NYC NOW - Midday News: NYPD Misconduct, Real ID Deadline, Westchester Fire Ban Lifted, Holiday Travel Tips, and Giving Tuesday

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

A police watchdog agency has found evidence of misconduct in a 2023 NYPD shooting. Meanwhile, millions of New Yorkers have six months to get a Real ID to fly domestically or enter certain federal buildings. Also, Westchester County has lifted its ban on open fires in parks after recent rain reduced the risk of fires. Plus, the MTA is encouraging riders to skip holiday traffic by using its “MTA Away” guide for tips on routes, travel discounts, and festive event details. Finally, it’s Giving Tuesday! Sapreet Saluja from New York Cares shares tips on how to make a difference this holiday season.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, December 3rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Police watchdog agency has found evidence of misconduct in a 23 NYPD shooting. WNYC's Caroline Lewis reports. The Civilian Complaint Review Board has found that Officer Derek Bernard used excessive force and abused his authority when he shot and critically injured Raul de la Cruz in the Bronx in March 23. De La Cruz's father had called 3-1-1 for help because he was worried about his son's

mental state. De La Cruz was holding a kitchen knife when police officers arrived and the incident escalated quickly. The board's charges could lead to Bernard getting suspended or fired, but that decision is up to the NYPD. The police department has asked the watchdog agency to reconsider its findings. In other news this morning, millions of New Yorkers have just six months to get a real ID or enhanced license if they want to fly domestically or enter certain federal buildings. The new requirements stem from the Real ID Act passed in the aftermath of 9-11 to improve security. The deadline has been postponed multiple times, but it's May 20, 25. To get a real ID, you'll need to prove your name, Social Security number, and state residency. The DMV is encouraging people to apply now to

avoid delays before that deadline. There's no longer a fire ban on open fires in Westchester County parks after recent rain helped alleviate New York's drought conditions. While Westchester remains in a drought, officials say the risk of fire has decreased. Smoking, grilling, and other sources of open flame remain illegal, though, in New York City. parks. The MTA wants to skip the gridlock this holiday, wants you to do it as well, and take mass transit to some of the area's most festive celebrations. That includes taking the BDFM line to the Rockefeller Center, Christmas tree lighting. That's tomorrow evening in Midtown, or catching the NR trains to the menorah lightings at Grand Army Plaza. The agency is rolling out a trip

guide called MTA away for tips on routes, travel discounts, and high. holiday event details. You can find it on the MTA's website. You'll also find travel tips to holiday lights like taking the D-Train to Diker Heights's dazzling home displays or the two, three trains to lightscape at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. So a lot going on there. Forty-one and partly sunny now, sunshine and 43 for a high today. Then tomorrow, increasing clouds. Forty-one rain may be a mix with snow at night. Once again, 41 with sunshine. Stay close. There's more after the break. It's giving Tuesday. While it's never a bad time to give back, some of us feel especially compelled to donate our time or money during the holiday season.

Supreme Sillusia is the executive director of the Volunteer Network New York Cares. She joins us now with some tips on how to do exactly that. Tell us about New York Cares annual coat drive. We hear a lot about it. It's certainly been cold outside these last few days and certainly this morning, but some places now issuing those blue coat alerts. How many coats are you aiming to collect this year and how do you get them to the people who need them? Well, good morning, Michael. Happy giving Tuesday. Thank you so much for having us.

It is cold out, especially this week. Wow, right? Hard to imagine how many New Yorkers are walking the streets without a proper winter coat this winter. This is the 36th annual New York Cares coat drive. Our goal this year is to keep 85,000 New Yorkers warm. And the way that we do that is by engaging everyday New Yorkers. You can go to our website, New Yorkcares.org, and see a map of all of our public collection sites. We have hundreds of New Yorkers that also stage private collections in their buildings, in their

neighborhood, in their school, in their church, with their book clubs. and bring those coats to the public collection sites. They make their way to our donated warehouse space in Midtown, Manhattan, where volunteers come and sort them. We want to make sure every coat has dignity. We have a group that pro bono or through volunteer. What do you mean by dignity? Dignity.

Well, your coat that's gently worn should have another life in it. it should be respectful to the next wear of the coat. It shouldn't be tattered. It shouldn't be dirty. It should have another life in it. And so we have volunteers that go through the coats to ensure that that's the case. And we have a company that stepped forward to dry clean, a number of the coats that just need another laundering. Then they're sort of separated into different categories.

And we work with hundreds of our community partners and their wish list. for the clients that they're serving. I understand some of the partners you have are professional sports teams? Well, yes, we have all sorts of partners. We have our partners who get behind the coat drive and implore folks to donate their time, their coat, their resources, their financial resources,

like all of New York City sports teams and all the major leagues, as well as UPS, that picks up coats from our public collection sites and brings them to the warehouse. and piece of cake moving in storage that also picks up coats. Bloomberg Philanthropies is with us. Vernado has donated the warehouse space.

It's a real team effort across the city. Yeah, quite incredible. And then we have the hundreds of nonprofits that we work with on a regular basis, and many of them are serving clients that need coats in the winter. So they send us their wish list, how many they need, usually in the hundreds, whether they are, let's say, a shelter serving women and children, then they need specific sizes. We have schools, we have community centers, we have transitional housing, we have partners that are in the business of helping with food insecurity, and chances

are if you need services like that and support like that, you probably also are in need of a warm winter coat. And so other ways people, Sprite, what are some of the other ways people can help out if they are short on time to volunteer or money to donate? There are so many ways to get involved. You can check us out, New Yorkcares.org, and you can see how many nonprofits we work with across the city. It's as simple as sorting based on your area of interest, the issue area you're interested in, the borough perhaps, the location, the time, and opportunities will pop up. It's giving Tuesday. You can think about a cause that you find dear to you

that you want to make a difference in. You can do a quick Google search, head to their website and make an online contribution. I would tell you that no donation is too small and none is too big either. It takes financial resources to power these efforts. People think it's difficult to get involved, like that, and I have to tell you the most difficult part is sort of deciding you're going to

take that first step. Once you get there, it's pretty simple. Now, quickly here, you have a list of vetted organizations on your site there. If a group is not on that list, what are other ways people can check out a group before they give? We have 15 seconds left. Absolutely. So you can check out their website, nonprofits that are in great standing post their financials up on the website, lot of their impact report. So it's important to do a bit of research there and to see the ways that they leverage volunteers and financial resources to deliver their mission. Sabreet Saluja is the executive director of Volunteer Network New York Cairs. Thanks so much for joining us on that. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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