NYC NOW - September 22, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Several migrants may be kicked out of New York City shelters as soon as this weekend under city policy. Plus, WNYC’s Janae Pierre talked with City Council Republican Minority Leader Joe Borelli of Staten Island. And finally, we continue our celebration of the 50 year anniversary of hip hop.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. Some migrant New Yorkers may be kicked out of city shelters as soon as this weekend under city policy. The Adams administration began issuing notices to nearly 11,000 migrants in late July, telling them they had 60 days to either find new housing or reapply for shelter. Sid Ahmed Keroub is from Mauritania. He has about 50 days before he has to pack up. from his uptown Manhattan shelter.

Of course I'm worried. It's been here two months. No work, no job, nothing. And they give us that paper. Of course I'm worried. I don't want to be in streets. There's no guarantee that migrants who reapply for shelter get a bid. A city hall spokesperson says the city only expects a small number of migrants to reapply

for shelter because caseworkers are helping migrants find new places to stay. Before Gray-Mendez became the face of the Bronx Day, where a one-year-old died of fentanyl poisoning last week, her lawyer says she was just another mom trying to raise her own four kids. WMYC's Brittany Crickstein has more. Andres Manuel Laranda is representing Gray Mendez in her Bronx criminal court case. Mendez is charged with murder, manslaughter, drug possession, and child endangerment. He says she denies knowing there were drugs at the daycare and was also working as a home health aide to support her own kids. You know, this lady wasn't free the profile of a drug dealer.

She had $100 in the bank, from what I understand. She was keeping down two jobs. The charges against her, alleged Mendez, lied to investigators and knew about the fentanyl. Stick around. There's more after the break. There was a New York elected official making news in Washington, D.C. earlier this week. And it wasn't one of the usual suspects. like Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries.

I would tell the president to close the border, and as a New Yorker, I'd tell the president to give us a bit more money to help with the crisis. That's Staten Island Council member Joe Borelli. He was in D.C. testifying to the House's Homeland Security Committee about New York's migrant crisis. Borelli is also the Republican minority leader in the city council. I spoke with him when he made it back to the Big Apple, and he starts our conversation telling me the message he was hoping to convey to Congress.

I was hoping to get the message across as to how much money the city of New York is spending to address what amounts to a failure of federal policy at the southern border. Now, Governor Kathy Hokel was on CNN last night, and I want to play you a bit of what she said. We have to let the word out that when you come to New York, we're not going to have more hotel rooms. We don't have capacity. So we have to also message properly that we're at our limit. If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else. Now, that doesn't sound that different from what you and other New York Republicans are saying, right? I mean, in fact, many on the Hill yesterday invoke the very same concerns expressed by Mayor Adams.

So isn't there actually a good degree of bipartisan agreement on this issue that New York can't afford to house increasing numbers of migrants indefinitely? And in the meantime, you want the federal government to pay for it. Well, yes, because Mayor Adams has been living in reality for about. six months now, and it's great that the governor has come on board and discovered that the problem is actually far too costly and far too strenuous on our housing resources and nonprofit resources in the city. We got to this point because unlike what she's saying now, the welcome mat was open for this population of people for many months, and there was encouragement of people to come here. Now we've reached a point where we're saturated and we just can't afford it

and don't have the space. Given Republicans' minority status in the city council, isn't there an opportunity for you to work on solutions with the mayor and other Democrats who are concerned about New York City's ability to sustain this migrant crisis? Because I'm wondering what solutions can you put forward that you think can gain some momentum in the council. When it started, and we were talking about potentially 5,000 people or 10,000 people, it wasn't such a big deal. Finally, we have the mayor coming to essentially what is our side to acknowledge that that, you know, $6 billion in next fiscal year is actually more than the entire budget of Phoenix, Arizona. So just put that in perspective. The largest city in America, New York, will spend $6 billion of its own taxpayer money that could actually cover every single budget item of the fifth largest city in the country, Phoenix. Within the last day, we got the news that the Biden administration would be extending temporary protected status to,

people from Venezuela who've been in New York City as of July. And that'll make it easier for thousands of people to get work. I'm wondering if you agree with this decision. My objection to this is more based on the notion that we have people that have began the process legally to emigrate. I mean, we all live in New York. We know friends and neighbors who are from perhaps foreign-born. And many of them have friends and family who are waiting for green card status or visas or citizenship themselves, why should this population necessarily be placed on the top of the pile? That said, this is what Democrats have said would be the eventual solution to this problem. So I'm willing to call them out and say, okay, great, like this has happened.

Let's see if we can get these people to work. But on the same time, that has to alleviate some of the financial pressures on the city, which means once these folks start working, they need to be transitioned out of the shelter system that is costing us, you know, $10 million per day and need to be placed on their own like every other New York City. What else would you like to see the Biden administration do? Well, I mean, put it in historical perspective. They took office in January of 2021.

That same day, they repealed the MPP, basically the remaining Mexico policy. They took 89 policy decisions from customs and border protection and changed policy of how CBP addresses people when they're crossing to this country. Now we can look back over 18 months later and see that all of their changes to our immigration policy have been an abject failure. And I'm saying it's an abject failure because we New Yorkers are essentially paying to be the world refugee camp, unfortunately. Right. That's not a extent of federal policy. So I wish the Biden administration would reverse some of the changes because, remember, we didn't have this during the Trump administration.

okay, fine. But we didn't have this problem in the Obama administration. We didn't have this problem in the second Bush administration. We didn't have this problem at this level in the Clinton administration, et cetera, et cetera. It really has only been since the Biden administration has made several policy changes at the border. That's City Council Republican Minority Leader Joe Borelli of Staten Island. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. It was a celebratory summer for hip-hop. as the genre marked 50 years since it first emerged on the streets of the Bronx. We're keeping the party going as we highlight the voices of women from our area who have made their own distinct mark on the culture. The first time I was influenced with hip-hop was in our block

when they used to DJ and plug the equipment on the lamppoles. My name is Violetta Gallagalza. I'm based in Spanish Harlem. I'm the executive artistic director of KR-3T's dance company. And I have a nonprofit organization called Keep Rising to the Top. Our mission is to train amateurs to become professionals. A lot of dances that we deal with come from low-income families or that are struggling from college, all types of members that are involved

to develop them and prepare them for the industry. I was a professional dancer at a young age at Alvinelli. I got a scholarship for four years and I got another scholarship. but at a young age, I became a mom. And I had responsibilities, but at least I had access to still have a place of rehearsal, and I felt that I can maybe show others my talent,

pass the torch, and develop and prepare. So I saw that I had another style of something that I can pursue and continuing that I'm still in the culture and I can present and help others. To me, Hip-hop brought the best out of me, you know, with attitude, character, the type of energy that when you hear the music, there was a vibe, you know, that everybody will follow. Or when you heard the type of songs, it had the cabbage patch, you know, that was the time

to do that. It had uprock, you know, it was time to up rock. It was more of a connection that people were aware of and ready whenever we went to battles in the park, in clubs. Like, it was everywhere. I'm from the rawness of when hip hop began at that time, so I trained very well, and you can see by many that are now with Beyonce, Chris Brown, J. Lowe, Lady Gaga,

Dougie Fresh, all the old school and the new schools, dancing with dancers that now know the old hip-hop, the new hip-hop, how to express it, more hungry about the past. Violeta Gallagarza is the executive artistic director at KR3T's Dance Company and the founder of the nonprofit organization keep rising to the top. She hails from Spanish Harlem. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC.

Quick shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Bowditch, Amber Bruce, Ave Carrillo, Audrey Cooper, Liora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, and Wayne Showmeister, with help from everyone. in the WNYC newsroom. Our show art was designed by the folks at Buck, and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrado. I'm Jene Pierre. Have a great weekend,

and be sure to catch our bonus episode this Saturday.