NYC NOW - August 6, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is doubling down on his support for Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to halt congestion pricing. Meanwhile, a flash flood watch takes effect Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, with heavy rain expected. A travel advisory will also be in effect through Wednesday. Plus, flights to the Dominican Republic are getting cheaper thanks to a new "Open Skies" agreement aimed at lowering fares. WNYC’s Janae Pierre speaks with U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, who represents Uptown Manhattan, to learn more.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, August 6th. Here's the midday news. I'm Junae Pierre. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is doubling down on his support for Governor Hogle's decision to halt congestion pricing. The governor's order to stop the program has blown a $15 billion.

hole in the MTA's construction budget, which hinges on money from the planned Manhattan tolls. Jeffries says Hoheel is right to be concerned they might be too expensive for drivers. Governor Hopel was very clear that she had cost of living concerns in terms of congestion pricing that should be evaluated. I stayed neutral throughout the entire process, but I've supported the pause as a reasonable thing to do at this moment. Heavy rain is expected to drench New York City and much of New Jersey starting later today and through Wednesday. A flood watch is in effect for the region starting at 2 this afternoon, with most places projected to get between 1 and 2 inches of rain. National Weather Service

meteorologist Brian Simnicki says the heavy rain is the biggest risk. There is a chance for some thunder. There is a low-end chance for maybe some hail or some damaging winds, but the main threat today that we want really everyone to be alert for will be the potential for flooding. The City Department of Emergency Management has issued a travel advisory for today in case of flash flooding on roads. Eighty-seven degrees, slight chance of afternoon showers. It'll be partly sunny today with highs around 91 degrees. Heavy rain ahead tonight expect cloudy skies and lows in the mid-to-upper 60s. Shows and a possible thunderstorm expected on Wednesday with cloudy skies and a high around 72 degrees. Stay close. There's more.

after the break. City data shows that Dominican New Yorkers are the largest Latino community in the five boroughs. And according to U.S. census data, almost half of the over two million Dominican Americans live in New York State. So, as you might imagine, a lot of people fly from New York City to Santo Domingo, the D.R.'s Capital. And if that's you, your flights may be getting a little bit cheaper, thanks to a federal agreement.

Joining us now to discuss is U.S. Representative Adriano Espayat. He is the first Dominican New Yorker in Congress and represents Uptown Manhattan in the House. Congressman, would you tell our listeners what this agreement is all about? Of course, the U.S. DR Open Skies Agreement is one that would allow for a greater competition among airlines. New airlines will come into the market. and of course this will help bring down the prices of air flight to and from the Dominican Republic. So the Brookies Institute has revealed that since the agreements came into existence back in 1992, the Open Sky's Agreements, they have generated over $4 billion in annual gains for airline passengers.

So we hope that this also occurs with this new agreement that it will drive what usually are very high-pricing airline tickets to them from the Dominican Republic. As you mentioned, Open Sky's agreements have become pretty common. They've been around since 1992, allowing U.S. travelers to catch flights to dozens of other countries. What's unique about this one? Well, the uniqueness is that you have such a large presence of Dominican Americans and Dominicans in New York City, and yet sometimes it's more expensive to travel back to the Dominican Republic than to fly Paris or Madrid. And so this is somewhat very challenging for families.

A couple with two kids that want to see their grandma back home, sometimes. for high season have to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $1,000 for an airline ticket. It's extremely high. And the government, both governments, the State Department and the Dominican government realized that. And so they signed this agreement last Friday. Yeah. You talked a bit about, you know, maybe grandchildren going back to see their abuelo or a boilo. I want to talk a bit more about the benefits of these agreements for the U.S.

Well, it was spurred. It was spurred more commerce. It was spurred more tourists coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic. We've already seen how travel from the Dominican Republic to Colombia and Mexico has increased dramatically, and the prices of those airline tickets are reasonable. And so we feel that with this agreement, there will be an increased number of tourists coming from the Dominican Republic to New York City. So we're excited about that. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people are. How fast can people expect to feel the impacts of this agreement? Well, it will take anywhere from six months to a year, I think. The airlines will then have to go to the Federal Transportation Administration and get approval, the new airlines that will be.

in the market competing with the traditional airlines that have already traveled there. And so all that has to be so like worked out. And I believe that by next year sometime, we'll start to see this happen and we'll start to see the prices go down. Now, Congressman, while I have you here, the city is marking Dominican heritage this week with a parade on Sunday. Could you tell us what's planned for that? well we we have this parade down avenue the americans starts on 40 fourth street and as you said earlier there's close to a million dominican americans in new york city we have our traditional breakfast that i sponsor at la marina on dykeman street so everyone is welcome to come to the breakfast it starts early at eight a m and then we can can just head downtown to Avenue of the Americas and celebrate with our Dominican neighbors. Everybody will be Dominican on Sunday.

Absolutely. What can people expect there? Well, lots of fun music, of course. You know, you have the floats from different regions of the Dominican Republic displaying the carnival, their music, their food. Of course, merengue, Batchata, Dembo. It will be lots of fun. Nice. That's U.S. Representative Adriano Espayat.

Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.