NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Gov. Hochul Plans to Cut Taxes for the Middle Class, Pay Raise for CUNY Faculty, and the MTA Pleads with Lawmakers to Fund Repair Plan

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

New York Gov. Kathy Hocul is proposing an income tax cut for about 8 million people. Plus, 30,000 workers in New York City's public university system will get raises and bonuses under a new labor contract. Also, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with transportation reporters Stephen Nessen and Ramsey Khalifeh about the transit system’s state of disrepair.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Junae Pierre. New York Governor Kathy Hokel says she wants to cut taxes for the middle class. She made the remarks as part of her annual State of the State address in Albany Tuesday. The tax cut I propose today and we'll fight for in the coming months will deliver the lowest tax rates in 70 years. The governor is proposing an income tax cut for about 8 million people. For joint filers, it will apply to anyone making less than $323,000. It also includes checks of up to $500 to many New Yorkers, a so-called inflation rebate.

It's all part of what Hockel is calling her affordability agenda. Nearly 30,000 faculty and staff in New York City's public university system will get raises and bonuses under a new labor contract. CUNY and the professional staff Congress union say 90% of the union's members voted to ratify the contract, which is retroactive to March 23. It provides raises of more than 13% over roughly five years through November 2027. It also comes with a ratification bonus of $3,000 per employee, as well as more professional development opportunities. The MTA says the transit system is in urgent need of repairs. The agency is asking lawmakers to approve a $65 billion plan to help. But does it really need all that money?

We'll answer that and more after the break. This is NYC now. State lawmakers are back in Albany this month as the 2025 legislative session gets underway. And with it comes a high-stakes debate, how to fund the MTA's $65 billion plan to repair and upgrade the subways. So does the agency run? really need all that money? And how urgent is the need? WMYC's transit reporters, Stephen Nesson and Ramsey Caliphate spent three months investigating the inner workings of the system

the public never really sees. To start, would you break down this multi-billion dollar plan that's before the legislature? Tell us the stakes here. The MTA has crafted this plan to upgrade and maintain public transit system. That includes improving the signals, the power system, the machinery that pumps water out of the system, adding elevators, making them stormproof. You know, this isn't the kind of work that typically gets politicians out for a ribbon-cutting, say. This is a type of work that keeps the subways running

and improved service, makes it faster, more reliable. You know, how many trains are actually on the tracks? It's going to improve those. And this costs lots of money, like we said. $65 billion is the price tag they put on it. And let's remember this is actually separate from congestion pricing, which just went into effect. that money goes to fund the previous capital plan.

The one we're talking about now covers the next five years. I'm dying, you know, where did you go and what did you see? We went behind the scenes to see the infrastructure and the facilities that keep the subway system running. In many places, the MTA is relying on equipment that was first installed in the 1930s and has barely been updated since then. Subway trains simply can't move faster with the type of electrical equipment and signals and use on many of the lines. Let me take you to one of those places

where the fragility of the system is so shockingly apparent. It's behind an unmarked door at the DeKalb Avenue station in Brooklyn just feet away from the turnstiles. This station is where the BNQNR and sometimes W trains all meet and splinter off on different tracks.

And this room is like an air traffic control tower that's underground. The room features a model board. It's kind of like an oversized mid-century operator switchboard like from old movies. With the push of a button, MTA General Superintendent Shahana Parker, sets a route for a train to follow. If it's a D, it's going to go to 6th Avenue side and merge with the B train.

So they have to make sure that everything's in the right space. If it's in the wrong space, there could be a crash. And if there's any problem along the way, say someone's holding the doors or a passenger needs medical attention, Parker might have to reroute all the R trains, for example. So suddenly you might find yourself crossing the Manhattan Bridge when normally you'd go through the tunnel. And there are other impacts.

Even if one train is just a few seconds off, it's going to cause a delay, and that cascades throughout service across our whole system. That's the head of MTA construction, Jamie Torres-Springer. He's hoping to replace the system with a modern signal system that uses computers. In the meantime, he relies on people like Sandy Castillo to keep this antiquated system running.

He's worked in signals since 1997 and is now achieved. He explains how the system Parker is working on was once state-of-the-art technology almost 100 years ago. It is high maintenance. These buttons are generally not manufactured anymore, and our shop has to rebuild replacements. So that's one big impact also to the system and how quickly we can repair. And when something does go wrong, Castillo is called into troubleshoot. He'll go next door where there are thousands of relays, glass knobs with little paper tags dangling from the, he'll head to the back of the room.

So this is like the hanging racks in a library. Yes, they are. They are like hanging racks. There are dozens of diagrams on old brown, oversized paper hanging on what looks like a newspaper rack. When would you pull one of these maps out? Let's say there is a signal that's not clearing. I need to know how that's controlled.

This is my reference material. And so like people are waiting in a tunnel for their train to move and you're running back here to grab this paper. And take a look at it, correct. So when people are waiting and they're pissed up, off, it's because Sandy is going here to get a piece of paper off a rack to check the specs. That is true. That is what happens. With a modern signal system, there would just be a computer that showed exactly where the

breakdown is and what the problem is. Of course, if the MTA gets the money for the modern signal system, they'll need to install it on the rails. To do that work, they use work trains that carry tools and equipment to job sites. But those work trains have problems too. Ramsey visited the yard where they're repaired. Those heavy-duty trains are repaired over and over again at the Westchester locomotive train shop in the Bronx. It's built to the 60s. Yeah, all right.

Okay. Yeah, that's good. That's Superintendent Dane Burkett. He's standing next to a rusty yellow diesel work train. You probably see them rumble by on the tracks, usually late at night or on weekends. They're used to repair tracks, upgrade signals, and even plow snow. And they break down constantly. You have to expect that this can't do the same amount of work as it was designed to do back in the 60s, right?

And we've experienced that from the front to the back. Making matters worse, the shop where those trains get repaired is quite small and only fits two assembly lines. The shop is cluttered and dirty. At times, what ends up happening is that we spend so much time in just maintaining the support facility, we don't have the manpower to allocate to the locomotives and keep those in service. Torres Springer, the MTA Construction Chief, says this means that the trains often aren't available for planned repairs throughout the system. At the beginning of the weekend, we have to say, well, gee, all these closures, you know,

disruptions of service that we've planned, we can't do them all because we don't have enough work trains. The MTA and us, its riders, face a tough reality. Even the equipment it uses to make repairs to old infrastructure is way past its expiration date. The reason for this is decades of putting off this behind-the-scenes work. But Torres Springer says the agency simply can't do that anymore. New Yorkers have heard this type of doomsday talk before. They've heard the talk.

What's different about this particular moment? There are signs that service is actually getting worse. MTA data that we looked at shows that delays due to infrastructure failures have increased 46% since 2021. I would say the through line here is that this system that 4 million people a day rely on and arguably, you know, a huge factor in contributing to New York's. economy, even the national economy. All of this is held together by a patchwork of outdated equipment and crumbling facilities. Honestly, after all of this, we came away thinking it's really a miracle that most subway riders reach their destination every day. So will the MTA get what it wants and

should New Yorkers trust them to get it done? Well, right now it's going to be up to state lawmakers to make that decision. They're lobbying in Albany, asking Governor Hockel to get that money, but already top state lawmakers have said it's too much money and the MTA needs to scale back its plan. Of course, MTA chair, Jan O'Leber says he's changed the culture of overspending and blown deadlines at the MTA, but the reputation remains. So this $65 billion plan is not an easy sell. Congestion pricing is charging drivers and people are going to start asking, well, what are we getting for that money?

But the MTA says it needs this new source of revenue to cover about half of that $65 billion construction plan. That's WNYC's Stephen Nesson and Ramsey Caliphate talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.