NYC NOW - August 25, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law this week that officially recognizes Central Jersey as a tourism region. Plus, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with transportation reporter Stephen Nessen about the fraught relationship between the MTA and Amtrak. And finally, WNYC’s Ryan Kailath caught up with HBO’s John Wilson who looks back amid the final season of his show “How To.”

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre for WNYC. We begin in New Jersey, where a big debate just won't die until now. Here's Governor Phil Murphy. Today we will settle the debate once and for all. Central Jersey exists, period. Murphy signed a bill into law this week that officially recognizes Central Jersey as a tourism region. According to the new law, Central Jersey includes, at minimum, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset counties.

Murphy says Central Jersey has a rich history that dates back to the Revolutionary War. It's also home to leading public universities and has beautiful agriculture that visitors can enjoy. Now to Manhattan's Penn Station. It's not just a train hall used by three of the country's largest railroads. It's also the epicenter of a major power struggle between New York Governor Kathy Holwell via the MTA, and Amtrak, the federal agency that owns the dilapidated station. WNYC's Stephen Nesson recently got his hands on an internal letter that sheds new light on this fraught relationship. He talked with my colleague Michael Hill about it. That conversation after the break.

So what did you get? I got my hands on a letter from an Amtrak official describing how the MTA blew them off in an early July meeting that was. was part of a planning process for the governor's Penn Station project. And this is where it gets a little juicy, and we get a peek under the hood of how big agencies work together. So on the surface, you know, you go to press conferences, there's joint statements, and the two railroads like to put on a very united front. We're all on the same page working together. But in the letter, top Amtrak official Jeannie Kwan says she and her colleagues weren't invited to a key meeting last month on the station's redesign. She says that when she confronted Jamie Torres Springer, he's the guy at the MTA in charge of

big projects like Penn Station, when she confronted him about being left out of that first planning meeting, he said her concerns were, quote, silly. What does it mean that the MTA blew off Amtrak? What's the larger implication here? So, Kwan continued in her letter that this attitude is, quote, eroding her confidence in the MTA's commitment to act in the best interest of all the railroads they use Penn Station. She added that their attitude undermines an agreement between Amtrak, NJ Transit, and the MTA on working together at Penn Station. As you mentioned, Amtrak might own the station, but the MTA is leading the charge on its redesign. So whatever project the MTA embarks on at Penn Station could really impact service and access for all the

railroads. So it's really key that they're all looped in and on the same page. Quans said the MTA is obligated to include Amtrak on all correspondences regarding Penn, and already it's failed to do that. Stephen, remind us, what Hockel's plans are for Penn Station? It's changed a bit in recent months. Well, Governor Hockel has, let's say, whittled down her grand ambitions for Penn Station and the neighborhood around it. You may recall for several years, she carried the torch of Governor Cuomo's vision of an upgraded midtown made of new skyscrapers that would pay fees to the state, to fund upgrades to Penn Station and other neighborhood improvements like new public spaces. But developers earlier this year canceled plans to build the new skyscrapers. Now, Hockel simply wants a renovation of Penn Station that includes new entrances,

a single floor train hall with a skylight. Still, it's a costly upgrade at $7 billion. Amtrak is not the only one bristling at the MTA. Who else isn't happy right now? For starters, James Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden. you know, the garden sits atop Penn Station, so any upgrades the MTA wants to do can really only go so far. New York City is actually in the process of renewing the garden's permit to operate. And while it's deciding what to do, the MTA wrote a letter, basically slamming the garden.

This came out earlier this year. The MTA wrote that MSG is, quote, not compatible with Penn Station. You know, the MTA lays out how over the years the number of people using Penn has shot way up to more than 600,000 a day, at least before the pandemic. And the garden is impeding the safe and efficient flow of people, both with the columns that support the garden, which can't really be moved, and the use of street space for unloading vans of equipment around the garden. So the MTA would very much like to use that space for new entrances at Penn. So it seems like the MTA is rooting against the garden. Where does that stand? And what impact would that have on the renovation plans at Penn Station?

Well, last month, the city's department of city planning recommended the garden's permit to operate be extended for another 10 years. But it also said the garden would have to work with the MTA on any renovation plans, which could include maybe giving up some space. The city council and mayor still have to sign off on that plan. Next Monday, the council's land use committee will hold a hearing to discuss the issue. Some council members are apparently pushing for a three-year permit or a five-year permit, all of which seemingly would impact the MTA's plans. but the MTA is moving forward, despite not knowing how long the garden might actually stick around for. There's a reason they're moving so quickly, right? There's two, actually.

There's a ton of money from the 2021 federal infrastructure bill the MTA is hoping to tap into. If it can get its plans in place, it's hoping the federal government will cover up almost all the costs. And the other reason is by 2027, the MTA wants to send Metro North Trains to Penn Station. So by then, it's hoping it'll have a shiny new station, radio's Metro North Trains. and it will be less disruption to passengers. That's WNYC's Stephen Nesson, talking with my colleague Michael Hill. The hit docu-series

How To With John Wilson is on its third and final season on HBO. Before it hit the mainstream, it built a cult following online. It's basically a comedy series that films around New York. Now, the downtown movie mecca anthology film archives

has invited Wilson to screen a few of his own favorite films and influences, WNYC reporter Ryan Kylath caught up with Wilson outside the Seagram building in Midtown. As New Yorkers, we often tune things out just to get through the day. John Wilson pays obsessive attention to the details we miss. For example, outside one of the most architecturally renowned buildings in town. There's a really cool couple of air conditioner duct that's just kind of flowing in the wind there.

Wait, oh, right there. Yeah. Sorry. Wilson whips out the camcorder he carries everywhere. His eyes earned him a loyal fan base, and now he wants to turn them on to the people who turned him on. With a film series, he programmed at Anthology Film Archives. I really like anthology.

I feel like it has a really rich history of experimental filmmakers, and I wanted to just, like, continue that lineage somehow by... Yeah, maybe placing myself within it. I thought it gave me more experimental film pred. Well deserved, John Wilson. Among his selections are some shorts made by his crew, the team that goes out eight hours a day, every day, to shoot the show's signature B-roll,

all the little scenes around the city that collage into how-to's best visual gags. When I started to assemble the crew for how-to, I wanted to hand-hand-pick different artists that I was. I was friends with to shoot and edit and kind of co-write it with. So they made some of my favorite movies in recent memory, and I just wanted to be able to showcase the work of all these amazing artists that work on the show.

Wilson's also screening work from his favorite doc makers, like George Couchard, Mark Lewis, a rare 16-millimeter print from Les Blank, and one especially New York film. William White's The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. It studies the way that public space is used, and he focuses specifically on the Seagram's building here on 53rd and Park. You guys seem like such kindred spirits, which I wouldn't have immediately jumped to, but he's just like generous, patient presentation of people funny but not making fun. Yeah, I think about that movie constantly when I'm shooting, when I'm editing, just tonally, it's really nice because it's very, anthropological, but he does

editorialize in these little funny ways like when he identifies the Girl Watchers, which I just thought was so funny. Here are the Girl Watchers. They're a bit disdainful,

sort of looking down their nose as though the girls weren't quite worthy of their talents. But it's all machismo. We have never, ever seen a Girl Watcher make a pass at a girl. I really want people to come out and see this movie because I think it'll make you enjoy the city a lot more. It's one of those movies that I wish I made and there's a little bit of it and everything I do, you know. The last episode of How To With John Wilson airs next week. Wilson says

HBO asked if he wanted to continue. He decided to end on a strong note. You know, I feel a little melancholy, but I'm just really happy with how the third season came out. And I have a few ideas for what I want to work on next, but as for right now, I'm just really enjoying watching people react to everything we did. But also, I don't know, have you seen, you haven't seen the finale, have you? Yeah, people may not be asking for more after they see the finale. We'll see. It depends on, you know, what you can stomach. John Wilson's film series at Anthology Film Archives runs through Tuesday.

That's WNYC reporter Ryan Kaila. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Boutich, Ave Carrillo, Audrey Cooper, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, and Wayne Schoemeister, with help from the entire WNYC newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck,

and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrado. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back Monday.