Sean Carlson: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says Tuesday morning's immigration enforcement action in the Bronx was done in coordination with the city. He says the city and Homeland Security regularly work together when it comes to finding criminal suspects. The NYPD says they were present as part of a task force Tuesday morning when at least one person was arrested. Police say that person was wanted for several crimes, including kidnapping and firearms possession.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says she was in the Bronx this Tuesday with immigration agents as well. A multi-state manhunt for a suspect accused of shooting a state trooper in the leg may have been a hoax. That's according to state police, who say their investigation revealed that Officer Thomas Mascia made up the story. Mascia claimed he was shot in the leg alongside the Southern State Parkway in Nassau County in October by a stranded driver. Nassau County's District Attorney Anne Donnelly says Mascia actually shot himself to sell the story. She says the details just didn't add up.

Anne Donnelly: The evidence uncovered and the absence of evidence told us everything we needed to know.

Sean Carlson: Authorities say they recovered the weapon Mascia allegedly used to shoot himself and that he didn't use his service weapon. Mascia pleaded not guilty Monday to several charges, but if convicted he could spend three years in prison. He has resigned. His attorney has not returned a message seeking comment. A former Republican congress member who opposes congestion pricing is on deck to head the federal agency that oversees mass transit. WNYC's Jimmy Vielkind reports.

Jimmy Vielkind: Marc Molinaro represented parts of the Hudson Valley in Congress until his election defeat in November. Sources familiar with the matter say Molinaro is now on track to lead the Federal Transit Administration in President Donald Trump's administration. The agency distributes around $20 billion a year. It provided billions to the MTA for projects like the Second Avenue Subway and also steered $7 billion to fund the Gateway project for a new train tunnel beneath the Hudson River. Spokespeople for Molinaro and the federal government didn't comment. In social media posts this month, Molinaro described congestion pricing as a "cash grab". He also said the MTA should be more efficient with its spending.

Sean Carlson: Up next, New York City's mayoral race is heating up, with policing and public safety emerging as key issues for all candidates. We'll have more on that after the break.

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Announcer: NYC Now.

Sean Carlson: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is running for re-election, leaning on his background as a former NYPD captain to reinforce his political brand. Candidates running to his left are also working to show they can be tough on crime. My colleague Michael Hill spoke with WNYC reporter Elizabeth Kim about how policing and public safety are shaping the mayoral race.

Michael Hill: Liz, let's talk through this. How public safety could shape this race. How could it?

Elizabeth Kim: Polls have consistently shown that New Yorkers feel unsafe and it's part of this broader reckoning that Democrats are dealing with post-Trump. Crime was a very big talking point for Republicans even though both nationally and New York City, in New York City, crime was falling. In New York City, we do see that assaults are up and coupled with high profile crime incidents that's given way to a perception that the city isn't safe. That therein poses a challenge for progressives who need to show a command on the issue of public safety.

We have two progressives, Scott Stringer and Brad Lander. They backed the defund the police movement in 2020. Now, they're distancing themselves from that rhetoric of police reform. Stringer this month came out with a plan that called for 3,000 more cops. Lander told me that he thought the defund movement was a "failed political strategy". You also have Zellnor Myrie. He said in 2020 that police brutality was "in the DNA of this country". That was after he was attacked by police during the George Floyd protests.

Now, he's often bringing up his mother who he said was robbed at gunpoint and for whom "feeling safe means seeing a police officer". Now, Mayor Adams has taken note of this. He's a moderate Democrat. Here's what he said about his progressive challengers this month.

Mayor Eric Adams: I'm going to use every dollar we need to keep them safe. I'm not like other people who call for just defunding police department and now have a different belief about funding police department. I'm going to keep New Yorkers safe.

Elizabeth Kim: That's classic criticism on the campaign trail. He's saying that his rivals have flip-flopped.

Michael Hill: You mentioned Stringer, Lander, and Myrie, are all the progressives in the same boat when it comes to being more pro-police right now?

Elizabeth Kim: No, you have someone like Zohran Mamdani. He's a Queen State assembly member who identifies as a Democratic socialist. Now, he didn't say explicitly that he'd cut the police budget, but he told me that he wants to eliminate the NYPD's controversial Strategic Response Group. That's a group that has been sued for police brutality during protests. He also wants to scale back Adams's plan to build a new lease training facility in Queens. Overall, many of these progressives are hoping that voters this time around will have a more nuanced view of public safety.

You have multiple candidates rolling out plans to address homelessness and mental health. Someone like Jessica Ramos, she's a queen state senator, she wants to hire more mental health workers. Brad Lander has come out with a plan to house people with mental illnesses who are living on the streets. What they're saying that altogether is that if we tackle these underlying issues, that this will help New Yorkers feel a greater sense of ease on riding the subways and walking on public streets.

Michael Hill: Liz, listening to your explanation, I have to ask this. Who does a race focused on public safety, who does it favor?

Elizabeth Kim: Michael, a lot could change. There are five months to go. This moment feels very similar to 2021. Around May, there was a Times Square shooting. There was a spate of attacks on the subway. That gave Eric Adams a narrow path to victory. Some progressives, they want to change. They want to change the conventional wisdom about crime and candidates. Here's what Mamdani told me he thinks is wrong with the way politicians talk about policing.

Zohran Mamdani: I think part of it is because we are led at the city and state level by executives for whom no matter the question, the answer seems to always be more police. New Yorkers are told that they have two options. Either suffer through that which they are living in the crisis of seeing so many New Yorkers who are experiencing mental health episodes or living through homelessness, especially within our subway system, or to have police officers respond to those things.

Elizabeth Kim: What he's saying is that he wants New Yorkers to try to think about other approaches to public safety. Whether they have the confidence in trying these approaches is something that we'll see play out. In 2021, Maya Wiley ran on a platform to divert police funding and put it towards social services. She came in third.

Michael Hill: We have so much more to talk about there with our Liz Kim on public safety and policing in New York City, that's mayor's race. Liz, we'll have to leave it there. WNYC's Elizabeth Kim. Liz, thank you.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, Michael.

Sean Carlson: Ice skating rinks are popping up all over New York City, from Hudson Yards to Dumbo and South Street Seaport. Adding to classics like Rockefeller Center and Central Park. WYC's Ryan Kailath stopped by one and found out these rinks aren't just for fun. They're big business.

Speaker: It's going really well, my boy. What's up, man? Straight out of New York, right here, Bryant Park.

Speaker: You're the fastest skater out here.

Ryan Kailath: The fastest skater on the ice at Bryant Park the other day is off before I can get his name. It's 13 degrees, too cold to stop moving.

Speaker: The perfect day is 40 degrees, sunny and no wind. I'm a marketing genius on those days.

Ryan Kailath: Tom Hillgrove runs 24 ice rinks around the country, including three around New York. The rink at Bryant Park is on track for $10 million in revenue this year. Almost a third of the park's revenue for the entire year from a few thousand square feet of ice.

Tom Hillgrove: This is a well-oiled machine. We did 5,000 skater visits probably 10 times this year already.

Ryan Kailath: 5,000 skaters in a day. Getting in, renting skates, getting on the ice, off the ice, returning the skates, leaving. That's an average of 90 people every 15 minutes. Dan Biederman, the president of the nonprofit that runs Bryant Park, says the busiest season is Thanksgiving to New Year's. When skating started here in 2005, there weren't many rinks in town. Now they're everywhere.

Speaker: Maybe we were influential on that because it's such a nice thing, outdoor skating. I remember when we first did this, we weren't even sure people would come.

Ryan Kailath: Skating is free in Bryant Park thanks to a subsidy from Bank of America, but rentals are not.

Speaker: That has allowed it to be very profitable and fund a lot of the rest of what we do every year.

Ryan Kailath: Movie screenings, concerts, lectures, and games, all free. Back on the ice, skate attendant John Carlos Gutierrez is watching our speed skater, but not to bust him.

Speaker: I don't know him too well, but I'm going to go skate with him today, see what he's got.

Ryan Kailath: Kuchira says they're both rink rats. Self-taught skaters from the city who take advantage of the free skating. He says you can't go too fast at Bryant Park because of all the tourists. Rink rats prefer Riverbank State Park or Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Speaker: If you really want to see a show, try to go there Friday and Saturday nights after 7:30, you'll see some action.

Ryan Kailath: Ryan Kailath, WNYC News.

Speaker: All sailors must carefully leave the ice.

Sean Carlson: Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC, catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Sean Carlson. We'll see you tomorrow.

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