NYC NOW - Midday News: Gov. Hochul Urges Early Voting Ahead of Heat Wave, NYPD Probes Threats Against Mamdani, and Mayoral Candidates Detail Public Safety Plans

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

Governor Hochul is urging voters to head to the polls this weekend before dangerous heat hits early next week. Meanwhile, police are investigating threats made against mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. And with the mayoral primary just days away, WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein spoke with all nine leading Democratic candidates about how they would approach crime and public safety.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, June 20th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hokel is urging New Yorkers to cast their votes this weekend before the worst parts of a heat wave arrive on Tuesday. Polls are open today till four in tomorrow and Sunday from 9 to 5 for this year's primary elections. The forecast calls for temperatures of nearly 100 degrees on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday in many parts of the city and state. Governor Hockel says people should do whatever they can to take it easy and stay inside.

Take advantage of the early voting. You can go today, Saturday, Sunday before the really, truly heat hot kicks in. So I'm encouraging everyone to do that. More than 200,000 people already have cast their ballots in New York City for mayor, control, and public advocate. There are also contested Democratic primaries in Albany, Buffalo, and Syracuse. Early voting end Sunday. The primaries are Tuesday. Police are investigating threats against one of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary election for New York City Mayor.

The NYPD says its hate crime task force is looking into four threatening and anti-Muslim voicemails left at the district office of Assembly member, Zoran Mamdani. One threatens his family and says, go start your car, see what happens. Manami says his office is cooperating and taking precautions. He notes he does not have a car. Police have not reported making any arrests. so far in that case. This is great weather for going to the pools and beaches, but some Westchester beaches, Hudson Park, East Beach, and New Rochelle, and Harbor Island Beach, and Mamarinek are closed because of high levels of bacteria and algae blooms until further notice.

We're at 80 degrees now with sunshine. Summer begins tonight at 1042. Sunny in 84 today, winds gusting up to 17 miles an hour. This is WNIC. Stick around. There's more to come. New York City's primary election is Tuesday. In the closely watched mayoral race, the major Democratic candidates all say public safety is a top priority, but their stances on it are not all the same. WNYC's Brittany Crickstein interviewed the nine leading candidates on their plans to address crime and quality of life concerns, and she joins us now.

Britt, when we think about public safety in New York City, one of the first things that comes to mind is the New York City Police Department. What are the candidates proposing in terms of policing? Hi, Michael. Yes, it's a great question. So, interestingly, seven out of the nine candidates want to hire more police officers, even though, if you remember, some of them supported defunding the police back in 2020. The two who say they won't necessarily add officers are state senator Jessica Ramos

and state assembly member Zoran Mamdani, who polling shows is, a frontrunner, along with former governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani says he'll instead create a new, he calls, Department of Community Safety, which will coordinate things like gun violence prevention and homeless services, as well as mental health outreach and crisis response, and that'll be separate from the NYPD. Police have a critical role to play, but right now we're relying on them to deal with the failures of our social safety net,

which prevents them from doing their actual jobs. But Cuomo says if he's elected, he'd seek to increase. the NYPD's headcount by 15%, the most of any candidate. He says the city hasn't seen that level of police since after David Dinkins was mayor. I called for 5,000 additional police, which would bring us back to about the post-Dincoln staffing, precision policing, smarter deployment of the police, and more of a cooperative spirit with the police. Well, so the two frontrunners seem to be at odds on that. Is there anything they agree on in terms of public safety?

Actually, there was. Both Cuomo and Mamdani think NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has done a good job at the helm of the department since she was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams last fall. This is a good place to mention that Adams is running as an independent in the November general election, not as a Democrat in the primary. so he's not running against these candidates we're talking about here just yet. All the other candidates I interviewed shared similar perspectives. They praised Tish for cracking down on corruption within the department and for her strategies that seem to be helping to bring crime down citywide. Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilsen, state senators Ramos and Zellner Myrie,

and city comptroller Brad Lander all say they want to keep Tish in their would-be administrations. The others, including former comptroller Scott Strindler, former State Assembly member Michael Blake, City Council Speaker Adrian Adams, and even Mom Donnie, who's the farthest left candidate, say they'd consider keeping her. What do the candidates think of the most important public safety issues in the city right now?

So even though, as we often say, major crimes are declining citywide, many New Yorkers say they still feel like city streets and subways are unsafe, Michael, you hear this quite a bit. There's also been a big increase in quality of life. life complaints received by the city. And so the candidates acknowledge these big issues when I spoke to them, but they proposed pretty different strategies for tackling them.

For example, Mery says he'll pour resources into solving shootings with a particular focus on neighborhoods that bear the brunt of gun violence. Lander says he'll partly concentrate on hate crimes and retail theft, while Ramos says she will streamline 311 so law enforcement officials can more efficiently respond to complaints. Here's how Lander sums it up. I think all New Yorkers are craving accountability right now. They want accountability for people who commit crimes and harm their neighbors or put their safety at risk. They want accountability for officers who use excessive force.

They want accountability for top brass who abuse their positions, and they want accountability for elected officials who aren't focused on outcomes and spend money without getting the job done. Based on my interviews with folks in all corners of the city, every day, I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment. WNYC's Brittany Craigstein. Early voting continues through this Sunday, June 22nd. Primary day is Tuesday, June 24th. Thanks, Brett. Thanks so much, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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