NYC NOW - May 16, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

New York City plans to rezone areas for more housing in the East Bronx near two Metro-North stations currently under construction, but some local residents do not want a population boom. In other news, with warmer weather approaching, some students are considering summer jobs. Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, offers tips for students preparing to work this summer.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, May 16th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York City is planning to rezone parts of the East Bronx near two Metro North train stations under construction. But WNMYC, Stephen Nesson reports there's another fight brewing over new housing. New train lines need new riders. So, the city is planning to allow 7,500 units of housing to be built around stations in Parkchester and Morris Park. But local residents like Bernadette Ferrara, a former community board chair, say some streets in the Van Nest neighborhood are too small to handle a population boom.

See for yourself how the magnitude of this development will negatively impact the basic character of the Van Ness neighborhood and create congestion. The planning commission will finalize the plans in the next few months. and present them to the City Council for final approval. 63 with a few showers right now in the city. Slim chance of drizzle or light rain early this afternoon. We'll have some cloudy skies and mid-60s for a high. It'll be gusty. Tomorrow, mostly cloudy in mid-70s.

Then this weekend, clouds in 68. 63 now with a few showers. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. It's getting warmer out there and some students may be thinking about summer jobs. New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has some tips for students who are planning on working this summer. DCWP Commissioner Vildevara Mayuga joined us now to talk more about the topic.

Commissioner, what should students looking for summer jobs know about workers' rights that they have? Well, we want them to be aware that every worker in New York City has rights. And we are here to assist them. There are a number of strong laws in New York City that are specific to retail and fast food employment related to their schedules, what hours are given, during which times are they, you know, can they work? Are there being asked to close the store and open up? So those are important as well as any paid, save, and seek leave that they are required to have.

We have a Workers Bill of Rights, which is multilingual. It's a comprehensive guide, and it will give each person who may be out there looking for work or already on a job the rights in the workplace in New York City. If a student is under 18, are there specific workers' rights protections that they should know about? There are some. I mean, these bill of rights include certain information about child labor. Those are also rights that are enforced by this state instead of the city. It can get a little confusing, I think, for individuals. But again, I mean, certainly those are going to be more related to the amount of hours that people can work and which jobs are allowed to work.

And we work with our partners at all, you know, government levels to make sure that those are being enforced. Commissioner, the Federal Trade Commission, posted a warning last month about job scams that target students. Do you have any tips on how to avoid those? Well, I will tell you that at least in New York City, we are the agency that licensed employment agencies. So there are a number of tips on our website, NYC.gov slash DCWP, that people can access in terms of any promises that are made, not be charged for a job offer or any guarantee of employment. There are certain posting requirements that are part of the law.

And so all of those, you know, those are some of the tips that we want people to keep in mind. But I think, you know, very importantly, a lot of our young New Yorkers enter the way. workforce and going to retail or going to fast food. And we have one of the best, strongest protections when it comes to that line at work because we focus on predictable scheduling and any additional hours that are asked of you to work, requiring your consent, certain premiums that are paid to you if you're closing a store and opening again. So those are very important ones. We want them to be aware of as well as paid save and sick leave. Those are all required at all levels for every single employer.

employer out there, those have to be provided and we want people to be aware of them. What should students know about navigating student loans? So student loans, you know, it's a big, it's a big issue that we're trying to tackle. We certainly don't want our New Yorkers to be graduating with debt. And to the extent that they do need to get some student loans, we want them to be aware of the things that are important, such as, number one, do you need a student loan? There's a lot of assistance out there for students to make sure they can complete their studies. If there is a student loan that they're going to take and they are entering repayment,

is very important not to miss those payments. We want to pay attention to interest rates. We want to pay attention to which payment plan we're entering. And for that, we really encourage all of them to visit nyc.gov slash talk money because they can make an appointment with one of our financial counselors and make sure that they go over this type of issue, not just student loan debt, but any debt that they may have or other credit-related issues we can try to tackle and make sure they are set on the right path to succeed.

Do you have any tips for students who are setting up a bank account for the first time? Absolutely. Those are very important. We know that, especially people have a summer job. We want them to consider all of their banking options to, you know, direct deposit their paycheck. It is the best way to go about doing that. We don't want anybody to be spending any money in fees to be catching checks. And the best is to make sure that that money is going to an FDIC insured bank account.

If you use a non-bank payment app, right, like CHIM, Cash App, Venmo, you have to keep in mind that your money is not going to be as protected as it would in a traditional bank. So we want people to know about some low-cost bank accounts, NYC.gov slash Safe Start. There's some misbelieves that big banks and only high minimums to make sure you don't pay any fees, that's the only way to have a bank account, but that is not true. And we want everybody to make sure that they take advantage

of safe and affordable banking. That's New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga. Commissioner, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. 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.

Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.