WNYC News

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demands data on subway safety, while the battle over congestion pricing heats up. That and more in this week's On The way roundup of New Cork City transit news. 

Moderate-income New Yorkers are increasingly becoming the face of eviction in the city. That’s according to a new report from the Community Service Society of New York, which found that nearly half the tenants who are now at risk of eviction are not the lowest-income New Yorkers. 

WNYC's Sean Carlson discussed the findings with senior reporter Arun Venugopal, including why some housing experts say the findings are cause for celebration.

The U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has demanded MTA Chair Janno Lieber send the federal government a list of measures to reduce crime on the system. The agency says crime is already on the decline and has gone down 40% compared to the same period in 2020 just before the pandemic. But a new report from the urban policy organization Vital City finds that the number of random assaults now outnumber robberies, which makes finding clear ways to curb it more difficult.

Elizabeth Glazer is the founder of Vital City and previously served as a criminal justice advisor to former Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Governor Andrew Cuomo. She joined WNYC host Michael Hill to highlight the recommendations to help make riders feel safer.

President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan met with Republican lawmakers in Albany before headlining a news conference on GOP-sponsored bills that would repeal some of New York’s pro-immigrant policies and force the state to cooperate more with federal officials.

Several dozen Democrats gathered outside the door as Homan spoke with the press, and angrily confronted him and followed him down the hall as he exited while chomping on an apple.

Among the critics was Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, a Queens Democrat running for mayor, who got within a foot or two of Homan and shouted: “Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan? What charges did you detain [Columbia activist] Mahmoud Khalil on?”

It was a sharp contrast with Homan's reception at City Hall, where Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has extended his cooperation with Trump's immigration crackdown as the administration moved to dismiss the federal corruption charges against him.

They are New York City's nearly 600 secret oases: plazas, courtyards, rooftop gardens and patches of greenery carved into private buildings. Privately owned public spaces, often referred to as POPs, are free and open to the public — at least on paper. But controversially, they’ve often existed in obscurity.

As with many conundrums, there’s now an app for that. NYC Public Space is a years-in-the-making civic experiment developed by Chris Whong, a mapping-software developer who used to work in the city's planning department and has spent time thinking about what constitutes a public space. Whong and Matt Wing, a political strategist, talk to WNYC about how to find these places and reclaim public space in private hands.

Tune in Wednesday, February 7 at 8 p.m. on WNYC to hear a discussion of the awards, and conversations with this year's winners of the Lehrer Prize for Community Well-Being.  

Community well-being is a phrase drawn from the public health arena that takes into account the combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions that affect people in a particular community. 

This year's theme: People and organizations whose work supports transgender children and their families.

The Winning Organizations and their Leaders:

Plus: Comic illustrator and graphic designer Rhea Ewing, author of Fine: A Comic About Gender (Liveright, 2022) talks about their gender journey, and how trying to communicate gender through art helped them better understand how to think about gender.

About the Lehrer Prize:The award is named after WNYC’s Peabody Award-winning host Brian Lehrer, whose daily call-in show aims to build community by bringing listeners together with elected officials, community leaders, policy-makers, journalists, and each other to convene conversations about the issues affecting our city, our nation, and our lives. Founded to commemorate Brian Lehrer’s 30th anniversary on-air at WNYC, The Lehrer Prize recognizes a standout idea, person, group, or effort that has contributed meaningfully to life in New York City and the surrounding areas over the past year. Each honoree receives $2,500 to continue their organization's outstanding work.

You may have heard some bad news recently about butterflies. A new report in the journal Science found butterfly populations across the US have plummeted over the last 25 yeas, dropping by 22%.  But there are things you can do to help – even if you don’t have a yard.

Jeffrey Glassberg is the founder and president of the North American Butterfly Association, and one of the authors on that paper. Since 1984, he’s been running an annual butterfly count in the region. He says the situation in the New York City region is not good, largely due to a handful of factors, including pesticides, the climate crisis, and habitat loss 

He says most people assume if a wild area gets developed, that the butterflies will just move elsewhere. But that's not the case.

"When you build the parking lot and have destroyed that little meadow that was there, the population of butterflies that live in the meadow are now gone from the face of the earth," he said. "So every time you build the parking lot or the houses or the shopping mall, you're decreasing the number of butterflies."

Louise Washer is a co-founder of the nonprofit Pollinator Pathway. She says one way to help is to make sure to buy organic vegetables, so fewer pesticides get used. And help build habitat where butterflies can get food and shelter as they pass through. Even putting just a pot out on a fire escape with a mix of native plants can help.

"You can provide a little way station for butterflies that might be trying to travel across the city," she said. She also recommends that people can volunteer with neighborhood parks and greenspaces, and help push for more native plants and fewer pesticides.

Glassberg said all these little acts add up. 

"Will it turn the world around? No. But will it make it maybe a little bit better? Yes," he said. "You know, you can actually do something, make a difference and it will allow you to enjoy the butterflies as well."

Who doesn't want that? 

The city’s health department is warning New Yorkers about 22 skin lightening products with high amounts of mercury. These products are largely from Pakistan and Thailand and available over the counter in local stores.

New York City's acting health commissioner, Dr. Michelle Morse, discussed the issue with WNYC's Sean Carlson. Read the full story here.