New York

Upstart News Site Has Youth on Its Side, and Albany in Its Sights

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2023

Upstart News Site Has Youth on Its Side, and Albany in Its Sights

When he was a 17-year-old high school student in 2015, Akash Mehta was appointed to Brooklyn Community Board 6, which runs from Cobble Hill to Park Slope and passes, in part, through Boerum Hill, where he grew up. The New York State Legislature had recently lowered the minimum age for participation to 16; community boards have outsize influence in the life of New York neighborhoods, often determining what can get built and what can’t, and their demographic composition skews toward the late-middle-aged and cranky. His friends made fun of him.

Akash loved city government the way other kids loved Tomb Raider. He had already interned for the City Council, where he began as an emissary of the “adopt a basket” program, going around to pet stores to persuade them to protect municipal trash cans from overflowing on the sidewalks. College came and went — two years on the militaristically back-to-the-land Deep Springs campus in California and then the University of Chicago — after which Mr. Mehta graduated into the uncertainties of the pandemic in the summer of 2020.

He returned to New York, where he wrote about local issues as a freelance journalist and walked around the city helping the poor complete the paperwork necessary for them to receive stimulus checks.

“I was struck by the fact that shelters and NGOs were by and large not setting people up for this money,” he told me. “It was striking that in this famously blue state, in the 10th largest economy in the world, that we couldn’t get these forms to people who needed them.”

Out of these and other revelations came the notion for New York Focus, a nonprofit news site. It would enter a space that had been enlivened by the arrival of The City in 2019 and Hell Gate three years later, digital publications devoted to covering New York City. But it would distinguish itself by concentrating on the way that power is exercised in Albany and how it filters down and affects almost everything. Against trend, there would be very little in the way of takes or opinion.

Since it came into being in the fall of 2020 with two of Mr. Mehta’s classmates from Chicago, Sam Mellins and Lee Harris (who was the editor of the university newspaper, The Maroon), the platform has had an impressive influence, particularly around its coverage of prisons.

On Tuesday, New York Focus reported on a directive, rendered to almost no attention last month by the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, that sought to severely limit the ways in which incarcerated people could distribute their creative work. In recent years, as magazines and literary journals have sought a more diverse range of voices, prison writing has reached a new visibility, with the work of essayists like John J. Lennon, currently serving time at Sullivan Correctional Facility, appearing in The New York Review of Books and The New York Times Magazine.

The order would have also prevented Mr. Lennon and writers like him from getting paid. A day after the New York Focus piece appeared, the corrections department rescinded the directive. By Wednesday evening, PEN America had issued a statement celebrating the reversal of a decision “that would have undermined the free expression of incarcerated writers.”

This was not all. In November New York Focus, with the Intercept as a partner, published the results of a yearlong investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County. The prompt had come from an inmate who had accused two guards of beating and sodomizing him only to find that he was disbelieved, that his medical care in the aftermath of the incident was inadequate and that witnesses to the assault were subject to retaliation for speaking out.

The article called out the pitfalls of a self-policing prison system and the lack of accountability inherent in the investigations around allegations of sexual violence. This week, the State Senate passed a measure, sponsored by Julia Salazar, that would delegate the authority to look into claims of sexual assault against corrections staff to outside investigators. The bill will eventually move to the State Assembly for a vote.

The recent rise of independent nonprofit news organizations that have evolved in response to the disappearance of local papers had not produced a platform along a similar model specifically devoted to statewide politics and policy in New York. There were examples in other states, most notably The Texas Tribune, which would eventually inspire Mr. Mehta and his friends.

A study released by the Pew Research Center last year showed that the number of full-time statehouse reporters across the country had fallen from 904 in 2014 to 850 in 2022, just at the precarious moment that state governments have come to play an increasingly crucial role in major national policy debates. The heyday of this sort of coverage was in the 1980s, when the Reagan revolution similarly divided the country and brought greater attention to what was happening at the state level.

At the time, Rex Smith, who would go on to become the editor of The Albany Times Union for 18 years until his retirement in 2020, ran the state capitol bureau for Newsday. He recalled a time in 1987 when Mario Cuomo, then governor, was merely considering a presidential bid and he and 12 other Albany reporters flew to Moscow with him, something that would be almost unimaginable today. Mr. Smith, who has been an informal adviser to New York Focus, said that for the next two years he flew everywhere with the governor.

“When you have a community that once had a vibrant news organization that now has virtually none, it’s not just the school boards that are not getting covered,” he told me. “We’re left just getting direct communications from the legislators themselves.”

At a recent event in Brooklyn Heights meant to attract wealthy donors, Mr. Mehta proved a confident salesman of his product. New York Focus is financed through foundation grants and individual contributions and its budget this year is running at just over $1 million. There are plans to increase that figure as well as the size of the staff, from seven reporters and editors in New York and around Albany to 11.

The burdens of reaching that goal are surely made easier by the fact that Mr. Mehta is well-connected. The board he put together is led by Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater, whose son Jack was a close friend of Mr. Mehta’s and who died when they were teenagers. Mr. Eustis, in turn, brought on the biographer Ron Chernow, who began his career as a freelancer, writing about New York in the 1970s, long before he wrote “Alexander Hamilton,” the book that would inspire the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical.

“They’re not going for low-hanging fruit,” Mr. Chernow said. “Their journalistic instincts are very good. I don’t think I had anything to teach them.”

New York

New Yorkers Have Little Data but Big Feelings About Congestion Pricing

Published

58 minutes ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

New Yorkers Have Little Data but Big Feelings About Congestion Pricing

It’s too soon to know whether New York City’s new congestion pricing plan has succeeded in reducing traffic in Manhattan. And it will be a while before we know if the new fees will raise the billions of dollars proponents have promised. But even before the hard data arrives, New Yorkers (and those who commute to New York) have had lot to say.

Some public transit commuters report buses miraculously arriving on time or (gasp) early. Drivers are either steaming mad — or agog at traffic-free bridges. Many pedestrians say they are suddenly less anxious about crossing the street. And some former congestion pricing haters are startled to find themselves reconsidering.

The first-in-the-nation plan took effect this week after years of contentious debate. Most drivers now pay $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Money collected from the toll is supposed to be used to improve public transportation.

Congestion pricing arrived at the same time as a stretch of brutally cold weather in New York, so it’s still unclear what has been keeping people out of their cars and off the streets.

But Ilena Robbins, 37, believes congestion pricing has already been transformative.

It is not hyperbole to say that crossing Canal Street, a notoriously clogged east-west thoroughfare with four — and in some places six — lanes, used to make her fear for her life.

Ms. Robbins, who grew up in Manhattan but now lives in Queens, compared navigating the intersection where she works, at Canal and Lafayette Streets, to a game of Frogger — at least in the old days.

“It would stress me out just getting lunch,” she said. Thursday was her first day there post-congestion pricing. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was able to cross safely, and cars weren’t honking. It was like a whole other world.”

Asad Dandia owns and operates a walking tour company, New York Narratives, and conducted his first post-congestion pricing walking tour at noon on Thursday, leading 20 students through Lower Manhattan.

“It was much easier to cross the street,” said Mr. Dandia, a 32-year-old native of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. “Definitely quieter. Definitely calmer.”

Mr. Dandia, who also teaches a New York City history course at CUNY Guttman Community College, added that he saw great potential in congestion pricing. “I think it could lead to a renaissance — a street renaissance.”

Even people who don’t study the streets for a living were swept up in the excitement.

Annie Kaur usually posts videos about fashion on her TikTok account. But from her apartment on the 32nd floor of a building that overlooks Third Avenue, Ms. Kaur, a 27-year-old management consultant, noticed how few cars were on the road during rush hour on Tuesday.

At 5:04 p.m., she filmed a video from her window and posted the clip with the caption, “There’s usually so much traffic during this time of the day!”

By Friday, the video had over three million views — more than any of her other posts.

“It definitely did surprise me,” she said. “This is not my usual content.”

There were also over 3,000 comments, some cranky: “If u have this view u can afford the tolls,” one viewer wrote.

Ms. Kaur said congestion pricing doesn’t really affect her much, except if she takes a cab or Uber at night, when that feels safer than riding the subway.

But her perch gives her an interesting perspective. “I’ve seen a lot of traffic,” she said. “I’ve seen gridlock — just, crazy, stopped.”

On the day that she filmed, she said, the traffic seemed about 25 percent lighter. But, she hedged: “It could just be because it was after the holidays. And it was less than 20 degrees. It was freezing, you know?”

Regardless, down on the streets, some people were ecstatic.

Ramit Sethi, an author and entrepreneur, posted in all caps on social media that his ride on Thursday was “the fastest trip I’ve ever taken to the airport from NYC!!! Thank you congestion pricing!!!”

In an email, Mr. Sethi, 42, reported that his Lyft driver got him from downtown Manhattan to Newark Liberty International Airport in just 23 minutes. “No honking, zero congestion around the Holland Tunnel, no need to leave an extra half-hour early to account for traffic,” he said.

And some drivers admitted they have been forced to change their tune.

On Tuesday, a social media user named Ali Lyles posted a video on TikTok in which he compared being charged a toll as he crossed a bridge to “being robbed without a gun.”

Just a short time later, he posted another video, acknowledging that he had saved half an hour from his commute. “There wasn’t no traffic, bruh,” he said. “I might actually like congestion pricing!”

Marc Jacoby, 64, had a similar experience. He drives from the West Village to the Bronx or Westchester four to five times a week to teach music to people with special needs. He drives instead of taking public transportation because, he said, he carries so much equipment: “Guitars. Puppets. Percussion instruments. Flutes. Whistles. Sometimes toys.”

Before now, Mr. Jacoby had only negative impressions of congestion pricing.

“If someone asked me, two weeks ago, I would say this is going to be a disaster,” he said. “But I was wrong about that. And I’m happy to admit that I was wrong.”

At 42nd Street and the West Side Highway on Thursday at 1 p.m., the consistently clogged streets near the Intrepid Museum and Circle Line Cruises were clear. Mr. Jacoby described the scene as “actually unbelievable.”

There are discounts for low-income vehicle owners, but Mr. Jacoby believes the fee should be set on a sliding scale.

“When Big Brother scans your license plate, they should tie it to your state tax return,” he said. A driver making a half-million dollars a year, he suggested, should pay $50. “And when they see me, maybe I should pay $5 or $9.”

Some people don’t want to pay at all.

On Wednesday, Scott LoBaido, a Staten Island-based artist and activist, posted a video to social media showing himself using duct tape to cover up his license plate and suggesting others do the same, as a way to avoid the toll.

Later in the day, Mr. LoBaido, whose work includes paintings of Donald Trump hugging the Empire State Building in front of an American flag, was arrested after he staged a one-man protest near Columbus Circle.

Still, there was so much congestion pricing buzz — positive, negative or neutral — that even brands and people in other cities were chiming in.

Shake Shack announced a temporary “Congestion Pricing Combo” starting Jan. 13: a burger and fries for $9 — “toll not included.”

And Lauren Walker, a resident of Washington, D.C., wondered if cities should go even further: “My opinion on congestion pricing,” she joked on the social media site Bluesky, “is that it should cost 10,000 dollars to honk your car horn.”

New York

Large Blaze Ravages Bronx Apartment Building, Leaving Many Displaced

Published

13 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Large Blaze Ravages Bronx Apartment Building, Leaving Many Displaced

Dozens of families were looking for shelter after a large fire broke out at an apartment building in the Bronx early Friday, injuring at least seven people, the Fire Department said. There were no fatalities or life-threatening injuries, according to officials.

About 250 firefighters and emergency medical responders rushed to a six-story residential building on Wallace Avenue near Arnow Avenue after a fire was reported there just before 2 a.m., the Fire Department said. The blaze on the top floor was elevated to a five-alarm fire about an hour later, it said.

Several dozen firefighters were still gathered outside the building at around 10 a.m. Many windows on the top floor were blown out and some had shards of glass hanging in place that resembled jagged teeth. Smoke continued to climb from the building as a firefighter on a ladder hosed the roof.

The fire was brought under control shortly before 2 p.m., according to fire officials.

The seven people who were injured included five firefighters, the department said in an email. One person was treated at the scene but declined to be taken to a hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Police Department said earlier that some people had suffered smoke inhalation injuries.

Robert S. Tucker, the fire commissioner, said during a news conference that it was a miracle that there had been no serious injuries or fatalities. Officials said that all of the apartments on the building’s top floor were destroyed.

Firefighters blasted water at the smoke and flames pouring out of the upper floors and roof, according to videos posted online by the Fire Department and television news outlets. Heavy winds had fueled the blaze, the department said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, officials said.

The Red Cross was at the scene helping residents that were displaced by the fire, and a temporary shelter had been set up at the Bennington School on Adee Avenue nearby. Doreen Thomann-Howe, the chief executive of the American Red Cross Greater New York Region, said during the news conference that 66 families had already registered to receive assistance, including lodging. She said she expected that number to increase.

Juan Cabrera and his family were among those seeking help at the Bennington School. Mr. Cabrera said that he and his family had not heard a fire alarm but had instead heard glass breaking as residents climbed out of windows. He said he had also heard people race across the hall one flight above him while others screamed “Get out!”

Mr. Cabrera, 47, said he had smelled smoke and woke up his daughter, Rose, 13. He and his wife, Aurora Tavera, grabbed their IDs, passports and cellphones, and the family left the building.

“I felt desperate,” Ms. Taverna, 32, said.

“Thank God we are still alive,” said Mr. Cabrera, who works as a school aide and custodian and has lived in the building for five years. “The material stuff you can get back, but we have our family,” he said.

Louis Montalvo, 55, was also among those seeking help. He said firefighters banged on his door at around 3 a.m. and that he had smelled smoke.

“I am grateful to be around,” Mr. Montalvo said, as he stood outside of the temporary shelter. He was still wearing his felt pajama pants, which had snowmen printed on them.

Vanessa L. Gibson, the Bronx borough president, said she was “so grateful” there had been no fatalities from the fire.

The last major apartment fire in the Bronx occurred in 2022, and resulted in 17 deaths, which experts said were entirely preventable. Self-closing doors in the building did not work properly, allowing smoke to escape the apartment where the fire started and rapidly fill the structure’s 19 stories.

New York

New York’s Chinese Dissidents Thought He Was an Ally. He Was a Spy.

Published

21 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

New York’s Chinese Dissidents Thought He Was an Ally. He Was a Spy.

The Chinese government’s paranoia about overseas dissidents can seem strange, considering the enormous differences in power between exiled protesters who organize marches in America and their mighty homeland, a geopolitical and economic superpower whose citizens they have almost no ability to mobilize. But to those familiar with the Chinese Communist Party, the government’s obsession with dissidents, no matter where in the world they are, is unsurprising. “Regardless of how the overseas dissident community is dismissed outside of China, its very existence represents a symbol of hope for many within China,” Wang Dan, a leader of the Tiananmen Square protests who spent years in prison before being exiled to the United States in 1998, told me. “For the Chinese Communist Party, the hope for change among the people is itself a threat. Therefore, they spare no effort in suppressing and discrediting the overseas dissident community — to extinguish this hope in the hearts of people at home.”

To understand the party’s fears about the risks posed by dissidents abroad, it helps to know the history of revolutions in China. “Historically, the groups that have overthrown the incumbent government or regime in China have often spent a lot of time overseas and organized there,” says Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor of China studies at Johns Hopkins University. The leader Sun Yat-sen, who played an important role in the 1911 revolution that dethroned the Qing dynasty and led eventually to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, spent several periods of his life abroad, during which he engaged in effective fund-raising and political coordination. The Communist Party’s own rise to power in 1949 was partly advanced by contributions from leaders who were living overseas. “They are very sensitive to that potential,” Weiss says.

“What the Chinese government and the circle of elites that are running China right now fear the most is not the United States, with all of its military power, but elements of unrest within their own society that could potentially topple the Chinese Communist Party,” says Adam Kozy, a cybersecurity consultant who worked on Chinese cyberespionage cases when he was at the F.B.I. Specifically, Chinese authorities worry about a list of threats — collectively referred to as the “five poisons” — that pose a risk to the stability of Communist rule: the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, followers of the Falun Gong movement, supporters of Taiwanese independence and those who advocate for democracy in China. As a result, the Chinese government invests great effort in combating these threats, which involves collecting intelligence about overseas dissident groups and dampening their influence both within China and on the international stage.

Controlling dissidents, regardless of where they are, is essential to China’s goal of projecting power to its own citizens and to the world, according to Charles Kable, who served as an assistant director in the F.B.I.’s national security branch before retiring from the bureau at the end of 2022. “If you have a dissident out there who is looking back at China and pointing out problems that make the entire Chinese political apparatus look bad, it will not stand,” Kable says.

The leadership’s worries about such individuals were evident to the F.B.I. right before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kable told me, describing how the Chinese worked to ensure that the running of the Olympic flame through San Francisco would not be disrupted by protesters. “And so, you had the M.S.S. and its collaborators deployed in San Francisco just to make sure that the five poisons didn’t get in there and disrupt the optic of what was to be the best Olympics in history,” Kable says. During the run, whose route was changed at the last minute to avoid protesters, Chinese authorities “had their proxies in the community line the streets and also stand back from the streets, looking around to see who might be looking to cause trouble.”