Preview: Unemployment, mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, natural coastline protection, self-taught artist GC Myers
The next edition of MetroFocus features a look behind the jobs numbers that perplex economists and drive the conversation on the campaign trail. Unemployment is dropping but what kinds of jobs are being created and how much do they pay?
MetroFocus visits a small start-up grocery store in the booming Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg to find out. Host Rafael Pi Roman follows up with an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Kusisto who analyzes the economic recovery in the New York region.
In the continuing series of interviews with the major candidates for mayor, NYC Votes 2013, Republican candidate Joe Lhota, former head of the MTA and deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, talks to Pi Roman about why he’s running.
Lhota said one of his first actions will be to negotiate contracts for city workers, but that he will ask for higher contributions to health care plans. “It is very important that New York City workers pay, and begin the process of paying for their healthcare,” Lhota tells Pi Roman. “Some New York City employees pay nothing, others pay one and a half percent, the average of New Yorkers’ employees pay about 25% of their healthcare. We have to begin the process of making sure that employees are on a fair basis with other employees.”
As the one year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy looms, The Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist Peter Kareiva explains how nature can protect us from natural disasters. Pi Roman interviews Kareiva about a new study from The Natural Capital Project that outlines the value of marshes, dunes and much more in protecting millions of coastal residents.
And finally, from Binghamton station WSKG, the story of self-taught artist GC Myers whose successful painting career began after a serious accident sparked his imagination and skills.
The next edition of MetroFocus airs:
WLIW Wednesday 8/28 7:30 pm
THIRTEEN Thursday 8/29 8:30 pm
NJTV Thursday 8/29 10:30 pm
