NYC NOW - June 6, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Governor Kathy Hochul’s order to halt congestion pricing indefinitely could delay upgrades to subway stations and trains, as the plan was set to generate $15 billion in revenue for the MTA. Hochul is now seeking ways to replace that money. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill on Wednesday that reporters and government watchdogs say weakens the state’s open public records law. Plus, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, about how the halt in congestion pricing will affect New Yorkers. Finally, WNYC’s Arya Sundaram provides insight into a new Biden administration immigration policy that temporarily shuts down asylum requests at the Southern border and its impact on migrants in the five boroughs.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, June 6th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Governor Kathy Hokel's order to haul congestion pricing indefinitely could hurt your subway commute. The money from their tolls was supposed to finance $15 billion in upgrades to mass transit. That means new subway cars, more accessible stations, and replacing 90-year-old subway signals that cost delays across the five boroughs. Uncle says she's working to find a replacement for that money, but her move is raising fears

among transit advocates that, without the congestion pricing revenue, the subways could fall back into disrepair. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed a bill that reporters and government watchdogs say weakens the state's open public records law. C.J. Griffin is a public records lawyer in New Jersey. She says the move will make it harder to spot government corruption. This bill brings a lot of secrecy, and we know that secrecy brings a lot of corruption, and New Jersey has a very long history of corruption. So a lot of us are sad and worried. The law will make it harder to request government emails and documents. It also does away with the requirement that government paid legal fees every time it loses a case against someone who sues over documents being improperly withheld.

Governor Murphy has said he doesn't think the bill will cause more corruption, and that lawmakers work to come up with a fair compromise. Stay close. There's more after the break. As you've been hearing, the plan to toll drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street is not going to happen right now. Governor Kathy Hokel has indefinitely postponed the plan, which was years in the making. Joining us now to discuss that decision is Catherine Wilde. She's the president of the Partnership for New York City. it's an organization that integrates businesses, government, and civic leadership.

She also served on the MTA's Traffic Mobility Review Board, which recommended how much to charge drivers under congestion pricing. Catherine, what do you think of the governor's decision? Well, obviously, I'm disappointed. We've looked for the past 20 years at how to institute a fair system, basically to support the MTA capital plan, and we thought we were about to launch a very exciting First in America effort to control traffic, reduced traffic by as much as 20 percent, and that in itself is the savings,

and to fund the MTA through that source. The governor released a pre-produced video. She did not take questions from reporters, but in that video, she cited concerns about the price tag on individual drivers coming into the city and feared it may discourage people from coming into the city and spending money in Manhattan. You talk to businesses. What do you make of that calculation? Well, what it ignores is the fact that excess traffic congestion cost us more than $20 billion a year in overtime, lost productivity, environmental and health impacts. So it's not free.

And the tolls totaled $1 billion. So the amount that would be charged to try and reduce the losses was small. And the business community would benefit most from having a more efficient navigable streets that we could get around in and not lose funding, you know, not lose a lot of money in the process of dealing with traffic jams. The MTA now has to find another way to pay for the transit upgrades it wanted to use with this congestion pricing revenue. There's already some reporting that the burden may fall on small business owners. What are you hearing from small business owners in this moment? Well, I think small business owners are confused, like all of us, that this happened sort of in the middle of the night, with no one really being prepared for it.

The proposal is to increase the payroll mobility tax. My understanding is it would be imposed only on employers in the five boroughs who have annual payrolls of more than $1.7 million under the governor's proposal. The problem is a third of the people who commute into Manhattan by car are coming from other states. So we've got, we're basically congestion pricing allowed for something like a resurrection of the commuter tax where New Jersey and Connecticut folks who are coming in by car and had the means to do that, we're contributing to the cost of our mass transit system, which supports the economy we all depend on. Any other system, any other tax will fall solely on New Yorkers.

So this is kind of cutting off our nose despite our face, if you will. Catherine, you spent months working with EMTA to recommend the prices of the tolls. You lobbied for congestion pricing for years. Does it now feel like that was all a wasted time? I have not given up. I actually spoke to the governor yesterday, and she insisted that this is a temporary cessation of congestion pricing. I think what we need to do,

do is to make the case to get started, whether it's on a trial basis to get something started right away. I don't think we can afford to give up on congestion tools as part of the solution. To be clear, business and real estate taxes are already 40% of MTA revenues. Riter fares are 40% of MTA revenues. tolls of the vehicles coming into the city are only 13% of MTA revenues. This is where we should be looking to provide a more equitable funding system for the MTA. And by the way, this only funded, this congestion pricing only funded the current $50 billion, a portion of the current $50 billion five-year capital plan. Next year, we have to pass some new revenues to fund the next

capital plan in order to keep the improvements in the mass transit system going. Where is that money going to come from? If we give up on congestion pricing, we've got a real problem. Catherine Wilde is president of the partnership for New York City. Catherine, thank you. Thanks for having me. As we've been reporting, a new Biden administration policy on immigration is underway. And policy experts expected to affect life here in New York City,

in other communities hosting large numbers of migrants. With us to discuss the policy shift is WNIC's Ariel Sunder Room. Mayor Adams' administration has been calling for the federal government to stop the flow of migrants into the city. He says the massive influx in recent years has strained the city's shelter system and cost the city billions of dollars. He's been requesting a federal decompression strategy. Is he getting what he wanted?

Yes, this is exactly what the Biden administration is offering here. So under these new rules, migrants who unlawfully cross the U.S.-Mexico border are generally not allowed to seek asylum. And that's a pretty drastic change from what we saw before, because in years past, for years and years, no matter how you entered the U.S., you could apply for asylum. If you said you had a fear of being persecuted in your home country. You know, there's some important exceptions to these new rules. They don't apply to an accompany children, and there are some other exceptions too, like for medical emergencies or severe human trafficking cases. But mostly now, migrants looking to apply for asylum at the southern border now have to do so at a port of entry,

which can be a much longer process. Do we have a sense yet of the expected impact in New York City? I'm generally hearing from policy experts at this result in fewer migrants crossing the border and making their way into New York City and other cities across the country for them. matter. So many new migrants applying for shelter in the city arrive within days of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. So stemming the influx at the border will have impacts here is what I'm hearing. And this rule, I think it's important to note that it doesn't affect migrants that are directly in the city at this moment, but it could keep them from reuniting with family members who are planning

to seek asylum and link up with them later on. There's also some other new rules too that could affect migrants living here. So one announced last month, for example, will fast track the immigration court process for some new asylum seekers. And that policy creates a special court docket for newly arrived adults in New York City and five others, excuse me, four other cities for that matter. And the goal is for judges to decide those cases within 180 days. And right now, that process is much longer. Ari, what has the Adams administration had to say about these new rules? Overall, the response has been pretty positive. You know, Like I said, this is a long-standing request of theirs.

You know, some officials in the administration also take credit for the new rules. Mayor Adams is part of this large coalition of mayors and other local officials that's been demanding more action from President Biden on this issue. Of course, that's not the only political pressure right at the moment. Polls are showing that immigration is a top issue for voters across the country and in New York City for this matter, as we're staring down the presidential election in November. But at least for now, if there's a dip in the number of new migrants in the city, as is expected, the mayor's office says that's a major win. More than a thousand migrants asked for shelter beds in the city in the last week, and there's over 65,000 migrants currently in the city's care. This new policy could be a reprieve.

You know, that's what they say, to give them time to focus on the migrants currently in the administration's care to help them leave the shelter system. and of course to do more to help many longtime New Yorkers in the homeless system too. I know you've been talking to advocates, Ari, about this. What are they saying about the new policy? There's a lot of criticism and concern of this new policy. You know, immigration scholars tell me it is one of the strictest immigration rules we've seen in modern history, especially from a Democrat. And they say it signals a rightward shift in the politics of immigration,

across the political spectrum at this moment. And advocates in particular are saying that these new rules undermine the longstanding right to seek asylum, this protection, you know, for people who are fleeing persecution in their home countries. And here's how Natalia Aristosable put it. She's from Make the Road, New York. Ending this for people, it's actually really hard

because it's going to impact a lot of families and there are people who are just looking to survive. There's a fear that this policy will force more migrants to remain in dangerous conditions in Mexico or elsewhere. And at the moment, the ACLU says they plan to challenge the new executive order in court. WNIC's ARIA Sundaram. You can read more of ARIO's reporting on this topic

at our news site, Gothamus Aria. Thank you for explaining what this is all about. Thanks for having me, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.