NYC NOW - Midday News: Gov. Hochul Pitches Teachers on Phone Ban, NJ Transit Strike Averted, and Why a House in Park Slope Is Drawing So Much Attention

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Governor Hochul is pitching New York City teachers on her plan to restrict smartphones in schools. Plus, NJ Transit averted a potential strike by its locomotive engineers, as both sides reached a tentative contract agreement Monday. And finally, questions continue to swirl around a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, following a recent shooting. WNYC’s Ben Feurherd explains why.

NYC, Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, March 11th. Here's the midday news. I'm Jene Pierre. Governor Kathy Hokel is taking advantage of hundreds of New York City teachers lobbying in Albany by pitching them on her plan to restrict smartphones in schools.

WMYC's John Campbell explains. The governor wants to prohibit students from using their smartphones during school hours. She made her pitch to the United Federation of Teachers during the Union's Lobby Day at the state capital. We will have a cell phone ban, a bell to bell ban, so you can finally teach your kids without the distractions. You'll finally create that bond that's been neglected for years. Some parents have been critical. They say they want to be able to reach their children in case of an emergency. The governor included the plan in her state budget proposal. A final budget is due by the end of the month. In New Jersey, NJ. Transit averted a

potential strike by its locomotive engineers, as both sides announced a tentative contract agreement yesterday. The deal prevents the threat of major disruptions for nearly 200,000 daily riders. It marks the end of five years of negotiations between NJ Transit and the brotherhood of locomotive engineers and trainingmen. Officials from both sides did not provide the exact terms of the agreement, but say it includes a, quote, reasonable wage increase. The years-long negotiations required federal mediation by appointees under President Trump and Biden. The tentative eight-year contract must be ratified by the union members next month. 54 degrees now.

It's a beautiful, sunny, almost spring-like day. You can expect highs around 65 degrees and a low around 42. Stick around. There's more to come. NYC, I'm Tiffany Hanson. Park Slope Brooklyn residents have a lot of questions about one particular brownstone on St. John's Place. Many people noticed a major police response last weekend after gunshots were fired. But WNYC's been fewer heard is here to tell us why that's only part of the story. Hi, Ben. All right. All right. So first of all, just start by telling us what we know about this location. Well, the house we're talking about here is on St. John's Place between 6th and 7th Avenue and the heart of Park Slope, a very residential neighborhood. But it's actually this particular brownstone is at the center of a contentious real estate battle. My colleague David Brand and I dug in the city records. And we found that for a long time, it was owned by a man named Rudolph Clark. When he died, he had no children, no wife.

And it was unclear which of his heirs could claim the property. So his 84-year-old sister-in-law, Florine Clark, claims she was left the property in his will. But since he died, the property hasn't been sold. And it's currently in a sort of legal no-man's life. land that's referred to Air's property, which has no clear owner. At the same time, these sort of predatory real estate companies have been trying to take flaring stake in the property, they produce documents that they say she's signed that they claim give them influence over the house. And she actually denies signing anything. All right. Well, then let's go back to what happened

this past weekend. Yeah. So police got a call of shots fired in front of this brownstone. And this sort of quiet leafy block and Park Slope turned into this. this massive police response, you know, helicopters, cops with rifles, police on rooftops, in this standoff with people inside the house. And after the standoff, police say they arrested three residents of the house. Well, what's the backstory here? Were neighbors surprised about having something like this happen? To an extent, yes, just because of the scale of the response.

But also, they weren't totally shocked because of this legal no man's land that the house is in. there's been this sort of cast of characters living there, and neighbors have heard various things about who owns the house and who's supposed to actually be allowed access to it. Well, you talk about all of these complications on the real estate side of this. I'm wondering if this kind of a tussle is common in New York. It might be more common than you think. We spoke to housing attorneys who say this is an example of heiress property. When there is a question about who owns valuable property in the city, it's not uncommon for sort of predatory real estate companies to come out of the woodwork and try to get dubious legal documents signed and in control of a property. Where do things stand now? So the three residents were each charged with misdemeanors.

So not very big crimes. A neighbor said he saw at least one of them back at the house earlier this week. and it's still completely unclear who owns the house and who should have access to it. WNYC's Ben Fewer heard as a public safety reporter. If you want to read more details about what is happening at this property and park slope, you can read more of Ben's reporting right now at our news site, Gothamist. Ben, thanks. Thanks for listening.

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