NYC NOW - April 5, 2024: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: Governor Kathy Hochul is directing the MTA to halt a plan that would have required NYC Marathon organizers to pay hundreds of thousands to cover lost tolls, WNYC's Catalina Gonella reports. Meanwhile, adultery, considered a sin by many religions, may no longer be a crime in New York, with the Senate passing a bill to repeal it after more than a century. Plus, as we prepare for the solar eclipse on April 8, NASA astronaut Jeannette Epps from Syracuse had a video call with Governor Hochul. Finally, on this week's On The Way segment, Stephen Nessen and Clayton Guse discuss New Jersey's lawsuit against congestion pricing and the true costs of fare evasion.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, April 5th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hokel is directing the MTA to pump the brakes on a plan that reportedly tasked New York City Marathon organizers to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover money lost from uncollected tolls. WNIC's Catalina Gonella report.

The decision comes just a day after the New York Times reported that the MTA had demanded roughly $750,000 from New York Roadrunners, the organization responsible for the marathon. The agency said it would make up for lost revenue from the closure of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Hockel issued a statement in response, telling the MTA to, quote, fix this mess, and the organizers to find creative ways to raise money, such as purchasing advertising on MTA buses and trains instead. The MTA did not respond to our request seeking comment. Many religions consider adultery to be a sin,

but in New York it may no longer be considered a crime. The state senate passed a bill this week, repealing the crime of adultery, which has been on New York's books for more than a century. Under current law, a married person can be charged with a misdemeanor if they engage in intercourse with someone, not their spouse. The law is rarely used to a. There was an exception in 2010 when a case in West New York received national media attention.

The Assembly passed the bill last month. Now it heads to Governor Kathy Huckle for final approval. Her office says she's reviewing it. We might think we know of a great vantage point from Monday's solar eclipse, but it's safe to say Jeanette Epps of Syracuse has us beat. She's a NASA astronaut who's aboard the International Space Station where she spoke to Governor Hokel on a video call yesterday. Well, what we can see mainly is the shadow of the eclipse over the earth as it passes through.

So we won't be able to look directly at the sun and see the eclipse that way, but what we'll see and we're looking for is to see the shadow. Much of New York State will be in the path of totality, as it's called, and that means that includes that's hometown. People in New York City will see about 90% of the sun covered. There are no end trains between Queensborough Plaza and Lexington Avenue because of a switch issue there. We'll keep an eye on it for you. 41 with clouds right now.

It's light chance of showers this morning, then isolated showers this afternoon, sunshine in 51 and windy. Up next, our weekly transportation segment on the way. That's after the break. On WMYC, I'm Junae Pierre. You have questions for winter. It's time for our... on the way segment. Right now we're breaking down the week's transit news and joining us is WMYC transportation reporter Stephen Nesson and editor Clayton Guse. So Stephen is outside the federal

courthouse in Newark where he's been covering New Jersey's federal lawsuit that aims to stop the MTA's congestion pricing plan. Stephen, what's the latest and what have you learned from this week? Basically, I just wrapped up a very long two days of oral arguments between lawyers from the MTA and the federal government, which approved the congestion pricing plans, and representatives lawyers from New Jersey government, representing Governor Phil Murphy. You know, this comes after months of behind-the-scene conferences. So this is the first time the sort of arguments spilled out in public, you know, and the judge, you know, took in two full days of a very extensive argument and said, you know, he's well aware of the impending deadline

as well. You know, the MTA wants to begin charging drivers starting June 15th. So it's not a lot of time. So, you know, if the judge does rule in favor of the MTA, then Toland could begin June 15th, you know, but this is a highly technical case. It really is centered around a lot of environmental processing for big projects at the federal level, you know, sort of how the federal government conducts its reviews of big projects. And sort of, you know, what made this more than just a procedural drama, I suppose is there were two pretty high-powered lawyers in the courtroom. There's Randy Mastrow. He's representing New Jersey. Listeners might remember him from the Bridgegate scandal. He also represents

James Dolan, and he's a real character. Like at one point, he turned around pointed at MTA chair, Jano Lieber, who was sitting in the back and said, look at him smiling like a Cheshire cat, because he's going to get $15 billion from congestion pricing. So that's, you know, give you a flavor of that sort of character. On the other side of the table is Roberta Kaplan's team. She's best known recently for representing E. Jean Carroll winning a couple lawsuits against former President Trump. You know, behind, you know, at the front of the room is the judge. And, you know, from all, you know, from all observations, he's very well read in on this topic. He asked some very pointed questions. And in fact, you know, he displayed a little bit of frustration when lawyers weren't ready with quick

answers to very specific, you know, things that are part of the process. And he was upset why they didn't have an answer for him right on the spot. So, Stephen, what arguments do each side make? And could this actually stop the tolls? So New Jersey essentially had three main arguments. One is that the MTA and the federal government didn't study congestion pricing close enough. They didn't do a deep enough study. Another complaint is that New Jersey wasn't part of the process. They wanted to be involved in it. And a third key argument is they say there's no mitigation for parts of New Jersey. They say several parts will be impacted with increased traffic. And while the MTA is spending, you know, and the federal government total $155 million in the Bronx to offset some of the increases of

traffic, there's nothing for New Jersey. So essentially, you know, what they want ultimately is for this judge to say that the review, the environmental assessment that the federal government did with the MTA is not enough. They want to scrap it and do a more in-depth environmental impact statement that could take months or even years. New York, on the other hand, says, this is all revisionist history. New Jersey had plenty of opportunities to weigh in throughout the process. And actually, they didn't until the very end when they sort of lodged these complaints,

which are what we see at the lawsuit now. And the MTA also adds they are spending money in New Jersey. They haven't designated a specific dollar amount yet, but it will come. And that they're doing other things to reduce truck pollution, which will also impact New Jersey. And of course, congestion pricing is ideally meant to improve anyone that takes transit. It doesn't just specify New Yorkers are going to improve from this. And I should add, there are more lawsuits coming. In April, there's going to be oral arguments for several cases involving New Yorkers.

that are suing to block congestion pricing. Yeah. So in this week's On the Way newsletter, you've highlighted a new report surrounding the real cost of fare and toll evasion. It says the number of scofflaws is growing and it could hit taxpayers right in their wallets. Clayton, how big of a problem is this? So, yeah, the Citizens Budget Commission, this kind of watchdog, nonprofit advocacy group,

comes out with a report this week that estimates once again last year says the the amount of people avoiding fares and avoiding tolls in New York City costs $700 million, which they see is a huge increase from before the pandemic more than double what the MTA was estimating in 2019. But what they point out is that this could really undermine a key revenue stream for the MTA. Obviously, transit isn't free. They use fares and tolls to pay for, you know, 25, 30 percent of their annual $19 billion budget to get to keep the trains and buses running. And what they're seeing is that people are more and more either jumping the fare or in a lot of cases, you see this more on drivers obscuring their license plates, having no plates, having fake plates so that the automated cameras can't charge them. So the report from CBC points out somebody is going to have to cover those losses in one way or another.

And what they warn is that, you know, if they don't redesign the fair gates, if there isn't some kind of proposal to get this under control, then it could come in the form of. that restitution could come in the form of an even greater fair hike than New Yorkers are used to, higher taxes. Basically, they're pointing out that somebody has to pay for this. Now, what they're proposing is kind of mirrors some stuff that Governor Hokel had in her executive budget earlier this year, some items that are still under negotiation in Albany right now, as we still wait for the state lawmakers to pass a budget. They, you know, CBC says, you know, one proposal that could work here on the fair evasion end of it would be give everyone a written warning the first time they're caught evading the fare, jumping at turn style, okay? But then the second time they get

caught, double that fine from $100 to $200. That's one proposal that they're mowing over. Also, there's the city's Fair Fair Programms, which gives low-income New Yorkers half-price Metro Cards, a pretty useful and big discount. They're saying, hey, if you're caught and you have to go to court for fair evasion, instead of paying the fine and you qualify for this program, you're automatically enrolled. On the toll side, they're really pushing for stricter crackdown. on people obscuring their plates. And they really point out in this report that this doesn't just affect the MTA. There's a lot of city red light cameras and speed cameras that can't collect tickets because of

obscured plates. The throughway authority for all the other highways in the state, they're losing $200 million years on fares. The port authority of the tunnels and the bridges between New York and New Jersey is losing a lot of money on this. So they're really kind of sounding the whistle that somebody's going to have to pay for this. Yeah. And it's going to be us.

That's WNYC editor Clayton Gusa and transportation reporter Stephen Nesson. You can stay in the know on all things transit or ask a question of your own by signing up for our weekly newsletter at gothamis.com slash on the way. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.