NYC NOW - October 16, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

The Elizabeth Street Garden, a popular Manhattan fixture, is facing eviction as soon as Thursday. Plus, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Rosemary Misdary talk about the challenges and solutions to fighting climate change in New York. And finally, 18-year-old Radio Rookies reporter Nora Dergam looks into how easy it is to get addicted to vapes and the impact it has on young people.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. It could be the end of the line for the Elizabeth Street Garden. The popular Manhattan fixture is facing eviction as soon as Thursday, and Mayor Eric Adams says he won't intervene to preserve it. The garden sits on lease city land, where officials plan to build an affordable housing complex for senior citizens. Here's the mayor.

open the senior housing is what I'm looking forward to. I understand the compassion that's attached to the garden. What was attached to me the most is getting New York's house. For years, the gardens operators have fought the city in court to try to preserve the space. But that came to an end last month when a judge signed off on an eviction order. New York City recently marked Climate Week, an annual event that features experts from around the globe talking about challenges and solutions to fighting climate change. WMYC's Rosemary was in attendance too, and noticed Governor Kathy Hokel's name kept coming up. Hokel has called herself a climate champion, but some people have a different impression of her. Here's Rosemary with my colleague Michael Hill.

They're worried that she's going to walk back on the state's ambitious goals set by the Climate Act, which was passed in 2019. Rosemary, where is New York at with its climate goals? We're way behind, but not so behind. We're can catch up with some hustle. According to a July report by the state's research and development authority, at the rate we're going, the state will be powered by 44% renewable energy by 2030. The goal is 70% renewable energy by 2030. The data shows we've taken a step back. Not even last year, we were on pace to reach 66% renewable energy. Now, what has Hockel said about reaching those targets? In August, she said the state will likely miss its goals by a couple of years.

years. And she's considering relaxing those goals. I now have to step back and say, what is the cost on the typical New York family, just like I did with congestion pricing? What is the cost of that transition to you? We're going to get to our goals. But if we miss it by a couple of years, which is probably what will happen, the goals are still worthy. She says she's a climate leader, but advocates are saying she needs to take action. What do advocates say the governor should do? Climate Group sent her a 10-point plan during Climate Week. It's a list of items that she can take action on to reach the state's goals. There's a whole bunch of unsigned bills on her desk, including Climate Change Superfund Act,

which would make polluters pay for the climate damage, such as the oil and gas industry. They also are asking her to finally roll out the cap and invest program, which would set emissions limits and also impose penalties on the polluters that exceed them. Advocates say also many of the renewable projects are in danger of not being built at all, and the state isn't doing enough to move them along. They say one step to get those projects moving is by adjusting for inflation. There's also the tax credit, which needs to be reformed to encourage more individual adoption, so people will put on rooftop solar and battery storage.

As it stands now, low-income people don't pay a lot in taxes and are often left out of these incentives. And most of all, advocates say she needs to tell her agency heads to make addressing climate change a priority and improve coordination. Many projects are held up for years as a result of permitting. That's WMYC's Rosemary Misdairy, talking with my colleague Michael Hill. It's illegal to sell vaping products to kids in New York, but they still find a way to get their hands on them. After the break, a look at how easy it is to get addicted to vapes and the impact it has on young people. Stick around.

NYC now. Vaping among teens is on the decline. A recent government report shows more than a million and a half kids in the U.S. are still using e-cigarettes. In New York, it's illegal to sell vaping products to anyone under 21. Plus, flavored products are banned.

But many teens continue to find ways to vape. 18-year-old radio rookies reporter Nora Durgam looks into how easy it is to get addicted and the impact of vaping on young. young people. Wait, you have a drug jar? Yeah, this is the drug drawer. Okay.

We got a bunch of clips. I first met my friend Eli at a house party last year. He was leaning against a wall, inhaling a mint-flavored vape. I asked him, oh, can I hit that? We bonded over e-cigarettes and became friends. And a bunch of vapes, maybe like... Oh, remember that one at the point I first met you. We have, what, four vapes?

I have like seven vapes. In his bedroom, vapes are scattered everywhere. If he can't find one, another will always pop up when he needs it, which is often. How integrated has vaping become for you? Every day, every minute, every hour, multiple puffs I go through like one of these a day. It's bad. It's pretty bad, yeah. Eli says he started vaping when he was 13.

That was five years ago. He asked me not to use his last name because he's worried about being judged at school or by future employers. I remember the first time I vaped. I started tweaking out because I thought my third. throat was burning. I got really scared. My first time was way different. It was back in 11th grade. I went to the girls' bathroom with my friend because she wanted to hit her vape. I saw the other girls vaping there too. I was curious, so I tried it. It made me feel like I was floating. The rush felt addictive, because it is. Most vapes, also known as e-sigarettes, contain nicotine,

a stimulant found in tobacco. It causes your brain to feel more dopamine, or in other words, pleasure. Here's more of what Eli remembers about his first time. It was a mix between both of me just like being high for the first time and feeling like Nick high, the nick rush in my head. And I remember that was so painful. It felt like a brain freeze, but like five times more. I quit vaping earlier this year, but a lot of people I know are still hooked. Like my 17-year-old friend Natty, she also asked me not to use her last name because she doesn't want her family or the colleges she applies to to know she vapes. Have you considered the long-term effects it has on a person's health?

I mean, yeah, I've, like, looked up the side effects of, like, I don't know if popcorn lungs are real, but, like, that was, like, the first thing that really scared me and put things into perspective. And I have this cough that literally won't go away, so I'm scared of cancer, but, you know, Leolo, like, only once. I've also had difficulty breathing in shortness of breath that I got over a year of vaping. For a while, I'd also get nicotine sick. I'd feel nauseous, start shaking, get very hot, and start sweating.

I did some research and learned it's more than just feeling sick and having trouble breathing. At this age, our brains are still developing. And nicotine exposure actually changes the way our brain develops. And as a result of those changes, younger people have problems with attention, have problems with memory, and have problems with cognitive flexibility. That's John Patrick Allum. He's a researcher and professor at Rutgers University. He studies corporate influences on public health, and specifically how tobacco companies market vapes and other products to young people.

Kids like flavors. Adults seem to like flavors too, but oftentimes these flavors seem to be very much targeted towards young people with flavors like cotton candy and fruit punch and, you know, peanut butter crunch. I remember this one flavor called Summer Blast, and it was mango, pineapple, and watermelon. If you were to put all three in a smoothie, that's kind of how it would take. taste. So if it's so unhealthy, why do so many teens keep doing it? My 18-year-old friend Kevin says he started vaping when he moved here from Korea for high school. He also asked me not to use his last name because he doesn't want any future employers to know he vapes. Kevin says he first tried it at a party because it seemed like all the cool people were vaping. But he knows it's not good for him. I am very much aware of what might do to me in the future, but

But also at the same time, like, everybody does it, you know? Like, you're not going to be the only one who's getting, like, all this bad effects. Like, everybody's going to get it. So it's like our life. My friend Eli says he wants to quit, but it's not easy. There's nothing that can get me off of this. I've tried the gum. I've tried patches, you know, zins.

None of them have worked for me. Yeah, I don't know. I just can't stop. For me, I kept myself busy to keep my mind off. of vaping. And I'm still doing that now in my first year of college. Homework, sports, playing drums, and spending time with people I love. No vaping. That's 18-year-old radio rookies reporter Nora Durbin. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.