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For being I'm Amanda Bossard, and just days before a new year, gunfire rang out in a busy section of the Bronx. 6 people were shot along White Plains Road in Williamsbridge, including a mother and her 12-year-old daughter in what police say was a targeted attack. That mom was grabbed by an intended target and even used as a human shield. Joining us now to talk more about addressing the violence in our communities is Bronx City council member Kevin Riley, who represents the district where that shooting happened. Council member, thanks for being with us here on Power and Politics. Thank you for having me. You hear the details of that shooting, and it's chilling. What's your reaction to that happening in your district right at the end of the year? With every shooting that happens in New York City, especially in, uh, District 12, uh, like that shooting has kept me up, um, it's really devastating as a father, um, as a husband, as a son. Um, my family has grown up in this community our entire life, and they frequent White Plains Road and utilize a lot of the businesses on that corridor. That could happen to anybody. Um, it's very chilling to understand that somebody would even utilize another human being who had nothing to do, um, with this vicious attack as a human body shield, uh, while they're with their their child. Um, it's very devastating. It has to be addressed, um, and not only there, um, outside of White Plains Road, I also had two shoe-ins within the same week span in Co op City as well. Um, and the shoe-ins that are taking place in my district in my community are very alarming. I mean it's something that I feel like needs to be addressed ASAP, um, even though we have been addressing it with certain measures. To that point there, the mayor has said time and time again that crime is down citywide, those numbers are not quite the same here in the Bronx. The NYPD data shows that shootings were up in 2024. In your opinion, why the disparity and what does need to change uh to to address that? I think, uh, historically, the investments in the Bronx, uh, need to increase, uh, from a state, uh, city, and federal level. Um, when you look at communities in the Bronx, we have the community with the highest level of poverty within the entire nation. Um, and you look at a lot of, you know, districts like myself, uh, when you look at White Plains Road, White Plains Row has been a corridor that hasn't been addressed in decades. Um, and that's something that we're gonna be, um, addressing, um, very, very soon I'll speak about that a little bit later on. Um, I think there needs to be some investments when we're talking about programming, when we're talking about infrastructure investments, we have parks in the communities, uh, that haven't been even looked at in decades. Um, and we have a lot of great, um, programming out there as well, but they don't get the spotlight. They only get to the magnitude that they need, uh, so other people can understand what's happening within our communities. And a lot of your work outside of the council based in anti-violence work and building that sense of community here in the borough, can you talk about the impacts that you've seen that have and the opportunity to scale that work with increased funding? I think, yeah, I think it's great. Something that we were able to do last year would take a group of kids down to Atlanta, uh, to an entrepreneurship festival called Invest Fest, uh, that was thrown by an organization called Earn Your Leisure and just given that that type of different exposure, um, so they can actually see that there's so much in the world, uh, then you're blocked, there's so much blessings. Out there, um, as our borough president said, don't make your block, block your blessings. We have to continue to elevate and that took funding, that took programming, but that also took a different type of vision and collaborative efforts, something that we've been able to do here in District 12. I host town halls every single month and I focus on different issues within the community and I wanna make sure I'm hearing back from the community. So I will strongly. advise anybody to come out to our community conversations. We do it at least once a month where we're able to get feedback from the community, and I've been able to implement legislation. I've been able to implement funding within the community to address a lot of these issues, uh, that we're facing in the district each and every single day. Another area as well where we're seeing more crime, the subways as well. Uh, I think about that horrible incident on a Brooklyn train recently, a woman burned to death and then a man shoved into an oncoming train. On New Year's Eve in Manhattan, is there any other action on the table or under consideration at the council level to better protect our subway riders? Well, we're looking at the mental health road map currently right now, um, which we implemented last year with the city council, but we're looking on how we can implement more to address a lot of the issues that's happening within the subway system. So I think the council, this fiscal year, uh, this legislative period, we're gonna be, um, looking back over the mental health road map, but also seeing how we could address a lot of the concerns that's happening on the subway, which I think we need to employ more, you know, um, agents on the subways where they could. Um, have some influence with those who are having mental health crisises on the subway. Um, I can tell you that's something that's impacting the ride shift as well. So I think it's something that is gonna be heavily focused on within the council this upcoming fiscal year and this upcoming legislative, um, session. And council member, real quick before I let you go, you mentioned some sort of announcement regarding White Plains Road. Any more of a preview you can share on that front? Well, I think White Plains Road has been an eyesore for a lot of individuals. It's something that we were able to uh focus on is doing a neighborhood plan for White Plains Road where we're gonna work with the administration, we're gonna work with my land use team within the city council, and we're gonna work with the community which is most important. Everything I do within District 12 has to be involved with getting community input and what that's gonna do is change and reimagine how White Plains Road can look for our community and be a resource for our community. White Plains Road has been an eye. There's usually a lot of people um that are outside just hanging out. I'm not doing a lot of things, um, there's a bunch of stores that I haven't been getting a lot of enforcement when it comes to the cleanliness and the quality of life, and that's something that we really strongly wanted, want to uh address. We've been having several, um, tours with DCP, um small business services and my land use team, and we really want to come together. Alongside with the CB 12 and the general manager over there as well coming together to figure out a plan to fix White Plains Road and we're gonna need the community's input. So please, if you're interested in this neighborhood plan, please contact my office and we would really love to hear from you. I'm sure a lot of interest in that plan and something we'll continue to follow here on News 12. Council member Kevin Riley, thanks so much for your time. Happy new year. We appreciate having you here on Power and Politics. Thank you. Have a good one. Still to come, a closer look at other new laws taking effect in 2025, including one that makes it easier to break the popular New Year's resolution. We'll have more power in politics in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics. Joining a gym is popular this time of year, but a new law now makes it easier than ever to cancel that membership. News Twelve's Tim Harfman explains. New year, new you, and a new law helping to take the weight off canceling your gym membership. Starting next month, health clubs will be required to accept and process cancellations and refunds within 10 business days. Some New Yorkers are applauding the plans. That seems that seems only fair. Learning that it's easier to cancel is really good news. The new state law also allows gym members to cancel online, and gym contracts can be canceled up to 3 days after they're signed without a penalty. I've had a gym membership for years, and since the pandemic, I've hardly been in the gym, so I've been paying monthly thinking that if I cancel it, it'll just be harder to rejoin. The state's attorney general advises gym goers to educate themselves about membership. Costs and services before signing up and not fall for high pressure sales tactics. Meanwhile, one New Yorker says the new law may hurt independent fitness centers competing with large corporations. I could see that being an issue for for an establishment like if they have to turn around money right away that they then, you know, had used for fixing up gym equipment. It might not be that easy. Brooklyn State Senator Roxanne Prasad and Bronx Assembly member Jeffrey Donowitz sponsored the legislation. Again, the new law goes into effect in February at Van Cortland Park. Tim Hartman, News 12. All right, Tim, thank you. Mayor Eric Adams now addressing his choice to meet the accused United Healthcare CEO shooter upon his arrival in New York City after this video of Adams escorting Luigi Mangioni to his court appearance quickly went viral. The guy assassinated, uh, according to all evidence that we have, right, the guy. The guy, uh, this case has been highly focused on and is going to go to a court of law. Eric Ads being at the, um, the heliport, uh, watching this, uh, individual come into the city, uh, and countless number of New Yorkers said thank you, thank you. And the changes continue at the NYPD in the wake of the scandal that forced out high ranking members. Former Chief of Patrol John Chell will now be Chief of Department. The position was formerly held by Jeffrey Madre, who stepped down amid allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for extra pay. Former Chief of Transportation Philip Rivera will serve as the new chief of patrol, and Edward Thompson will serve as chief of internal affairs, and that's all for this week on Power and Politics here on News 12. Thanks for watching.

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