Ahead of the upcoming mayoral election in New York City, WNYC and Gothamist are launching a new project taking the temperature of the electorate through a series of live broadcasts. We’ll be interviewing community leaders, elected officials and voters in their neighborhoods about the issues that matter to them.
We’re calling it Word from the Curb.
Our first broadcast was on Thursday in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Locals who spoke to us cited affordability, public safety and effective communication from City Hall as top issues. Here are some of their thoughts:
Lorena Kourousias, executive director of Mixteca, which offers services to Brooklyn’s Latin American community.
She said the next mayor must recognize the dignity and basic rights of immigrants.
“This city was made by immigrants. And I will feel like we made the right choice [in mayor] if we see that people can walk around free, like they don’t have to hide, because they’ve done nothing wrong.”
Tim Law, founder of the Chinese American Social Services Center.
“We are so worried about hate crimes against the Asian community since COVID. [There are] a bunch of young kids running around our neighborhood, yelling ‘you don’t belong here,’ ‘kung fu virus,’ ‘Chinese virus.’”
He said he supports mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo’s plan to hire 5,000 more police officers.
David Estrada, executive director of the Sunset Park Business Improvement District.
He said the next mayor should communicate better with entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily steeped in city government.
“ Sometimes when you're in an outer borough neighborhood with immigrant entrepreneurs who might not be waking up and looking at the mayor's Twitter feed, the message is very slow to arrive here. These entrepreneurs are smart people. They're making intelligent decisions, but the city makes it hard for them to continue successfully, to expand and to take advantage of the programs that are coming down the pike.”
Tune into “All Things Considered” to find out the next neighborhood in our “Word from the Curb” live broadcast series.
