FAQ NYC

The City Reporter’s Gwynne Hogan joined hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel at the Tenement Museum for a live taping just before early voting kicked off in New York City.

They dug into this year’s races, what’s at stake locally and nationally, how immigration is playing into those politics, and much more.

New York City is poised to finally pass a carriage horse ban after more than a decade of talk about that — but it's far from clear what will actually happens after that.

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss and much more, including the court records that led to Katie’s story for The City Reporter on the remarkable life — and afterlife — of a journalistic trailblazer, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman's low-blow closed-door attack on Mayor Mamdani, and much more.

Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss Mamdani’s response to the Marble Hill ICE shooting and how it seemed to show the limits of his relationship with Donald Trump and the rising pressure from his allies on the left to somehow push the feds out of the city and maybe Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch along with them.

Hosts Katie Honan, Christina Greer and Harry Siegel look at Gov. Kathy Hochul's decision to appoint Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor looking into the deeply disturbing gang rape accusations at Cornell, and the legal, political, journalistic and moral fallout from that story, and much more.

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine makes his maiden voyage on the podcast — “I guess I’ve made the big time!” — to talk about the warnings he’s been sounding about artificial intelligence, his concerns about next year’s looming budget deficit and much more, including a hopeful last word:

“I love the fact that the people building these tools live in a diverse New York City and ride the subway every morning. We have the most creative, entrepreneurial population, and we're still the most dynamic economy. I ultimately believe that we got this and that we'll come through str

In the final episode of FAQ NYC’s special series, A Knickerbocker History of America, Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel sat down with Asad Dandia in front of a live audience at P&T Knitwear to dig into the history of terrorism in New York City.

For Dandia, the Brooklyn borough historian, that history includes a decade in which he went from being a CUNY student who learned he was being surveilled by the NYPD to being a part of Zohran Mamadani’s kitchen cabinet:

Hosts Christina Greer and Katie Honan discuss Mayor Mamdani and President Donald Trump’s relationship ahead of their meeting at Gracie Mansion, along with the latest in the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s court back and forth.

Plus, they discuss efforts to save an African burial ground from development and the mayor's management report.

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 th...

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 search...

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...

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.

New York Immigration Coalition CEO Murad Awawdeh joins the podcast to discuss the Supreme Court green‑lighting the Trump administration’s move to end Temporary Protected Status, and how New York State and City are building new protections as federal policy hardens.

Plus, FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Israel rhetoric, his emerging plans for government-owner grocery shops, and much more.

Other than the extreme heat, smoky air, flash flooding and deaths from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, it’s remained a lovely summer in New York City — including for night fishing..

FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss all that and much more, including “shark” Zohran Mamdani’s aggressive early plans for his reelection bid, an older generation of Democratic leaders flopping about like fish out of water as the tide rolls out, and much more.

Mayor Mamdani this week blamed the previous administration for a map of immigrant enclaves that didn't include Little Italy, and said the city would include it next time.

Hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the mostly bad-faith criticism of the map, the eternal arguments about which New Yorkers are represented and which are neglected, how his administration set itself up to get attacked here, and much more

When Zohran Mamdani urged New Yorkers to set their air conditioners to 78 degrees, echoing what mayors before him have advised during heat waves for decades, his critics again lost their minds.

Hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel talk with Alex Brook Lynn, FAQ NYC's original producer calling in from Paris, about heat waves, sharks in the water, swimming in the Seine and much more.

A sudden City Council push to hold up the budget due Tuesday if City Hall doesn’t increase funding for the wildly popular — and thus wildly expensive — CityFHEPS housing vouchers represents a big new test for Mayor Mamdani and his incredible winning streak.

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss all that and much more, and Straight Arrow News senior politics reporter — not to mention FAQ NYC co-founder — Azi Paybarah joins the pod for a deep dive into his story about a bizarre cluster of zombie AI news sites in a story that begins in SoHo.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani put a lot of his newly won political capitol on the line to try and shift the shape of the Democratic Party in New York City and beyond, and won big — proving that his theory of the case didn't end with his election.

An hour and a half after the polls closed, FAQ NYC taped a special episode along with Ben Max and with Katie Honan calling in from Claire Vadez’s exuberant election night party.

Is the Knicks win after more than 50 years  a good omen for summer? Co-host Katie Honan talks with Rachel Holliday Smith, the managing editor of The City Reporter, about summer 2026. Then she speaks with Janet Fash, a longtime New York City lifeguard whose memoir "Lifeguard: A Love Story" comes out June 23.

Bex Max joins Christina Greer and Harry Siegel for a FAQ NYC-Max Politics crossover just after game four to put down politics for once and talk about the Knicks' incredible comeback and a city that’s dizzy with excitement and overdue for a celebration. .

The New York Knickerbockers will come into Madison Square Garden Monday night for the first NBA finals game at Madison Square Garden this millennium having last lost a basketball game 46 days ago. That’s roughly four times as long as peak Lin-sanity and full four Scaramuccis.

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel talk about the city’s blue and orange tinged euphoria, the orange man who’s attending game three and much more, starting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s effort to tap into the city’s basketball excitement while spending some of his political capital on behalf...

Gwynne Hogan joins FAQ NYC to discuss The City Reporter’s big investigation of months of street arrests in and around New York City,and her coverage of the violent scenes playing out now outside of where many of those immigrants are detained at Newark’s Delaney Hall:

Plus, hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the news from another jam-packed summer week in New York City including the strange political bedfellows in a wild race in Harlem, the afterlife of Eric Adams’ zombie city charter commission and much more.

Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss the suddenly unstoppable Knicks, the indefatigable mayor’s efforts to tap into the city’s surge of sports energy, a rainy start to what could be a long, hot summer, and much more.

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel join guest Jeff Coltin to look ahead to summer in the city, consider the state of political goss in this town, the strangest Congressional race playing out in Manhattan and much more.

Will New York State ever pass the budget that was due more than a month ago? And how is New York City supposed to work out its own budget, which it’s legally required to balance and pass by the end of June, without knowing how much money the state is providing?

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into that and much more, including a grim projection about New York City’s shrinking public school system.

Zohran Mamdani’s first political endorsement since becoming mayor predictably didn’t pan out, but Lindsey Boylan wasn’t the candidate he’s betting his political capital on. 

The FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more, including why bringing casinos to New York is such a terrible idea, what’s so good about bodega cats and bad about restaurant dogs, and much more. 

Which came first, the state budget or the city’s spending plan?

As the Mamdani administration pushes for new taxes and more money from Albany the FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more, including how sports and politics are getting mushed together first between the NBA Playoffs and the coming “Trump Station,” and between the World Cup and a looming “weekend of hell” and the Mamdani administration, and much more.

The former president with a supposedly funny name who was smeared as an African-born socialist made a surprise appearance at a Bronx pre-school that opened up on a Saturday so the tots could hang out with him and New York City’s actually African-born socialist mayor with a supposedly funny name at a very sweet and tightly stage-managed event open only to invited press.

The FAQ NYC hosts discuss the first public meeting of two guys with funny names and audacious hopes for the Democratic party and much more, including the city’s title dreams for the Knic...

FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel visited the Greene Space in Soho on Thursday night for a sold-out live recording, hosted by ABNY, talking about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first 100 days.

“I would give him a B,” said Chrissy. “I'm a harsh grader, so I think that's a solid grade. We're seeing someone grow in real time. We are out of the campaign phase and deeply into the governance phase, and there are a lot of ways that Mamdani was naive in campaigning. If these things were so simple, people would have done them bef...

The new mayor captured City Hall with historic support, and polling shows he’s only become more popular since then. But now the question is if he can deliver – despite the resistance of the City Council and Gov. Kathy Hochul to let him cash in on the “tax the rich” revenue he promised to deliver.

The FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more, including City Hall’s new racial equity plan and a horrific shooting in Brooklyn that brought renewed attention to the NYPD’s gang database.

Zohran Mamdani has been Hizzoner for just 88 days, and he’s already navigating the “poisoned chalice” of a big budget deficit he inherited while the credit agencies that could make it much more expensive for the city to borrow money are taking an increasingly dim view of its finances on his watch.

Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss all that and much more, including the mayor’s different responses to two high-profile terror attempts, on the latest episode of the FAQ NYC podcast.

An epic art show at the Lexington Avenue Armory made a young Marcel Duchamp, who was back in France, one of America’s first modern celebrities even before he first arrived in New York City for what became decades of painting, conceiving, chess-playing and love-making — though not always in that order. John Strausbaugh, the author of Duchamp Takes New York, joins the LIT NYC podcast for a wide-ranging discussion of an artist’s life in the Big Apple’s old San Juan Hill, and much more with Amy Sohn and guest co-host Brian Berger.

The new administration is cutting off the private legal support Eric Adams extended on the city’s behalf to himself and his police officer pals, and rolling out a new Office of Public Safety that’s a far cry from the ambitious Department he’s promised.

The FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more, including Zohran Mamdani’s pretty weak — not to mention all-male — list of his all time favorite rappers.

Can former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s fortune help his former staffer, Micah Lasher, prevail in the wide open race for a rare open NYC Congressional seat, and mark an inglorious end to the Kennedy dynasty in the process? Does America’s attack on Iran make a Mayor Mamdani ally the favorite in his primary challenge to a Congressional incumbent? And how far into March Madness can the Blackbirds and the Johnnies take New York basketball? All that and much more gets mulled in Episode 486.

NYC Department of Records Associate Commissioner Kenneth Cobb and Research Associate Marcia Kirk visited Lit NYC to explain how the Municipal Archives came across the death ledger for the town of Newtown, Queens where George Rex, who froze to death in 1885 at the age of 89, had his occupation recorded as “The Last Slave,” what the Municipal Archives has found since then about his life, death and family history, and much more.