FAQ NYC

Episode 72: Watching Weinstein: Just Another Trial

Victoria Bekiempis rejoins FAQ to run down her experience covering the Harvey Weinstein trial for Vulture.

Episode 71: Surveillance in the City: A New Podcast

Check out the pilot episode of 'Surveillance in the City,' a new podcast from some of our favorite FAQ guests, and produced by our very own Alex Brook Lynn. Join Albert Fox Cahn, Liz O'Sullivan, and Ali Winston, as they discuss current events related to privacy, data, surveillance, science fiction, and op-ed columnists. Recorded at Don't Bury the Lede on January 20, 2020. Albert Fox Cahn: @foxcahn (twitter.com/foxcahn) Liz O'Sullivan: @lizjosullivan (twitter.com/lizjosullivan) Ali Winston:...

Episode 70: Stop, Frisk, Apologize, Rinse, Repeat

Chrissy and Harry discuss Mike Bloomberg's latest national apology, the very different conversation about policing in Bill de Blasio's New York, and lots more.

Episode 69: Better Late Than Never?

Episode 68: Eric Adams is Packing Heat

He isn't backing down from his complaints about new New Yorkers, his fundraising, or anything else. WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/1aiFuCo2Kn4

Episode 67: Talking About Pictures

Episode 67: Talking About PIctures

Episode 66: The Frightening Future of Work

Episode 65: New York City Trash Talk Falls Short

Episode 64: The Killing of Tessa Majors

Michael Daly of the Daily Beast discusses his reporting on the killing that shocked a city, and Christina Greer talks about her time at Columbia and why this killing drew some much more attention than others.

Episode 63: Mother of Exiles

FAQ takes a field trip to Emma Lazarus' Sitting Room at the American Jewish Historical Society to talk with Executive Director Annie Polland about the poet's life and her legacy. It's a story about intergenerational identity and how a rich woman found herself identifying with "wretched refuse" that's disturbingly resonant today.

Episode 62: Penn Station's Original Sin

Marc Dunkelman delves into the history of Penn Station, and explains why the ghost of Robert Moses makes it so hard to get anything built in New York now.

Episode 61: Tears in the Rain

For the past year, FAQ has been asking New York's politicians the toughest questions, namely: “Are you a replicant?” The results of their Voight-Kampff tests have been a tightly held secret until now. It’s November, 2019, and the future is here and so are the tests, and results.

Episode 60: Digital Stop and Frisk

Albert Fox Cahn of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project joins Chrissy, Alex and Harry to talk about police body cams, who's watching our (AI and facial recognition enhanced) watchmen, and much more.

Episode 59: Civics Lessons

Political strategist, NAACP Brooklyn branch president and Sunday Civics host L. Joy Williams joins Chrissy and Harry to run down what New York's democracy looks like these days.

Episode 58: NYC's No-Contest Election

Nearly 20% of New Yorkers turned out to vote, for what? Ben Max of Gotham Gazette joined Chrissy, Harry and Alex Tuesday night to run down what just happened, and what it means.

Episode 57: As Poor People Are Beaten for Seeking Help, Where's the Mayor?

New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay and researcher Emma Goldberg join Chrissy and Alex to discuss the response from the city to their disturbing story, When Poor People Are Beaten for Seeking Help, about HRA clients who were beaten, handcuffed and worse by city employees and contractors.

Episode 56: Corey Johnson on "Removing an Indelible Stain"

Council Speaker Corey Johnson joins Chrissy, Harry and Alex to explain how the vote to build four new jails and the promise to close Rikers Island in 2026 fit together. Plus, he talks for the first time about his most recent visit to the Island a week ago, and much more.

Episode 55: The Water Miracle

Turn on a tap, tune in, and listen to Ibrahim Abdul-Matin blow your mind about New York's water.

Episode 54: Border/Lines

Immigration reporter Felipe De La Hoz of the new Border/Lines newsletter joins Chrissy and Harry to explain about the Trump administration's new public charge rule, and much more.

Episode 53: Life and Death, Porn and Potter's Fields

Katie Honan of the Wall Street Journal joins Harry and Chrissy to talk about sex shops, burying grounds and everything in between.

Episode 52: Train Pain and Gain

Jose Martinez, transportation reporter for The City, joins Chrissy, Harry and Alex to run down the MTA's new $51 billion and change capital plan.

Episode 51: Testilying, Then and Now

Investigative reporters George Joseph and Ali Winston join Chrissy and Harry to explain how New York's district attorneys do — and, more often, don't — track police officers whose testimony doesn't ring true.

Episode 50: A Verb, a Noun, and What?

Summer's done, and Chrissy, Harry and Alex are back to run down the latest and New Yorkest.

Episode 49: (No) Escape From New York

The first New York City mayor to run for president while still in City Hall since Hot John Lindsay is having a blast moonlighting in Iowa; not so much at his day job. Politico's Dana Rubinstein joins to discuss her reporting on what to expect when Bill de Blasio finally calls it in and comes home. Spoiler: Meh.

Episode 48: Just Us, and No More Jeffrey Epstein

NY Cops and Cooks reporter Pervaiz Shallwani, a senior editor at the Daily Beast, joins the FAQ crew to run down the latest twists in the terribly twisted Jeffrey Epstein saga.

Episode 47: A Bike Mayor

Streetsblog's Dave Colon runs down the state of the streets in New York City, where the car remains king, and the need for a bike mayor. Plus a flashback to actual Mayor Bill de Blasio railing on FAQ about the unique evil of Fox, not so long before he spent Wednesday evening with Sean Hannity, and more.

Episode 46: View From The Plaza

Journalist Julie Satow, author of The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel, joins Harry and Alex Lynn to share some of those secrets.

Episode 45: Fear City, ICE Edition

The safety net in our sanctuary city barely exists for undocumented immigrants. Mazin Sidahmed of Documented and Claudia Irizarry Aponte of The City come in to discuss their reporting on ICE raids, family members left behind and more. Plus, Harry and Chrissy talk about the feds decision not to charge Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Eric Garner, and Victoria Bekiempis and Alex Brook Lynn go inside the courts.

Episode 44: Queens Rules

With the Queens DA race still up in the air, Nolan Hicks of the New York Post joins Chrissie and Harry to run down the state of the recount. Plus, Victoria Bekiempis goes In the Courts for a look at Jeffrey Epstein, who's finally spending full days inside a cell.

Episode 43: Who’s Counted, and Who Counts

Life comes at you fast: Steven Romalewski of the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research at CUNY'S Graduate Center joined Harry Wednesday morning — when Trump's citizenship question was dead and Tiffany Cabán appeared to have won the district attorney primary in Queens — to talk about the Census, who's likely to be undercounted and what’s at stake for New York, as well as the state of Queens politics. By Wednesday night, the citizenship question was back in play and Cabán was do...

Episode 42: Cabán Rocks Queens

Tuesday was a YUGE night for the rising reform crowd in Queens and a YUGE defeat for the powers that be, but maybe not for much longer. Harry and Chrissy discuss, along with Emma Whitford calling in from Cabán's victory party.

Episode 41: A New York City Education

New York Times Metro Deputy Editor Dodai Stewart joins Christina and Harry to discuss the papers’ reporting on the collapse in black and Latino representation at New York City’s elite schools and the rise of private test prep, her own BPR (Before Pizza Rat) education at Bronx Science, and more.

Episode 40: The Meek Mill Interview: ‘Ate Alive in the Criminal System’

Meek Mill, still “on probation my whole life,” talks about his justice Reform Alliance work at The McSilver Awards, and then with Christina and Harry. Plus, McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research COO Rosemonde Pierre-Louis talks about the night and its honorees.

Episode 39: Just Us, and The Queens District Attorney Debate

It’s a Queens District Attorney debate, with the first real election for the borough’s top law enforcement position since the 1970s(!) less than a month away. Candidates Tiffany Cabán, Rory Lancman, Greg Lasak, Nina Malik and Jose Nieves joined Christina Greer, Harry Siegel and the New York Times’ Azi Paybarah at the Rocco Moretto VFW Post 2348 in Astoria Wednesday morning for a special episode of FAQ along with Racket Media, our executive producer Alex Brook Lynn’s new entry into the heretof...

Episode 38: The Ghost of Hot John Lindsay

Azi Paybarah, who left FAQ — WTF?! — for the NYT returns to talk with Harry and Chrissy about the city’s rats, goats, and sharks, including political shark Bill de Blasio’s presidential run and what it means to be America’s mayor-in-chief.

Episode 37: Just Us, and Officer Daniel Pantaleo

ABC Criminal Justice reporter Christina Carrega joins Harry Siegel, Christina Greer, Victoria Bekiempis and Alex Brook Lynn to talk abut what she's seen at the disturbingly low-stakes department trial, inside One Police Plaza, of the officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner—and who's still drawing a check from the NYPD nearly five years later.

Episode 36: Black Boys, Ready to Die

Dr. Michael Lindsey, director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, discusses his work leading the working group for the Congressional Black Caucus’ newly convened emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health. Then Alex Brook Lynn, in Albany, visits Albany to report on dark talk about dirty vice cops in New York City. Finally, Patricia Williams, mother of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, calls in for Mother's Day to look back on raising a boy in Brooklyn.

Episode 35: Legal Pot Goes Up In Smoke

This was going to be the year that pot was flat-out legalized in New York, or so said Gov. Cuomo, perhaps inspired by primary opponent Cynthia Nixon. Then three wo/men went into a smoke-filled room and everyone forgot about it. State Senator Diane Savino joins Chrissy, Harry and Cannabis Wire's Alyson Martin to discuss what happens, and what happens — or more likely doesn't — now.

Episode 34: Door-to-Door War

New state Senator Zellnor Myrie walks up to Alex Lynn's rent-stabilized apartment to sit down with his constituent Christina Greer and talk about the rent-stabilized apartment he grew up in, why New York needs stronger new rent regulations, statewide, and more.

Episode 33: Dirty Data Dystopia

For now we see through a black box, darkly, as Albert Fox Cahn and Liz O'Sullivan of STOP - The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project — visit Bleecker Street to talk about what's happening with algorithms and AI in de Blasio's New York.

Episode 32: A Tale of Two Pre-Ks

Within Universal Pre-K, there are two groups of teachers — one that works for the city, and one that works for community groups the city contracts with — that do the same work, for very different salaries. Christina Veiga of Chalkbeat joins us to talk about a looming strike, and the value of a woman's work in de Blasio's New York. Plus, Victoria Bekiempis calls in to run down the court drama this week from the NXVIM sex cult cum pyramid scheme, and more.

Episode 31: Just Us episode 1

FAQ presents a new, highly irregular podcast about courts and the justice system with Victoria Bekiempis and Alex Brook Lynn talking with with legendary courts reporter Christina Carrega about the highly irregular trials of Chanel Lewis, convicted this week for the murder of jogger Karina Vetrano.

Episode 30: Ferry Follies

Rosie Goldensohn of The City comes in to explain how the city blew $369 million to save $30 million on a niche transportation system that charges $2.75 per ride that the city pays $13 to provide, state Senator Alessandra Biaggi calls in to discuss how $175 billion of state budget sausage gets ground up.

Episode 29: MacDoodle Street, or, A Pod for Visual Voluptuaries

Mark Alan Stamaty’s great visual novel MacDoodle Street—the story of dishwashing poet Malcolm Frazzle that first appeared in the pages of the Village Voice in the late 1970s—is back in print thanks to the fine nerds of the New York Review of Books. Bill Bramhall, editorial cartoonist for the Daily News, joined Harry Siegel and Alex Brook Lynn for a conversation with Stamaty about his work, God, drugs, those hacks Artman and Andy Warhol, donuts and love, and, of course, umbilical oralism and ...

Episode 28: A New Day for the Oldest Profession?

Harry Siegel and Alex Lynn talk with state Senator Jessica Ramos about sex work and the new push to decriminalize in in New York, and much more. Plus, Emma Whitford runs down her reporting on loitering laws, massage raids, and why the NYPD says we can’t arrest our way out of this problem; Harry talks with Peter Edelman about the criminalization of poverty, and Alex and Victoria Bekiempis go inside the courts.

Episode 27: Prosecutor's Promise: I'll Hammer Less

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez talks with Harry and Alex about his Justice 2020 action plan, what happens when prosecutors with legal hammers stop treating people like nails, policing the police, sex crimes and much more. Then Alex and Victoria go in the Manhattan courts to talk about a busy week there for the Trump gang, what with his old campaign manager getting charged in a court where the president has no pardon power, while his TV lawyer — our old mayor! — was back again to ge...

Episode 26: The Fusion Explosion

As Cuomo's Democratic Party looks to blow up fusion voting in New York, the Post's Michael Benjamin joins Christina and Harry to discuss the state of the party here and nationally in the shadow of Trump. Plus Victoria and Alex go in the courts to talk about the case of Statue of Liberty climber Patricia Okoumou.

Episode 25: Nefarious Reasons in a Special Election

New Public Advocate-elect Jumaane Williams called Christina Greer just before the polls closed to discuss his vision for the office—and why there needs to be an investigation of how his sealed police records from a decade-old domestic dispute ended up dropping days before the election. Then Gotham Gazette Executive Editor and Max and Murphy co-host Ben Max visits the FAQ crew to break midnight breaking down the results, and what they mean for NYC and the players in its long game of political ...

Episode 24: Amazon's Prime Decepticon

A double-sized episode with Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer explaining to Chrissie and Harry why he isn't interested in negotiating with Amazon, or serving with Ruben Diaz Jr. Plus—deep breath!—Daily Beast special Fashion Week correspondent Sarah Shears on Paris Hilton lighting her own photos, ace courts reporter Victoria Bekiempis on Chapo’s conviction, Community Voices Heard Executive Director Afua Atta-Mensah on organizing against Amazon, and Sexual Harassment Working Group members Rita Pasare...