NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: NYC’s Economic Forecast, the Affordable Housing Fight in New Jersey, Climate Superfund for New York State and Walking Tips for New Yorkers

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

New York City's economy has been growing but that could change with Republicans in control of the House, Senate and White House. Plus, a judge in New Jersey ruled that 26 towns have to comply with the Garden State's affordable housing requirements. Also, WNYC’s Sean Carlson talks with environmental lawyer Michael Gerrard about a new law that will charge fossil fuel companies fees to help New York fight the effects of climate change. And finally, WNYC's Samantha Max shares some walking tips for New Yorkers who are in a rush and visitors who are blissfully blocking the sidewalk.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York City's economy is growing, but that could change this year with a shift in power in both the White House and Congress. That's according to a new report from the Center for New York City Affairs at the new school. More Melodia co-authored the report. She says of the $100 billion federal dollars that flow to the city, 87 billion of it goes directly to New Yorkers in the first. form of social security benefits, food stamps, and health care coverage.

The city is on high alert that they need to be ready to deal with any shortfalls that are going to impact city services. Melodia says the mass deportations promised by President elect Trump could also severely affect the city's economy and workforce. A judge says 26 towns in New Jersey must comply with the state's affordable housing requirements. Even as their lawsuit challenging those requirements makes its way through. the courts. Judge Robert Logie rejected their attempt to get the affordable housing requirements put on hold. New Jersey already faces a growing shortage of affordable homes. To address that, the state has set a goal of creating 150,000 affordable homes by 2035. The town officials who are

suing the state say the requirements will overburden their roads and sewer systems. New York State continues to fight the effect of climate change with a new law. More on that after the break. While we were all celebrating the holidays last week, Governor Kathy Hokel signed a bill that creates what's been described as a climate super fund for New York State. The new law will charge big fossil fuel companies fees to help the state fight the effects of climate change. Here's environmental lawyer Michael Gerard. And it will charge the major fossil fuel companies a total of $3 billion a year over 25 years. so it comes to a total of $75 billion that the fossil fuel companies will pay to help New York cope with the climate change that they help contribute to.

Gerord is founder of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. He spoke with my colleague Sean Carlson about what the law does as well as the potential impediments to its eventual implementation. Now, Hockel and other state Democrats are handling the bill as landmark legislation. As someone who is one of the foremost experts on environmental law, do you think that's a fair assessment? Yeah, that is fair. Vermont passed a similar law in May, so this is the second state to do it, but it's based on a much older law, the Superfund Law for Hazardous Waste, which was passed back in 1980 and has been going on for a long time and has survived lots of judicial challenges. The bill has the opponents, right? The American Petroleum Institute called it a punitive new fee on American energy. The Business Council of New York State says it targets fossil fuel companies, but ignores users. as a contributor to emissions. How do you expect business groups

opposed to the measure to try and stop its implementation? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they bring lawsuits challenging it, but they might not do it for quite some time. The way the bill is set up is that the bills don't actually come due. The payments from the fossil fuel companies

don't actually come do for another four years, exactly four years from now. So the companies may decide to wait until then to see just what are the bills that they're being demanded to pay, and so they would have a more concrete basis for their lawsuits. You mentioned that there is a long way between Hocal signing of the legislation and its implementation. A couple of years we're looking at.

What does the state have left to figure out, and when do you expect the measure to the Superfund to be up and running? The State Department of Environmental Conservation, the DEC, has to issue the detailed regulations on exactly who is going to have to pay what. and those regulations are due in two and a half years in June of 2027. So they'll have to do a lot of studies of the total amount of emissions attributable to the different companies. They also have to come up with a plan for using the money. So all of those are the steps before companies actually have to write checks. Do you think that the bill is going to be overruled or potentially watered down in court? No, I mean, it's very hard to predict that kind of thing, but the Superfund law for having,

waste has survived all the judicial challenges this received. Opponents will say state-level bills like this one create a negative business climate, drives companies to move to friendlier pastures with less regulation. Do you think they have a point? Well, we need to move away from fossil fuels. That's the only way we're going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and there's no way around it. This is one of the many measures to try to accomplish that.

But I think a key point is that these expenditures, the construction of sea walls and greater storm drainage systems and cooling systems and nature-based solutions, all of those have to be done. And there are only three kinds of parties that could pay for it. The taxpayers, the consumers, and the shareholders of the fossil fuel companies and the other companies that are responsible. Taxpayers are already paying a lot and will pay more. consumers are already paying a lot through higher costs on certain items, but the shareholders of the fossil fuel companies are not having to pay. What this bill does is it means that they have to pay a share. It's actually a relatively small share of the total cleanup costs.

It's not that all of the costs are being put on these companies. That's environmental lawyer Michael Girard talking with my colleague, Sean Carlson. The holiday season has come and gone. But tourism is an all-year affair in New York City, and the pedestrian crush can make it tricky for New Yorkers to get where they need to be. So WMYC's Samantha Max has some walking tips for those who are in a rush and those who are blissfully blocking the sidewalk. New Yorkers are known for walking fast. Here's curmudgeon Fran Lee Bowitz's take in the Netflix docu-series pretend it's a city. So when I'm walking, I'm not like strolling.

I'm not exercising. I'm getting somewhere, and of course, because it's New York, I'm late. I asked New Yorkers who regularly navigate city streets for tips on how to keep things moving while traveling on foot, including etiquette expert Nick Layden. Sidewalks in New York are our highways. And so I think if you wouldn't do it on a highway, you shouldn't do it on our sidewalk. New Yorkers are known for their opinions, so I couldn't consult just one person. I also asked my colleagues for their walking dues and don'ts. Keep to the right, pass on the left.

You need to stop, essentially pull over to the side. If you are someone who doesn't always have a destination in mind, you just want to explore. My biggest advice would be to do that not during peak hours. Please don't look at your phone on the subway steps. That was New York Public Radio's Stephanie Clary, Gillian Pastori, Tara Sonan, and David Brand. Of course, people love to take in the sights while walking around this bustling metropolis. There's even a YouTube channel, the walking commuter, which allows viewers to follow along as a man walks all around the city with a camera. Here's a clip from a live stream walk along the high line.

Okay, is this a new piece of scaffolding or is this here? Yes, tourists will inevitably get in your way to take photos or stare at a map or amble at a glacial pace. But Layden says it's important to remember that tourists are essential to the city's economy. Thank you for your tax dollars. Thank you for supporting the New York City economy. Thank you for coming. I know there's not a cheap vacation, but like you also, just move out of the way. But if they don't move, Flayden says,

try to remember people are rarely rude on purpose and be nice as you squeeze past. That's WNYC's Samantha Max. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jene Pierre. back tomorrow.