The Hell Gate Podcast

New York state FINALLY has a budget—a month late, and 800,000 housing units short. New York Focus senior reporter Sam Mellins sits down with Hell Gate to break down what the hell happened this budget season, from the death of Good Cause Eviction to horse-racing industry subsidies (???) to the best bathroom in the state capitol. Plus, we take you inside this week's rowdy Rent Guidelines Board heari...

Ever wondered why you're being inundated with videos of "clickbait cuisine" on the subway? Like, recipes for "brieghetti pie" (that's a baked spaghetti pie with a wheel of brie in the middle) or homemade sprinkles? Are you the kind of sicko who is sorta curious about what would happen if you actually made one of these recipes? Have we got an episode for you! This week, writer Willa Glickman discus...

New York has a plan to finally get off fossil fuels within the next 20 years. Doing that will mean changing a lot about how we live, from what our buildings look like to how we get around and where our electricity comes from. Can we pull it off? This week, Hell Gate visits one of NYC's oldest power plants in Queens , and a solar-paneled HDFC co-op in Harlem to find out. This episode is sponsored b...

Spring in New York means moving season, and moving probably means you're gonna have to text a bunch of random people... and then fork over 15% of your annual rent to one of them. But besides unlocking the door to an apartment you found on StreetEasy, what does a broker *actually* do, and why is New York one of the only cities in the country where tenants have to pay their fees? Hell Gate discusses...

When Hell Gate first discussed how to cover the Trump arraignment, the consensus was, let's not. But then our own Max Rivlin-Nadler snagged a spot at the front of the courthouse press line and...well, we ran with it . This week: Dispatches from The Line, the Marjorie Taylor Greene counterprotest , and yes, inside the courtroom with Donald Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

Is the Vessel... actually cool and beautiful? Was Bill de Blasio the best NYC mayor of all-time?! Is Domino's making the best pizza in the city right now?!!! We don't 100 percent stand by all of these takes, but we'll defend them on a podcast if we have to. That's right—this week the Hell Gate team winnows down the Elite Eight of our NYC Hot Takes March Madness bracket to a Final Four. Listen to f...

Budget season is heating up, baby!! And Hell Gate is here to break it down for you. First, we look at why the New York state budget process is such a shitshow, and why a newly empowered state legislature could mean even more chaos this year. Then, we chat with Kim Phillips-Fein, professor of history at Columbia University and author of Fear City, about Eric Adams' proposed austerity budget, his be...

You can legally buy weed in New York now, but… is it worth the trouble? And what do former NBA All-Star Chris Webber, an empty warehouse complex in Detroit, and an agency called the Dormitory Authority have to do with the state's lumbering rollout of legal cannabis? Seeking answers, Hell Gate convenes a panel of dedicated stoners to compare legal and gray market weed, and speaks with Brad Racino,...

Where does New York’s bail reform debate stand? And what does pretrial detention mean for those who have to suffer through it? Hell Gate catches up with Prakash Churaman, who spent his teen years being shuffled through New York’s carceral system and just barely survived. We also talk with Jullian Harris-Calvin, director of the Greater Justice New York program at the Vera Institute of Justice, for...

What’s a “racino”? Why does Governor Hochul want to use slot machine money to help fund the MTA? Is Mets owner Steve Cohen going to build a casino on the Citi Field parking lot? Hell Gate visits Resorts World New York City in deep Queens and chats with reporter Neil DeMause to answer these questions and more.  Read Neil DeMause’s Mets casino story here. Check out the New York State Comptrolle...