WNYC News

The cost of living is top of mind for many New Yorkers across the five boroughs, as well as the cost of basic goods and safety. But the success of local businesses can also be an indicator for the health of a neighborhood. 

WNYC host Sean Carlson is joined by Bob Jaen, the founder and executive director of the Throggs Neck Business Improvement District to discuss the issues affecting local business owners in the Bronx. The conversation was recorded live from the American Turners club in Throggs Neck.

The cost of living is top of mind for many New Yorkers across the five boroughs. That not only includes access to affordable housing, but basic necessities like groceries and health care, too.

WNYC host Sean Carlson is joined by Angela Torres, the director of operations of the Throggs Neck Community Alliance, and Lehra Brooks, President of the Throggs Neck Resident Association,  to talk about what affordability looks like in the Bronx. The panel discussion was recorded live from the American Turners club in Throggs Neck.

The price of avocados could be about to change… again.

Produce wholesalers like Dan Spoerel are preparing for the annual shift from the California growing season, which ends in this fall, to getting avocados primarily from Mexico, where the avocados aren't just creamier, they’re also more expensive.

But even if prices spike, he knows New Yorkers will pay.

“You can't substitute anything for it,” said Spoerel, who operates out of the bustling Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx. “If there's no iceberg lettuce, what do you buy? Green leaf, romaine, spring mix. If there's no broccoli, you buy cauliflower. But an avocado is an avocado.”

Across the country, avocado consumption has tripled in the last two decades according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the city, it’s become a necessary luxury: We can add avocado to practically anything, our salads or burrito bowls — for a fee. While we could live without it, we just don’t want to.

But the superfood that’s packed with more potassium than a banana has a downside: its price across the city is notoriously volatile. In the same week, an avocado can sell at Union Market on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope for $2.69 while across town at the Asian Jmart in Flushing, a towering pile offers four for $1 — a quarter a pop. And every quarter counts in a moment when New Yorkers are feeling rising grocery costs. In 2023, an average household in the New York City metropolitan area spent $4,000 more on food a year than 10 years ago, the state comptroller’s office found.

Over the last few months, Gothamist reporters regularly visited four grocery stores in each borough to track prices on household staples and investigate what is driving price increases and differences across the city. 

Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to drop out of the mayoral race Sunday won’t dramatically change the shape of the contest, according to Columbia political strategist Basil Smikle.

Speaking with WNYC’s Tiffany Hanssen on "All Things Considered" Sunday evening, Smikle said Adams’ poor polling meant that most of his supporters had already gravitated to other candidates. While Adams’ exit narrows the field to Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo, Smikle said Mamdani’s lead remains solid.

“Even if all those voters came out and went behind another candidate other than Mamdani, based on the polling, it still really wouldn't close that gap,” Smikle said. “So from that perspective, I don't know that he has a lot to worry about.”

Smikle added that although it’s unlikely, it isn’t impossible that the race narrative could shift in the five weeks before Election Day.

In his announcement Sunday, Adams referenced “extremist forces” in city politics, language Cuomo echoed in his own statement.

Smikle noted that establishment voters have raised concerns about Mamdani’s progressive politics but said New York’s mayors are often shaped by the realities of governing.

“You can't just kind of come into the role and think that a lot of these interests are just going to go away or fall by the wayside,” Smikle said. “You’re going to have to talk to people, you’re going to have to negotiate, and you’re going to have to work out some good policy. So this concern about extremism, I think, gets moderated no matter what.”

Adams’ withdrawal followed weeks of speculation about ties to the Trump administration, which some Democrats fear could complicate the race.

His name will still appear on the November ballot.

Sunday marks the last day of Major League Baseball's regular season, and the stakes are sky high for the Yankees and Mets.

The Yankees have a playoff spot sewn up, but still have a chance to edge out the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in their division, which would give them a better playoff position.

Meanwhile, the Mets are fighting to play another day. They're tied with the Cincinnati Reds for the last postseason spot in the National League with one game to go. The Reds hold the tiebreaker, so the only way the Mets make the playoffs will be with a win as well as a Cincinnati loss on Sunday.

Sports reporter, Priya Desai joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to break it all down.

There are so many great places to eat in New York City it can be tough settling on a single spot. And few streets can seem as daunting for decision makers as MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. Food critic Robert Sietsema has picked the 10 best places to eat on MacDougal, and they're all found on the block between Bleecker and West 3rd streets.

Speaking with Weekend Edition host David Furst, Robert runs down the highlights.

Amtrak launches a crackdown on anonymous sexual encounters in a notorious bathroom -- and immigrants are caught in the dragnet. That and more in this week's On The Way roundup of New York City transit news. 

Herbs add a lot to nearly anything you can cook. But most of them don't do well in the cold, so now is the time to stock up and preserve them for the upcoming season.  

Amelia Tarpey, program and publicity manger for GrowNYC Greenmarkets, said fresh herbs can go from $3 to $5 per bunch right now at Greenmarkets. She talked about the many things you can do with them, from experimenting with teas to drying them to store with your spices and seasonings. 

The third and final Manhattan casino proposal was voted down this week. Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani withdraws from a WABC town hall in protest of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension -- until ABC put the talk show back on the air. And a report on Chuck Schumer’s night at the Met Opera. All that in this week's Politics Brief roundup.  

Staffing shortages at New York prisons have worsened, morale among guards remains low and the lives of incarcerated people are still disrupted six months after a wildcat prison strike ended.