NYC NOW - June 5, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is giving measured support for President Biden's decision to limit border crossings. Plus, some Brooklyn teenagers react to possible restrictions on social media, with the goal of making it less addictive for kids. And finally, WNYC’s Janae Pierre talks with Albany reporter Jon Campbell and transportation reporter Stephen Nessen about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement to delay the launch of the MTA’s congestion pricing plan.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is giving measured support for President Biden's decision to limit border crossings. That's after a years-long crisis that has led to nearly 200,000 migrants coming to the Big Apple. So whatever it could be done to slow the flow, give us the resources, allow people to work, I'm awful. The order doesn't give the city additional federal. aid, nor does it expedite work permits for new arrivals, which the mayor says is critical to helping migrants become financially independent. And everyone want to romanticize this issue and just

act like, oh, there's no big thing. No, no, this is a serious issue that this administration is attempting to resolve. The mayor's criticisms of federal policies have led to frosty relations with Biden. He was notably absent at the White House Tuesday with Governor Hockel for the signing of the order. In a previous episode of NYC Now, you may have heard us talking about two online child safety bills making its way through the legislature. New York state lawmakers are poised to place new restrictions on social media with the goal of making it less addictive for kids. We decided we needed to hear from the kids themselves. Some Brooklyn teens tell WNYC's Caroline Lewis, in their lives, social media has its pros and cons. 11th grader Jermaine Lawson is sitting with friends outside uncommon collegiate charter high school in bedstay.

What do you think about this whole idea of trying to make the feed less addictive? Do you feel like it's too addictive? I honestly do because sometimes I sit there in my bed and I scroll on TikTok or Instagram reels for about like an hour. And that's really crazy. I don't even pick up a book sometimes. New York City and state officials have been sounding the alarm about the negative effects of social media on teens' mental health. Governor Kathy Hokel says addictive algorithms are keeping kids logged on too long and even driving them to inappropriate content. But teens say social media has benefits too, like 17-year-old Enroy Small.

He says social media is the main way he keeps in touch with friends. So I go on IG, look like that story, see like, oh, where they are, what they doing, what they was doing at this time. And then we also be like sending posts back and forth. A bill, Hokel and lawmakers negotiated this week, would be based. ban social media platforms from using their algorithms to curate content for kids under 18 without their parents' consent. Small thinks having some parental controls makes sense. I grew up, like, wanted social media develops. I've seen a whole bunch of stuff I should have, so I feel like, like, when I'm a payment, I'm a limit for stuff my children will be doing

on social media. Small and his friends said they became more reliant on social media during COVID, but now they're able to see each other more in person and unplug. Now you can actually go outside and you're able to actually, like, interact with other people and not only be on social media. We'll go outside. Yeah. Somatime. Lawmakers expect to pass the social media bill before the end of the state legislative session this week. Governor Kathy Hokel says she's delaying the launch of the MTA's congestion pricing plan.

We'll discuss what happened and what it means for the transit agency. That conversation after the break. Governor Kathy Hokel is ordering the MTA to halt its congestion pricing plan, less than a month before the tolls were set to launch. The plan would charge drivers a $15 daytime toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street and use the money to upgrade the city's beleaguered transit systems. The governor's last-minute move now means lawmakers need to find a new source of funding. Joining me to discuss what happened and what it means is WNYC's Albany reporter John Campbell

and transportation reporter Stephen Nesson. John, what reason did Hokel give for not moving forward with this plan that, you know, she herself endorsed ever since she took office about three years ago? Economic concerns primarily. I mean, she pointed to inflation and high vacancy rates in Manhattan. And she also pointed to the actual cost of that $15-based toll itself. Let's be real. A $15 charge may not seem like a lot of,

to someone who has the means. But it can break the budget of a hardworking or middle-class household. Now, that is a considerable about face for the governor. I mean, I'm sitting here in the middle of the Capitol press room at the state capital, and it's all he's talking about because the governor had been a huge supporter of congestion pricing even after that $15 toll came out. She said it was a way to cut down on crowded streets and improve the environment as recently as two weeks ago. She was touting it at an economic summit in Ireland, and now she's pausing it

indefinitely. There are reports that she may be making a political calculation with this move, you know, with the presidential and congressional elections happening this fall. Congestion pricing is not favorable with drivers who live outside the city. So how will this help Democrats win races? Well, the New York City suburbs in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island, I mean, these are some of the biggest congressional battlegrounds in the entire country. And congestion pricing is very unpopular with voters in those areas. So it certainly could potentially have an impact on some of these races. Politico was the first to report that Governor Hockel was weighing a delay,

and they had reported that she had been in contact in some level with leader Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader. I checked in with Jeffrey's office. They say he's neutral on the idea of congestion pricing as a whole, but also they say that he does support this temporary pause, pointing to the financial impact on working class New Yorkers. So whatever the governor says, whatever anybody says, there are political implications here, and we'll see those play out in November. Stephen, I want to bring you into the conversation because the MTA has been planning for congestion pricing since 2019.

What does it mean to have the rug pulled out at the last minute? Well, Jene, let me just say it's hard to overstate what a shock today's news was to people at the MTA, people who work in transit, you know, totally unexpected, partly because the MTA has been working so hard for so many years. Over four years of planning for this moment when they were going to flip the switch on June 30th, and now suddenly everything's in flux. You know, what it meant for the MTA, was that they were, one, you know, going to, like John was saying, reduce traffic on city streets, which would allow buses to run faster.

The whole goal is to get people on mass transit. But on the other hand, it was also to raise money for the MTA. They need money to build things. As part of their capital budget, they actually planned for, you know, raising $15 billion from congestion pricing. They were going to bring in a billion dollars a year from it. They would use to finance $15 billion worth of bonds. All that money, Jane A, was going to go towards new subway cars.

It was going to go towards upgrading the electrical equipment. How many times have you been on train when they say there's signal problems? Well, they were going to replace all the old signals with modern ones. And they were going to buy new train cars. They were going to add elevators to stations. And so all those plans are now in flux. That's a lot of money. And there's not a billion dollars sitting around that the MTA is going to find as a recurring source of revenue every year.

So it's very much up in the year. air what comes next for them in that regard. How else will this impact the MTA? Well, really, it's the big future planning. So it's all the projects I talked about, but it's also, you know, major things like the Second Avenue subway extension. A lot of that money was going to come from congestion pricing. So it really remains unclear if the MTA is going to have the funding to move forward with that. And, you know, if lawmakers don't approve another stream of funding, perhaps a tax hike on businesses as has been floated, they're going to really have to rethink the future of upgrading, you know, public transit. Yeah. John, I know you're at the Capitol. What's been the reaction from politicians?

Well, Jene, a lot of them are just flabbergasted, quite frankly. They just did not see this coming. Some of them are supportive of this. I talked to Ken Zabrowski. He's a Rockland County Democrat. He shares the Assembly Committee that oversees the MTA. And he has been an opponent of congestion pricing for some time. And reporters also spoke to Liz Kruger, a Manhattan Democrat who was just shocked by this and also brought up the idea of how are they going to come up with the revenue to fill this hole. One of the things that the governor has been floating, according to the sources that we've talked with, is an increase in the MTA payroll tax for New York City businesses. That's something that has been quite unpopular in the past.

So whatever they're going to end up doing, they're really running out of time because the legislative session in Albany is done at the end of the week. Yeah. Stephen, what about transit advocates? What has been their reaction? Well, similar to the Albany lawmakers, they were flabbergasted, I would say, as well, but there's more anger involved. The Regional Plan Association, which has been supporting congestion pricing and transit projects really for over a century in the city, called it a total betrayal of New Yorkers and our climate. Kathy Wilde, who represents business interests in the city, called it disappointing. And of course, we'd expect transportation alternatives,

who is a supporter and encourages people to take mass transit, called it a slap in the face to the millions of New Yorkers who rely on public transit every day just to appease the program's loudest foes. And I'll just read you one more reaction. We can't allow a vocal minority of drivers who don't qualify for exemptions or discounts to dictate our policy decisions. That's not from a transportation advocate.

That's from Gerald Nadler. I suppose he is a transportation supporter, but that's a politician. But for a little more in-depth and nuanced perspective from the inside, I spoke with John Samuelson. He's an MTA board member. He's also the international president of Transport Workers Union. And he was actually on the board that set the toll rate, the $15 one that we were talking about. And he resigned at the very end because he didn't agree with the plan. And in fact, what he really wanted was just more bus service to the outer boroughs and maybe a slightly lower charge overall.

But he actually was kind of supporting congestion pricing. But he says no matter what, this is not good for Hockel. It's not even going to help her. And she's already done so much damage. And the shame of this is that this could have been a moment in time where commutation into the city from the out of boroughs and from the suburbs, it could have been revolutionized. Advocates are vowing to keep pushing the governor to at least restart the talks about congestion pricing soon.

Hopefully they're thinking maybe it will still happen. But other folks like Samuelson say it's dead in the water at this point. Wow. All right. That's WNYC's transit reporter Stephen Nesson and our Albany reporter John Campbell. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. That's WNYC's transportation reporter Stephen Nesson and Albany reporter John Campbell.

Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.