Episode 517: 'Two Great Mayors in 400 Years'

Director Ric Burns and his writing and producing partner, James Sanders, sat down with Christina Greer, Harry Siegel and guest co-host Dave Colon to discuss their two new episodes of Gotham: A Documentary bringing their epic history into the 21st Century, The filmmakers dig into the unprecedented wave of crises from 9/11 to the Great Recession to Hurricane Sandy to COVID and the George Floyd protests that our resilient city has found way through over the last 25 years, why its values are being tested now in a way they haven’t been in a century, and how in their telling an unlikely businessman mayor helped reaffirm, reshape and restore the resilience that’s always defined New York.

Hosts Katie Honan, Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss the different ways New Yorkers marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the attempts to manufacture outrage about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appearance at the commemoration ceremony, and Katie’s reporting from a pub right by Ground Zero on the anniversary this year. Plus, the group gets into a new Legionnaires' outbreak in the Bronx and the water towers nobody seems to be testing, the unsettling rehabilitation of George W. Bush, the only living New York City mayor who didn't make the ceremony, and more.

More than three times as many people have now died of 9/11-related illnesses as were killed on that terrible day — and three-quarters of the New Yorkers here now weren't here then. On the day Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a portal of documents showing city and federal officials had known since weeks after the attacks about the noxious air that people were breathing downtown, FAQ NYC hosts Harry Siegel and Christina Greer dig into that story. Plus, they discuss Mamdani’s new workers’ rights office, his new 400-page racial equity plan, a treasure map of easily searchable historical photos, and much more.

In the second episode of FAQ NYC’s new three-part special series, A Knickerbocker History of America, Katie Honan, Harry Siegel and guest cohost Asad Dandia, the Brooklyn borough historian, sat down in front of a live audience at P&T Knitwear to discuss just three of the city’s many, many “riots” — “a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd” — and how the Harlem riot of 1934, the hardhat riot of 1970 and the The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Riot of 1992 — and how each was understood at the time and in hindsight.

Katie Honan looks back on a wild scene as the Brooklyn Democratic Party bosses changed their rules in a closed door vote after losing an open election to try and hold onto power before she, Chrissy and Harry dig into the Mamdani administration’s 2K payroll problems, the unanswered question of how the city is going to pay for the new administration's $4 billion BQE repair, and much more.

Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel dig into about the mayor’s new BQE plan, his many fights with the City Council, Hakeem Jeffries’ private sit-down with Hakeem Jeffries, Jessica Ramos’ double-dipping mess on her way out of the party, AOC’s very public family planning, and much more…

Chrissy, Harry and Katie sort through a week of summer news in NYC before Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn joins Katie for an interview.

at were not plugged into walls.” Things change when the lights go out, but while the blackout of 1965 was a moment that brought the city together the one in 1977 became a signal moment in the narrative of its decline. Nearly a half century later, it remains the largest mass-arrest event in New York City history — one that helped set the city on a long journey into ever more prosperity and austerity. In the debut episode of FAQ NYC’s new limited series, A Knickerbocker History of America, Katie Honan, Harry Siegel and guest co-host Asad Dandia, the Brooklyn borough historian, sat down in front of a live audience at P&T Knitware to discuss the city’s 1965, 1977, 2003 and 2012 blackouts — and how each was understood at the time and in hindsight.  

FAQ NYC co-hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the state’s new effort to ferret out New Yorkers who want to live here but pay lower insurance and tax bills somewhere cheaper, a lawsuit pushing back on the NYPD's use of NYCHA's free wifi program to give officers unfettered live access to the housing authority's surveillance cameras, and much more., including a rare direct shot at President Trump from Zohran Mamdani and a bad-faith crusade targeting the mayor.

As the mayor's push to trumpet the collection of his new pied a terre tax and confront quiet money with loud politics got off to a bumpy start, he's standing his ground and playing for time to smooth things out. Christina Greer, Harry Siegel and guest co-host Alex Brook Lynn dig into that and much more, including Mamdani's slow-walk on his police reform promises from the campaign trail, his new pick to chair the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and much more.