Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Republican Mayoral Candidate Fernando Mateo Says Public Safety is Key to NYC’s Recovery
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — In one month, New York City residents will head to the polls to vote in the mayoral primaries.
It’s likely that the winner of the Democratic primary will be the next mayor of New York City, but there are two Republican candidates vying for the job: Fernando Mateo and Curtis Sliwa.
For this week’s 880 Weekly Rewind, anchor Lynda Lopez spoke with Mateo, a 63-year-old Dominican Republic-born entrepreneur and activist for taxi drivers and bodega workers.
As crime rates rise in New York and the city mounts a recovery from the pandemic that has devastated the local economy, disproportionately hurting those in Black and Latino communities, Lopez asked Mateo what his priority would be to get the city back on track.
“Well the first thing we need to do is make our city safe,” Mateo said. “Public safety is the most important thing because no one can afford to live in a city that’s not safe. Businesses will not thrive, people will not go out, people will be afraid to commute to and out of the city, we will not have tourism.”
He said his first order of business would be “refunding the police” followed by “reforming bail reform.”
“And then making sure we get our law enforcement agency to work very closely to engage our communities, to engage the people in the communities, to become part of New York City’s people,” Mateo said. “Let’s not forget, cops are human beings like we are. They just wear a uniform and they go out to work to serve and protect, but they’re just like you and I. They’re parents, they’re brothers, they’re sisters, they have mothers, they’ve got fathers, they are part of what the fabric of New York City is all about. So it’s about getting them more to engage.”
Mateo said the NYPD hasn’t had leadership in seven and a half years.
“They haven’t had a mayor that backed them, they haven’t had a police commissioner that backed them, they’ve had no support in seven and a half years. So we’ve destroyed the fabric of public safety in New York City and we’ve gotta bring it back and I am the person to do that,” Mateo said. “I was able to work with the NYPD through many situations, cabbies getting killed — two and three a week, bodega owners being killed and robbed — five, 10 a day, and we were able to create programs that united both industries and brought them together to make our city a better city, a safer city and the Democratic administration has destroyed that in seven and a half years.”
For weeks, the MTA has publicly criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio for stalling their request for more police officers in the subway to combat a rash of violent attacks on riders.
The mayor on Monday announced he would be adding 250 uniformed officers underground, on top of the 3,000 already deployed throughout the system.
Some of the Democratic candidates are saying police have not been deployed effectively in the subways.
Lopez asked Mateo how police should be used to tackle this problem in the transit system.
“Read my words, because I’ve been saying this for three and a half months since I declared my candidacy — I will have two police officers in every train station platform throughout New York City. I will make sure that every subway platform becomes a safe haven for anyone that’s seeking refuge, help, or running away from a crime or a criminal. I Will make sure that there are zero victims in the train stations. 24/7, seven days a week, you will see two men or women in blue protecting anyone that enters those subway stations. We need police resources, we need to make sure that people are safe and how dumb can you be to defund the only agency that keeps New Yorkers safe.”
On the Democratic side, former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia is gaining momentum, rising in the polls and receiving a wave of recent endorsements, namely the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Daily News, as well as the Four Freedoms Democratic Club.
Lopez asked her if she credits those media endorsements for her rise in the polls.
Kathryn Garcia, 2021 New York City Mayoral Candidate and former New York City Sanitation Commissioner. “Our strategy has always been that we wanted to be peaking in May when the electorate really is paying attention. The endorsements have been fabulous, we are super thrilled to have gotten both the New York Times and the Daily News because the city really needs someone who knows how to get things done and can deliver on the vision,” Garcia said.
Turning to the current situation with the crime in the subways, Lopez asked Garcia what needs to be done to address the violence, other than injecting more police into the system.
“Well, first and foremost, we need to listen when the MTA says we’ve got a problem because that’s the city’s job. We’re in charge of making sure the subways are safe. It’s also true that we need to embedding mental health professionals with police so that they can address people who may be a danger to themselves or others,” Garcia said. “It is real, we have seen an increase in subway crime, and it has to be stopped because the subways are our arteries, they’re our life blood. we need to be on them so that we can get to work and get to school.”
Last month, the NYPD’s transit chief accused the MTA of “fearmongering” and said police statistics show crime is down 53% in the system, year-to-date.
Listen to The 880 Weekly Rewind with Lynda Lopez for in-depth reporting and deeper analysis of the top stories of the week, produced by Neil A. Carousso for WCBS-AM New York.
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WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind: Rising Crime Could Hinder NYC’s Recovery, Companies Scramble to Shore Up Cybersecurity in Wake of Colonial Pipeline Hack and How Vaccinating Kids Will Help Return to Normal
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — As New York City plots its recovery, crime is rising overground and underground. Plus, this week companies scrambled to beef up their cybersecurity after the Colonial Pipeline hack took the massive fuel conduit offline. And, FDA Advisory Committee Member and Infectious Disease and Vaccine Expert Dr. Paul Offit opines on how inoculating kids, who are now approved for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, could accelerate the return to normalcy.
Hear deeper analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind: U.S. Eyes a Return to Normal While COVID-19 Infections Remain a Concern Even for Vaccinated Adults
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Reopening the United States will largely depend on vaccinations against COVID-19. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is targeting July 1 to fully reopen the Big Apple. The 880 Weekly Rewind examines the keys to normalcy plus the details of President Joe Biden’s economic recovery agenda.
Hear deeper analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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Education Secretary on getting kids back in school: ‘We need to go 5 days as quickly as possible’
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Recently-confirmed U.S Education Secretary Miguel Cardona made his second visit to the Tri-State area this week.
The former Connecticut public school teacher and education commissioner met with New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter ahead of her announcement Thursday to increase the threshold for COVID-related school closures.
Under new guidance, the city’s public schools will close for 10 days when there are four or more new COVID-19 cases within a week, rather than just two cases.
Cardona told anchor Lynda Lopez for the 880 Weekly Rewind that New York City public schools have a smart strategy to begin to address the learning loss that has happened at disproportionate rates in communities of color.
“The impact of the pandemic for our Black and Brown students or students with disabilities has been significant so we have to make sure that as we’re thinking about reopening, we pay particular attention to how to help those students regain whatever was lost and really make sure that when they come back they’re coming back to a system that looks different than what it did before,” Cardona said. “It’s a very low bar if we say we want to go back to how school was before. So we have to set the bar higher and we have to make sure that the programming that we have… are aimed at those students who the pandemic affected most. We have to be very intentional about that, we have to be unapologetic about that, and we have to be bold to say some communities were hurt more than others. We have to make sure we’re taking care of those communities.”
Cardona said it is a priority to get as many students back in classrooms full-time as soon as possible and as safely as possible, but he cautions that it’s not a one-size-fit-all approach across the nation as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in the northeast and upper Midwest.
“We need to have a level of urgency like we’ve never had to get students in five days a week, but as you know one size does not fit all,” Cardona said. “Not all schools are the same in terms of safety, in terms of ventilation, or not all communities feel as comfortable, or are as vaccinated, and the COVID rates obviously have a lot to do with their level of comfort.”
For Cardona, the key is maintaining mitigation strategies, such as mask wearing, to clear a path for reopening schools.
“I see across the country people getting a little comfortable taking off their masks. That’s going to lead to school closings,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re following those mitigation strategies and in schools we need to make sure we’re communicating with all stakeholders so that everybody’s on the same page. Every day that passes is a wasted opportunity for a student to engage with a friend, with a teacher and learn. So we need to have a high level of urgency and we cannot be satisfied with two days a week, that’s not enough. We need to go five days as quickly as possible. Our kids deserve it. They’re waiting for us. We need to to act.”
As schools focus on reopening, Cardona sees this moment as an opportunity to hit the reset button on a slew of issues that he hopes will fix the education system.
“There’s tremendous opportunity here,” Cardona said. “Yes, we are coming back from something that created trauma for everyone, and we have to heal together, but we’re going to learn, and we’re going to grow together and we have an opportunity to really move education in a direction that it hasn’t moved and at a pace that it hasn’t moved in the past. Our students deserve it, they’ve been sitting at home, many of them, for a whole year, and it’s really, for me, an opportunity to lead at a time when our country needed it most.”
U.S. Eduction Secretary Miguel Cardona with WCBS 880 anchor Lynda Lopez. Photo credit: Peter Haskell. Achievement disparities and improving pathways to career options are among the issues he’d like to address.
“My role as commissioner of education in Connecticut over this past year really cemented a strategy that I think is necessary in order for our kids to achieve their potential and that is working together with colleagues, different stakeholders, making sure that we have people’s different voices at the table early so it’s a shared purpose and a shared strategy to improve the outcomes for all students,” Cardona said. “During the pandemic, we were forced to problem solve together, and we didn’t always agree with all the stakeholders that were around the table, but we listened to different perspectives.”
Cardona said as the country comes out of the pandemic it’s important to run with that collaboraticve strategy to build better opportunities for all students.
A $130 billion investment in the American Rescue Plan to invest in schools and the long-term recovery process will go a long way in improving the country’s education system, beyond just turning on the lights, buying new filters and purchasing face masks, Cardona said.
“It means making sure that our schools are equipped with social, emotional supports that our students and staff are going to need for the next several years, it’s ensuring that we have wraparound services, it’s ensuring that we have good summer learning opportunities for students,” Cardona said. “It’s about giving them rich experiences with relationships so that students can grow and really reengage in schools. We have to heal together and again the American Rescue Plan provides funds for, not only making sure schools are safe, but making sure that the schools that we prepare for our students in the future are better than the schools that they left last March.”
Hear comprehensive analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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880 Weekly Rewind: Self-Defense Tactics for Asian Americans, Border Crisis Heats Up, Cuomo Accused Again as Investigations Advance
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Asian Americans are pleading for safety as hate crimes against them spike. WCBS anchor Lynda Lopez talks to Asian American Federation Deputy Director Joo Han about how they are promoting self-defense techniques.
Plus, the influx of migrants at the U.S. Southern Border reaches the highest level in 20 years amid a change in policy from the Biden Administration.
WCBS reporter Steve Burns reports on the latest scandals involving New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who refuses to answer questions while two investigations into his alleged sexual harassment and assault proceed.
Hear comprehensive analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
