NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Voters React to Cuomo’s Mayoral Run, NY Reevaluates Cannabis Dispensary Rules, and MTA Fights to Keep Congestion Pricing

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is officially running for New York City mayor, and voters are weighing in on his potential political comeback. Meanwhile, New York State is expanding cannabis business licenses, sparking debate over dispensary spacing rules. Plus, the MTA is gearing up for a legal battle with the Trump administration after federal officials ordered an end to congestion pricing. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with MTA Chairman Janno Lieber.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNMIC. I'm Sean Carlson. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is officially joining the race for mayor, and New Yorkers have plenty to say about it. Democratic State Party Chair Jay Jacobs, a former Cuomo ally, was among those who called for his resignation in 2021 over sexual misconduct allegations. Now he says it's up to voters to decide whether Cuomo deserves a political comeback. He needed to go. and he ultimately did. But, you know, to say that, you know, you can never come back,

that's going to be a decision that each voter individually is going to have to make on their own. A group of women protested at Cuomo's announcement on Sunday saying they want to remind the public of the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo. New York State is handing out more cannabis business licenses, and that means more competition for storefronts. Initially, state regulators required dispensaries. to be at least a thousand feet apart or about three city blocks. The State Office of Cannabis Management is now reconsidering when to bend the thousand-foot rule.

W&YC's Caroline Lewis asked New Yorkers what they think. How far apart do you think legal weed stores should have to be from each other? Maybe one on a block. This is 61-year-old Tom Alsup, who says he's a cannabis consumer. I ask him what he thinks of the thousand-foot rule. That's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, we get coffee on every block. If it's legal, it's legal.

I'm on the corner of 16th and 7th where a new dispensary called Chelsea Cannabis Coe just opened. It's one of four dispensaries that recently sued the state for allowing a competing store to open less than a thousand feet away. Some New Yorkers say they're concerned about the diversity of businesses in their neighborhood, especially after the explosion of unlicensed shops in recent years, which often clustered close together. 40-year-old Angel Pereira from Brooklyn said dispensaries should be at least, a mile apart. I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, just too many around in the same area.

That's a little bit too much. Then there are the New Yorkers like Lou Murphy who are already over the dispensaries, even though the legal market is just getting off the ground. Oh, I just think it's horrible. It's taking over the city. Yeah. The State Office of Cannabis Management

recently proposed new regulations around exceptions to the 1,000-foot rule and is currently accepting public comments. For WNYC News, I'm Caroline Lewis. Up next, the MTA is gearing up for a legal showdown with the Trump administration over congestion pricing. Will the tolls stay or go? That's after the break.

This is NYC now. The Trump administration has ordered the MTA to shut down congestion pricing by March 21st. But the agency is not backing down. It's suing the administration in federal court. And for now, Governor Hokel says the tolls are staying put. My colleague Michael Hill spoke with MTA chair, Jan O'Lebrough, about the ongoing battle. The program has been up and running for about two months now. How's it gone so far with congestion prices?

It's really going well. It's exceeded expectations. There is dramatically less traffic. People are seeing faster travel, both drivers. Interestingly, this has become really popular with people who actually drive into Manhattan. So people are getting faster travel. bus riders coming in from New Jersey or Long Island or wherever are saving a lot of time. And the cross streets, Canal Street, which used to be, you know, one of the toughest spots in New York,

Canal Street, 57th Street, 34th Street, much better. Fewer crashes, safer streets, fewer pedestrians and cyclist injuries. And the economy of Midtown and Lower Manhattan is booming. So all the naysayers who said, you know, things were going to fall apart have turned out not to be not to be correct it's it's really gained a lot of support in the last last two months so the white house wants to end it within the month the mt of course is defying the orders we said what happens if ultimately the president wins this fight and shuts down congestion pricing well we're not planning for that i mean we followed every all the rules of this process to a

and there have been multiple court decisions which validated the way we got here and the federal government, and this is the essence of our lawsuit. The federal government's not entitled to just say, oh, by the way, we changed our mind. There is a specific requirement of a process to turn off an agreement for congestion pricing or a tolling system, and unilateral decision by the feds is not permitted. So we're confident that we're not, we're going to keep going based on this lawsuit. But losing congestion pricing would have dramatic impacts. We were talking about Funding for all those elevators we're putting in to make the system accessible, new electric buses, modern signals to make the whole subway system move faster and provide more service.

It would be terrible. But I don't think it's going to happen because the lawsuit, as I said, is really strong one. But, you know, this is a Trump administration. This is the president in the White House. If he doesn't get his way, one way, he may try another way to do this. and other funding perhaps for the MTA or New York could be in jeopardy. Listen, we're going to work with Washington. We worked with Washington right through the first Trump administration,

and we're going to keep working with them. And we're going to keep making the case that this is good for business, which I know is this president's principal interest. He is a New York businessman. Gridlock is proven again and again by all analysis to be terrible for New York's economy. This is why business groups have historically supported congestion pricing and why business groups are so excited by the benefits they're already seeing. And we're going to work with whoever is in charge in Washington to keep making that case. So I'm optimistic.

I'm always optimistic about New York, but especially about this demonstrably successful program. They got a lot of big fish to fry in Washington. In the end of the day, I don't think this is going to be the cruisible. of Trump versus New York. You know, as we reported, the governor has tried to appeal to the president's financial side, our Stephen Nesson really documented that pointing out the economic benefits of the tolling program, but Trump appears unmoved. Now it seems, Hockel is hoping the court of public opinion will come out strongly in

support of the program. Do you think that will be effective? That perhaps could change the president's mind? Well, I do think that, you know, the president is responsive to. public opinion and public opinion is dramatically shifted. Before congestion pricing, a lot of people were concerned about the impacts. Now we're seeing, as I said, six in ten drivers are supporting it. The folks who are expected to be most anti-c congestion pricing have turned into some of the biggest supporters because they're getting in and out of the city so much faster. So we're going to continue

to make the case that this is a popular initiative and it's working. So why would you mess with that. I mean, New York is a transit town. Remember, it only works. We can only have this incredibly powerful economy because we bring together millions of people every day to work together and come up with big ideas that turn into economic value. Mass transit is the key to New York, and I don't think in the end of the day anybody wants to mess with that. Have there been any issues that needed to be addressed, and how have you corrected them, if at all? Well, I mean, there are a couple of Small issues, there was one driveway that sort of crossed in and out of the zone that we had to mess with the cameras and the geolocation to make sure we got it. Obviously, we had to make arrangements with all of the taxi companies that they would install on their meters, the mechanics, so they would be charging per ride.

Remember, the taxis and the Uber's and what they call four hire vehicles are charging on a per ride basis, not just once a day for crossing the line. So all those mechanics took a while. But the results from when we implemented it on January 5th were almost immediate. We studied this for five years. We did a 4,000-page submission to the feds. We analyzed this computer-wise up and down. So we were ready. The tolling system has functioned beautifully.

And everybody predicted there will be challenges and problems and bumps in the road. There really haven't been. What's been happening is a steady ground. of public understanding and enthusiasm for this initiative. This is New York taking control of its future. Gridlock, we tried it for 50 years. It didn't work. It hurt our economy. It led to lots of road rage and crashes and wasted time and billions of dollars of waste. New York is taking control. That's why Governor Hockel has said this is an issue of state sovereignty. Because the city, we're having success. We shouldn't be subjected to second guessing from the same folks who

made us jump through 4,000 pages of studies and hoops and five years of work. That's Jan O'Leiber in conversation with my colleague, Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. We'll be back tomorrow.