NYC NOW - September 18, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Police arrested protesters at the Federal Reserve in lower Manhattan today following a demonstration originating from Zuccotti Park against fossil fuel investments. Meanwhile, hourly parking meter rates across the city will rise starting next month. Also, with increasing COVID rates and the new school year underway, the New York City Department of Education has removed its school COVID case map; Amy Zimmer from ChalkBeat provides insight. Lastly, as hip-hop celebrates its 50th year, WNYC and Gothamist highlight women like Peaches Rodriguez, a breakdancer turned comedian.

NYC now. Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, September 18th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Police have begun arresting protesters blocking the door to the Federal Reserve Building in Lower Manhattan this morning. Hundreds of people turned out for a demonstration that began in Zucati Park. They're urging lawmakers and financial institutions to stop investments in the fossil fuel. fuel industry. Nick Pokora from Astoria is with the organization 350.org. If everyone's at the UN, all the world leaders at the UN, business is Carrie Young, as usual here at Wall Street, but business isn't as usual. It's time to come together and, you know,

raise our voice and, you know, show them that we're serious about what we're saying. Tens of thousands joined a historic march to end fossil fuels yesterday in Manhattan. Hourly parking meter rates will go up citywide, starting next month. The increases will take effect on a rolling basis. Drivers will see the biggest rate increases in high-demand Manhattan neighborhoods after the first hour of parking. The city says a second hour parking in places like Midtown will cost $9 compared to the current charge of $750. Rate hikes begin in Manhattan on October 16th. Queens rates go up on October 27th, Brooklyn on November 9th, the Bronx November 22nd, and Staten Island on the 28th.

showers maybe thunderstorms this afternoon, a high of 73. Right now 67 with light rain in the city. With COVID rates up in the city and a new school year just underway, a map of COVID cases in schools from the New York City Department of Education has gone dark. Amy Zimmer is the New York Bureau Chief at Chalkpeed and recently reported the map's discontinuation. She joins us now to talk about this change in House School. schools are approaching the virus this year. Amy, good morning. Good morning. COVID cases and hospitalizations up in the city and across the countries, we understand it. But what about cases

among school age kids in particular? Right. So that's a really good question. We've heard anecdotally, you know, first week of school, a lot of kids have COVID, but we don't know the numbers anymore because the city's education department is no longer requiring schools to report COVID cases. But officials say the health department will continue to closely monitor cases among school-age kids. So why did education officials take the map down? Well, that's a good question. I think because they are no longer collecting the data, they have no data to populate the map. And, you know, it may have been a burden on individual schools to report the cases.

At this point, it's probably very time-consuming to do that work. And I know that the Education Department said that it was following the guidance of its agency partners, so following the City's Health Department, following the State Health Department, and also the CDC. Amy, this makes us curious about what else has changed. For instance, if a student or staff member comes down with COVID, the rules on how to manage are the same as last year. Would you remind us of what that policy is?

So if someone tests positive, they should quarantine for five days. and that the day of their positive test is considered zero. So then they have to stay home for five days. On day six, if they have no symptoms or they're improving and they have to be fever-free for 24 hours, they can return to school. But then on days six through 10, they have to mask while they are indoors.

And, Amy, the FDA, as we know, just approved a new COVID vaccine. Will anybody be required in the school system to take it? Not required, but the schools are definitely encouraging that kids get vaccinated because it is, you know, it's a first line of defense. So about 53% of students were fully vaccinated last year, according to city data. And students were never required. Staffers were at one point, but those requirements are no longer, no longer happening. Can families and staff still get free at-home test kits?

They do if they request it. So last year, the city gave free kits, like four kits a month. The kids would come home with their backpacks filled with test kits. And this year, the city is not doing that. And I imagine, though, I think a lot of schools had so many last year that I bet a bunch of schools have stockpiled kits. And there might be some issues with the expiration date. But now, as we've heard, expiration dates might be okay and extended. So there's a system where you can look up the expiration date of a kid.

to see if the at-home kit is still good. And what about the city's efforts to improve ventilation in classrooms? Has anything significant really changed? It doesn't sound like it. The city, though, is in the midst of purchasing filters. It's their third round of purchasing filters for those purifiers. And officials said they are continuing, you know, the HVAC systems have the upgraded MIRV-13 filters. They also said that they have equipped schools with these carbon dioxide readers.

Those are supposed to be sort of proxies for how well the ventilation systems are working. But I have not heard very many schools have been using those. And Amy, what are you hearing from parents about these changes? I think that some parents remain very concerned about COVID protocols. And some people just are ready to move on. And so I think that people felt just sort of in the dark about what was happening because there haven't really, you know, some schools may have told families this, but there haven't been direct communications from the education department to families. Amy Zimmer is the New York Bureau Chief at Chalk Beat. Amy, thanks for coming on.

Thank you for having me. It was a blockbuster summer for hip-hop as the culture marked 50 years since bursting onto the scene in the Bronx. WNYC and Gothmas have been celebrating this milestone by spotlighting women who've made their own distinct mark on the culture. My name is Peaches, Rodriguez, and I'm a break dancer from the 80s who became a stand-up comic. I grew up in Connecticut, believe it or not. My father was a Mexican national, met my mom in New Bedford, Mass, and he was stationed, so I was an Air Force brat. I learned my craft up there from somebody who studied with the Bougaloo's, which is the West Coast group. and I came to New York and dominated the female scene at least back in the 80s and got into a movie called Beat Street.

For me, growing up as a Latina in a very white town in Connecticut, it was really hard. I endured a lot of racism and it made me somewhat of a rebel. And so I identified with the underdog and hip hop was a way of like acting out, getting back at society. and also remember, we were coming out of Vietnam at that point. So when disco came out, I learned that style of dance, and it really kind of lent itself to this style of dance. So at the end of the Vietnam area, it was like the dance was a celebration, and then hip-hop was the next level of it.

And it had a vocabulary, and it became universal because people identified with its underdog vibe. As a woman, it was incredibly challenging because I had to insert myself in a very hyper-yvernal. masculine culture that was, we called them circles or ciphers, which is when people circle up and you're very close. Things can get angry, they can get hostile, they can get sexual, and it was always like sexual when men battled women. I'm just going to say it straight up the way it was. I danced like a guy. And when you battle somebody and you have the same vocabulary

as they are, and then you can level it up even more, that's how you gain your respect. You gained your respect from battling people in ciphers. It was one of those things where you learned the craft in the moment. There was no video, nothing like that. You learned the craft from fellow dancers. Imagine if you were there to actually see ballet being born or jazz being born, tap dance, being born as people were creating the vocabulary. That's what we did.

We put it out there in the world and it's permanent. Peaches Rodriguez is a break dancer from the 80s who went out to become a standard. the coming. 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 podcasts. We'll be back this evening.