NYC NOW - November 28, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

Migrants who still need a place to stay after 30 days in New York City's shelter system are being sent to a former school in the East Village to reapply for housing, but some were in line for up to 15 hours. Meanwhile, Manhattan-bound lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge will be closed on weekends from midnight until 8am for several weeks. Also, legendary journalist and co-founder of Young Lords Party, Pablo Guzmán has passed away at 73. Finally, as the world continues to grapple with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Holocaust survivors in New York City have found themselves dealing with a range of emotions. WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein spoke to several of them about how they’re feeling these days and what guidance they may be able to offer.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, November 28th. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Migrants who still need a place to stay after 30 days in New York City's shelter system are now being sent to a former school in the East Village to reapply for housing. A recent city policy limits shelter stays for new arrivals to one month. 28-year-old Frank Ramirez says he still wasn't able to get a shelter placement yesterday after waiting online more than 15 hours.

He says the city is playing tricks on them as if they were children and telling newcomers to go somewhere knowing there isn't space. The city says migrants who were still online last night outside the former St. Bridget's school were given cots and placed in emergency facilities or slept on the floor in a Bronx waiting room during the code. blue weather, cold weather rule. Migrants were back online this morning as early as 4 a.m. Drivers looking to cross the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan overnight should make alternate plans over the next several weekends. Manhattan-bound lanes on the bridge will be closed Saturdays and Sundays from midnight until

8 a.m. closures will continue on Mondays from midnight until 5 a.m. A legendary New York City journalist has died. Pablo Guzman had stents a channels 2, 4, and 5 covering every corner of the five boroughs. A Bronx native, he graduated from Bronx High School of Science and Sunni, Old Westbury. During his days, before his days, as a TV reporter, Guzman, also co-founded New York City's Young Lords Party, the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Group, inspired by the Black Panthers. Mayor Adams celebrated Guzman's legacy on social media, saying, quote, the city is a better place because of the work he did. Guzman was 73 years old. 39 now, right around our high today, breezy and sunshine this afternoon.

On WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. As the world continues to grapple with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Holocaust survivors in New York City have found themselves dealing with a range of emotions. WNYC's Brittany Craigstein spoke to several of them about how they're feeling these days and what guidance they may be able to offer. Holocaust survivors are often resilient, empathetic people. I know from personal experience. My paternal grandparents were survivors from Poland.

my grandma spent time in Auschwitz as a teenager, and I grew up listening to harrowing stories about their experiences. But the events of October 7th and the aftermath of the violence in Gaza hit this aging population especially hard. What happened in October 7, it is beyond understanding. That's Sammy Steigman, an 83-year-old survivor who grew up in Ukraine and Romania, and now lives in Harlem. He was just a baby when Nazis condemned.

medical experiments on him, leaving him with intense chronic pain. My own grandparents, Roman and Cecile, passed away a few years ago, so I wanted to ask other survivors if they had some advice for younger generations trying to navigate what's happening in the Middle East. There between 16 and 20,000 survivors still living in the New York area, according to recent data. Stigman and other survivors I interviewed described a complex range of reactions after October 7th, From fears over a rise in anti-Semitism to concerns about the violence being perpetrated on Israelis and Palestinians alike. Whether it's the 1400 plus who died in Israel or the 10,000 plus who are dying in Gaza,

that I find equally upsetting. That's 81-year-old Joe Gosler, a survivor from Holland who as an infant was taken in by a non-Jewish Dutch family. Israel recently lowered the country's death toll from 1,400 to 1,200, while Gaza's Ministry of Health says the death toll there has surpassed 11,000. Gosler says he identifies with the experiences of both Israelis and Palestinians in this conflict. From his home in Manhattan's East Village, he says it's hard to watch the violence unfold on the news. Especially death and dislocation, people having to go against their way. will from one place to another, and in the process of going, being separated, and of course,

in many cases, being killed. Gosler says it feels like some parts of history are repeating themselves. We're in that state, actually, the 1930s. Crystal Nacht is about to happen. That's the sad part. Not necessarily to Jews, could be to Muslims, could be to some poor neighborhood of one sort or another, maybe it will happen in the Ukraine as it has happened in some ways, or maybe it will happen as in some ways it has in the Middle East.

85-year-old Doris Schechter was born in Vienna, spent her early years in a ghetto in Italy, and finally came to New York when she was six to live in a refugee camp in Oswego, under our program President Roosevelt created. She's worried about the hatred you're seeing all around, but says that finding the truth and teaching it to others is the best way to support tolerance. There is a glimmer of a truth in what everyone's opinion is. And if you are smart enough to really encapsulate that, it could be very helpful. Joe Gossler also says it's crucial to have an open mind about both sides of the conflict.

It's never black and white. There are so many other, shades of light that you also need to understand and absorb, not necessarily agree with, but at least understand and absorb. Amid the clamor of opinions and headlines and on social media, survivors have a unique perspective, one born from unimaginable horror that has evolved into strength and wisdom. Sammy Stigman, who has now dedicated his life to speaking publicly about his Holocaust experiences, says this situation gives him and other survivors a chance to really make a difference to young people. An optimist sees in every problem, an opportunity. And I look at what's happening today and I see that there is an opportunity, okay, for us, more people like me, to educate

the next generation. The reason that we have to talk about the Holocaust forever and ever, is because the Holocaust is the best example what hate can do to a person, to a group of people, to a nation, to the world, and we are experiencing it today. Though they are resilient, many of the survivors need help themselves to navigate daily life as elderly New Yorkers, but also to process the images of violence and the heated rhetoric on both sides of the conflict.

Hanan Simhon is the vice president of the Holocaust survivor program at Self-Help, an organization that has provided support and assistance to survivors around the country since 1936. He says the Hamas attack and its impact has been especially traumatic for survivors. Though they've lived through other wars in turbulent times, Simon says October 7th brought back painful memories of their own family members taken from their homes and killed by the Nazis. We reach out to them and we support them as best we can. Through that acknowledging that this is going to trigger something in our Holocaust survivors. Besides one-on-one therapy sessions, Simona's created a virtual class for survivors

to talk about their feelings in a group setting. He says the organization currently provides a variety of services to more than 4,000 survivors in New York alone. They are strong and they are able to continue to live their lives despite the tragedies and frightening things that are happening in our society right now. During this dark, uncertain time, the survivors say it's more important than ever to treat each other with compassion, empathy, and understanding. Brittany Kriksdyne, WNYC News. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and

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