NYC NOW - September 6, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

Some public housing residents in Yonkers have been without gas for a week after Con Edison shut off the supply due to leaks and corrosion in the gas lines. Meanwhile, public bathrooms are hard to find in New York City, and a new survey shows clean, well-stocked restrooms are even rarer. WNYC’s Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky reports. Plus, the FBI searched the homes of several close associates of Mayor Adams, including Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Schools Chancellor David Banks, and Deputy Mayor Phillip Banks, while the NYPD confirmed a federal investigation involving its members. WNYC’s Brigid Bergin has the latest.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, September 6th. Here's the midday news from Alec Hamilton. Some public housing residents in Yonkers are using hot plates and microwaves while they wait for their gas to be turned back on. 415 units in Palisade Towers have been without gas since last week. That's after Con Edison found leaks and corrosion and several systems servicing the complex and shut off the system for safety. The complex received temporary boilers

for hot water earlier this week, but city officials say residents will be without cooking gas for an undetermined amount of time while authorities fix the problem. Yonkers' emergency services and local businesses have been on-site handing out food bags and other essential items. Public bathrooms can be a rare find in New York City. Now a new survey shows that clean, well-stocked public bathrooms are even more rare. WNYC's Jacqueline Jeffrey Lewinsky reports. City Council staffers canvassed more than 100 bathrooms in New York City parks earlier this summer. The good news is that most had functioning sinks and toilets. The bad news is that about 1 in 10 were missing soap and 13% were missing toilet paper. Trash cans and

stalls that actually lock were also not a given. And just under a quarter were marked as unsanitary. The City Council did focus on bathrooms with a history of problems though, so the survey may paint an overly disgusting picture of the public restroom landscape. Mayor Eric Adams has promised to add close to 50 new bathrooms across the city and renovate dozens more in the next five years. Partly sunny out there today, a high near 77. Low around 66 tonight, a slightly cooler weekend ahead. Some rain might be possible tomorrow.

But Sunday looks sunny and a really nice week of September sunshine ahead after that. Right now, 73 and Overcast. Alec Hamilton, WNYC News. Stay close. There's more after the break. The FBI has searched the homes of several people close to New York City Mayor Adams. Deputy Mayor Shina Wright and her partner, the city's schools chancellor, David Banks, as well as Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Philip Banks. And that news broke almost concurrently with the NYPD confirming that there's a federal investigation

that involves members of the department. My colleague Michael Hill spoke with WNYC's senior. political reporter, Bridget Bergen, for the latest updates. So, Bridget, these are bold-faced names to those of us who cover city government, but who are they? What do they do? Yeah, Michael, so Sheena Wright is the first deputy mayor. She advises the mayor on all sorts of matters related to city administration and policy

oversees really major parts of City Hall, think like the budget office and more. She's a pretty visible figure. She's at the mayor's press conferences and public-facing events. She's right next to him at those weekly city hall press conferences. And she's been with him for a while now. She's been there since he hired her in 2021 to join his transition team. And prior to that, she was a non-profit executive. David Banks is her partner.

They live together. He is, of course, the head of the New York City school system. So this has been a pretty busy week for him. On top of the raid on Wednesday, of course, yesterday was the first day of school. and Phil Banks is David's brother. He was a pretty controversial choice when Adams hired him to take charge of the city, public safety back in 2022. He was in the NYPD for almost three decades,

and Mayor Bill de Blasio made him chief of department, but he then resigned in 2014 facing a separate federal corruption investigation. Bridget, what is City Hall saying in response? Well, not a whole lot, Michael. You know, we reached out to the three officials, directly or through their offices. And so far, the only official comment has come from Mayor Adams' counsel, Lisa Zornberg. She issued a really brief statement saying, quote, investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation. And for his part, the mayor was on Fox 5 news last

night. He said he's always followed the law. He instructs his staff to do the same. Here's a little bit more of what he said. I would love to engage in a good conversation around this. but it would just be irresponsible for me. You know, as a former law enforcement person, I know, allowed the reviews to take their course, and that is what I'm doing. And Michael, while those reviews or investigations are happening, the mayor says he plans to say focused on doing his job, pointing out that, you know, he helped usher in another school year

with a million public schools just yesterday. What does any of this have to do with the NYPD saying they too are cooperating with a federal investigation? Yeah, so several. outlets are reporting that police commissioner Edward Caban's home was also searched on Wednesday. The mayor was actually asked about that directly in that same interview and he avoided the question entirely. But as you mentioned earlier, Michael, the NYPD's top spokesman issued a statement saying, quote, the department is aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern

District of New York involving, quote, members of service. And the NYPD was cooperating with that investigation. And at this point, there's no additional information about who else me have been targeted by investigators. A spokesman for the Southern District declined to comment. But, you know, that's pretty much standard practice during an ongoing investigation. Okay, so this isn't the first time people close to the mayor have been entangled in a probe. Catch us up on how this fits with the others. Yeah, this is definitely not the first time. However, interestingly, a source told WNYC that this particular investigation seems to be separate from some of those other federal pros we've talked about before. And some of those other investigations include investigations into the mayor's campaign

fundraising. He had his own electronic devices seized by the FBI late last year, received a grand jury subpoena last month. There were also raids on the homes of his top campaign fundraiser, a former mayoral aide with ties to the Turkish community and a Turkish airline executive who served on Adams transition committee. FBI agents also rated the home of one of the mayor's top advisors and fundraisers in the Chinese community here in the city. And the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has indicted six people in connection with what we refer to as a straw donor scheme for the Adams campaign. And that's where people who are listed as campaign contributors are not actually the people giving the money or they're somehow being reimbursed. Now, we say this and

it's important to stress, the mayor has not been accused. of any wrongdoing in any of these cases, but, you know, the pressure continues to build on him and his administration. So, Bridget, then at this moment, does this have any impact on Adam's ability to govern the city, to run City Hall? Well, he says it doesn't, but there's real political damage here. If we think back just to the Democratic National Convention a few weeks ago, that was a place where the mayor had talked about convening meetings with other leaders, you know, to discuss issues like the migrant crisis. And just before the convention, he's set to leave. He served those subpoenas, and he plays virtually no public role in that event. And yeah, sure, that's a missed opportunity

for him personally, but it's not great for New York City and the opportunities to collaborate or innovate. And then you think here at home, he's been on the losing end of a fight to push for a new corporation council. That's, of course, the city's top lawyer. His pick for attorney, Randy Mastro, faced that 11-hour hearing before the city county. which has shown no indication that they want to support him, in part because they're worried that Mastrow will be too focused on defending the mayor in his office in these various investigations. And of course, this is all before we get more details about what this latest investigation is focused on, and that could add a whole new set of wrinkles to this conversation.

Bridget, just a couple of seconds left. How about any impact on his chances for re-election? He's up for re-election next year on a ranked choice ballot. That's right. You know, I think at this point, the voters I spoke to aren't necessarily connecting to these issues. They care more about the things that impact them directly, schools, streets, et cetera. But the more legal trouble there is, the more it invites competition to the campaign trail. We already know there are people who are fundraising to run against mayor in a primary next year.

That list could grow much longer very soon if these troubles continue. All I can say is, whew, double in my seat. Senior politics reporter Bridget Berg and Bridgett. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WMYC. 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. See you this evening.