WBAI Restored + DSA-endorsed Boris Santos Thinks “We Should Eradicate Private Property”

Local News

• WBAI, a freeform radio station that among others hosted Democracy Now and NYC-DSA’s weekly RPM radio show, has abruptly folded after 60 years on the air. [Update: On Sunday evening the majority of the Pacifica Board of Directors voted to restore WBAI.)
• The Bronx DA’s office released a partial set of the records it keeps on dishonest cops. It is the first DA’s office in the City to make such records public.
• The Civilian Complaint Review Board, has not investigated the majority of cases in which NYPD officers have killed civilians. Since police killed Eric Garner in 2014, 52 other civilians have been killed by NYPD police officers; the CCRB has only investigated 12 of those cases.
• Despite record low crime rates, the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association is conducting a campaign to portray NYC as a crime-infested dystopia.
• Ahead of a vote on the plan to close Rikers, the City Council plans to submit a proposal banning future construction of new jails on Rikers Island, in addition to banning the current jail facility.
• The owner of the Lenox Terrace, a historic apartment complex in Harlem, is seeking to build five 28-story buildings that would contain 1,600 units of mixed-income housing and 160,000 square feet of retail. Only 400 would be designated as affordable housing.
• A City Council bill seeks to change the City’s waste disposal system. Currently, the Department of Sanitation picks up residential waste, but companies have to hire private firms to pick up trash. These private firms have no geographical jurisdiction, so trucks often drive all over the city to pick up trash. The proposed plan would create geographic zones and allow the City two choose three private trash disposal companies per zone to pick up trash.
• A new law signed by Gov. Cuomo last month forces limited liability companies to disclose their members on a State tax form, but might still not succeed in making the beneficial owners of LLCs public.
• Just days after the murder of four homeless men in Chinatown, attendees at a Queens community hearing voiced hateful opposition to a proposed new shelter in Glendale.
• Overseeing its first election since the State approved early voting in January, the New York City Board of Elections is having trouble coordinating with the schools it needs access to for early voting sites starting October 26.

Elections

• The New York Post profiled NYC-DSA-endorsed candidate Boris Santos, who is running in assembly district 54 (Bushwick, Cypress Hills). Santos expressed his belief “that we should eradicate private property and go to a model of collective ownership.”
• City & State broke down the current landscape of competitive June 2020 state legislative primaries.
• The Daily News covered the four State Senate and Assembly candidates endorsed by NYC-DSA, highlighting their shared focus on housing issues.
• Neither the Republican nor the Libertarian nominee for Public Advocate has qualified for the first official debate with incumbent Jumaane Williams, leaving it up to Williams if he wants to debate them voluntarily. Williams was elected in a special election in February, but is up for election again in November.
• Bronx City Councilmember Ritchie Torres has significantly outraised his challengers in the exceptionally crowded race to succeed Rep. Jose Serrano in the 15th congressional district. Another Bronx Councilmember, Fernando Cabrera, has launched a challenge to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, despite not living in her district.