NYC NOW - December 15, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Public housing tenants in Brooklyn will become the first test of a new funding strategy for their apartment complex after a landmark vote. Also, a coalition of community groups in New Jersey want Governor Phil Murphy to stand down from his federal lawsuit against congestion pricing. And it's time for On The Way, our weekly segment on transportation. And lastly, WNYC's Precious Fondren looks at NYC's Clout Guy, a status obsessed TikToker.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, December 15. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. And this is WNYC, 50 and sunny out there by Michael Hill. Public housing tenants in Brooklyn will become the first test of a new funding strategy for their apartment complex after a landmark vote. Sentence at the Nostran houses in Sheep's Head Bay say,

and the first ever vote on the Preservation Trust program. The result, the Housing Authority keeps control of the apartment but switches the source of federal funding. Tenant Association President Barbara McFadden says it was crucial for residents to decide the future of their own homes. The tenants were heard, and I'm happy for that. More than 800 tenants cast ballots. Tennis could have chosen to keep things the way they were or gone with the private manager. NITHA estimates the complex needs about 600 million. dollars in repairs. A coalition of community groups in New Jersey want the governor to stand down

from his federal lawsuit against New York's congestion pricing program. 34 environmental, labor, public health, transportation, faith, and community groups filed an amicus briefed today. They want the court to dismiss Governor Phil Murphy's lawsuit and allow the plan to move forward without delay. They argue congestion pricing will increase funding for transit without raising prices, result in cleaner air, and make driving easier for those who do take a vehicle into Manhattan below 60th street. 50 with sunshine right now, sunny in 57 for a high today, a slight breeze out there, then tomorrow mostly sunny and 51. Sunday, early afternoon, rain likely, cloudy, 56, gusty, and a lot of rain expected Sunday into Monday.

It's time for all in the way. Our weekly segment on our weekly segment on a all things considered breaking down the week's transit news. Joining us, as always, is WNYC Transportation Reporter, Stephen Nesson. We're also joined this week by WNMIC data reporter Jacqueline, Jacqueline, Wulenski. Hello to you both. Hi. Hey, Sean. Stephen, we're going to go to you first.

Now, we've spoken about the MTA's congestion pricing plans for two weeks now. We're really going to do this again? What else is there to say about it? I know last week we talked about how much it's going to cost drivers, $15 to enter the zone. We talked about the exemptions. There are a few. The lawsuit by New Jersey. and also what the MTA is going to do with the money,

but the MTA can't get the money if people are cheating the tolls. Last year, Mayor Adams and the MTA announced a crackdown on so-called ghost plates. My colleague, Jacqueline, did an amazing story about ghost plates, and she's here. So, Jacqueline, can you remind people what are ghost plates and how big of a problem are they? Yeah. Yeah, so ghost plates are basically these phony out-of-state plates, and drivers use them instead of their regular license plates to dodge tolls and, tickets. And for MTA Bridges and Tunnels, there is a sizable chunk of the tolls that can't be

collected, in part because of people covering up their license plates. It's about 6%. Wow. And the MTA has said that in 2022, they lost $46 million from uncollected tolls. Yeah. It becomes a really big problem with congestion pricing, because if enough people cover their plates, then you just can't do it. And the MTA has to make at least a billion dollars off of congestion pricing every year by law, right? That's the requirement, yeah. So if people are dodging tolls, they could have to raise prices for everyone. I actually talked to Sam Schwartz for this story. He once served as New York City's Traffic Commissioner,

and he estimates that as many as one in five drivers could start covering their plates once congestion pricing goes into effect next spring. And it doesn't help that these plates are super easy to get. Schwartz even bought one himself online. It's a Mississippi plate that identifies him as a disabled veteran. I went on eBay to show how easy it is. So if I was a bad guy, I'd put it on my car and ride around and not worry about cameras being able to track me. And Schwartz is saying that the city needs to crack down on those quote unquote bad guys.

He and others I spoke to, they want the Department of Transportation, not the NYPD to be handling this type of enforcement. Some other people also just want harsher punishments, so maybe higher fees or like impounding or booting people's cars. Council member Robert Holden, he actually introduced a new bill earlier this month that would raise the fine for obscured license plates to $1,000. It's currently like $65. There's another bill that would ban the sale of these fake plates altogether, but it's kind of stuck in committee. And then some people are also asking for federal intervention, like banning these temporary plates altogether. Streets blog actually reported that the city council is begging the feds to cut off these fake plates at the source, which are these sham car dealerships that sell plates, but not cars. So Jacqueline, you also reported this week that the NYPD has stepped up enforcement.

What do those numbers look like? Yeah. So according to the NYPD, they're issuing a lot more summonses than they were before, about 75% more. But they're doing less of some other types of enforcement, like parking tickets and arrests involving fake plates compared to this time last year. The data also shows that you've got a lot of repeat offenders. Some cars are wrecking up dozens or even hundreds of these violations and they're still on the road and presumably still. dodging tolls. Members of the public are also stepping in to, you know, crack down on these plates. You heard stories a little while back of people fixing the plates themselves. Now it's more like people calling them into 311. There's a new code where you can report obscured or fake plates into

311. And they're making about 1,500 reports per month on average. But the data shows that more than half of those complaints don't lead to anything. So it's not clear that it's like resulting in more enforcement. And the MTA, as you mentioned, is very concerned about this. They do want to raise a billion dollars a year from congestion pricing, which obviously can't happen if people aren't being told with EasyPass or getting tickets in the mail. But bus reporters asked MTA chair, Jan Al-Lieber, about this. And he cited some of the fair evasion efforts on the subways and buses. And really, he's just appealing to New Yorkers to do the right thing. The same thing is even more true of tolls, because they're, they cost more money. And the fact that

Some people are trying to use, you know, taking affirmative action to prevent people from collecting their tolls is really insulting to other New Yorkers. So we're going to change subjects here for a quick second. You reported Stephen on big changes coming to bus riders in Queens. What did you learn this week? So the MTA released details on what they're calling the proposed final plan for the bus route redesign of Queens. It's not final, final, but pretty close to final.

You may recall the agency is going to all the different. boroughs to redesign the bus routes. They've done Staten Island and the Bronx. The plans for Brooklyn are sort of underway now and they just put out the plans for Queens. And throughout all of these redesigns, the biggest complaint from bus riders is, hey, my stop is gone. But the MTA says with the new Queens plan, they're using some new technology to sort of map it out better. And they found a way that 83% of riders can still use the same stop. So this is all exciting for Queens residents. they're also going to add a new express bus from Laurelton to downtown Manhattan. And as we've reported in the past, these Queens bus routes really haven't changed since the 1940s

since the day of the trolley cars. So these are big changes for Queens bus riders. Okay, now our favorite part of the segment where we answer questions from curious commuters. Now, predictably, I guess, Stephen, your inbox has been flooded with congestion pricing questions, right? You want to answer a few of them? Sure. So Robert Newell, he asks, how is a resident of Upper Manhattan? or someone having business there,

supposed to get off the island without getting hit with a $15 charge. Well, Robert, drivers won't be charged for leaving the zone just for entering it. I don't know if that helps. But Robert also made a good point. He notes that if you're coming from Queens, you can take the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge

and stay above 60th Street. You won't get charged. But to get on the bridge to go back to Queens, you need to drive on 58th or 59th Street, and you would get told. Oh. Oh. But traffic expert Sam Schwartz also noted there is actually a second avenue entrance just above 59th Street where you would not be told.

So drivers need to consult their maps closely. Okay. We got a question from Lisa Murray who asked a question that many folks are asking me. What about disabled New Yorkers who need to take a vehicle to Manhattan? Will they be impacted? And the MTA has been very clear since the beginning that vehicles designated for transporting people with a disability will not be charged. Okay. So this, I literally had somebody text me earlier today to point this out.

And I was like, I have to believe our transportation reporters on top of this. And you are on top of this. So you attended a unique holiday sale this week at an MTA train yard. What did you find there? Well, there were over a thousand items, a lot of signs, like the big signs, the show what train station you're entering. And they range in price from a couple hundred to over $1,000. Wow.

But I was told one of the biggest sellers and the most coveted items were pieces from the R32 trains. Those are the old C trains that were taken out of service. last year. And you could buy pretty much every part of that train that comes off. What I thought was a fun and affordable gift

for folks is handles from the old redbird trains. Those were discontinued in the 80s. They were painted red. And those are $25 a pop, which pretty reasonable, I would say. And I should add,

for anyone that's interested, the sale is RSVP only, but the MTA said there are walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. So just Google MTA holiday pop-up sale to get the details. And happy buying.

That's WNYC, Stephen Nesson and Jacqueline, Jeffrey Wulenski. Thanks so much, Dee Bo. Thanks for having us. Thank you. TikToker, Jean-Luc Lecuncu, is better known as NYC's clout guy. He pokes fun at a stereotype of a certain kind of person in the city's fashion scene, the cloud chaser, someone desperate to achieve fame. But he's gaining real-life clout in the process and welcoming it.

WNYC's precious Fondgren has more. Even if you haven't met the TikToker, Jean-Luc LeCoucun, you've probably encountered a version of the status-obsessed New Yorker he portrays. I'm a singer, actor, DJ, producer, just do it all. Anime content. On TikTok, he plays a satirized version of a 20-something who's a social media influencer. He focuses on the party culture that he refers to as The Scene. I'm taking you to the hottest parties of New York fashion.

If you're on a list, I need you to go. We're on the list. What are you wearing tonight? In just a year since he started posting the first NYC Clout Guy videos, Lecuncun's TikTok videos have garnered over 2 million likes. A running bit on his page is that he's doing an impression of Lucas Sabat, an actor who stars on the TV show, Grownish, and is famously a part of The Scene.

In November, a funny thing happened. The two finally met at ComplexCon in Long Beach, California. And it's like, yo, like, I love your stuff. Like, you know, I really thought what we were doing. He was really actually nice. So we were checking. And then I was like, yo, we should make a video. Of course, we got to make a video.

What came next was a hilariously awkward TikTok of Lacoonoonoon-trying desperately to pretend that he's close friends with the actor, who keeps a polite distance. Oh, bro, how old are you, man? Give on a photo. What do you mean? Or homie's, bro. This guy got joked. I don't know you, bro. I spent time with Lacun-Coon as his roommate helped him film his upcoming video on Nepo Babies.

That's a term for celebrities who've gotten a leg up because their parents. are famous. That's not a real basquiat. My mom dated him in the 80s. Lacoon Coon says he's inspired by men he's met who are trying a little too hard to be cool. Name droppers who are usually living lavish lifestyles thanks to their parents. He says he saw a lot of that when he worked at GQ as a creative producer. You see them around or you're on shoots with them. So I had just been exposed to that lifestyle for a while.

So I think it was just kind of me making fun of this type of character that I just knew that I was friends with. Lecuncun says he sees signs of being a clout chasing guy in himself. Jean-Luc O'Doree Lacuncun was born in the Bronx and raised in Portchester, New York, by his Congolese father in Puerto Rican mother. He's the oldest of two children and says he was a music-loving kid. Fans say that his persona is funny because it's also real. Angelina Hazori works in merchandising at the fashion brand coach. There are a lot of nice men out there, but there are a lot of men who immediately want to say

things that they think sound impressive and just kind of do a little show and tell about themselves. And I think John Luke does a really good job of making those characters come through in his videos. Lecun Coon's rise to fame making fun of people chasing clout has given him actual clout in real life. He's landed modeling gigs for shopping platform basic space, social media gigs for Days magazine, and has convinced actual celebrities like model and actor Evan Mock to appear in one of his TikToks. So how is the guy who made a name for himself making fun of clout, dealing with his own newfound clout? I love it.

I'm not where I wanted to be at all. So I still have ways to go and I'm still very much fighting for my spot. But I'm super thankful. Since music is his first love, the Koon Koon says next year is about figuring out how to turn a social media gig into a solid career in the music field. Or really, any job that'll get him more clout. He's inspired by Rachel Sennett, I owe a Debrie, and Cardi B. whose careers took off after they got notoriety on social media. It's like a snowball that you have to continue to make bigger and bigger and bigger and

then you can just parlay into what you want. I think that's what next year is about, is about like doing 100 times what I was able to do this year. In terms of views on the videos, in terms of like songs and the brand deals, like literally just doing it as big as we possibly can. Until his music career takes off, he'll keep chasing Clout on TikTok. Precious Bondron, WNYC News. 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. We'll be back this evening.