NYC NOW - October 23, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

According to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the daily cost to house and care for migrants in New York City has gone up to 390$ per person. Meanwhile, police are looking for a woman who they say assaulted a female passenger on a Queens-bound 7 train Friday morning in what they're calling an anti-white hate crime. Plus, as the war between Israel and Hamas has impacted many people from our area, our own David Furst caught up with WNYC reporters Elizabeth Kim and Jon Campbell to discuss how Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul are responding to the news.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. The daily per-person cost to house and care for migrants in New York City is going up. $390. That's the new per-person daily tab, according to City Council Speaker Adrian Adams, who spoke at an oversight hearing today. That's up from $363. Speaker Adams had expected the cost to drop.

Intuitively, one would think that as the population, population served grew, the city could gain the benefits of economies of scale. Thus, we would expect the perium cost to trend lower rather than higher. Mayoro officials attributed the increase to factors including rising rents for hotels and shelters. The city says they're caring for more than 60,000 migrants. Police are looking for a woman who they say assaulted a female passenger on a Queensbound 7 train Friday morning and what they're calling an anti-white hate crime. Police say the suspect approached a 28-year-old passenger around 730, called her out for being white, used profanity, and kicked her in the face.

The victim suffered a concussion and bruising. The alleged attacker hopped off that train and boarded another queen's-bound subway. Police and city leaders say they're on alert for any uptick in hate-based crimes, since Hamas' recent attack on Israel, though police say this attack does not seem related. Stay close. There's more after the break. The war between Israel and Hamas is on the hearts and minds of many in our area. And given a sensitivity of the situation, there's been a spotlight on how our elected leaders respond in times like these. Recently, my colleague David First caught up with WNYC reporters Elizabeth Kim and John Campbell, who cover the mayor and governor, respectively.

They discuss how Mayor Adams and Governor Hocal are responding to the news. Liz, you reported this week that Mayor Adams got some blowback after a Zoom meeting that he had. add with leaders from some of the cities, Palestinian and Muslim communities. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? So this was a meeting that the mayor convened to discuss security measures that the NYPD was taking in advance of protests. But it ultimately became a flashpoint that revealed the strains in the mayor's relationship with some members of the city's Muslim communities. leading up to that meeting, many Muslim New Yorkers were unhappy with the mayor's remarks. He unequivocally condemned the killings of Israelis by Hamas, but their feeling was that he hadn't sufficiently acknowledged the climbing numbers of Palestinian casualties.

They also wanted him to say more to distinguish Hamas from civilians in Gaza. Four people who attended that meeting told me that their feedback or criticism wasn't very well received. They were really put off by the mayor's tone. They called him patronizing and defensive. And one person even said that he was lecturing them. One prominent Palestinian American lawyer on the call said she was actually muted after she criticized the mayor for failing to defend and protect Muslims. How did the mayor respond after that meeting? Did his tone shift from the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel two weekends ago till now?

Well, immediately after that Zoom call, he gave an interview the next day on a streaming audio program where he said, we should not, you know, to use his exact words, quote, demonize Muslims. And I do want to note that even on the day before the Zoom call, the mayor did speak at an interfaith event at Gracie Mansion where he, he, he, he, made a point of distinguishing between Hamas and Muslims and said, Islam is not about violence. But the Muslim New Yorkers I spoke to viewed these moments as too little, too late. You know, I'd also point out that maybe if he gave those remarks on a bigger stage like MSNBC or a city hall press conference, they might have landed with more impact on the community. What has the mayor's relationship been like with Jewish? and Muslim communities prior to the October 7th attack.

Adams rose up as a state lawmaker and borough president in Brooklyn, where they're large Orthodox Jewish communities. And not unlike his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, he's really counted on them and courted them for their support. He hasn't earned that same level of support among liberal Jews. And a place where this came up was with his Jewish Advisory Council, which was criticized by some of the same level of support among liberal Jews. Jewish members for being dominated by Orthodox men.

Now, with respect to the Muslim community, the mayor has tried to assemble a diverse space of groups that have historically been marginalized, and he's been credited for that. You know, he's done a lot, arguably done a lot in building ties with Muslim New Yorkers. He's appointed several Muslims in high-profile positions in city government. Two months ago, he announced that the city would allow a weekly broadcast of, of the Muslim call to prayer, which is called the Adon. I was at City Hall that day when he was surrounded by imams and Muslim advocates, and it was a very big deal.

So for him to go from that moment where he was hailed as a ally for the Muslim community to now where he's being quite angrily criticized, it's quite a dramatic shift. And it's not clear in this moment how he'll repair that relationship. John, Governor Hokel just got back from Israel. What did she do while she was there? Well, it was really a whirlwind trip. It was two full days in Israel, filled with all sorts of meetings and visits to holy sites. On Thursday, she met separately with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister and Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president. She also visited the Western Wall, the sacred space in Jerusalem, and a food pantry and a hotel that's serving as a shelter. for Israelis who evacuated their homes near the Gaza border.

And we also should note here, the governor got some awful personal news right smack in the middle of this trip. Her father, Jack Courtney, he died of an apparent brain hemorrhage Wednesday night. He was 87 years old. The governor got that news between the first and the second day of her trip, really just hours before she met with Netanyahu and Herzog. But she continued on. And, John, can you talk about why Governor Hokel felt it?

was important to head to the region. Senator Schumer and President Biden went as well, but they're federal officials. Why would the governor of New York get involved so directly? Really, it's because New York has this enormous Jewish population. Brandeis University tracks the Jewish population in the United States, and in 2020, it found New York State was home to about 1.6 million Jewish people, and that's about one in five of all Jewish people in America. So Governor Hooker, was really the latest in this long line of New York governors who have been big Israel supporters. She spoke to reporters on a Zoom call from Jerusalem on Thursday, and she said the point of her trip was showing solidarity with Israel and also to call attention to the hostages Hamas took

from Israel in the initial attack. I wanted to reinforce to the government here, as President Biden did, their lives are important. They need to be brought home. That's what the purpose of this trip was. And like Liz mentioned with Mayor Adams, Hockel has been so supportive of Israel and its right to defend itself that it's drawing criticism from some of those on the left wing of the Democratic Party, some of whom are supporting a ceasefire.

And Liz, Mayor Adams went to Israel as well. He went this summer, right? That's right. Adams went to Israel in late August. And this is a right of passage for New York City mayors as well as other local elected officials. You know, as John mentioned, the city is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. It's a factoid you hear a lot of politicians say. And it's actually more than that.

They're a big part of the city's cultural, political, and social fabric. And for politicians, a trip to what many Jewish New Yorkers view as their homeland is simply seen as smart politics. That's WMYC reporters Elizabeth Kim and John Campbell. with my colleague David First. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.