Monthly Archives: February 2013

Next on MetroFocus – debuts 2/27/2013

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In the next edition of MetroFocus we look at where we are four months after Sandy with reports from three regions. In New Jersey, NJ Today’s David Cruz reports from Hoboken on how that city is struggling to find ways to prevent flooding from future storms. In Manhattan, two students from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism return to the South Street Seaport where they first met the owners of the Paris Café right after the storm struck. Today Paris Café is still closed and many businesses are still boarded up. On Long Island, Jim Paymar, host of the Long Island Business Report, talks to Randi Dresner, President and CEO of Island Harvest, a food bank and charity that feeds hundreds of thousands more people after Sandy. Rafael Pi Roman interviews Vin Cipolla, president of The Municipal Art Society, about plans to make major changes to Manhattan’s East Midtown area. The Center for an Urban Future’s David Giles, author of a year-long study called “Branches of Opportunity,” talks to Pi Roman about the city’s libraries and their new role providing services and programs to immigrants and low income communities.  Our “Listening in” segment features an excerpt from a talk called “Tackling Poverty,” sponsored by City Limits and the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness. And finally, The New York Times’ Samantha Stark introduces us to the happiest man in city government, James Mitchell, who marries as many as 200 couples a week at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau.

NYC-ARTS – 2/21/2013

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This week on NYC-ARTS, a special Oscar-themed show highlighting the 2013 nominee for Best Picture and Best Director. Paula Zahn interviews Ang Lee and actors in “Life of Pi,” which received 11 nominations. Then Reel 13 host Richard Peña talks about this year’s nominated documentaries, shorts and foreign films.

Next on MetroFocus – debuts 2/13/2013

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In this edition of MetroFocus we begin with in-depth reporting on guns and gun violence in advance of the PBS week devoted to guns coverage.  In a solutions segment, Rick Karr reports from Crown Heights on a small group’s strategy to reduce gun violence and to address the connection between poverty and gun crimes.  Rafael Pi Roman interviews State Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) on New York’s new tough gun control law as well as poverty and Adams’ 20-year-career as an NYPD officer.  For an upstate perspective, Marie Cusick reports on reaction to gun control legislation from Ilion, NY, the small town where the massive Remington Arms Company was founded and where the gun manufacturer still has a factory. We introduce a brand new MetroFocus segment, “Listening in,” with an excerpt from a talk called “Cities and Climate Change: What Aren’t We Talking About?” held at the New York Academy of Sciences, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy and featuring leading climate scientists talking about how to rebuild and better prepare after Hurricane Sandy.  AIDS activist Peter Staley joins Rafael Pi Roman to talk about the academy award-nominated documentary “How To Survive A Plague,” which documents the history of the radical group, ACT UP, and its protests and campaigns to change policies on HIV/AIDS research and funding. Staley is one of the principal characters in the documentary and he talks to Pi Roman about how the lessons learned by ACT UP apply to today’s social justice movements.  From the Rockaways, The New York Times’ Emma Cott reports on the struggle students are facing after being displaced from their high school for more than two months following Hurricane Sandy. And we’ll have a look at an amazing solution to feeding the hungry called “Canstruction,” a 20-year-old competition for architects and engineers to build structures entirely out of cans of food…all of which are then donated to local food banks.