FAQ NYC

About these four proposals New Yorkers get to decide on, right after (mostly) guessing which judges to elect? Rachel Holliday Smith breaks down what's at stake, and why most voters have no idea about any of it.

Alyssa Katz talks with America’s “least known great documentarian” about his 86 years living here, his work during the pandemic editing his footage of the city from the 1950s (and that you can see over the next two weekends at the Museum of the Moving Image), how graffiti trains inspired his film Stations of the Elevated, and the big question: What is New York for?

Is the left somehow to blame for the tent city for asylum seekers that the Adams administration had been erecting on Orchard Beach, and that's now going up on Randall's Island? Is New York really turning back into Fear City? If the "old normal" went away with the pandemic shutdown, what are the reasons to be hopeful about the emerging new normal? Christina and Harry discuss all that, and invite Eric Adams—who had a memorable meet up with us as a candidate—to come back on the pod now that he's mayor.

Biographer Andrew Kirtzman joins FAQ NYC’s Weekend Edition to talk about his quarter century covering “America’s mayor” and the inevitable question: What happened to Rudy Giuliani?

Dennis Walcott, chair of the Districting Commission drawing new City Council lines, joins the pod to explain why he was surprised to see the commission vote down its own map, and then Politico's Joe Anuta breaks down his reporting on how we got here (spoiler alert: City Hall got involved late) and what comes next.

Dodai Stewart of the Times joins the pod to discuss her survey of New York City's formerly iconic 24-hour spots, from Wo Hop to Whitestone Lanes, that have now cut their hours, and Dr. Christina Greer and Katie Honan run down all the latest news from the city, starting with the first big departures from the Adams administration.

Former MTA chief and NY lieutenant governor Richard Ravitch (who’s also a donor to The City) and Volcker Alliance senior director William Glasgall join the pod to break down their warning in the Daily News about the fiscal cliffs ahead—and explain why, in spite of those cliffs and the need for constant fiscal discipline, the city remains unbowed and its future remains bright.

Greg Smith rejoins the pod to explain how he found out about the city tests showing arsenic in the water at NYCHA's Jacob Riis houses before anyone informed Mayor Adams or the tenants about them, and to break down everything we still don't know about what happened here—starting with why the city decided to look for heavy metals in the first place. It's a mess that says a lot about how the other half (still) lives.

Something in the buttermilk doesn't smell right, says Professor Christina Greer, and it doesn't help that he keeps dipping his toe into political races he keeps losing.

The great Ben Max of Gotham Gazette joins Chrissy, Katie and Harry for an early assessment of the winners and losers on a rough night for Mayor Eric Adams’ preferred candidates in a weird August election with nearly as many losing candidates as voters.