 years old by correction officers, counselors, teachers, and nurses. The plaintiffs were jailed at the city's juvenile jails in the Bronx and at Rikers, which used to jail 16 and 17-year-olds. All the lawsuits were filed under a new two-year window that allows people to sue over acts of violence from many years ago. About one in five food delivery app workers in New York City report being heard on the job. A new study also finds the same number say they were assaulted. CUNY researchers conducted the study and published this week in the Journal of Urban Health. Mustafa Hussein is a CUNY health policy professor, one of the authors.

He says the workers need more labor protections. There's no worker compensation, there's no health insurance. There are no benefit when this happens, and the company seem to be reaping the perks and the benefits of workers' labor without carrying any of the burden. Spokespersons for food delivery apps DoorDash and Grubbub disputed the findings and say safety is their top priority. New York City is planning to build four new skate parks in Brooklyn and the Bronx, one in Mount Prospect Park, another in Broward Park in Brooklyn. others in Bronx Park and Soundview Park in the Bronx. Tell the city what you think. At four community input meetings this month,

Mayor Adams talked about a nearly $25 million investment to build these skate parks in its state of the city address. A group of Brooklyn residents has been protesting the plan for Mount Prospect Park saying it needlessly reduces green space. 66 and sunny now, partly sunny and 75 this afternoon. And then tomorrow cloudy becoming sunny and warmer. 84, then on Friday we cool off to 69. Right now, 66 and sunny in the city.

Stay close. There's more after the break. It's still not clear how many students police arrested after storming the Columbia University campus last night in riot gear and removing pro-Palestinian protesters. Officers arrested 70 people, though, at City College not that far away. W&Massiz Bahar Ostadon was at Columbia late last night, and she joins us now. Hi, Bahaar. Tell us what you saw there on campus.

Sure, Michael. So we spent the first several hours starting at, you know, maybe 8 p.m., sort of tensely awaiting what might happen as hundreds and hundreds of police officers lined up outside the university's gates. By the time the sun had set, you know, students were sort of perched inside their off-campus apartments peering out through their windows watching rows after rows of law enforcement vehicles, including, you know, one large military truck roll into the campus. Unfortunately, you know, access was very limited for press. It was very hard for the New York City Press Corps as well

as student press to actually watch what was playing out as we were sort of confined to these pens surrounded by metal barricades set up by the NYPD. But eventually we were able to see, you know, protesters who police had arrested be escorted and then busts out of the campus later at night. You talked to some of the protesters there. What do they tell you? Is the campus demonstration there, in fact, really over? I doubt it.

You know, but it's hard to say, Michael. So as we've talked about, you know, the school officials have asked the NYPD to maintain a presence on campus through at least May 17th. That's a couple days after the school's main graduation. We don't know exactly what that police presence will look like, but certainly it will make it harder for student protesters to reestablish the encampment that has been at Columbia thus far. But certainly, you know, the protesters have made historic moves thus far

in terms of occupying a school building controversially on Monday night. You know, that was the first time that had happened since the anti-Vietnam War protests in 1968 at Columbia. You spoke to some students, Mahar, who were not part of the protests. I'm curious, what have they said about all this disruption? You know, it's interesting. I think students, regardless of their involvement in the protests, you know, are really clear about how this has sort of upended the daily operations of the school, especially

following the very large police response last night. I came across a line of students on West 114. Street waiting to eat dinner at sort of a makeshift dining hall because students are locked out of Columbia's campus right now for security reasons introduced or monitored rather by the NYPD. They couldn't access their dining halls, right? And so, you know, I spoke to several low-income students who said, you know, we can't afford to buy food, you know, out in businesses. And so the student council had set up a dining hall for students to eat dinner last

night. I also spoke to students who, you know, mostly freshmen who live on campus, who, again, were asked to leave the campus perimeter last night by police, waiting outside, you know, sort of sleepily, standing outside the gates around midnight last night, waiting to be let back in into their dormitories. So City Hall, the NYPD in Columbia, all have seemed to all to outside agitators leading the charge to break into and occupy the building. What do we know about that? That's right. So Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD officials sort of stood together earlier yesterday evening. They showed news reporters a two-minute video strung together with social media clips of the occupation of Hamilton Hall. But, you know, they haven't provided much credible evidence

to suggest who these people are that they're referring to, right? So, you know, we've asked police to name the people that they're describing. They say that some of these people are, quote, unquote, have been known to the NYPD for several years. Though the NYPD has declined to name these people, shared details about how they've identified them, and give us a sense of really, you know, any sort of details about who these people might be

and what role they played at Columbia. And certainly, you know, student organizers, Columbia faculty have maintained that the majority of the presence on campus and the majority of the protests are led by the Columbia community. Baja, quickly here, just a few seconds left. What are you expecting to date on campus, things to get back to whatever normative is? You know, I expect students will be exhausted. You know, those of us listening to the Columbia University student radio, they looks like they're taking a much needed, you know, at least few hours off this morning.

I think we'll just have to wait and see how and if the protests continue. Bahaar Osteron, late last night on the Columbia campus. Bahar, thank you. 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. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.