NYC NOW - July 25, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Two lawsuits filed on Thursday by a collection of advocacy groups argue that Governor Kathy Hochul’s order to halt congestion pricing violates state law and that the governor has no legal authority to stop the tolling program. In other news, Long Island Democrats say Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is playing politics with critical infrastructure funding by spending millions in legislative districts held by Republicans but not in districts held by Democrats. Plus, New York City is legally mandated to set a plan to expand tree coverage by almost 10% by 2035. But it's facing challenges in achieving that goal. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks to Interim New York Cities Director for The Nature Conservancy Tami Lin-Moges and City Council Member Erik Bottcher, who represents parts of Lower and Midtown Manhattan.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, July 25th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Supporters of congestion pricing in New York City want to see Governor Kathy Hokel in court. Two lawsuits filed today by a collection of advocacy groups argue the governor's order to halt congestion pricing violates state law. The filing say Hokel has to file. has no legal authority to stop the tolling program, as it's mandated by a 2019 state law.

One of the suits also says the move harms New Yorkers because it undermines greenhouse gas reductions required by climate laws. The tolls were supposed to launch in June and fund $15 billion worth of upgrades to New York City's aging transit infrastructure. Governor Hockel has not yet responded to the suits. Long Island Democrats say the Republican Nassau-Kaunni executive is playing politics with critical infrastructure funding. They claim that's by spending millions in legislative districts held by Republicans, but not in districts held by Democrats. Nassau County legislators Scott Davis is from Hempstead. He pointed to $4 million in water treatment projects Republicans

have received, but not his constituents. Whatever the motivation is, the issue is that it's being born on the backs of disenfranchised community. County Executive Bruce Blakman says Democrats haven't completed all the required paperwork to receive funding for infrastructure projects. About 60% of Nassau voters are Republicans. The GOP has long held the majority in the county legislature. Let's take a look at today's weather. Today it'll be mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. There's a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon, highs in the mid-80s, tomorrow, and tonight lows in the upper 60s.

Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Michael Hill. The New York City government is legally mandated to set a plan to expand tree coverage by almost 10% by 2035. But it's facing challenges in achieving that goal. With us now is Tammy Lynn Mogus, the interim New York City's director at the Nature Conservancy, which convened and is a leading member of the Forest for All NYC Coalition. We're also joined by city council member Eric Botcher, who represents parts of lower and midtown Manhattan. He sponsored the new law last year that says city government needs to develop a long-term plan for its trees.

Both guests say the plan needs investment from City Hall now if they're to meet their own requirements on time. Tammy, this new law sets a goal to increase tree coverage. Why is that the wording instead of saying the city needs to increase the number of trees? Thank you so much, Michael. So we say canopy, and when we say can we mean that it is the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. So imagine you're a bird flying over the city and what is the shade cover that it casts. So canopy often is described as the area that it covers. And we feel like that is a better measurement for how much trees and urban forest there is overall because we really feel like the larger the tree, the more mature they are,

the more benefits they offer. So we have a goal of setting 30% canopy cover by 23rd. And right now the latest is from 2017, and we only have 22% canopy cover. How much of New York City's tree cover is on public versus private property? And why does that break down even matter? So a little bit over 50% of the urban forest is on city property as managed by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. And about 35% of the overall canopy is on private property. So that is on things about homes, backyards, frontyards, on institutions. and campuses. And that breakdown is really important because there is a large proportion of the urban

forest site is on private property, and there's very little regulations or incentives for those property owners to plant or take care of the trees on their properties. Looking at the public side, the city manages, again, a little bit over 50% of the overall city urban forest, but they're severely and chronically underfunded, and so it becomes really challenging to continue to take care of all these trees on their properties. The New York City region has experienced multiple heat waves three so far this summer and tree coverage, as we know, can certainly help keep us cool. Would you list some of the major benefits of a robust city tree canopy? Extreme heat is the top cause of weather-related fatalities nationwide, and in New York City,

it kills an average of 350 New Yorkers every single year. But worse than all, these impacts are actually disproportionate. The heat hits hardest for people of color and lower-income residents. And in New York, black residents die from heat stress at double the rate of white residents. So increasing the overall tree canopy cover and protecting the urban forest is really a public health issue. Councilmember, how likely is this plan to get the funds it needs, though, from City Hall when you consider that the council is going back and forth with the mayor over recent steep budget cuts like the Parks Department, libraries, and other departments? There's a lot of competing priorities, but I am confident. that we're going to get this plan done. The city says that they're going to be able to meet the goals of our legislation by next year

with the resources they have. We believe that they will need additional staff to get this done, but we are going to keep pushing. I'm confident that we'll be able to get this done because the Parks Department, they do say that they're deeply invested in this. You know, you both made it kind of clear that this is, you know, this is not something that's to be put off for some time. 2035 is not that far off. And it makes me wonder, have there been any investments made so far or dedicated funding to reach this goal, which is just, you know, as we said, it's just 11 years away?

And the city's credit, they have a robust tree planting program. And in my council district, which spans from the West Village up to Times Square on the west side, we've planted 500 trees since I took office. We've also been investing in tree guards to protect the existing trees and the expansion of tree beds to create bioswales of sorts to help absorb rewater runoff. Councilmember, is there any hope of getting any resources from the state on this or the federal government to meet these goals by 2035? There are grants being applied for. There are, are applications out to the state and the federal government. So yes, I do believe that they will be critical partners.

And again, this is part of the change that's happening now, where people are beginning to see street tree coverage as far more than just an aesthetic element in our neighborhoods. It's being recognized as a central infrastructure. Tammy, the law also mandates the city periodically evaluate its tree coverage. What kinds of things should the city identify in those evaluations? Yes, so it was terrific that the law also mandated regular monitoring of the urban forest, which includes regular flyovers of LIDAR data, so collection of satellite imagery,

so that we know how is the urban forest, what is it doing, how is it growing, where are the areas that's going to need more investment. So that is something that we will continue to track. Tammy, a new report by the nonprofit Climate Central says the average New Yorker feels the effects of so-called urban heat islands more than anyone else in the country. But in the city, some barrels feel it more than others. Would this new law solve that inequity? Thank you so much for bringing that up. You're absolutely correct.

You know, previously we had said that the city canopy cover is about 22%. That is on average across the entire city. But there is a lot of differences when we're not. we break it apart into smaller geographic scale. So we look at it by borough or by neighborhoods. There are a lot of variability. And so you're right. Some areas have a lot more tree canopy cover and some areas have it much less.

And in those areas with low tree canopy cover, folks who are living there are definitely feeling the effects of the urban heat island much more so than other areas. And so for this plan, the goal is to get to 30% cover equitably. And that means investing in the. those neighborhoods that need it the most, investing the areas that have extreme heat, have low canopy cover, and oftentimes those are the same neighborhoods that have high percentages of communities of color and lower income communities as well. Our guest has been Tammy Lynn Mogus, the interim New York City's director at the Nature

Conservancy, a leading member of Forest for all NYC coalition, and city council member, Eric Bacher, who represents parts of lower and midtown Manhattan, and who sponsored the law we're discussing now. Thank you both. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.