Podcast appearances and mentions of Washington Heights

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2025 44:08

Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo! Yoooooo! LOL-eros, grab your maracas and get ready for this high-energy episode of #LatinosOutLoud! This episode is dedicated to the amazing production of Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway. Join #RachelLaLoca on the red carpet for opening night of the Broadway musical that touches the soul and pulls at both the heart AND guitar strings! She was joined by Latino theatre expert, Paola "Pie" Soto who covered interviews with band members such as Renestio Avich aka the Jimmy Hendrix of Cuba and trombonist, Eddie Venegas. Rachel got to chat with the celebs that came out to support this tribute to the pursuit of a dream during tumultuous political times. She linked up with icons and former guests of #LOL, like Producers of the show, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, his father, Luis A. Miranda, Jr, and actress Daphne Rubin-Vega. Other stars captured during this amazing evening include Luna Lauren Velez and Rubén Blades. Also, enjoy a recap of both the musical and red carpet coverage by Rachel and Pie, shot at the Recirculation Bookshop in Washington Heights. ABOUT THE SHOW Inspired by true events, the new Broadway musical BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB™ brings to life the GRAMMY®-winning album and tells the story of the legendary musicians who lived it. A world-class Afro-Cuban band joins a sensational cast in this unforgettable story of survival, second chances, and the extraordinary power of music. With a book by Marco Ramírez (Drama Desk Award, The Royale), direction by Saheem Ali (Tony Award nominee for Fat Ham), and a visionary creative team, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB™ showcases the golden age of Cuban music. The production features choreography by Patricia Delgado and Tony Award winner Justin Peck (Illinoise, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story). Follow Rachel Follow Buena Vista Social Club Follow Recirculation https://www.wordupbooks.com/recirculation And while you're at it, follow the yellow brick road! #LatinosOutLoud #Broadway #BuenaVistaSocialClub #RachelLaLoca #LinManuelMiranda #LuisMiranda #RubenBlades #DaphneRubinVega #LunaLaurenVelez #RubenBlades

On Air Artist Spotlight: Yuby Hernandez

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2025 23:20

Welcome to this Inwood Art Works On Air podcast artist spotlight episode featuring filmmaker, Yuby Hernandez.Yuby Hernandez is a New York City Native from Washington Heights and has over a decade of experience in non-profit management experience. Besides her non-profit work, she has a passion for documentary film having co-directed Venticinco: El Domino and Un Trabao Honesto, and directed Un Bizcocho Para Mi. She has worked for the Gotham Film and Media institute, Tribecca Film Festival, SFFILM, and Associate Produced the Documentary Aftershock. In addition, is a graduate of Wellesley College, and has attained an MFA from the School of Visual Arts SocDoc program.

school media hernandez mfa wellesley college washington heights artist spotlight associate produced

How to Fix Crime in New York City

Statecraft

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2025 56:33

Today's guest is Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He spent two years as a police officer in Baltimore. I asked him to come on and talk about his new book, Back from the Brink, Inside the NYPD and New York City's Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop. It's one of my favorite books I've read this year (and it was one of my three book recommendations on Ezra Klein's show last week).Peter spoke with hundreds of police officers and NYC officials to understand and describe exactly how the city's leaders in the early 1990s managed to drive down crime so successfully.We discussed:* How bad did things get in the 1970s?* Why did processing an arrest take so long?* What did Bill Bratton and other key leaders do differently?* How did police get rid of the squeegee men?I've included my reading list at the bottom of this piece. Thanks to Harry Fletcher-Wood for his judicious transcript edits.Subscribe for one new interview a week.Peter, how would you describe yourself?I would say I'm a criminologist: my background is sociology, but I am not in the sociology department. I'm not so big on theory, and sociology has a lot of theory. I was a grad student at Harvard in sociology and worked as a police officer [in Baltimore] and that became my dissertation and first book, Cop in the Hood. I've somewhat banked my career on those 20 months in the police department.Not a lot of sociologists spend a couple of years working a police beat.It's generally frowned upon, both for methodological reasons and issues of bias. But there is also an ideological opposition in a lot of academia to policing. It's seen as going to the dark side and something to be condemned, not understood.Sociologists said crime can't go down unless we fix society first. It's caused by poverty, racism, unemployment, and social and economic factors — they're called the root causes. But they don't seem to have a great impact on crime, as important as they are. When I'm in grad school, murders dropped 30-40% in New York City. At the same time, Mayor Giuliani is slashing social spending, and poverty is increasing. The whole academic field is just wrong. I thought it an interesting field to get into.We're going to talk about your new book, which is called Back from the Brink, Inside the NYPD and New York City's Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop. I had a blast reading it. Tell me about the process of writing it.A lot of this is oral history, basically. But supposedly people don't like buying books that are called oral histories. It is told entirely from the perspective of police officers who were on the job at the time. I would not pretend I talked to everyone, because there were 30,000+ cops around, but I spoke to many cops and to all the major players involved in the 1990s crime drop in New York City.I was born in the ‘90s, and I had no idea about a crazy statistic you cite: 25% of the entire national crime decline was attributable to New York City's crime decline.In one year, yeah. One of the things people say to diminish the role of policing is that the crime drop happened everywhere — and it did end up happening almost everywhere. But I think that is partly because what happened in New York City was a lot of hard work, but it wasn't that complicated. It was very easy to propagate, and people came to New York to find out what was going on. You could see results, literally in a matter of months.It happened first in New York City. Really, it happened first in the subways and that's interesting, because if crime goes down in the subways [which, at the time, fell under the separate New York City Transit Police] and not in the rest of the city, you say, “What is going on in the subways that is unique?” It was the exact same strategies and leadership that later transformed the NYPD [New York Police Department].Set the scene: What was the state of crime and disorder in New York in the ‘70s and into the ‘80s?Long story short, it was bad. Crime in New York was a big problem from the late ‘60s up to the mid ‘90s, and the ‘70s is when the people who became the leaders started their careers. So these were defining moments. The city was almost bankrupt in 1975 and laid off 5,000 cops; 3,000 for a long period of time. That was arguably the nadir. It scarred the police department and the city.Eventually, the city got its finances in order and came to the realization that “we've got a big crime problem too.” That crime problem really came to a head with crack cocaine. Robberies peaked in New York City in 1980. There were above 100,000 robberies in 1981, and those are just reported robberies. A lot of people get robbed and just say, “It's not worth it to report,” or, “I'm going to work,” or, “Cops aren't going to do anything.” The number of robberies and car thefts was amazingly high. The trauma, the impact on the city and on urban space, and people's perception of fear, all comes from that. If you're afraid of crime, it's high up on the hierarchy of needs.To some extent, those lessons have been lost or forgotten. Last year there were 16,600 [robberies], which is a huge increase from a few years ago, but we're still talking an 85% reduction compared to the worst years. It supposedly wasn't possible. What I wanted to get into in Back from the Brink was the actual mechanisms of the crime drop. I did about fifty formal interviews and hundreds of informal interviews building the story. By and large, people were telling the same story.In 1975, the city almost goes bankrupt. It's cutting costs everywhere, and it lays off more than 5,000 cops, about 20% of the force, in one day. There's not a new police academy class until 1979, four years later. Talk to me about where the NYPD was at that time.They were retrenched, and the cops were demoralized because “This is how the city treats us?” The actual process of laying off the cops itself was just brutal: they went to work, and were told once they got to work that they were no longer cops. “Give me your badge, give me your gun."The city also was dealing with crime, disorder, and racial unrest. The police department was worried about corruption, which was a legacy of the Knapp Commission [which investigated NYPD corruption] and [Frank] Serpico [a whistleblowing officer]. It's an old police adage, that if you don't work, you can't get in trouble. That became very much the standard way of doing things. Keep your head low, stay out of trouble, and you'll collect your paycheck and go home.You talk about the blackout in 1977, when much of the city lost power and you have widespread looting and arson. 13,000 off-duty cops get called in during the emergency, and only about 5,000 show up, which is a remarkable sign of the state of morale.The person in my book who's talking about that is Louis Anemone. He showed up because his neighbor and friend and partner was there, and he's got to help him. It was very much an in-the-foxholes experience. I contrast that with the more recent blackout, in which the city went and had a big block party instead. That is reflective of the change that happened in the city.In the mid-80s you get the crack cocaine epidemic. Talk to me about how police respond.From a political perspective, that era coincided with David Dinkins as [New York City's first black] mayor. He was universally disliked, to put it mildly, by white and black police officers alike. He was seen as hands off. He was elected in part to improve racial relations in New York City, to mitigate racial strife, but in Crown Heights and Washington Heights, there were riots, and racial relations got worse. He failed at the level he was supposed to be good at. Crime and quality of life were the major issues in that election.Dinkins's approach to the violence is centered around what they called “community policing.” Will you describe how Dinkins and political leaders in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s thought about policing?This is under Ben Ward, the [NYPD] Commissioner at the time. The mayor appoints the police commissioner — and the buck does stop with the mayor — but the mayor is not actively involved in day-to-day operations. That part does go down to the police department.Community policing was seen as an attempt to improve relations between the police and the community. The real goal was to lessen racial strife and unrest between black (and to a lesser extent Hispanic) communities and the NYPD. Going back to the ‘60s, New York had been rocked by continued unrest in neighborhoods like Central Harlem, East New York, and Bushwick. Community policing was seen as saying that police are partly to blame, and we want to improve relations. Some of it was an attempt to get the community more involved in crime fighting.It's tough. It involves a certain rosy view of the community, but that part of the community isn't causing the problems. It avoids the fact there are people who are actively criming and are willing to hurt people who get in their way. Community policing doesn't really address the active criminal element, that is a small part of any community, including high-crime communities.Arrests increased drastically during this era, more than in the ‘90s with broken windows policing. If the idea is to have fewer arrests, it didn't happen in the ‘80s. Some good came out of it, because it did encourage cops to be a bit more active and cops are incentivized by overtime. Arrests were so incredibly time-consuming, which kind of defeated the purpose of community policing. If you made an arrest in that era, there was a good chance you might spend literally 24 hours processing the arrest.Will you describe what goes into that 24 hours?From my experience policing in Baltimore, I knew arrests were time-consuming and paperwork redundant, but I could process a simple arrest in an hour or two. Even a complicated one that involved juveniles and guns and drugs, we're talking six to eight hours.In the ‘80s, Bob Davin, [in the] Transit Police, would say they'd make an arrest, process at the local precinct, search him in front of a desk officer, print him, and then they would have to get a radio car off patrol to drive you down to central booking at 100 Centre Street [New York City Criminal Court]. Then they would fingerprint him. They didn't have the live scan fingerprints machine, it was all ink. It had to be faxed up to Albany and the FBI to see if it hit on any warrant federally and for positive identification of the person. Sometimes it took 12 hours to have the prints come back and the perp would be remanded until that time. Then you'd have to wait for the prosecutor to get their act together and to review all the paperwork. You couldn't consider bail unless the prints came back either positive or negative and then you would have that initial arraignment and the cop could then go home. There are a lot of moving parts, and they moved at a glacial pace.The system often doesn't work 24/7. A lot of this has changed, but some of it was having to wait until 9 am for people to show up to go to work, because it's not a single system. The courts, the jails, and policing all march to their own drummer, and that created a level of inefficiency.So much of the nitty-gritty of what cops actually do is boring, behind-the-scenes stuff: How do we speed up the paperwork? Can we group prisoners together? Can we do some of this at the police station instead of taking it downtown? Is all of this necessary? Can we cooperate with the various prosecutors? There are five different prosecutors in New York City, one for each borough.There's not a great incentive to streamline this. Cops enjoyed the overtime. That's one of the reasons they would make arrests. So during this time, if a cop makes an arrest for drug dealing, that cop is gone and no cop was there to replace him. If it's a minor arrest, there's a good chance in the long run charges will be dropped anyway. And you're taking cops off the street. In that sense, it's lose-lose. But, you have to think, “What's the alternative?”Bob Davin is a fascinating guy. There's a famous picture from 1981 by Martha Cooper of two cops on a subway train. It's graffitied up and they're in their leather jackets and look like cops from the ‘70s. Martha Cooper graciously gave me permission to use the picture, but she said, "You have to indemnify me because I don't have a release form. I don't know who the cops are." I said, "Martha, I do know who the cop is, because he's in my book and he loves the picture.” Bob Davin is the cop on the right.Davin says that things started to get more efficient. They had hub sites in the late ‘80s or ‘90s, so precincts in the north of Manhattan could bring their prisoners there, and you wouldn't have to take a car out of service to go back to Central Booking and deal with traffic. They started collecting prisoners and bringing them en masse on a small school bus, and that would cut into overtime. Then moving to electronic scan fingerprints drastically saves time waiting for those to come back.These improvements were made, but some of them involve collective bargaining with unions, to limit overtime and arrests that are made for the pure purpose of overtime. You want cops making arrests for the right reason and not simply to make money. But boy, there was a lot of money made in arrests.In 1991, you have the infamous Crown Heights riot in Brooklyn. Racial tensions kick off. It's a nightmare for the mayor, there's this sense that he has lost control. The following year, you have this infamous police protest at City Hall where it becomes clear the relationship between the cops and the mayor has totally evaporated. How does all that play into the mayoral race between Dinkins and Giuliani?It was unintentional, but a lot of the blame for Crown Heights falls on the police department. The part of the story that is better known is that there was a procession for a Hasidic rabbi that was led by a police car. He would go to his wife's grave, and he got a little three-car motorcade. At some point, the police look at this and go "Why are we doing this? We're going to change it." The man who made the deal said ‘I"m retiring in a couple weeks, can we just leave it till then? Because I gave him my word." They're like, "Alright, whatever."This motor car procession is then involved in a car crash, and a young child named Gavin Cato is killed, and another girl is severely injured. The volunteer, Jewish-run ambulance shows up and decides they don't have the equipment: they call for a professional city ambulance. Once that ambulance is on the way, they take the mildly-injured Jewish people to the hospital. The rumor starts that the Jewish ambulance abandoned the black children to die.This isn't the first incident. There's long been strife over property and who the landlord is. But this was the spark that set off riots. A young Jewish man was randomly attacked on the street and was killed.As an aside, he also shouldn't have died, but at the hospital they missed internal bleeding.Meanwhile, the police department has no real leadership at the time. One chief is going to retire, another is on vacation, a third doesn't know what he's doing, and basically everyone is afraid to do anything. So police do nothing. They pull back, and you have three days of very anti-Semitic riots. Crowds chanting "Kill the Jews" and marching on the Lubavitch Hasidic Headquarters. Al Sharpton shows up. The riots are blamed on Dinkins, which is partly fair, but a lot of that's on the NYPD. Finally, the mayor and the police commissioner go to see what's going on and they get attacked. It's the only time in New York City history that there's ever been an emergency call from the police commissioner's car. People are throwing rocks at it.It took three days to realise this, but that's when they say “We have to do something here,” and they gather a group of officers who later become many of Bratton's main chiefs at the time [Bill Bratton was Commissioner of the NYPD from 1994-1996, under Giuliani]: Mike Julian, Louis Anemone, Ray Kelly, and [John] Timoney. They end the unrest in a day. They allow people to march, they get the police department to set rules. It still goes on for a bit, but no one gets hurt after that, and that's it.It was a huge, national story at the time, but a lot of the details were not covered. Reporters were taken from their car and beaten and stripped. The significance was downplayed at the time, especially by the New York Times, I would say.That's followed by the Washington Heights riots, which is a different story. A drug dealer was shot and killed by cops. There were rumors, which were proven to be false, that he was executed and unarmed. Then there were three days of rioting there. It wasn't quite as severe, but 53 cops were hurt, 120 stores were set on fire, and Mayor Dinkins paid for the victim's family to go to the Dominican Republic for the funeral. The police perspective again was, “You're picking the wrong side here.”Then there's the so-called Police Riot at City Hall. Nominally, it was about the CCRB, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and setting up an accountability mechanism to control cops. But really it was just an anti-Dinkins protest. It was drunken and unruly. The cops stormed the steps of City Hall. I have the account of one of the cops who was on the top of those steps looking at this mob of cops storming to him, and he's getting worried he's going to be killed in a crush. There were racist chants from off-duty cops in the crowd. It did not reflect well on police officers. But it showed this hatred of David Dinkins, who was seen as siding with criminals and being anti-police. The irony is that Dinkins is the one who ends up hiring all the cops that Giuliani gets credit for.In the “Safe Streets, Safe City” program?Yes. That was because a white tourist, Brian Watkins, was killed in a subway station protecting his parents who were getting robbed. That led to the famous headline [in the New York Post] of “Dave, do something! Crime-ravaged city cries out for help.” He, with City Council President Peter Vallone, Sr., drafted and pushed through this massive hiring of police officers, “Safe Streets, Safe City.”The hiring wasn't fast-tracked. It might be because Dinkins's people didn't really want more cops. But it was a Dinkins push that got a massive hiring of cops. When the first huge class of police officers graduated, Bill Bratton was there and not David Dinkins.Some interviewees in your book talk about how there's physically not enough room in the police academies at this time, so they have to run classes 24/7. You cycle cohorts in and out of the same classroom, because there are too many new cops for the facilities.You have thousands of cops going through it at once. Everyone describes it as quite a chaotic scene. But it would have been hard to do what the NYPD did without those cops. Ray Kelly, who was police commissioner under Dinkins at the end [from 1992 to 1994] before he became police commissioner for 12 years under Bloomberg [from 2002 to 2013] probably could have done something with those cops too, but he never had the chance, because the mayoral leadership at the time was much more limiting in what they wanted cops to do.Crime starts declining slowly in the first few years of the ‘90s under Dinkins, and then in ‘93 Giuliani wins a squeaker of a mayoral election against Dinkins.One of the major issues was the then-notorious “squeegee men” of New York City. These were guys who would go to cars stopped at bridges and tunnel entrances and would rub a squeegee over the windshield asking for money. It was unpleasant, intimidating, and unwanted, and it was seen as one of those things that were just inevitable. Like graffiti on the subway in the ‘80s. Nothing we can do about it because these poor people don't have jobs or housing or whatever.The irony is that Bratton and Giuliani were happy to take credit for that, and it was an issue in the mayoral campaign, but it was solved under David Dinkins and Ray Kelly and Mike Julian with the help of George Kelling [who, with James Wilson, came up with broken windows theory]. But they never got credit for it. One wonders if, had they done that just a few months earlier, it would have shifted the entire campaign and we'd have a different course of history in New York City.It's a great example of a couple of things that several people in your book talk about. One is that disorder is often caused by a very small set of individuals. There's only like 70 squeegee men, yet everybody sees them, because they're posted up at the main tunnel and bridge entrances to Manhattan. And getting them off the streets solves the problem entirely.Another emphasis in the book is how perceptions of crime are central. You quote Jack Maple, the father of Compstat, as saying, “A murder on the subway counts as a multiple murder up on the street, because everybody feels like that's their subway.” The particular locations of crimes really affect public perception.Absolutely. Perception is reality for a lot of these things, because most people aren't victimized by crime. But when people perceive that no one is in control they feel less safe. It's not that this perception is false, it just might not be directly related to an actual criminal act.The other thing I try to show is that it's not just saying, “We've got to get rid of squeegee men. How do you do it?” They had tried before, but this is why you need smart cops and good leadership, because it's a problem-solving technique, and the way to get rid of graffiti is different to the way you get rid of squeegee men.This book is in opposition to those who just say, “We can't police our way out of this problem.” No, we can. We can't police our way out of every problem. But if you define the problem as, we don't want people at intersections with squeegees, of course we can police our way out of the problem, using legal constitutional tools. You need the political will. And then the hard work starts, because you have to figure out how to actually do it.Will you describe how they tackle the squeegee men problem?Mike Julian was behind it. They hired George Kelling, who's known for broken windows. They said, “These people are here to make money. So to just go there and make a few arrests isn't going to solve the problem.” First of all, he had to figure out what legal authority [to use], and he used Traffic Reg 44 [which prohibits pedestrians from soliciting vehicle occupants]. He talked to Norm Siegel of the NYCLU [New York Civil Liberties Union] about this, who did not want this crackdown to happen. But Norman said, “Okay, this is the law, I can't fight that one. You're doing it legally. It's all in the books.” And So that took away that opposition.But the relentless part of it is key. First they filmed people. Then, when it came to enforcement, they warned people. Then they cited people, and anybody that was left they arrested. They did not have to arrest many people, because the key is they did this every four hours. It was that that changed behavior, because even a simple arrest isn't going to necessarily deter someone if it's a productive way to make money. But being out there every four hours for a couple of weeks or months was enough to get people to do something else. What that something else is, we still don't know, but we solved the squeegee problem.So in 93, Giuliani is elected by something like 50,000 votes overall. Just as an aside, in Prince of the City, Fred Siegel describes something I had no idea about. There's a Puerto Rican Democratic Councilman who flips and supports Giuliani. Mayor Eric Adams, who at the time was the head of a nonprofit for black men in law enforcement, calls him a race traitor for doing that and for being married to a white woman. There was a remarkable level of racial vitriol in that race that I totally missed.10 years ago when I started this, I asked if I could interview then-Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, and he said yes, and the interview kept getting rescheduled, and I said, “Eh, I don't need him.” It's a regret of mine. I should have pursued that, but coulda, woulda, shoulda.Giuliani is elected, and he campaigns very explicitly on a reducing crime and disorder platform. And he hires Bill Bratton. Tell me about Bratton coming on board as NYPD commissioner.Bratton grew up in Boston, was a police officer there, became head of the New York City Transit Police when that was a separate police department. Right before he becomes NYPD Commissioner, he's back in Boston, as the Chief of Police there, and there is a movement among certain people to get Bratton the NYC job. They succeed in that, and Bratton is a very confident man. He very much took a broken windows approach and said, “We are going to focus on crime.” He has a right-hand man by the name of Jack Maple who he knows from the Transit Police. Maple is just a lieutenant in transit, and Bratton makes him the de facto number two man in the police department.Jack Maple passed away in 2001 and I didn't know what I was going to do, because it's hard to interview a man who's no longer alive. Chris Mitchell co-wrote Jack Maple's autobiography called Crime Fighter and he graciously gave me all the micro-cassettes of the original interviews he conducted with Maple around 1998. Everyone has a Jack Maple story. He's probably the most important character in Back from the Brink.Jack Maple comes in, no one really knows who he is, no one respects him because he was just a lieutenant in Transit. He goes around and asks a basic question — this is 1994 — he says, “How many people were shot in New York City in 1993?” And nobody knows. That is the state of crime-fighting in New York City before this era. There might have been 7,000 people shot in New York City in 1990 and we just don't know, even to this day.One citation from your book: in 1993, an average of 16 people were shot every day. Which is just remarkable.And remember, shootings have been declining for two or three years before that! But nobody knew, because they weren't keeping track of shootings, because it's not one of the FBI Uniform Crime Report [which tracks crime data nationally] index crimes. But wouldn't you be curious? It took Jack Maple to be curious, so he made people count, and it was findable, but you had to go through every aggravated assault and see if a gun was involved. You had to go through every murder from the previous year and see if it was a shooting. He did this. So we only have shooting data in New York City going back to 1993. It's just a simple process of caring.The super-short version of Back from the Brink is it was a change in mission statement: “We're going to care about crime.” Because they hadn't before. They cared about corruption, racial unrest, brutality, and scandal. They cared about the clearance rate for robbery a bit. You were supposed to make three arrests for every ten robberies. It didn't matter so much that you were stopping a pattern or arresting the right person, as long as you had three arrests for every ten reported crimes, that was fine.This is a story about people who cared. They're from this city — Bratton wasn't, but most of the rest are. They understood the trauma of violence and the fact that people with families were afraid to go outside, and nobody in the power structure seemed to care. So they made the NYPD care about this. Suddenly, the mid-level police executives, the precinct commanders, had to care. and the meetings weren't about keeping overtime down, instead they were about ”What are you doing to stop this shooting?”Tell listeners a little bit more about Jack Maple, because he's a remarkable character, and folks may not know what a kook he was.I think he was a little less kooky than he liked to present. His public persona was wearing a snazzy cat and spats and dressing like a fictional cartoon detective from his own mind, but he's a working-class guy from Queens who becomes a transit cop.When Bratton takes over, he writes a letter up the chain of command saying this is what we should do. Bratton read it and said, “This guy is smart.” Listening to 80 hours of Jack Maple, everyone correctly says he was a smart guy, but he had a very working-class demeanor and took to the elite lifestyle. He loved hanging out and getting fancy drinks at the Plaza Hotel. He was the idea man of the NYPD. Everyone has a Jack Maple imitation. “You're talking to the Jackster,” he'd say. He had smart people working under him who were supportive of this. But it was very much trying to figure out as they went along, because the city doesn't stop nor does it sleep.He was a bulls***er, but he's the one who came up with the basic outline of the strategy of crime reduction in New York City. He famously wrote it on a napkin at Elaine's, and it said, “First, we need to gather accurate and timely intelligence.” And that was, in essence, CompStat. “Then, we need to deploy our cops to where they need to be.” That was a big thing. He found out that cops weren't working: specialized units weren't working weekends and nights when the actual crime was happening. They had their excuses, but basically they wanted a cushy schedule. He changed that. Then, of course, you have to figure out what you're doing, what the effective tactics are. Then, constant follow up and assessment.You can't give up. You can't say “Problem solved.” A lot of people say it wasn't so much if your plan didn't work, you just needed a Plan B. It was the idea that throwing your hands in the air and saying, “What are you going to do?” that became notoriously unacceptable under Chief Anemone's stern demeanor at CompStat. These were not pleasant meetings. Those are the meetings that both propagated policies that work and held officers accountable. There was some humiliation going on, so CompStat was feared.Lots of folks hear CompStat and think about better tracking of crime locations and incidents. But as you flesh out, the meat on the bones of CompStat was this relentless follow-up. You'd have these weekly meetings early in the morning with all the precinct heads. There were relentless asks from the bosses, “What's going on in your district or in your precinct? Can you explain why this is happening? What are you doing to get these numbers down?” And follow-ups the following week or month. It was constant.CompStat is often thought of as high-tech computer stuff. It wasn't. There was nothing that couldn't have been done with old overhead projectors. It's just that no one had done it before. Billy Gorta says it's a glorified accountability system at a time when nobody knew anything about computers. Everyone now has access to crime maps on a computer. It was about actually gathering accurate, timely data.Bratton was very concerned that these numbers had to be right. It was getting everyone in the same room and saying, “This is what our focus is going to be now.” And getting people to care about crime victims, especially when those crime victims might be unsympathetic because of their demeanor, criminal activity, or a long arrest record. “We're going to care about every shooting, we're going to care about every murder.”Part of it was cracking down on illegal guns. There were hundreds of tactics. The federal prosecutors also played a key role. It was getting this cooperation. Once it started working and Giuliani made it a major part of claiming success as mayor, suddenly everyone wanted to be part of this, and you had other city agencies trying to figure it out. So it was a very positive feedback loop, once it was seen as a success.When Bratton came on the job, he said, “I'm going to bring down crime 15%.” No police commissioner had ever said that before. In the history of policing before 1994, no police commissioner ever promised a double-digit reduction in crime or even talked about it. People said “That's crazy.” It was done, and then year after year. That's the type of confidence that they had. They were surprised it worked as well as it did, but they all had the sense that there's a new captain on this ship, and we're trying new things. It was an age of ideas and experiment.And it was a very short time.That's the other thing that surprised me. Giuliani fired Bratton in the middle of ‘96.It's remarkable. Bratton comes in ‘94, and August 1994 is where you see crime drop off a cliff. You have this massive beginning of the reduction that continues.That inflection point is important for historical knowledge. I don't address alternatives that other people have proposed [to explain the fall in crime] — For example, the reduction in lead [in gasoline, paint, and water pipes] or legalized abortion with Roe v. Wade [proposed by Stephen Dubner].Reasonable people can differ. Back from the Brink focuses on the police part of the equation. Today, almost nobody, except for a few academics, says that police had nothing to do with the crime drop. That August inflection is key, because there is nothing in a lagged time analysis going back 20 years that is going to say that is the magic month where things happened. Yet if you look at what happened in CompStat, that's the month they started getting individual officer data, and noticing that most cops made zero arrests, and said, “Let's get them in the game as well.” And that seemed to be the key; that's when crime fell off the table. The meetings started in April, I believe, but August is really when the massive crime drop began.To your point about the confidence that crime could be driven down double digits year over year, there's a great quote you have from Jack Maple, where he says to a fellow cop, “This is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. As long as we have absolute control, we can absolutely drive this number into the floor.”One detail I enjoyed was that Jack Maple, when he was a transit cop, would camp out under a big refrigerator box with little holes cut out for eyes and sit on the subway platform waiting for crooks.For people who are interested in Jack Maple, it is worth reading his autobiography, Crime Fighter. Mike Daly wrote New York's Finest, which uses the same tapes that I had access to, and he is much more focused on that. He's actually the godfather of Jack Maple's son, who is currently a New York City police officer. But Maple and co were confident, and it turned out they were right.As well as having changes in tactics and approach and accountability across the NYPD, you also have a series of specific location cleanups. You have a specific initiative focused on the Port Authority, which is a cesspool at the time, an initiative in Times Square, the Bryant Park cleanup, and then Giuliani also focuses on organized crime on the Fulton Fish Market, and this open-air market in Harlem.I was struck that there was both this general accountability push in the NYPD through CompStat, and a relentless focus on cleaning up individual places that were hubs of disorder.I'm not certain the crime drop would have happened without reclamation of public spaces and business improvement districts. Bryant Park's a fascinating story because Dan Biederman, who heads the Corporation, said, “People just thought it was like a lost cause, this park can't be saved. The city is in a spiral of decline.” He uses Jane Jacobs' “eyes on the street” theory and then George Kelling and James Q. Wilson's broken windows theory. The park has money — not city money, but from local property owners — and it reopens in 1991 to great acclaim and is still a fabulous place to be. It showed for the first time that public space was worth saving and could be saved. New York City at the time needed that lesson. It's interesting that today, Bryant Park has no permanent police presence and less crime. Back in the ‘80s, Bryant Park had an active police presence and a lot more crime.The first class I ever taught when I started at John Jay College in 2004, I was talking about broken windows. A student in the class named Jeff Marshall, who is in my book, told me about Operation Alternatives at the Port Authority. He had been a Port Authority police officer at the time, and I had not heard of this. People are just unaware of this part of history. It very much has lessons for today, because in policing often there's nothing new under the sun. It's just repackaged, dusted off, and done again. The issue was, how do we make the Port Authority safe for passengers? How do we both help and get rid of people living in the bus terminal? It's a semi-public space, so it makes it difficult. There was a social services element about it, that was Operational Alternatives. A lot of people took advantage of that and got help. But the flip side was, you don't have to take services, but you can't stay here.I interviewed the manager of the bus terminal. He was so proud of what he did. He's a bureaucrat, a high-ranking one, but a port authority manager. He came from the George Washington Bridge, which he loved. And he wonders, what the hell am I going to do with this bus terminal? But the Port Authority cared, because they're a huge organization and that's the only thing with their name on it — They also control JFK Airport and bridges and tunnels and all the airports, but people call the bus terminal Port Authority.They gave him almost unlimited money and power and said, “Fix it please, do what you've got to do,” and he did. It was environmental design, giving police overtime so they'd be part of this, a big part of it was having a social service element so it wasn't just kicking people out with nowhere to go.Some of it was also setting up rules. This also helped Bratton in the subway, because this happened at the same time. The court ruled that you can enforce certain rules in the semi-public spaces. It was not clear until this moment whether it was constitutional or not. To be specific, you have a constitutional right to beg on the street, but you do not have a constitutional right to beg on the subway. That came down to a court decision. Had that not happened, I don't know if in the long run the crime drop would have happened.That court decision comes down to the specific point that it's not a free-speech right on the subway to panhandle, because people can't leave, because you've got them trapped in that space.You can't cross the street to get away from it. But it also recognized that it wasn't pure begging, that there was a gray area between aggressive begging and extortion and robbery.You note that in the early 1990s, one-third of subway commuters said they consciously avoided certain stations because of safety, and two thirds felt coerced to give money by aggressive panhandling.The folks in your book talk a lot about the 80/20 rule applying all over the place. That something like 20% of the people you catch are committing 80% of the crimes.There's a similar dynamic that you talk about on the subways, both in the book and in your commentary over the past couple years about disorder in New York. You say approximately 2,000 people with serious mental illness are at risk for street homelessness, and these people cycle through the cities, streets, subways, jails, and hospitals.What lessons from the ‘90s can be applied today for both helping those people and stopping them being a threat to others?Before the ‘80s and Reagan budget cuts there had been a psychiatric system that could help people. That largely got defunded. [Deinstitutionalization began in New York State earlier, in the 1960s.] We did not solve the problem of mental health or homelessness in the ‘90s, but we solved the problem of behavior. George Kelling [of broken windows theory] emphasized this repeatedly, and people would ignore it. We are not criminalizing homelessness or poverty. We're focusing on behavior that we are trying to change. People who willfully ignore that distinction almost assume that poor people are naturally disorderly or criminal, or that all homeless people are twitching and threatening other people. Even people with mental illness can behave in a public space.Times have changed a bit. I think there are different drugs now that make things arguably a bit worse. I am not a mental health expert, but we do need more involuntary commitment, not just for our sake, but for theirs, people who need help. I pass people daily, often the same person, basically decomposing on a subway stop in the cold. They are offered help by social services, and they say no. They should not be allowed to make that choice because they're literally dying on the street in front of us. Basic humanity demands that we be a little more aggressive in forcing people who are not making rational decisions, because now you have to be an imminent threat to yourself or others. That standard does need to change. But there also need to be mental health beds available for people in this condition.I don't know what the solution is to homelessness or mental health. But I do know the solution to public disorder on the subway and that's, regardless of your mental state or housing status, enforcing legal, constitutional rules, policing behavior. It does not involve locking everybody up. It involves drawing the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. It's amazing how much people will comply with those rules.That presents the idea that someone's in charge, it's not a free-for-all. You get that virtuous loop, which New York had achieved in 2014–2016, when crime was at an all-time low in the city. Then the politicians decided public order wasn't worth preserving anymore. These are political choices.I had a similar version of this conversation with a friend who was shocked that there were zero murders on the subway in 2017 and that that number was stable: you had one or two a year for several years in the mid-2010s.It was five or fewer a year from 1997 to 2019, and often one or two. Then you have zero in 2017. There were [ten in 2022]. It coincides perfectly with an order from [Mayor] de Blasio's office and the homeless czar [Director of Homeless Services Steven] Banks [which] told police to stop enforcing subway rules against loitering. The subways became — once again — a de facto homeless shelter. Getting rule-violating homeless people out of the subway in the late ‘80s was such a difficult and major accomplishment at the time, and to be fair it's not as bad as it was.The alternative was that homeless outreach was supposed to offer people services. When they decline, which 95% of people do, you're to leave them be. I would argue again, I don't think that's a more humane stance to take. But it's not just about them, it's about subway riders.There's one story that I think was relevant for you to tell. You were attacked this fall on a subway platform by a guy threatening to kill you. It turns out he's had a number of run-ins with the criminal justice system. Can you tell us where that guy is now?I believe he's in prison now. The only reason I know who it is is because I said, one day I'm going to see his picture in the New York Post because he's going to hurt somebody. Am I 100 percent certain it's Michael Blount who attacked me? No, but I'm willing to call him out by name because I believe it is. He was out of prison for raping a child, and he slashed his ex-girlfriend and pushed her on the subway tracks. And then was on the lam for a while. I look at him and the shape of his face, his height, age, build, complexion, and I go, that's got to be him.I wasn't hurt, but he gave me a sucker punch trying to knock me out and then chased me a bit threatening to kill me, and I believe he wanted to. It's the only time I ever was confronted by a person who I really believe wanted to kill me, and this includes policing in the Eastern District in Baltimore. It was an attempted misdemeanor assault in the long run. But I knew it wasn't about me. It was him. I assume he's going to stay in prison longer for what he did to his ex-girlfriend. But I never thought it would happen to me. I was lucky the punch didn't connect.Peter Moskos's new book is Back from the Brink, Inside the NYPD and New York City's Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop.My reading listEssays:Johnny Hirschauer's reporting, including “A Failed 'Solution' to 'America's Mental Health Crisis',“ “Return to the Roots,” and “The Last Institutions.” “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety,” by George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson. “It's Time to Talk About America's Disorder Problem,” Charles Lehman.Books:Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America, Jill Leovy.Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life, Fred Siegel. Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District, Peter Moskos.Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, Sam Quinones.Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

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On Air Artist Spotlight: Jana La Sorte

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2025 32:51

Welcome to this Inwood Art Works On Air podcast artist spotlight episode featuring culturemaker, Jana La Sorte.Jana La Sorte has lived in Washington Heights since 2007 and in NYC since 1999. Her background is in arts & culture, community engagement, politics and park management. She joined NYC Parks in 2020 as the Administrator of Historic Harlem Parks before becoming the Administrator of northern Manhattan parks in 2023.

Lord SKO talks new album PIFF, Curren$y, & Statik Selektah on "Sports and Hip-Hop with DJ Mad Max"

Sports and Hip-Hop with DJ Mad Max

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2025 63:48

Shoutout to Washington Heights, New York's own Lord SKO for coming on my show for an interview! Lord SKO talks about his upcoming album PIFF, his PIFF tour, and working with Curren$y on Understand. He discussed working with Statik Selektah, meeting Nas & Styles P, and his A$AP Rocky story. He got into his experience in Los Angeles, the discord between older and younger Hip-Hop audiences, and paying homage to Big L. He also spoke about his next album. Stay tuned! Pre-order Lord SKO's new album PIFF on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/piff/1790701686. Follow Lord SKO on Instagram: @lordsko Shoutout to Sean Wigz for connecting us! Follow Sean Wigz on Instagram: @wigzworld and Twitter: @wigzworld_ Follow me on Instagram and Twitter: @thereelmax Website: https://maxcoughlan.com/index.html. Website live show streaming link: https://maxcoughlan.com/sports-and-hip-hop-with-dj-mad-max-live-stream.html. MAD MAX Radio on Live365: https://live365.com/station/MAD-MAX-Radio-a15096. Subscribe to my YouTube channel Sports and Hip Hop with DJ Mad Max: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCE0107atIPV-mVm0M3UJyPg. Lord SKO on "Sports and Hip-Hop with DJ Mad Max" visual on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4fH6lDNODk.

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Everybody Moves-Rosaly

Hudson Mohawk Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2025 9:59

Everybody Moves Series: Migration Stories from our Community. This weekly series profiles the migration stories of members of our community, whether the migration be their own stories of that of their parents or grandparents, and reminds us that migration touches us all, and teaches us much, because it is a part of the human experience. This week: Rosaly who lives in Troy and moved here from Washington Heights in New York City. This series is produced by Moses Nagel and Joanna Dreby. Interested in sharing your story? You can reach us at Joanna.dreby@gmail.com or moses.nagel@gmail.com to schedule a 20-30 minute storytelling session, in person or on zoom.

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HMM-03-24-2025

Hudson Mohawk Magazine

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2025 58:50

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine, We have coverage from the town hall for New York Congressional district 21, held by IndivisibleADK members to air their concerns about planned cuts to Medicaid, federal job cuts and cuts to government organizations such as the EPA. The district congresswoman Elisa Stefanik was absent, so they addressed a cardboard cutout of her instead. Then, Raneem Afifi, a Journalist, Feminist, and Activist talks with Hudson Mohawk Magazines Andrea Cunliffe about her 14 years of reporting and covering stories of international feminist resistance and activism. After that, Retired National Weather Service meteorologist Hugh Johnson joins us for our weekly look at climate and his weather forecast. Later on, as part of the weekly Everybody Moves series. Joanna Dreby talks with Rosaly, about her family's migration from the Dominican Republic and her own move to South Troy from Washington Heights in New York City. Finally, Sina Basila Hickey chats with Catherine Dodge Smith, board member of the Philmont Cooperative, about the group's work at their kitchen market. Co-hosts: Lennox Apudo & Brea Barthel Engineer: Jalaya

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EP 425: Podcasthon OUT LOUD! The People's Theatre w/ Mino Lora & Angela Reynoso

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2025 46:20

This very special episode of #LOL is part of #Podcasthon, the global charity podcast event!

On Air Artist Spotlight: Porfirio Figueroa

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 35:19

Born and raised in New York City, Porfirio Figueroa is a former triple threat who was fortunate to have danced for the legendary Jerome Robbins, and the great Michael Bennett in shows such as “West Side Story” (having played both Chino and Bernardo) and “A Chorus Line” (having played both Mark Anthony and Paul). He has also worked in TV, film and theater in various capacities as a director, playwright, lyricist, and producer. Locally, he is an active member of Fort Washington Collegiate Church where he conceived, developed, and executed “The Salon Hang,” an art showcase for the Upper Manhattan community featuring over 44 local artists. Porfirio has advised numerous not-for-profit organizations and notable clientele on development, execution, and community outreach. Furthermore, he has advised the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, served as a Board Member of the Dance Project of Washington Heights, and AYUDA for the Arts. He is a Cum Laude Graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, and currently serves as the Deputy Director of Community Affairs for the Office of the Manhattan Borough President, Mark Levine.

EP. 424 Mamá Didn't Raise A Pendeja OUT LOUD

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2025 47:07

On this special episode of #LatinosOutLOud, #RachelLaLoca is LIVE at the NYC book launch party for Mamá Didn't Raise A Pendeja: A Book of Anti-Affirmations Inspired By Tough Latinas. She had the pleasure of hosting and interviewing Authors and former guest of LOL, Aralis Mejia and Carolina Acosta, the creators of best-selling game Tragos. The energy in the room was as high as the location itself, with the inspiring event taking place at Dyckman Loft in Washington Heights, NYC. Shout out to the venue owner, hilarious comedian, Chris Grant. Guests were treated to delicious Latino snacks, and were engaged in dialogue through an in-depth interview conducted by Rachel and excerpt readings from the text. Get your copy of the book today here: https://a.co/d/fUdqha4 Follow Rachel Follow Latinos Out Loud Follow Carolina Follow Aralis and follow the yellow brick road while you're at it! #LatinosOutLoud #RachelLaLoca #Books #LatinoAuthors #Comedy #Podcast

2 police officers gunned down in Newark... Police are out with surveillance camera footage after violent holdup in Washington Heights... First woman to go public with allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo is speaking out again

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Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2025 5:18

2 police officers gunned down in Newark... Police are out with surveillance camera footage after violent holdup in Washington Heights... First woman to go public with allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo is speaking out again full 318 Sat, 08 Mar 2025 20:48:33 +0000 fhIpmuARXv2V9bZ5barqjDYd22350jPm emailnewsletter,news 1010 WINS ALL LOCAL emailnewsletter,news 2 police officers gunned down in Newark... Police are out with surveillance camera footage after violent holdup in Washington Heights... First woman to go public with allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo is speaking out again The podcast is hyper-focused on local news, issues and events in the New York City area. This podcast's purpose is to give New Yorkers New York news about their neighborhoods and shine a light on the issues happening in their backyard. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Top 100 Musicals Film List #81 In The Heights

Viv and Nessa's Infinite Watchlist

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2025 46:44

It's time to head to New York City and join the community of Washington Heights in the 2021 film adaptation of the Lin Manuel Miranda musical ‘In The Heights'. We join store Usnavi, Anthony Ramos, as he tells a group of children the story of the neighbourhood and all the experiences of the people there. Exploring love, family, home and identity along with big dance numbers. Tune jn and let us….tell you something you don't know!

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There's a candidates debate tonight - but the man who's leading in the polls hasn't even announced that he's running...Dozens of people were hospitalized after smoke filled subway station in Washington Heights...

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2025 6:48

There's a candidates debate tonight - but the man who's leading in the polls hasn't even announced that he's running...Dozens of people were hospitalized after smoke filled subway station in Washington Heights... full 408 Wed, 26 Feb 2025 10:48:57 +0000 EH8PBixrRnyyjCO7SjBouHLxZRn991u4 news 1010 WINS ALL LOCAL news There's a candidates debate tonight - but the man who's leading in the polls hasn't even announced that he's running...Dozens of people were hospitalized after smoke filled subway station in Washington Heights... The podcast is hyper-focused on local news, issues and events in the New York City area. This podcast's purpose is to give New Yorkers New York news about their neighborhoods and shine a light on the issues happening in their backyard. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Golden Confidence, Me Fui VIRAL & Mami I'm A Signed Modelo Con Leslie Rodriguez

Life in Spanglish

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2025 45:07 Transcription Available

In this hilarious and real conversation, Model and Influencer Leslie Rodriguez takes us on her journey from a funny Dominican kid in Washington Heights to a viral sensation and signed model. Born to Dominican immigrant parents, Leslie developed her humor early on as a way to stand out, with her mother fully embracing her bold personality. Leslie took a leap of faith, putting corporate life on the back burner to prioritize modeling and influencing. The risk paid off big time, landing her major campaigns with Savage Fenty, Target, Nike, Clinique, and Macy’s. Leslie’s story is proof that when you bet on yourself, the universe listens. And trust me—she’s just getting started!

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On Air Artist Spotlight: Carlos Lample

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2025 25:16

Carlos Lample is a Washington Heights native and first generation Dominican American. He attended Bronx Community College where he majored in Media Technology, then went on to Hunter College where he continued his film studies to embark on a career in media. He has worked for companies such as All Mobile Video, Broadway Video, HBO, My Three Sons Productions, Disney and MTV. In 2018 he created Lample Media, his own content company that produces podcasts, web series, and short form content. Carlos is also one of the lead short film programmers for the New York Latino Film Festival.www.lamplemedia.com

NYC is winning the War on Rats... Four people hurt in Washington Heights fire... LI mail theft operation has cost people thousands of dollars

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2025 5:06

This is the noon All Local for Monday, February 17th, 2025.

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#033 STAR WARS TRIPLE FEATURE, Pt. 1 with GREG IPPOLITO — The United Palace 95th Anniversary, The Miranda Family Fund, Loew's Wonder Theatres, Movie Palaces.

Marquee Mixtape

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2025 40:36

We're covering a “Movie Palace” for the first time on the pod and it's one of the five legendary Loew's Wonder Theatres still standing and operating as a cinema today — THE UNITED PALACE in Washington Heights! Our guest on this episode is their Movie Program Director, GREG IPPOLITO, and he shares how they're celebrating the United Palace's 95th anniversary by kicking off with a STAR WARS TRIPLE FEATURE event that will include a live lightsaber duel, a costume parade, and more.✨FollowThe United Palace on InstagramHERE

Corona teen under arrest for fatal stabbing...Suspect in custody after young woman pushed onto "A" train tracks in Washington Heights...Efforts in NYC to rid "ghost cars."

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Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2025 6:00

This is the 4PM All Local for Monday, January 27, 2025.

Navigating NYC & Miami's Toughest Markets: Development Insights with Matthew Baron - President and Founder of Baron Property Group

Masters of Moments

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2025 74:04

Matthew Baron is the Founder and President of BPG, Formed in 2021, BPG has an active development pipeline totaling nearly 4 million square feet and over 3,600 new residential units, valued at over $2 billion. Under Matthew Baron's leadership, the company's current portfolio includes large-scale mixed-use and rental residential development projects in Long Island City, Queens, and Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, as well as the Miami metro area cities of Hialeah and Coral Gables.Baron Property Group is a vertically integrated real estate development and investment firm. Leveraging over 30 years of real estate experience, they develop residential and commercial properties nationwide, emphasizing New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.Connect & Invest with Jake:Follow Jake on X: https://x.com/JWurzak1 on 1 coaching with Jake: https://www.jakewurzak.com/coachingLearn How to Invest with DoveHill: https://bit.ly/3yg8PwoLinks:Baron Property GroupMatthew on LinkedInTopics:(00:00:00) - Intro(00:01:10) - Life in NY RE(00:3:00) - Matthew's early career(00:18:27) - Matt's first deal(00:23:52) - Pivoting into hotels(00:28:08) - Starting a company during the GFC(00:31:23) - Focusing on MF development(00:34:36) - Mitigating risk(00:36:30) - Location nuances(00:42:03) - Design and construction(00:46:24) - What's stopping you from developing more projects?(00:51:23) - Dealing with Unions(00:53:01) - Getting into the Miami market(00:54:10) - Identifying partners(00:59:52) - Building out a team(01:02:20) - What are you most worried about in the business?(01:05:42) - What's the biggest opportunity in Miami?(01:09:07) - Hold strategies(01:11:08) - What is your favorite hotel?

Lakecia Benjamin: The Jazz Trailblazer Redefining the Live Experience

Songs & Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2025 28:49

Show Notes: In this captivating episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steven Roby sits down with five-time Grammy nominee Lakecia Benjamin, a saxophonist, composer, and trailblazer redefining modern jazz. Lakecia shares insights into her latest album, Phoenix Reimagined (Live), a vibrant celebration of resilience featuring collaborations with legends like John Scofield and Randy Brecker. Recorded live at Brooklyn's The Bunker, this Grammy-nominated album brings her electric stage energy to life, offering listeners a genuinely immersive jazz experience. Dive into Lakecia's journey, from her Washington Heights roots and early work with icons like Stevie Wonder and Prince to her heartfelt tributes to John and Alice Coltrane. She discusses the evolving artistry that has shaped her career, the power of live music as a communal experience, and her upcoming performance at Yoshi's Oakland on February 8. Don't miss this rich exploration of music, creativity, and the human connection. Guest Information: Name: Lakecia Benjamin Bio: Lakecia Benjamin is an internationally acclaimed saxophonist and composer blending jazz with funk, R&B, and hip-hop. A five-time Grammy nominee, she is celebrated for her electrifying live performances and groundbreaking albums. Website: lakeciabenjamin.com Social Media: X: @LakeciaB Facebook: Lakecia Benjamin Instagram: @lakeciab Call-To-Action:Love what you hear? Make sure to: Subscribe to Backstage Bay Area on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. Get your tickets to see Lakecia Benjamin live at Yoshi's Oakland on Saturday, February 8. Doors open at 7:00 PM, and the show starts at 7:30 PM. Buy tickets here. Podcast Playlist: “Mercy” “Trane” “Phoenix Reimagined” Essential Takeaways: Phoenix Reimagined (Live) captures Lakecia's electrifying stage presence and communal energy, emphasizing the importance of live jazz performances. Her musical journey is a testament to creativity, resilience, and collaboration with legends like John Scofield and Randy Brecker. As Lakecia described, live music is a conversation between the artist and the audience, embodying shared human experiences. Hashtags:#BackstageBayArea #LakeciaBenjamin #JazzMusic #PhoenixReimagined #LiveMusic #GrammyNominee #YoshisOakland

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Sax Player and Bandleader Lakecia Benjamin Imagines What's Possible

Soundcheck

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2025 30:29

Sax player, MC, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin grew up playing salsa and merengue in Washington Heights. She counts jazz greats Terri Lyne Carrington, Gary Bartz, and Clark Terry among her mentors; and her list of collaborators includes Missy Elliott, Stevie Wonder, Lil Wayne, Dianne Reeves, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Brandee Younger, and Jazzmeia Horn. Benjamin is primarily known as a jazz musician, although as you might imagine she takes a pretty wide-angled view of jazz. Her latest record, the Grammy-nominated Phoenix Reimagined, is a live reworking of her 2023 album Phoenix, which earned three Grammy nominations. Sax player Lakecia Benjamin and her band play some of her latest tunes, in-studio. 1. Trane 2. Let Go 3. Mercy

Shuir at The Schottenstein Center in Washington Heights by Rabbi Daniel Kalish

Rabbi Daniel Kalish Shas Illuminated

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025 51:14

Shuir at The Schottenstein Center in Washington Heights in Growth by Rabbi Daniel Kalish

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Shuir at The Schottenstein Center in Washington Heights

Rabbi Kalish Shiurim - Waterbury Mesivta

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025 50:34

Rabbi Kalish

washington heights

Episode 259 - In The Heights (w/ BFF of the BFE: Juleen)

Best Film Ever

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2024 248:20

Now you have another reason to get into the summer spirit as we close out 2024! Join your favorite TransAtlantic podcasting crew – Ian, and B-Tech Kev (we got separated from Liam and Megs at the club) – as we're heading to Washington Heights to pay a champagne debt in the Lin Manuel-Miranda musical theatre adaptation In The Heights. With music in the air and dreams on the line, we're joined by BFF of the BFE, Juleen as we dive into the vibrant 2021 musical. We're belting out tunes and dancing no matter how hot it gets through our 259th episode as we discuss: The electric energy of the film's choreography and how it elevates the story as well as who may have had a hand in placing it there What practical decisions were made to adapt the stage musical to the big screen There's a big name in this that someone guesses once of the cast won't recognise A stylistic choice in the 3rd act had us questioning its inclusion. Was it a stylistic step too far? Ian questions whether one particular storyline could have been explored further We reminisce about our favorite tracks and standout performances We also conclude that one character is just a d!ck Whether In The Heights is the Best Film Ever Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at https://www.patreon.com/BFE We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support: Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM Hermes Auslander James DeGuzman Synthia Andy Dickson Chris Pedersen Duane Smith (Duane Smith!) Randal Silva The Yeetmeister Nate The Great Rev Bruce Cheezy (with a fish on a bike) Richard Ryan Kuketz Dirk Diggler Shai Bergerfroind Stew from the Stew World Order podcast NorfolkDomus John Humphrey's Right Foot Timmy Tim Tim Aashrey Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/ Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of 'Mistake' by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor Also massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/ F**k your revolution, Ian's voice is clear F**k your revolution, Hermes goes nowhere near

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Mets RE-SIGN Sean Manaea!

Subway To Shea

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2024 55:02

(Episode 177): The Tribal Chief has returned! The New York Mets have re-signed Sean Manaea! Hector from Washington Heights (aka Blunt Thoughts) joins Subway To Shea's Anthony Rivera to breakdown the contract and whats next for the team from Queens! ____________________________________________ Hector from Washington Heights on X: https://x.com/HHec13 ____________________________________________ Follow on X, Instagram, & Tik Tok: @SubwayToShea Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@subwaytoshea Intro Song: Ride It Like You Mean It- Kristian Leo Outro Song: Sky- OBO --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/subwaytoshea/support

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Vayeishev - Uniting the Shevatim

Nitzotzos: Thoughts to keep your spark alive

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2024 44:03

In this shiur, delivered in Shenk in Washington Heights, Rav Burg explains the inner nature of Yosef's dreams. Far from placing himself at the center of the world, Yosef sought to unite the Shevatim by seeing through to the essence that we all share.

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63. Marriage, Mamzeirus and Money - Feat. Rabbi Ezra Schwartz

Shu

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2024 33:01

Our guest, Rabbi Ezra Schwartz examines Chacham Ovadia Yosef's ruling on suspected infidelity (Yabia Omer, Vol. 3, E.H. #1) which has implications for the couple's marital status and finances alike. Rabbi Schwartz summarizes the key principles employed by Chacham Ovadia and highlights the unique methodology employed to protect the potential mamzer (illegitimate offspring) in question. Rabbi Ezra Schwartz is the Harry Rabin Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at RIETS / Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchonon, where he also serves as a Rosh Yeshiva and bochein. He also coordinates the Bronka Weintraub High School Bekiut Program, for high school students to study Talmud and served as the Senior Rabbi of Mount Sinai Jewish Center of Washington Heights.

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Jazzfest Berlin 2024 w/ Lakecia Benjamin

Music Travel Guide

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 23:33

If there's one musician who truly embodies resilience, it's Lakecia Benjamin.Just a couple of weeks ago, at the 60th Jazzfest Berlin, I had the privilege of sitting down with powerhouse saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin for an inspiring conversation. Throughout her career, she's played alongside legends like Anita Baker, the Count Basie Orchestra, Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder, the Roots, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys, and so many more. After a serious car accident in 2021, Lakecia didn't just bounce back—she wrote new music that would become her latest album, Phoenix, earning three Grammy nominations. Her journey shows just how far small steps forward can go. Lakecia opened up about her roots growing up in Washington Heights, New York, a predominantly Dominican neighbourhood pulsing with Latin music.She shared insights into her 2020 album Pursuance: The Coltranes, her triple Grammy-nominated 2023 Phoenix, the influence of Alice and John Coltrane, and the courage it takes to reveal your authentic self to an online audience as an independent artist. I saw Lakecia in an incredible concert at Quasimodo.What impressed me the most was her attitude. I had to think of what Miles Davis once said: "Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent." The concert wasn't just music, it was a party with all of us - we all celebrated life and women in music.I love her story, her truth and her drive. Enjoy listening!

Victoria Jenn OUT LOUD

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2024 25:04

On this episode of Latinos Out Loud, Rachel La Loca is on location at the new Radio Hotel in Washington Heights, NYC. At the top of the episode, Rachel recaps her experience, including loads of moonwalking in and out of the aisles, while seeing MJ The Musical on Broadway. Then she chats with Business Coach, Victoria Jenn Rodriguez about the challenges in being a Latina small business owner, workplace stress, and taking the leap from corporate to entrepreneurship. They also chat about Victoria's upcoming "Secure The Big Bag & Wellness Summit" taking place in NYC 11/15 & 11/16, where Rachel will be a featured speaker (on 11/16). Secure your ticket here: https://www.securethebigbag.com/ LOL's intern is a student at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema - Brooklyn College and is working on an international thesis project. He could use our help! Click here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/la-partenza#/ Follow Victoria Jenn Follow Rachel La Loca And follow the yellow brick road while you're at it...

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Middle schoolers as scholars: Critical participatory action research

Ethical Schools

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2024 23:13

We speak with Dr. Sam Finesurrey, assistant professor of history at Guttman Community College, and three 2024 graduates of School in the Square (S2), a charter middle school in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Dr. Finesurrey worked with 14 students on a research project studying S2 students' social emotional learning, including reactions to the pandemic and faculty turnover. Dr. Sam and the students talk about the process, what they found, and how the school modified policies in response to the study's findings. The post Middle schoolers as scholars: Critical participatory action research first appeared on Ethical Schools.

The Word of God and Holiness, 27th Saturday (II), October 12, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 24:39

Fr. Roger J. Landry Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Washington Heights, New York Retreat for Columbia University Students Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II Memorial of Blessed Carlo Acutis October 12, 2024 Gal 3:22-29, Ps 105, Lk 11:27-28 To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click […] The post The Word of God and Holiness, 27th Saturday (II), October 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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Jack Matthews, St. Frances Cabrini and Prayer, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 30:27

Jack Matthews Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Washington Heights, New York Retreat Talk for Columbia Catholic Ministry October 12, 2024 https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.12.24_Jack_Matthews_St._Francis_Cabrini_and_Prayer_1.mp3 The post Jack Matthews, St. Frances Cabrini and Prayer, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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Austin Carr, St. Frances Cabrini, Charity and Community, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 25:01

Austin Carr Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Washington Heights, New York Retreat Talk for Columbia Catholic Ministry October 12, 2024 https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.12.24_Austin_Carr_St._Francis_Cabrini_Charity_and_Community_1.mp3 The post Austin Carr, St. Frances Cabrini, Charity and Community, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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Madeline Wiseman, St. Frances Cabrini and the Eucharist, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 31:40

Madeline Wiseman Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Washington Heights, New York Retreat Talk for Columbia Catholic Ministry October 12, 2024 https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.12.24_Madeline_Wiseman_St._Francis_Cabrini_and_the_Eucharist_1.mp3 The post Madeline Wiseman, St. Frances Cabrini and the Eucharist, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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Alexandra Landry, St. Frances Cabrini and Mission, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 28:41

Alexandra Landry Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Washington Heights, New York Retreat Talk for Columbia Catholic Ministry October 12, 2024 https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/10.12.24_Ally_Landry_St._Francis_Cabrini_and_Mission_1.mp3 The post Alexandra Landry, St. Frances Cabrini and Mission, Columbia Catholic Ministry Retreat, Cabrini Shrine, October 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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Taking the Eucharistic Jesus Out Into the World: Lessons from the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine, October 8, 2024