NYC NOW - January 25, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

New Jersey has approved new offshore wind farms just a few months after the European company Orsted pulled out of two projects in the Garden State. Plus, notable eateries like "Tatiana" and "Superiority Burger" in New York are James Beard award nominees. Finally, Mayor Adams delivered his third State of the City address on Wednesday at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. WNYC’s Sean Carlson sat with reporter Elizabeth Kim to break down what the mayor had to say.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, January 25th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New Jersey has approved some new offshore wind farms just a few months after the European company Orsted pulled out of two projects in the Garden State. State officials awarded contracts to Chicago-based company, Invergy, and New York-based Energy RE for two projects. Rive Ravard reports for political New Jersey. He says this round of contracts is different because they adjust for inflation better than previous deals. These contracts are priced these companies and the Murphy administration thinks in a very realistic way,

whereas arguably, you know, the previous round of projects, you know, we're trying to build these wind farms at prices that they couldn't meet. Officials say these projects will be built much farther off the Jersey shore, compared to earlier projects and with power a combined total of almost 2 million homes. As a plant has solicited another round of wind farm proposals in the first half of this year. 52 with clouds now. Rain late into the afternoon and then a high near 56. Light rain and fog and a high of 43.

And then tomorrow a 50-50 chance of rain by early afternoon. Fog, cloudy, and 46 for a high. Stay close. There's more after the break. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC. Mayor Adams delivered his third state of the city addressed at Hostess Community College in the Bronx. Joining us to break down the speech is WNIC's Elizabeth Kim, who covers the mayor. Liz's speech comes at the halfway point of the mayor's term. Set up the context for us here.

What were the expectations? So the mayor is coming off a tumultuous year. You know, he's been criticized over his handling of the migrant crisis. There's the budget cuts. And his campaign has been the subject of a federal corruption investigation, all of which has contributed to dismal approval ratings. So this speech, and really the last few weeks, have been a kind of a reset for the mayor. You know, he needs to reshape the narrative as he enters 2024, you know, because this is a year that will be key to his reelection chances. So what did he talk about?

So in his state of the city last year, Adams put forward this idea of the working people's agenda. Now, that is a concept that really speaks to his base, but also his own identity as, you know, a poor New Yorker who rose to become mayor. He talked about public safety being critical to the success of the city, you know, the need to crack down on quality of life issues such as unlicensed smoke shops. and, of course, you know, his favorite issue, rats. And he introduced some new plans around jobs and housing. He's announcing a $100 million climate innovation hub in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. And his housing centerpiece was a pledge to create or preserve 12,000 units of affordable housing at 24 publicly owned sites. He wants to get those on track by the end of the year.

Okay, so we got public safety, jobs, housing. And it sounds like speech didn't have that many splashy new ideas. Is that fair to say? You know, I think so. Last year's speech seemed to have a little something for everyone. You know, he had a new apprenticeship program. You know, he was going to assist minority in women-owned businesses. And he was also going to expand composting. Now, that was probably the buzziest item last year. So this year, there's just not a lot of buzz. You know, the city is facing a fiscal crisis and the mayor has made sharp cuts to agencies. you need money to fund new ideas. Now, he did announce a new agency.

It's called the Department of Sustainable Delivery, which some people might say right off the bat doesn't sound that exciting. But it does address this explosion of packages in the city that started during the pandemic. And this new agency would try to regulate both the delivery app companies and the e-trucks, vans, electric bikes, mopeds that carry the packages. You were in the auditorium as the mayor delivered his speech. What was the vibe? How was it received?

So the mayor is generally good at making speeches. But this was a relatively short speech at around 40 minutes. You know, there was a lot of the usual pomp and circumstance, you know, with the event. I will note that minutes into the speech, he was heckled, which in some ways was symbolic of the difficult year he's coming off of. And it forced the mayor to go off script. Here's how he responded. Got garbage bags off our streets and into bins

and removed miles of unsightly scaffolding that has darkened our doors and blocked our views. And we even allow hecklers inside my state of the city. What a great city we're in. What a great city we're in. And then he gets the art. audience to join him in a chant. Stay focused, no distractions, and grind.

Stay focused, no distractions, and grind. Stay focused, no distractions, and grind. So some people might remember that that's a slogan that Adams used during his campaign. And he's recently revived it as he's come under some heavy criticism. WNYC's Elizabeth Kim. Thanks so much. Thank you, Sean. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC Now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.