NYC NOW - Midday News: East Harlem Leaders Seek to Reopen Abandoned Rail Station, Trump Administration Floats Federal Takeover of 9/11 Memorial, and GrowNYC Hosts Fermentation Fest

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

East Harlem leaders want to repurpose a long-forgotten rail station to link the incoming Second Avenue subway to the neighborhood’s Metro North stop. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has floated federal control of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and WNYC’s Hannah Frishberg reports on how local officials and first responders are reacting. Plus, GrowNYC will host a free Fermentation Fest at the Union Square Greenmarket on Friday, with fermentation expert Sandor Katz and Norwich Meadows Farm co-owner Zaid Kurdieh joining us to preview the event.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, September 11th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Leaders in East Harlem want to repurpose a long-forgotten railroad station and use it to connect the incoming 2nd Avenue subway to the neighborhood's Metro North Stop. WNRC's Ramsey-C-Ramphi reports. The station dates back to the 19th, entry, when passenger trains ran through Harlem not on elevated tracks, but in a trench

set below the street. New Yorkers on foot or in horse-drawn carriages could peek down at trains from above. More than a century later, local advocate Kerry King says she's seen the old station herself. I live just a block away, and so to stumble across something that you never know was there, it was pretty magical. You could see where the columns used to be. It really was like being transported back into time. She and other community leaders want the MTA to convert the abandoned space into a passageway filled with retail and public art. It would allow riders to walk directly between the subways and Metro-North platforms.

New York City's Department of Environmental Protection is on the scene this morning after a water main break in Manhattan late last night. Officials say crews are currently working to shut off water at Nagel Avenue and Dyckman Street and Inwood. That's so repairs can begin. Photos on social media show water spewing into the in in-eastern. intersection in sidewalks and flooding the streets. The agency says they're still working to isolate the leak and stop water from flowing. 74 and sunny right now, but there's a little bit of that fall breeze in the air. Today, sunny in a high of 81, with more of that light wind.

Tonight, it'll be mostly clear with highs around 62. Tomorrow, mostly sunny. Those temperatures around 77 degrees. Stay tuned for more after the bird. On WNYC of Michael Hill. 24 years ago today, hijacked planes attacked America, including the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan. Now the 9-11 Memorial Museum commemorates the lives lost of the attacks. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg chairs the nonprofit that runs the memorial,

but this month the Trump administration floated taking federal control of it after Trump's campaign last year pledged a federal takeover. WNYC's Hannah Frischberg joins us to talk about the situation and how some local officials and first responders feel about a federal takeover of the 9-11 memorial. Hannah, is this the first time Trump is looking into taking control of the memorial? No, he's actually been pledging to do this since his campaign last year. At a rally on Long Island, around the 23rd anniversary of the tax, he announced that as president he would make ground zero a national monument. At the time, he said federal control would ensure the memory of those who perished, would be preserved forever.

But some Democrats are expressing concern about this. I'd characterize it as exasperation. Governor Hockel called it meddling and pointed out that this comes just months after the Trump administration slashed funding for the World Trade Center Health Program that cares for survivors and first responders. Representative Dan Goldman,

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, council member Christopher Marte, and assembly member Charles Fall published a joint statement, also pointing this out, as well as calling it an overall misguided idea. They said Trump's focus would much better serve doing something that actually improves the lives of New Yorkers. You talked to some 9-11 families and first responders about a federal-controlled memorial and museum.

What did they have to say? They have notes for how it could be better run. Executive pay, ticket price, and the location of unidentified remains are perhaps the most frequent points of critique. But they feel a federal takeover is uncalled for. First responder, Bill Keegan, founded a nonprofit disaster response organization. called Heart 9-11. He says the police officers, firefighters, and union building trade members who compose the group generally feel memorial leadership should stay in New York.

And he agrees. They shouldn't take it away from us. That is something that we invested so much in and that we've done such a great job of pulling it together that just let it be. Now, you reached out to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the CEO, of the museum for comment as well. The former mayor has not commented, but he has criticized the Trump administration before about this. How did the museum CEO respond? Beth Hillman, president and CEO of the 9-11 Memorial and Museum, said the takeover is anathema to the Trump administration's

goal of lowering the deficit through budget slashing. She says the feds assuming the full operating expenses for the site makes no sense at a time when the federal government is working to cut costs. She added that she's proud of their exhibitions and that she's confident the museum's current operating model serves the public, quote, honorably and effectively. WNYC's Hannah Freshbrough, Hannah, thank you. Thank you. Farm stands across New York City are starting to phase out summer produce to make way for the fall to harvest. That means you may be searching for what to do with all the egg plant, green beans, and summer squash the markets have left. On Friday at the Union Square Green Market, Grow NYC will host.

a free fermentation fest for the ins and outs of preserving foods for a new season. Joining us now to preview the event is Sandor Katz, a James Beard award-winning author, educator, and a so-called fermentation revivalist, and Zaid Cordia. He and his wife Haifa co-owned Norwich Meadows Farm in upstate New York, which provides a lot of the fruits and vegetables you can get from your neighborhood farm stand. Sandor Zade, thank you for joining us. Pleasure to be with you. Sandor, let's start with you. Why do you call yourself a fermentation revivalist? Well, you have to understand how widespread fermentation is and how important it is to

culinary traditions and cultural traditions in every part of the world. And yet, you know, as, you know, as part of our disassociation from food and its production, you know, most of us have no idea what fermentation is, how it is done. People imagine that it's highly technical, that you need to be a microbiologist, that you need a laboratory. And so I call myself a fermentation revivalist because the work I've been doing for decades now is trying to demystify fermentation for people and make it approachable. A lot of people are fearful of fermentation because it involves bacteria and other kinds of microorganisms and people project their fear of bacteria onto the process of fermentation, which actually just makes food safer and more delicious. So, for instance, just to make this

more relatable, if you started your day with a cup of coffee, coffee is fermented. If you had a piece of bread, bread is fermented, cheese is fermented, cured meats are fermented. Um, are condiments. If they're not directly fermented, they generally involve vinegar, which is a product of fermentation. Mm-hmm. So, Zaid, give us an idea of what else is taking place at the festival. So we will have two demos that day that are a bit different in the fermentation world. One of them is, again, the dairy fermentation that results from, it's a product called Shenina, which is a drink that people drink during the summer. It starts out with, removing the butter and then the way is fermented and then multiple products are made from that.

And another product that we will also demonstrate is a, it's called McDuce, which is a, it's a fermentation using olive oil instead of the traditional use of water. So that's an eggplant that is stuffed with nuts and various peppers and is put into olive oil, and that is a staple in many parts of the Levant, that's, again, a way to preserve something for the winter when Plenty is not there anymore, at least fresh. Plenty is not there. That sounds so delicious.

It does. It does. Sandra, you'll be sharing your sour pickle secrets on Friday. We don't want you to give too much away, but any tips you can share with us before we go? Well, yeah, okay. I'll be doing two things at the festival. I'll be doing, I'll be showing people how to make a sauerkraut, the simplicity of sourcrow.

Nothing could be easier. And yet, like, as much as like, you know, I grew up in New York City, I love sour pickles. I grew up eating them. I've learned how to ferment them. But honestly, cucumbers are the most challenging of vegetables to ferment. And so I just want to, you know, share, I want to share with people techniques that I've learned to successfully ferment cucumbers so that they get sour without getting soft and mushy. And that's the challenge.

Our guests have an award-winning author, Sandor Katz, and Zaid Kurdea, co-owner of Norwich Meadows Farm, which services green markets across New York City. Thank you both for joining us. Thanks so much for having us. Hope to see some of you at the festival. And to learn about the ends and outs of fermentation this Friday, head to the southwest entrance at Union Square between 14th and 15 streets between 10 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon.

It's free and open to all. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.