NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Metropolitan Park Wins Panels Ok for Casino, Rent Stabilized Tenants Begin Paying More in October, Schools Chancellor Touts Record Ahead of Mayoral Election, and MTA Fares Increase

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

A proposal for a casino and entertainment complex near Citi Field in Queens is moving forward. Plus, New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments will start paying more beginning October 1st. Also, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos made the annual “state of our schools” address this week after Mayor Eric Adams announced he’s dropping out of the race. And finally, the MTA board approved a fare hike on Tuesday, raising the fare from $2.90 to $3.

Metropolitan Park wins panels okay for a casino. Rent-stabilized tenants will begin paying more starting in October. New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Obulus Ramos touts her record ahead of the mayoral election. And MTA fairs will go up to $3.000. From WMYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre. A proposal for a casino and entertainment complex

near City Field in Queens is moving forward. A community advisory committee voted six to zero to advance the Metropolitan Park proposal to a final round of scrutiny. It's one of four projects vying for three downstate casino licenses. Queensboro President Donovan Richard says it'll be an economic boom for the borough. Projects like this are proof that there is no ceiling for the world's borough. We're the heartbeat of the city now, not Manhattan, not Brooklyn, not any other borough. A state gaming facility's location board is expected to make a final call on the city. winners before years end. New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments will start paying more

as of this week. Here's WMYC's Julia Hayward with the details. October 1st will bring increases of 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases. The rent guidelines board voted for the hikes in June. Under Mayor Eric Adams, the board approved rent increases every year, totaling about 9%. The changes will land just days after Mayor, Adams dropped out of the race following months of scandal, consolidating the contest around Democratic frontrunner Zor Ron Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani has built his campaign on a promise to freeze stabilized rents if elected. This week, Schools Chancellor Melissa Auvulus Ramos made the annual State of Our Schools

Address. She touted strides that New York City's public school system is made under her year-long leadership, like increases in reading and math scores on recent state tests, and positive reviews from a principal survey. To onlookers, the chancellor was making her pitch to stay in the role. Her address comes a day after Mayor Eric Adams announced he's dropping out of the mayoral race. WMYC's education reporter Jessica Gould is here to discuss what November's election might mean for the school's chancellor. Hey, Jessica. Hi. Melissa Obulus Ramos hasn't been schools chancellor. or for very long, as I just mentioned. She was appointed when David Banks retired last year amid an investigation into the Adams

administration. Jessica, you may remember that. I do. But how has she been doing in the roles so far? She's gotten some good feedback from the principals and from other educators. She always said her role was to carry through on the initiatives started by Banks and Adams. So that's what she's been doing. She's focused on the literacy and math instruction reforms, and those curriculum changes are starting to show some positive results in test scores, especially the literacy changes for the youngest students. And just to be clear, what I'm referring to here is the shift in how we teach reading that focuses more on phonics and lessons that reflect research on how students learn to read, rather than some of the disproven methods that were pretty widespread before that.

So Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew has said she's been responsive to teacher concerns about some of the rollout of this curriculum, and she made changes, and they appreciated that. He says that she's kept her focus on the classroom, which is where he thinks it should be. I do want to note, though, that there are longstanding problems that persist today. I would highlight school bus service and special education problems. Families are really still struggling to get done. decent bus routes and get really important services for their kids. And those are just a couple of examples of entrenched problems that continue today. And as we know, the mayor is stepping aside, which raises questions about how much of this agenda survives the next administration, right?

How could the outcome of this election change to the direction of city schools? As you and I have discussed before, the candidates haven't prioritized education. But they've said they're generally supportive of these curriculum changes that the Adams administration rolled out, especially in reading. The big difference between the candidates is on mayoral control of the schools, which is a really big topic. That refers to how the mayor appoints the chancellor and really exercises total control over the school system. Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa want to keep mayoral control, whereas Zoran Mamdani has said he wants to change it and give parents and educators a bigger role shaping priorities. We also talked about charter schools. Cuomo has said he's open to expanding

them while Mamdani opposes that. I want to point out that some education observers called Melissa Avilais Ramos's state of our schools address an audition to continue her job. How likely is it that a new mayor appoints a new leader for city schools? So the candidates did not respond to my question about whether they would keep her. Typically, new mayors come in with new leadership and new policies. And that's actually one of the criticisms of mayoral control because every four to eight years, huge changes in policies hit the schools and educators have to rush to learn how to do something new. And people say that creates a lot of turmoil and turbulence in the system. A lot of advocates have been saying that the literacy changes in particular need to stay and be given a long runway to work.

That's WNYC's Jessica Gould. Up next, the cost of public transportation and the Big Apple will go up again. That's after the break. Heads up, New Yorkers, riding an MTA subway or bus will soon cost more money. The transit agency's board approved a fair hike Tuesday. Here to give us all the details is WNYC's transit reporter, Stephen Nesson. Stephen, what's the new cost to ride and when can New Yorkers expect to pay more? So the MTA says on or about January 4th.

That's a Sunday. So the MTA is expecting by that Monday, January 5th, it'll cost $3 to ride a subway or a bus. But the fair hike is across the board, so other services are going to go up in cost a little bit more even. So Metro North, Long Island Railroad riders can expect their fares to go up 4.5%. The cost to cross the bridges and tunnels in a vehicle is going to go up about 7%. And even the cost to purchase an Omnicard, which, by the way, starting the beginning of January, will be the only way to use the subways or buses. That's going to go from $1 up to $2. You know, Stephen, it feels like this just adds another cost onto New Yorkers who are already struggling.

to afford the city. We reported earlier that rent is going to go up for folks in rent-stabilized apartments. What's the MTA's justification for the price hike? Well, it's true. There's inflation. There's the tariffs. But the MTA fare hikes, these are not shockers for New Yorkers. Every two years, there is a fair hike. And the MTA does its very best to keep it at 4%. And that's much lower than inflation. Just to go back for a second to the pandemic, that really shocked the subway system. Ridership is still not back to where it was before

2020. So to make up for that loss in Fairbox revenue, the state actually increased some taxes like the payroll mobility tax. Governor Hockel also promised some funding from licensing from those new casinos that we've been reporting on. All of that's going to help keep the fair increases relatively low. Here's MTA chair, Jan O'Leber, speaking today. All of us swallow hard. I fair increases, but this moderate, roughly 2% a year fair increase is a gift from our political leadership that would not be possible if it were not for their intervention led by Governor Hokel. I just want to be clear about that because we're now, fairbox is 30% of our operating budget. It used to be close to 50%. So fewer riders means lower fair box revenue for the MTA.

And in other cities, Jene, like Philadelphia, that means a death spiral. You know the death spiral? No, I'm unfamiliar. Describe this. So this is when they cut service because they're not making enough money, but then they get fewer riders because they have less service, and it just keeps going around and around until the subway service is basically dead. It's not a good place to be. And so I guess another way to think about it, you know, is just the cost of the fair hike really is way below inflation. If the MTA was doing a true inflation-based fair hike,

It would actually go up to 24 cents. But right now we're just seeing a 10 cent increase to subways and buses. Okay, okay. So you're saying I should calm down. Well, I'm just putting it in some perspective. Another thing that I should note is that the 30-day unlimited card, which was favored by many people, they believe it's a great way to save money, that's actually gone forever now. That's not even part of the equation anymore.

The MTA only uses its fair capping program now. That's when you take 13 trips in a week. The rest of the week is free. The MTA tried to maybe offer a piece offering to some riders who are really angry right now. So that 13 trip a week was supposed to cost $36. And then you get free rides for the rest of the week. They lowered it to just $35. So when you spend $35.

One buck? There you go. You know, it helps, right? It does help. And there is one fun thing that they did add, which is kind of, interesting. For Long Island Railroad riders, they're allowing anyone under the age of 17 to ride for just $1, as long as they're with a paying adult. That's new. And just one other thing, there was supposed to be a 4.4% fare increase for Metro North's West of Hudson Service. That's the Passaic

Valley and Port Jervis lines. Those lines are not going to have any fair increase. Now, Stephen, you've also reported that this fair hike is coming right as the MTA retires the Metro card for good, RIP. What does the future of paying for transit fares in the city look like? Well, it's going to be Omni. The MTA is getting to the point where that is the only thing you'll be able to use to pay, but it's somewhat confusing because it's not one thing, actually. It's like it's your credit card. It's your iPhone. Anything that has one of those contactless chips on it, you can use to pay for transportation. And starting in the early January, that is going to be the only option. So there is some consternation from

folks who are wedded to the Metro card. And the MTA knows that there have been a lot of glitches with Omni in the last couple of years, so they're racing to eliminate those. They actually just allowed their online portal to show you now all of your trips, as well as the free transfers, and you can see when you hit your unlimited ride cap. So that will show, and that's new. That's at Omni.info.

And one other thing that may come to a shocker to some members of the public, the MTA will no longer allow people to pay for buses with coins or dollars. Okay. Now that one, that one is the one that's going to send me over the hill. Yeah, if you've been hoarding your quarters to ride on the bus. Only, yes. Let it go. Omni will be your only option.

All right. That's WNYC's Stephen Nesson. Thanks for listening to NYC. now from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.