NYC NOW - October 20, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

The NYPD has arrested a 26-year-old Manhattan man for allegedly assaulting a teen on a bus last weekend and trying to remove his turban. Also, the annual Tompkins Square Dog Parade is taking place Saturday, with a few differences from previous years. Finally, the MTA’s goal to add elevators and ramps to 95% of its stations is decades away. In the meantime, accessibility continues to be a major issue for many commuters with disabilities. Sharon McLennon-Wier, the executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York, discusses some of the changes she says must be made before the estimated 2055 timeline.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, October 20th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Police have arrested a Manhattan man for allegedly assaulting a teen in a bus last weekend and trying to remove his turban. 26-year-old Christopher Felipe has been charged with assault as a hate crime. Police say he approached a 90s.

19-year-old on a Queens bus, Sunday morning and shouted, we don't wear that in this country and take that mask off. Police say Felipe punched the teen multiple times in the back of the head and tried to grab his turban. The teen suffered minor injuries. The annual Tompkins Square Dog Parade is on tomorrow. As WNMIC's Ryan Kyloth reports, the Halloween costume contest will look different this year. There's construction in the park, so the parade had to shift locations. The red tape there almost killed it, but organizer Joe Bourdune says the community rallied.

This year we're having an actual per—oh, sorry, can I repeat that? Yeah, of course. Biscuit. Biscuit's a cockapoo. So this year it's going to be a real parade. Sorry, just one second. No, no problem. This year's going to be an actual— Okay, so this year it's an actual parade.

We're going to be walking down Avenue B. The avenues closed down from 7th to 14th Street, where the parade will begin at 1230 p.m. The new runway might actually allow for better view. as the parade expects thousands of people this year. And we can learn more about the parade on our news website, Gothamist. Our seventh in a row, rainy weekend, is underway. The National Weather Service predicts up to an inch and a half of rain by the time it's all over tomorrow night. And then on Sunday, we're talking about breezy and 56 for a high.

Many of us have heard the announcement on the subway that the train is coming into a while. wheelchair accessible station. But that doesn't always mean the elevator is working. The MTA's goal to add ramps and elevators to 95% of stations is still more than 30 years away. In the meantime, the city's transit system continues to be a headache and sometimes impossible to use for many people with disabilities. With us now to talk about commuting with a disability and the changes they say must be made before the year 255 is Dr. Sharon McLellan-Weir. She's the Executive Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York. Dr. Ware, the agency's goal to increase accessibility on transit came from a 2017 class action lawsuit that Sydney, the acronym for your agency, and others filed.

That one was settled, but there's another case still out there, and it's open that deals with maintenance issues. Tell us about that one. Essentially, there are elevators that are not always working. a person with a disability may arrive at a station that says they have an accessible elevator, but when they get to the elevator, it may be out of service. That makes it quite arduous for the person traveling, because now they have to reroute their trip to get to another location in the hopes of finding a working elevator.

There's no mechanism right now that's available for the person. with a disability to find out which elevators are actively working. From your own experience, what other obstacles are there in the transit system that make it hard to navigate? So tactile domes are the stripping that are aligned at the edge of every platform. There are the yellow bumps that people see along the stripping of the edge of the station platform. one. Those tactile bumps are life-saving. That stripping lets you know that you're going to get really close to the edge before you fall in. Unfortunately, there are some stations that do not have the right size of tactile bumps, especially for those of us that use the typical stick that

people see blind people walk away. They detect those particular size yellow bumps. and keeps us safe. Also, New York City is one of those cities that do not have platform doors that would protect everyone from falling into into their track. And through advocacy, there's a pilot program that's going on to figure out which stations can be retrofitted to have platform doors. We're hoping that in the near future, that we will see on platform doors in every station. Another option people have is accessory right, where someone can call and arrange to be picked up and taken somewhere if subway and bus just not an option.

How reliable is that service? We call it stressoride. Tell me why. The reason we call it stressoride is because assessoride is a shared ride program, where, you know, the person will be in a vehicle with other passengers going to multiple locations. So it is possible for someone to be in the car. And you may go to Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, or Staten Island, or even the Bronx, before you get to your final destination.

Not to make light of this, but basically you're talking about taking a tour of the city before you reach your destination. That is correct. So a lot of the times, the people are late. And if you're working individual, your boss does not want to hear that you're late because of assessoride. Is Sydney looking forward to congestion pricing as a way to help fund the improvements that you, that you're requesting? Yes. We're proponents of congestion pricing because we've been told through the MTA that that is their hope for paying for a lot of the accessibility initiatives that are forecast in the next 30 years. Do you trust that that money is actually going to go for those improvements?

I'm hoping. I'm not sure. I'm hoping, based on what we've been told, that is the plan. But, you know, there's always a plan and there's always implementation and action. So we'll just have to wait and see. You know, what you're talking about is, yes, it is undoubtedly a benefit for people with disability is trying to navigate the transit system. But it's also can be a benefit for people pushing a stroll.

people with injuries. And as you mentioned, people who are older, what can you say about the state of accessibility in New York City? And how satisfied are groups like Sydney with the progress that's been made so far? Accessibility is not just for the disabled. You need to think of it as universal design for you and for me. We're all somewhat temporarily able-bodied. Through sickness or through age, something happens to us. And even if you happen to have a temporary disability where you break your leg or your arm, you still need to be able to live your life. So when we think about an accessible society, we think about universal design first because whatever ability you have, you will still be able to participate in all the goods

and services of the society, right? There's so much in New York City that needs to be fixed. There's so many opportunities here, and there's so much more. that we need to work on. Well, we'll be charting the progress of this to see where it stands with the MTA. Our guest has been Dr. Sharon McClellan-Ware, Executive Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York. Dr. Ware, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you. Thank you, Michael. The MTA did not respond to our request for comment. 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 occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.