NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Bye Bye Broker Fees, NYC Leaders Plan to Replace Old Floating Jail, State Leaders Push for Medical Aid in Dying Act, and Tribeca’s Iconic Neon Studio Moves to Brooklyn

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

An explainer on a new law banning most broker fees in New York City. Plus, city officials plan to replace the Vernon C. Bain jail barge in the Bronx with a new marine terminal. Also, New York state senators are expected to pass a bill that would grant terminally ill patients the right to request medication to end their life. And finally, “Let There be Neon” plans its move to Sunset Park after four decades in Tribeca.

Some New Yorkers will soon say goodbye to broker fees. New York City leaders plan to replace an old floating jail in the Bronx. New York state leaders push for the medical aid and dying act. And Tribeca's iconic neon studio prepares to move to Brooklyn. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. A couple episodes ago, we mentioned a new law banning most broker fees. That'll go into effect on Wednesday.

Oftentimes, New York City tenants are forced to pay a fee to a broker before signing a lease. Those fees are usually equivalent to one month's rent or more. WMYC's housing reporter David Brand is covering this. So, David, supporters of the new measures say eliminating the fees will make it a whole lot easier for people to move. How else does this new law help New Yorkers? Well, this is a really big deal, Jene. It's something I think renters have been dreaming of for many years now. So this is going to eliminate a really huge upfront cost for a lot of renters.

And consider you're looking at a $3,000 a month apartment. Sounds like a lot, but is actually lower than the median in New York City right now. If you were to pay a broker fee, that could range from the equivalent of one month, $3,000, to 15% of the annual rent. And that would be $5,400. And that's on top of your security deposit, your first month's rent. Yikes. Your moving fees. You're looking at over $11,000 right up front.

So this could cut out like half of that right away. Like you said, it could make it easier for people to move. And more people moving means more apartments are coming online. So that's good turnover for a housing market to have more apartments become available. And then people are just going to have more money to spend on other things or to save. Yeah, that's to hope. David, what are opponents saying about all of this? I'm sure landlords aren't too thrilled about this since, you know, they'll be the ones paying broker fees now.

That's right. I mean, landlords don't want to pay this upfront cost. That's what it boils down to. By default, tenants almost always pay this cost, and now it will be the landlords on the hook for it. Brokers also aren't happy about this because while they still might get paid, they're probably going to get paid a lot less than they're currently making. You know, what the critics of this say, including the landlords and including the brokers, is that this could actually lead to higher rents in some cases because the landlords now if they're forced to pay the cost are going to factor that into the duration of the rent. And so then it becomes a choice facing some tenants like, all right, do I want to come up with this money up front? I don't have that money up front.

I can't make it. But now my rent's going to be a little higher. So you have to kind of think of that in the impact of this new law. But still, that's pretty good for a lot of people. A lot of people just don't have that upfront money. And for some landlords could be good too. I mean, if the broker's fee is a one-time expense and you're raising rent over the entire duration of someone's tendency, that's more money probably in the long run for them. Yeah, yeah.

I'm curious, David. How does the city enforce this law? Like, what does enforcement look like? Well, we're going to see how this plays out in the early days. And I think there's a lot of questions around that. But first off, the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is going to be the agency that's handling enforcement. DCWP, as they're known. They're going to be the agency fielding complaints, investigating claims of overcharges or illegal fees. And then they're going to be the ones imposing penalties against brokers and property owners who charge those fees unlawfully. Back in April, they've released. this list of penalties that they're going to enforce against brokers and landlords that they catch charging illegal fees. It's going to range from $750 for first offense, followed by fines of $1,800 for a second offense. Then everything after that, third and subsequent offenses would be $2,000. Then there's some other fines they're going to impose. It's $375 for failing to provide tenants

with an itemized list of all fees. So that's one of the things right now, brokerages and real estate groups are advising landlords and brokers to disclose all fees associated with apartments because you don't want to incur one of these penalties. But we're going to see how this plays out because I think there's going to be a lot of confusion in the early days. You know, there might be some brokers and landlords trying to get around this law and say, oh, I forgot this was happening. And then we're going to see just how enforcement works. Like, are there enough people working for the city to handle this type of enforcement, especially when there's millions of people renting apartments in New York City?

That's WMYC's David Brand. Stick around. More news headlines after the break. NYC out. In other local news, The Vernon C, bang, jail barge, and all of the destruction that came with it, It will be removed and we will give renew energy and life to this community. New York City officials are planning to replace a decommissioned floating jail in the Bronx with a new marine terminal.

The Vernon C. Bain jail barge closed in 2023 on the shores of Hunt's Point after serving as an extension of the Rikers Island jails for more than 30 years. It's known colloquially as the boat. City Council member Raphael Salamanca of the Bronx says the planned terminal will create a more attractive waterfront. This barge has been a blight in our community. And I'm just happy to see that it is, it is, we finally are getting rid of it. Officials say the project will create hundreds of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity. City officials say it's part of their efforts to build a blue highway where last mile cargo deliveries happen by water or electric vehicles instead of polluting trucks.

New York State senators are expected to pass the medical aid in Dying Act this week. It's a bill that would grant terminally ill patients the right to request medication to end their life. The Assembly passed it in Albany, but it's unclear if Governor Hockel will sign it into law. State Senator Brad Hoellman-Siegel is the bill's sponsor. The Manhattan Democrat says the governor hasn't said whether she supports it.

Well, we're hoping that she signs it, but we have no indication one way or the other. Senate leadership says there's enough votes to pass the bill. Advocates for the measures say it will allow people to end their life without prolonging suffering. Opponents include the Catholic Church, which says the bill devalues human life and is ripe for abuse. On to some cultural news in Manhattan. Once upon a time, Tribeca was home to a thriving textile and manufacturing industry, full of fabric shops, glass and plastic and metal workers.

Now, one of the last manufacturers is leaving the area. WMYC's Ryan Kailath has more. In 1972, the artist and provocateur Rudy Stern founded Let There Be Neon, a shop that bends and illuminates glass. He designed light shows for psychedelics pioneer Tim Leary and made neon art for John Lennon and Yoko Ono. And eventually, of course, neon signs. It's color, it's light, it's fun, it's art. I mean, there's neon signs that have a bunch of pigs jumping into a meat grinder and sausages coming out the other There's some pretty crazy neon signs out there.

They make people laugh like you're laughing right now. After 41 years on White Street, they're moving to Sunset Park this summer. David Barnett, a sign maker at Noble Signs and the New York Sign Museum, says, Let There Be Neon is a New York institution. Most neon vendors don't have the extensive and deep knowledge that these guys do. They really have something very unique and very special, and you can see it in the work that they do. Their list of commercial clients ranges from SNL to Sweet Green. But Waller says the bulk of their work appears in private, indoors, in art galleries, or private commissions.

Let there be neon storefront doubles as a gallery, which you can check out before the move. Just make an appointment first. After all, they're making stuff in there. That's WNYC's Ryan Kylot. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.