NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Workers Sue Contractors They Blame for Legionnaires Outbreak, Hurricane Erin Brings Coastal Flooding Possibilities, Bronx Trains Left Out of Signal Repair Plans and a Bronx Green Space Becomes Unofficial Trash Dump

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Two Harlem construction workers are suing contractors they blame for Legionnaires’ outbreak. Plus, the National Weather Service says much of New York City, Long Island and New Jersey will be under a coastal flood watch beginning Thursday night, thanks to Hurricane Erin. Also, the MTA is leaving the Bronx behind in a key effort to speed up subway service. And finally, the parks department has used a city-owned Bronx lot as an unofficial garbage dump for decades, and locals say the smell is unbearable.

Workers sue contractors they blame for Harlem's Legionnaires outbreak. Hurricane Aaron brings coastal flooding possibilities to the area. Trains in the Bronx get left out of the MTA's signal repair plans, and a Bronx green space becomes an unofficial trash dump. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. Two construction workers who claim they contracted Legionnaire's disease while working around Harlem Hospital

are suing construction companies for allegedly failing to properly clean the building's water cooling towers. Ben Crump is their attorney. It was completely preventable. And so when corporations cut corners, tragedies like this happened. Harlem Hospital was among the 10 buildings identified by the city health department where cooling towers tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease. The general contractors named in the lawsuit, Rising Sun Construction, and Skanska USA Building did not immediately comment. Hurricane Aaron is making waves in the New York metro area, even as the storm is tracking far offshore.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Murray says much of New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey will be under a coastal flood watch starting Thursday night. There will be a possibility for widespread, moderate coastal flooding around the time. of high tide, especially for those vulnerable locations near the waterfront and shoreline. He says waves at coastal beaches could range between 4 and 13 feet and potentially get up to 16 or 17 feet. The biggest impacts are expected Thursday night. Officials in New York and New Jersey are urging people to stay away from beaches through Thursday, citing life-threatening rip currents. The MTA is leaving the Bronx behind in a key effort to speed up subway service. More on that after the break.

Every subway rider knows these dreaded words. This train is delayed due to signal problems. The MTA has a solution, new, modern signals that use computers. It's been spending billions to replace some of the subway's oldest signal systems in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. But not in the Bronx. WMYC's Stephen Nesson wanted to find out why. The MTA believes new electronic signals are a silver bullet for better subway service. The technology allows more trains to run closer together, resulting in more frequent service at your station.

Since 2020, the MTA has committed $10 billion to upgrade signals. When that work is done, 58% of the lettered lines in the city will have new ones. But not one new signal is coming to the Bronx. It's not a surprise that the Bronx is not. going to be part of these new signal upgrades. That's Ed Garcia-Cande, a Bronx history expert and founder of the website, welcome to the Bronx. Whether it's transportation, equity, or pretty much anything related to the Bronx, you know, we're always considered the last. The MTA says the Bronx is getting lots of other new things, just not new signals. There's the $3.1 billion dollar

Penn Access project coming in the next few years. That will add four new Metro North stops to the east side of the Bronx that will connect to Penn Station. MTA Construction Chief Jamie Torres-Springer says that's a major investment in the borough. He says the agency is also charging ahead, making more subway stations accessible with elevators. Basically, 19 more stations will be made ADA accessible in the next few years, which really doubles the number of ADA accessible stations. Hello, this is an accessible station. Check. But that won't speed up. commutes in the borough, where people are less likely to own a car than anywhere else in the city, outside of Manhattan, it's also home to some of the highest asthma rates in the country.

Commuters on the four train in the Bronx, which hasn't had its signals upgraded since the 1990s, don't think a few new subway elevators are going to improve their commutes. Adina Ben Zion says it's starting to feel like the MTA is neglecting the Bronx. What I've noticed is in Manhattan, the service has gotten much better, and they're upgrading all of the stations incredibly, which is not what's happening in the Bronx. Construction Chief Torres Springer says, while Manhattan is getting the bulk of the signal upgrades, the Bronx will still benefit. Our priority is to replace the oldest of the signal equipment, and that is actually going to be the best thing to produce better service, including for people in the Bronx, where we've replaced the older signals. It creates much less disruption across the whole system. And the way that our system works, you know, one disruption somewhere can result in a major disruption somewhere else.

Still, a recent report found that the MTA's current signal projects are behind schedule, some as much as two years. That means those service improvements aren't coming anytime soon. That's WMYC's Stephen Nesson. Let's stick with news in the Bronx. The borough's headquarters for the New York City Parks Department sits alongside a popular Greenway there. And for decades, the department has used the space as an unofficial trash dump.

Residents say it's gotten so gross that it's beginning to stink up the surrounding areas. WNYC's Liam Quigley has more. Head north along the Bronx River Greenway, and you'll find a peaceful city scene surrounded by trees and singing birds. That's until the smell hits you, right near the Bronx Zoo. But it's not coming from the animals.

It's from an improvised garbage dump run by the Parks Department. The agency stores tons of the trash collected from the borough's parks here until it gets picked up by waste haulers. The Parks Department says it's cleared out regularly, but neighbors say more and more trash is getting stored there, even though they've complained about it for years. It was only like 20 feet by... maybe, you know, four feet high back then.

It got to like it was 25 feet and five feet high. That's Amelia Theaturis. She remembers first filing a complaint about the trash pile a couple of years ago. She says the problem keeps growing worse, and it's attracting tons of rats. Once one ran over my feet, then I freaked out. The garbage mountain is teeming with flies, and the rats have made Swiss cheese out of the dirt in the area. Richardson Hernandez is biking a lot more often along the Greenway. He mostly enjoys his rides on the path.

This bike path goes from 233 up in Wakefield or Nareed, whatever you want to call it, all the way down to sound view, down to Hans Point. Then he hits the section next to the trash mountain. Driving through it, one way I'm going downhill, so I don't exactly catch the whiff of the smell. The other way, it's unbearable. While Eric Adams has made getting trash off the sidewalks one of his biggest goals,

he's also held back on the budget for the Parks Department. It's not clear if that's the source of the issue, but Parks Department officials say their workers receive a staggering amount of trash each month from Bronx Parks. In one week alone last month, that was 227 tons. The Bronx has thousands of acres of parks, including the biggest one in the city. Johan Novales was collecting cans and bottles along the past. He moved his shopping cart as quickly as possible through the area.

He says the dump is a source of pollution, it's bad for the environment, and the people who come across it. The contamination is much more grand. That's not good for the ambient or the person. The trash mountain is festering in the back parking lot of the Parks Department Bronx headquarters. Parks officials say the dump site is temporary, even though it's been there for decades.

After we asked about it, they said they would clean it up as soon as possible. That's WMYC's. WNYC's Liam Quigley. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.