NYC NOW - September 9, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

A recent report from the independent monitor overseeing the NYPD says unconstitutional stops, frisks and searches are increasing. Plus, a look at the city’s struggling fashion industry as New York Fashion Week gets underway. Also, WNYC’s Stephen Nessen reports an ongoing lawsuit filed by accessibility rights advocates argues that the MTA has no plans to fix the wide space between the platforms and the trains. Meanwhile, we hear from a Gen Z voter who plans to vote for the first time in November. And finally, WNYC’s David Furst talks with sports reporter Priya Desai for a preview of the season for New York’s NFL teams.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae P.A. A recent report from the independent monitor overseeing the NYPD says unconstitutional stops, frisk, and searches are up. It says so-called Terry stops when an officer detains a civilian who isn't free to leave, rose slightly from 2021 to 2022. Meanwhile, unconstitutional frisk and unlawful searches jumped nearly 50, percent during the same period. The report says the NYPD has, quote, taken some major steps to monitor compliance, but says

it's still too early to gauge their success. In a statement, the NYPD says it's working with the monitor to address the concerns highlighted by the report. New York Fashion Week is back with all the glitz and glamour, but everything is not okay with the city's fashion industry. WMYC's Arun Van Gogh, explains why. A new report by the partnership for New York City says the industry, says the industry has been bleeding jobs, 50,000 in the last decade. But the threat isn't just from e-commerce or the

high cost of living and doing business here. The report blames the decentralization of influence, meaning that with TikTok or Instagram, you can become famous from pretty much anywhere. Experts say if the city wants to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs, it needs to work with the industry and help young designers get noticed, perhaps by creating pop-up storefronts around town. Across the pond in Europe, riders on the London Underground know to mind the gap. That's the wide space between the platforms and the trains. But an ongoing lawsuit filed by accessibility rights advocates argues there's a similar issue in New York City, and the MTA has no plans to fix the problem.

WMYC's Stephen Nesson has more. A downtown B train pulls into the 59th Street Columbus Circle Station in Manhattan. Riders getting off the train take a big and wide step to the platform. 80-year-old Jacqueline Goldenberg watches a man with the cane wait before boarding. He puts the cane in first, then hurls the rest of his body across the gap into the train. Shocking, right? A little bit, yeah. It is quite wide when you really get down and look at it closely. Goldenberg is one of three accessibility rights advocates,

suing the MTA over what they call excessive gaps between subway cars, and platforms. The lawsuit was filed two years ago and says the gaps create hazardous conditions and make stations unusable or unreasonably dangerous. Goldenberg even has a catchphrase to go with the lawsuit. I thought the slogan could be, I mind the gap.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a gap as excessive if it's more than two inches high or four inches wide. Here at 59th Street, there's a six-inch gap between train, floors and the platform. MTA officials say they're doing the work to make the subway accessible by installing more elevators and stations, but all that work won't matter if riders like Goldenberg struggle

to bridge the space between a platform and the train. The subway is just treacherous for someone who's older. It's bad for wheelchair users, too. Another plaintiff in the suit claims she was nearly trapped when her power wheelchair couldn't get out of the gap at 14th Street Union Square. The MTA wouldn't comment on the litigation, but says more than three dozen stations are slated to get accessibility improvements in the coming years. About 30% of subway stations are currently accessible. The lawyer Alex Peacock, who represents Goldenberg and the other plaintiffs, says they're just asking for basic fixes to make it easier for riders to get on and off trains.

And there's a whole range of solutions from as simple as a steel plate, a little bit of wood, a little bit of concrete that can just make the city infinitely more. accessible for those who genuinely need the subway to get around. And you want that at all the stations, all 472. I mean, we don't need everything at every station, right? The idea is to eliminate the gaps, where they appear and where they're worst. The parties are expected back in court next month. That's WMYC's Stephen Nesson. Millions of young people will vote for the first time in the November election.

After the break, one Gen Z voter shares her perspective on the presidential contest. Stay close. With fewer than 60 days until the November election, an estimated 41 million Gen Z voters will be eligible to cast ballots. About 8 million of them for the first time as they reach voting age. WMYC's Community Partnerships Desk recently teamed up with the group Why Vote to hear from young people preparing to vote in a presidential race for the first time. My name is Misacho O'Fay. I'm 19 years old, and I live in Harlem. I initially registered as an independent and as a result that meant that I couldn't vote in primaries.

I changed my party registration two weeks ago to being a Democrat. However, I still very much regard myself as an independent. This being my first presidential election, I feel better now that Kamala is the nominee for the Democratic Party, but I still feel like there's a lot of work to be done. The economy is definitely a very big impact for me, social policy as well. It's very important how different governments or different administrations treat different populations in the United States. Immigration is also a very big, important issue

for me right now. A lot of cities such as New York are currently undergoing kind of a crisis that I feel could be improved where we don't have enough resources to help the migrants that are in New York City. going past the election, I'm thinking of whoever wins, what is their policy going to be. I think I'm very concerned about misinformation in the election and the lead-up to that. And also disinformation, I feel like they kind of go hand in hand. I don't feel like a lot of people who circulate misinformation on the internet are doing it knowingly, but I do feel like it's a bit disingenuous. And I feel like a lot of people, they just kind of want to believe in something.

So if they see something affirming their beliefs, they're just going to spread it, because to them, that's their confirmation. I have a lot of hopes for the country in the future. I'm a little less optimistic if I think those things are actually going to happen. I hope that one day there can be civil dialogue, even if people disagree with each other. It doesn't mean you have to be anybody's friend or anything like that. I completely understand if you don't want to be friends with someone because you have different political opinions, but just dialogue. 19-year-old Masajo Faye lives in Harlem and is gearing up to vote in her first presidential election.

The NFL season is officially back. All three of the state's teams are facing different expectations as the season gets underway. The Buffalo Bills brought home a win Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals 34 to 28. Meanwhile, the New York Giants failed to score a touchdown in their 28 to 6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Week one comes to a close Monday night when the New York Jets take on the San Francisco 49ers. For a quick preview of the season, my colleague David First talked with sports reporter Priya D'Sai. We're not really used to lofty expectations being placed on the Jets, right? They have the longest playoff drought of any team in all four major American sports,

stretching now to a lucky 13 seasons. But the Jets are in a win now or win soon situation. They gambled on Aaron Rogers in that big trade with the Green Bay Packers a year ago. he's one of the all-time greats, but he is 40 years old. And last year, as we saw in the very first game of the season with the Jets, it could all end at any moment. Oh, yeah. He is one of the all-time greats, as you mentioned, but he's 40, which makes him the oldest player currently in the league. And he's coming off an ACL injury from last year where, David, he played just four snaps before being parted off the field. So that means Aaron Rogers hasn't played an indebted. entire game since 2022 when he was in Green Bay. He chose not to play this preseason.

If he does stay healthy, however, the Jets are projected to make the playoffs, and they have a strong offense and one of the best defenses in the league. All right, so let's turn to the Giants. On one hand, this is a team seeing its franchise quarterback returning

after a season that ended with injury last year. On the other hand, it wasn't really an explosive offense when Daniel Jones was healthy, right? So where did the Giants stand this year? A lot of question marks. So many question marks. It was a brutal 2023 season. They only won six games. And this year, Las Vegas has the Giants at under six wins. So it's not starting off well. And on top of that, they lost arguably one of their best players in Saquan Barkley. They couldn't get an agreement over a

contract. And he had a phenomenal game last Thursday with his new team. And one of the Giants rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. So that must have been a really, really tough game for Giants fans to watch. Okay. So they're saying under six wins this year? Yeah, that's what Vegas odds have the Giants under six wins. So it's going to be a real rabbit out of the hat kind of season for both DJ and the Giants. And the pressure's on. So the Giants have three primetime games. They're playing in Germany. They're playing on Thanksgiving. And so they could shine, but they could also go down in flames, like, in prime time on Thanksgiving? Like, that's a lot of pressure.

That's sports reporter Priya D'Sai, talking with my colleague, David First. Best of luck to all of our local teams this NFL season. And thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.