NYC NOW - The History of Gracie Mansion’s Reluctant Tenants and Albany Police Dispatch Social Workers for Mental Health Crises

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced that he and his wife Rama will be moving into Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the New York City mayor. He cited security concerns as motivation for the decision. Plus, a police department in upstate New York is sending social service case workers to some 911 calls.

New York City takes new steps to deal with extreme weather. Meanwhile, we dive into the history of reluctant Gracie Mansion tenants and how the Albany Police Department is dispatching social workers. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is running for governor of New York. The Long Island Republican is an ally of. of President Trump. His campaign made his run official Tuesday morning in a social media video.

While Democrats made gains nationwide on election night, the Republican Party shined bright on Long Island. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakman won a Democrat county by 12%. Blakman's candidacy pits him against another Trump-aligned Republican for the GOP primary, Elise Daphonic. She represents parts of upstate New York in Congress. Incumbent Democratic Governor Kathy Hogle will also face a primary challenge. Her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, is also running for the state's top seat. New York City is taking new steps to try and deal with the effects of extreme weather. The four most intense rainfalls in New York's recorded history have all taken place in the last four and a half years. That's Rohit Agarwal, the commissioner

of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. He says that in response to increased rainfall, the city has had to focus much more closely on how to deal with storm search. One way it's doing that is through its Blue Belt program, which uses restored wetlands to collect and absorb stormwater naturally. Whenever we build one of these blue belts, the residents point out that they see flooding on their streets and in their basements go down. Storms that had caused flooding don't provide problems. The program started in Staten Island in the early 90s and has also been implemented in Queens and the Bronx. Agarwal says now the city is looking to expand the program to Brooklyn.

Really what we're doing is shaping the drainage so that water can flow into the lake, creating the filter so that any water that runs off of the street is filtered through sand before it goes into waterways in the parks. And in Prospect Park, we're actually going to be investing in technology so that we can lower the lake level before a storm so that we can create the holding capacity so that it can capture rainwater without flooding the surrounding neighborhood. Along with decreasing flooding for residents, Agarwal says these blue belts also provide habitat for local wildlife. In addition to the hawks and other birds that you often see at our blue belts, we saw a gigantic stag actually walk out of the woods. And it was just

evidence of how much wildlife we really can have even in our urban environment. That's Rohit. Agarwal, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Up next, moving sucks. Mayors agree. That's after the break. If you're getting ready to move apartments in early January, you have some high-profile company. Mayor Alex Aramam Dani says he and his wife Rama will be moving into Gracie mansion. That's the official residence of the New York City mayor. He cited security concerns as motivation for the decision. Mumdani has spoken about how he was getting death threats and needed

to have security even before he won the Democratic primary. Once he became the Democratic nominee, he had an NYPD detail assigned to him. And that's only going to grow more intense when he takes office, so it could make for a pretty disruptive living situation for him and the neighbors there. That's WNYC's Bridget Bergen. She says the Merilex New Diggs have an NYPD booth and metal detectors at the gated entrance. That's more secure than is Astoria apartment, but also more isolated. It has beautiful East River views, but you don't exactly have to worry about a neighbor coming over to ask for a cup of sugar. You're pretty out there on your own.

If you've never seen Gracie Mansion before, the name might be a little deceiving. It's a two-story wooden house with a wraparound porch. This is a pretty old building. the oldest wood frame buildings in the city. It was built back in 1799 as the summer home for a Scottish merchant named Archibald Gracie. Bridget says Gracie Mansion, which originally was named after that Scottish merchant, became a city property in the 1880s and was restored by Robert Moses in the 1930s. But it didn't become an official mayoral residence until then Mayor Fiora Liguardia moved there.

and I should say reluctantly in 1942 because of his own set of security concerns stemming from World War II. Bridget says, despite how lovely the 11-acre estate is, several mayors have struggled to make the move there. Take a listen to Eric Adams back in 2021 after he had won the Democratic primary. Here he is answering a question from WNYC's Brian Laird about whether he'd move. I love Brooklyn. And so it may be a combination of Gracie Mansion and my place, and Brooklyn and Bephyst-Iverson. And so first we need to win,

and then when we win, we'll decide what the proper address will be. Adams wasn't the only mayor who's been a bit ambivalent about the move. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio only ended up moving there from his home in Park Slope after he lost what he says was a family vote. And former mayor, Mike Bloomberg, never even live there. He stayed at his home on the Upper East Side, but he did actually help restore it because it had fallen into disrepair under his predecessor, Mayor Giuliani, who actually had to leave the mansion while he was in office because of marital problems.

Where mayors go after living at Gracie Mansion is another question. Bridget says in the case of Mayor Adams, we certainly asked, we know he will have to move, but City Hall has not provided any other information about when he plans to make that move or where he plans to go. That's WNYC's Bridget Bergen. Police officials and mental health advocates in New York City are continuing conversations over the role of police in 911 mental health calls. But another city in upstate New York is already trying a different approach.

The Albany Police Department dispatches social service caseworkers to some 911 calls. Officials say it lets armed officers focus on crime and gives residents the help they need. Here's WMYC's Jimmy Vilkine with more. Diana Macy is on patrol in downtown Albany. Her silver SUV doesn't have lights or sirens. She carries pamphlets on homeless services instead of a gun. Macy is a member of Albany's cart team in which social workers are dispatched by the police department to certain calls. We don't wear vests.

We kind of want to differentiate ourselves a little bit. Albany's effort, which launched in September, runs within the police department. There are similar initiatives in other cities, but they usually involve social workers employed by an outside agency. Albany's program is in line with what New York City mayor-elect Zeran Mumdani hopes to set up as a Department of Community Safety. The new mayor wants to formalize alternatives to police response in that new agency. Macy walks into a group home in North Albany. She meets an officer already on the scene. We had a little bit of trouble here, and you can't stay here tonight, a little bit of trouble with staff.

The officer explains the man has been mouthing off to staff and other residents. What are your feelings about tonight? Where do you want to stay? You want to stay here. If we were able to get you someplace else for just the night so that everybody can kind of just take a break and chill out. Until tomorrow, would you be willing to do that? The officers take the man to a shelter. Nobody's arrested.

And city officials say, that's exactly the point. There is no round peg for every single call we go on. That's Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox. He says that the cart team helps the department fill gaps in its operations. The team did more than 100 calls in its first month. We need another response out there. We need somebody else that we can turn to and say, We have an individual.

They need help. We need help in trying to figure out what they need. Macy says the cart team has worked well with officers so far. She spent several weeks at the police academy as part of her training, but there's a clear difference in their work. The officers are the walking encyclopedia for penal codes and laws, and we're the walking encyclopedias for resources to address social determinants. The cart workers drive past places.

where homeless people have set up encampments. They walk through the main branch of the public library to look for people who might need clothing or shelter. So back in this area and other areas in the library, there's usually a lot of complaints for people sleeping, refusing to leave, stuff like that. Brooke LaTart is the other senior caseworker on the cart team. She describes one success story involving an older woman who just kept calling 911 to say her car had been stolen.

In reality, the woman had sold the car, but didn't remember doing it. Latart figured out the woman didn't need any housing or other services and then told the dispatcher to just put the woman through to her cell phone. So now she'll call my phone multiple times a day and we'll just try and she'll ask the same questions and she's upset about her car and things like that, but there hasn't been one police call since. The sun sets.

Macy is going to one of the city's hospitals to help a homeless man before he's discharged. But then a different kind of call for a different person. person comes over the air. Someone called 911 and hung up. Macy knows him. He calls 911. When I tell you, I didn't know that a phone could dial as fast as it did. Macy drives into Sheridan Hollow. A group of people is gathered outside a restaurant. A squad car with two officers arrives, and they knock on the door of a nearby house. No one answers, and then a neighbor walks over. He's right here on this floor. Yeah, and I'm down here. The neighbor steps into a basement apartment.

She knew the issues as well as Macy. There's no one working on. Please, I don't even know how you can have so much police interaction and still be here. Well, you have to try another day. Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. Then she gets back into the car and waits for the next call. That's WNYC's Jimmy Vilkine.

Before we go, some news for music lovers. The team behind public records, the Gowanus Club known for its experimental music and arts programs, is opening a new 1,000-person venue on the Sunset Park waterfront. It'll be part of Maid Bush Terminal, a city-owned redevelopment, but operated and programmed by the public records team. One of the venues co-founder says the setup and sound system is a really exciting opportunity to work with artists that can play to rooms that size. Pretty cool, right?

I know I'm looking forward to seeing what they do over there. Anyway, thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.