NYC NOW - May 2, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

Officials are investigating after a man died following a fight on an F train Monday afternoon, new details emerge from the state budget bills published by lawmakers in Albany Monday night about the plan to make some MTA buses fare-free, and the Department of Education is planning to move an Upper West Side alternative school with a childcare center into an East Harlem building without a childcare center. Also, WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk and the nonprofit, Street Lab, are working together to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop at an Open Streets event in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, May 2nd. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Officials are investigating after a man died following a fight on an F train early yesterday afternoon. Police say a 30-year-old man was threatening other riders when a 24-year-old passenger intervened. The two fought tumbling out onto the platform at the Broadway Lafayette Station. When police arrived, the 30-year-old was unconfir.

officers questioned the 24-year-old and let him go. Medics took the unconscious man to Lennox Hill Hospital where he was declared dead. Neither man's identity has been released. State budget bills published by lawmakers in Albany last night reveal key new details about the plan to make some MTA buses fare free. The legislation mandates that the MTA make one bus route free in each of the five boroughs. It's part of a pilot program that will last six to 12 months, shorter than the two-year pilot Governor Hokel announced last week.

The MTA must pick the free rule. routes two months after the budget passes and stop charging fares on them three months after that. The free service cannot cost the MTA more than $15 million. The budget deal also saves the MTA from a financial crisis with tax increases and revenues from new casinos set to plug the agency's deficits. The Department of Education is pushing forward with a plan to move an Upper West Side alternative school with a child care center into an East Harlem building without a child care center. The panel for education policy voted last night 12 to 9 and favor of the plan. Edward A. Reynolds Westside High School is geared towards students at risk of dropping out,

including young parents. It will swap buildings with the Young Women's Leadership School. The Department of Education says that will allow the leadership school to meet growing enrollment demand. Enrollment at West Side High has dipped in recent years. It's 46 degrees with some light rain and fog now, clouds and scattered showers all afternoon near 58. in New York and Michael Hill, WNYC's Community Partnerships Desk, and the nonprofit street lab are working together to highlight stories from neighborhoods across New York City. We recently set up shop at an open streets event in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island. My name is Tom Ferry, and I live here in Staten Island, North Shore. I grew up here. I was born

in Staten Island my whole life, but I did leave and moved to Brooklyn somewhere around 2003 for about nine years and then came back. I didn't think I was going to come back, but ended up back here. We had kids and we were living in Brooklyn and it got increasingly expensive. The more kids we had, we had twins. We, you know, started looking around and then realized that we could live here and have a little bit more space and things like that. So we have a really good tight-knit community here and it's kind of like a small town feel so everyone sort of knows one another, which is great. My name is Lydia Holmes and I live in Grimes Hill. I've been on Staten Island for over 55 years. I've seen so much change in the Staten Island community. When I first

moved to Staten Island, there was an airport where there is now the Staten Island Mall. And on the ferry, on your way to work, everybody smoked. Now you can't smoke anywhere in the city, amazingly. The other changes are one of the most poignant to me is that you could take the Staten Island ferry and you would always recognize most of the people. That's how small the island was and today you take the Staten Island ferry and you don't recognize anybody. My name is Michael Stipcala and I'm from the Midwest but I live in Staten Island New York. I enjoy It's a bit slower for being New York City.

So I guess it's people the Forgotten Borough, which has a whole story behind that. But I kind of like that part of it. It's a bit off the grid. It's a bit slower-paced. It's greener, it's less dense. So for me growing up in the Midwest, where I did, it's a bit more the pace I'm familiar with. The density. I lived in Brooklyn for a while.

I lived in the Bronx for a number of years. number of years. There's neighborhoods all over the city, but I find it more homey in a way that's familiar to me. My name is Tjosa Walker, and I live right here in New Brighton. It's very quiet to me, honestly. Well, my neighborhood is quiet. My house is like, I can say it looks like it's in the woods, in the back of the woods or something, but it's very quiet. My son has his big yards to play in. It's nothing like the Bronx or, you know, Brooklyn or anything like that. I feel like safer in Staten Island. I mean, there's crime out here too, but you really hear a lot of things out here. In the Bronx, we used to live in the Bronx, but it's a lot of crime rate out there. I hear lately,

so I'm glad that we're here now, though. We've been here since 2017, so it's been great. My name is Julia Gensarenko. I live here in Stain, George, Staten Island, New York. I love it here. I'm originally from Ukraine, but I'm here already 23 years. It's interesting community. very close to Manhattan, it's good commute. The community is very diverse. Kids and parents from different countries, same as in school we can see this is a big diversity. Kids talk to each other, and like many people say,

that kids don't see the color. Like, they just go and they experience their relationships, and they have fun. My name is Sal Calcano, and I'm from West Brighton, Staten Island, New York. Staten Island demographics has definitely changed over the course of the last 38 years since I've been here. But it's a very, very, very insular community after a while. It's very, very, very community and centrally focused. And at the same time, it's a very, very open arms community.

Tend to always be embracing a lot of different fun new things. It's one of the greatest places in the world to raise your family and raise your kids. It's not limiting of your opportunity. That's the best way to describe it, I guess. That's a collection of voices from an open streets event in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island. The next stop for WNMIC's Community Partnerships Desk and Street Lab is Brownsville, Brooklyn. Look for us, weather permitting, Saturday, May 6th at Zion Triangle Plaza at the corner of East New York and Pitkin Avenue. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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