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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and for the last 15 minutes of our show today, we're going to wrap it up with your calls on niche local dramas that you and your neighbors can't stop talking or fighting about. What? I'll say it again. What is the niche local drama that you and your neighbors can't stop talking about, or in some cases fighting about? 212-433-WNYC.

Tell us a story from your neighborhood of a neighborhood obsession right now. 212-433-9692. You know we do these call-ins from time to time, just the news from your hyper-local neighborhoods, so we don't just focus on things that make the papers because they affect whole bunches of people in whole cities and states. We do neighborhood call-ins, we do call-ins for immigrants on news from your country of origin.

We've done Friday after Thanksgiving call-ins on news from your Thanksgiving table, and from your neighborhoods from time to time. Now we're going to try it with this twist. What is the niche local drama that you and your neighbors can't stop talking about? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. How's it playing out? Are people fighting through passive-aggressive notes in your building's elevator or in any other way?

Call 212-433-9692 and tell us a story. If you live in Brooklyn Heights, maybe this local beef might ring a bell, and it's what inspired this call-in. A turf war has sprung up at Cadman Plaza Park between local dog owners and those who want to keep the park canine-free. The park began enforcing a no-dogs rule after community members complained of unsanitary conditions that made the area less hospitable to children at play.

Of course, dog owners in the area were unhappy with this new development as they had formed a community and enjoyed morning gatherings while walking their furry companions before work every day. The dispute culminated in the arrest of a local dog owner on September 14th who had forgotten his ID while taking a seven-month-old pup out for a morning walk according to the Daily News.

I'm not going to go further into the Brooklyn Heights, Cadman Plaza Park, dogs or no dogs thing, but there is an example, and I will say it's the example that inspired this call in because lots of different neighborhoods definitely have these hyper-local dramas that you and your neighbors can't stop talking about. I see our lines are already full. We're going to take the break that we have to take and then we're going to take your calls and see what kind of niche local dramas are going on in our area. [chuckles] Stay tuned.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC and now to your niche local dramas that you and your neighbors can't stop talking about or maybe fighting about. We're going to start with Chris in Ossining. Chris, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Chris: Hey Brian. Thanks for taking my call. I got a good one here. I live in a co-op in Ossining. Lived there for almost 10 years, and two years ago, my wife and I loved the place so much we moved to a three-bedroom, super desirable. It's the most desirable unit in the whole place. Now, my wife and I like to smoke a little marijuana here and there. It's legal, obviously.

We have medical marijuana cards, but the new neighbor is on the board and does not like the smell. We've done everything in our power to try and keep that from leaking, but it's not a no-smoking building. We're level within our rights. Push comes to shove. They've tried to now push a smoking ban through, and we then had to sue the place. Now the settlement is after forcing everyone to come and vote-- I put vote in quotation marks because they linked the renewal of our pool passes with voting on the smoking ban after it failed already.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe that's a good idea for America mandatory voting, or you can't use the pool, but go ahead.

Chris: I thought that was a good move, so did our lawyer. We ended up having to sue them because they decided to keep our escrow money for violating a made-up agreement.

Brian Lehrer: Oh boy.

Chris: The settlement now is we have to sell our home and they're going to pay us to leave.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Chris: Because they really have no ground to stand on. They want us to go from our beautiful home that we love. They're going to give us a good chunk of change to sell our home.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. What a story.

Chris: They won't tell anyone about this yet.

Brian Lehrer: What a story and what an ending. Chris, thank you very much for starting us off. That certainly fits the category [chuckles] of niche local drama that you and your neighbors can't stop talking or fighting about. Chris, good luck to you and your family, and how interesting. Some buildings are no-smoking buildings, but it sounds like in that case, it wasn't a no-smoking building, but so that people wouldn't smoke marijuana in the building, they made it a no-smoking building for tobacco as well or try to. Very interesting. All right. Catherine in Ridgewood in Jersey has one. Hi, Catherine.

Catherine: Hi. How are you? The issue that is really driving a lot of people crazy in my community is the development at what's called the historic Schedler property. The conversation started with, "Should we build a small field, athletic field like for soccer, lacrosse, baseball, or should we build a big field?" Clearly, the decision around small field or big field has an effect on lots of trees or fewer trees, but then another part of it that's really becoming controversial or is controversial is should it be a turf field or a grass field. Certainly, the turf discussion then leads to the discussion of even though PFAS are all around us, are we going to be a community that adds more to the environment? That's what's keeping us occupied on Facebook, arguing and debating.

Brian Lehrer: What's the pro-turf argument since I think for most people, grass would be a generally more enjoyable alternative.

Catherine: The pro-turf argument is that it's lower maintenance and that it's lower maintenance. I think there is an element of a lot of our community fields are in flood zones, and so I think there's an argument that says that turf will not be subject to flooding or you can maintain that easier than you can when grass floods.

Brian Lehrer: Expense. Catherine, I'm going to leave it there. Thank you so much. John in the Bronx has one from the Gunhill Road, White Plains Road area. Hey, John.

John: Yes. Thank you so much for picking me up. This is a very big issue on the Gunhill Road, White Plains Road. The Gunhill Road is Lincoln from Cop Cities down to Montefiore Hospital. What is happening on that road is that there is development of bus lanes, something I call unnecessary because there is a large concentration of traffic on the road. Instead of keeping it like that, they have rather squeezed the road.

They have squeezed the road and made one lane a bus lane, and then the one lane for all the numerous cars that are plying between Cop City. That is Lincoln I-95 using East Gunhill Road, getting to Cross Bronx and then getting to Montefiore Hospital and getting to [unintelligible 00:08:31] and you can just imagine the concentration of cars simply because somebody is constructing bus lanes and making good money for himself. The policymaker did not consider the comfort of the majority of people who live within the community. You can just imagine that discomfort. Everybody is talking in his car, "Who ordered this job."

Brian Lehrer: I know there are bike lane disputes all over the city that sound like this, but you're not saying bike lane, you're saying bus lane. Am I hearing you right?

John: Yes. It's bus lanes. The bus lane was actually unnecessary because there are so much concentration of traffic that you don't have to squeeze the road. You have to rather expand the road. You cannot expand the road because of borders and so you don't squeeze the road further, and then something like add up to the problem that we have so far as traffic is concerned.

Brian Lehrer: John, thank you very much. All right. Car drivers versus bus lanes at the White Plains Road, Gunhill Road intersection, more or less, and through the expansive Gunhill Road, and that part of the Bronx. Laura in Basking Ridge, you're on WNYC. Hi Laura.

Laura: Hi Brian. Thanks for taking the call. Out here in New Jersey, we just are in the season of political signs and political advertising for the candidates that are running, not just for our local township committee and our county offices and congressional district, but also our school board races happen at the same time. Our town is, it seems sooner and sooner, earlier and earlier littered with campaign signs that are-- You can't even go a house or a block without seeing this proliferation of signs. Nobody even knows what they're for because they're no longer red for Republicans and blue for Democrats.

Brian Lehrer: They have people's names, I presume.

Laura: They have people's names and various like a campaign slogan. Sometimes they're large, like four by six, or that size, feet. Sometimes they're smaller, but they're everywhere. We used to have some parameters in our town about when signs could go out. That was two weeks before the actual election.

Now they're all over the place September, August, even July this year. It's just a little crazy. There's a lot of chatter on social media about that. People have brought it to our township to try to have them manage it, but they throw their hands up and they don't bother because they think it's going to be a free-speech issue.

Brian Lehrer: It's a free speech, First Amendment issue on one level. You're saying a visual quality of life issue. On the other side of that for how many weeks? Of course, all kinds of campaigns start earlier and earlier in this country as time goes on. Laura, thank you for highlighting that one. We have time for at least one more. Let's take Silka in Marine Park. Silka, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Silka: Hey, how are you? I love your show. This is a topic that is definitely whirling around in my neck of the woods. It's not perhaps as dire as bike lanes and political sign blasting, but we have a single turkey that has taken residence in the neighborhood.

Brian Lehrer: In Marine Park?

Silka: It is Marine Park. Oh, yes. A single turkey, which they're in Staten Island everywhere, but we have now one in Marine Park. We have a page for the community, but it has taken up this page and there are sightings and where's the turkey? The biggest thing is it a boy turkey or is it a girl turkey.

It is a girl turkey. I know my turkeys. It has become this raging debate. People are insisting on calling it a boy, insisting on calling it a girl, what its name is going to be.

Brian Lehrer: Why don't you call it they?

Silka: That's what I'm saying. Is there a they turkey? This is a big deal in Marine Park. It has gotten quite a blis but beware, it could be something else next week, but turkey is quite a big deal right now.

Brian Lehrer: The turkey in Marine Park being misgendered. Silka in Marine Park ending our call in on the niche fights in your neighborhood. That was interesting. We going to have to do that one again. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by MaryEileen Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Stay tuned for All Of It.

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