NYC NOW - Midday News: Gov. Hochul to Propose Metro-North Investment, Mayor Adams’ State of the City Address, NY Giants Leadership Stays the Same, and Congestion Pricing Begins

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Gov. Hochul is expected to propose a “major investment” in Metro-North's Hudson Line in her annual State of the State address next week. Meanwhile, Mayor Adams will deliver his State of the City address on Thursday. Plus, New York Giants President John Mara confirms General Manager Joe Schoen and Head Coach Brian Daboll will remain in their roles. Finally, drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street are now paying a $9 congestion pricing toll. WNYC’s Stephen Nessen has more on the plan's implementation.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, January 6th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York Governor Kathy Hokel plans to upgrade Metro North Hudson Line as part of her upcoming annual state of the state address, just as congestion pricing begins to raise money for MTA transit. Governor Hulke wants investment in the Grand Sondon. Central to Poughkeepsie line to add tracks, improved signals to boost safety, and cut travel times by 15 minutes. On Thursday, Mayor Adams will deliver his state of the city address.

W.M.C. Tiffany Hanson has more. The mayor will deliver his fourth state of the city address at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Adams says he plans to review the last three years and look ahead, focusing on affordable housing and public safety. Adams is up for re-election this fall and faces at least seven Democratic challengers. At once, the mayor is fighting federal bribery and fraud charges. Adams maintains his innocence. His address also comes amid investigations into top NYPD brass, the mayor's campaign financing operation and activities of other top officials, many of whom have resigned. The event begins at noon and will be live streamed at NYC.gov. New York Giants President John Mara says general manager Joe Shane and head coach Brian Daybowl will remain in their roles. The G-Men

wrapped up another losing season this weekend, finishing with three wins and 14 losses. The Giants will pick third overall in this spring's NFL draft. It's snowing. 29 with snow right now, snow till about two o'clock or so in the city, less than an inch expected to stick, beginning to stick now to sidewalks in Soho, a high near 31. We're in a stretch here, some really cold, frigid temperatures. Stay close. There's more after the break. UnyC. Drivers heading to work in Manhattan are now paying a congestion pricing toll.

Today is the first weekday where drivers are charged a base fare of $9 to travel south of 60th Street. WNIC Stephen Nesson was there when the tolls were turned on and he joins us now. Stephen, what was the scene on Sunday just after midnight? Well, it was, you know, there were several dozen people that, turned out supporters of congestion pricing, that is. They had New Year's Eve noisemakers, and they were cheering every time an MTA bus went by, and many of the buses returned their cheers with a loud honk. I spoke with one man.

He said he grew up in the West Village, and he came with his 80-year-old dad. They actually drove into the zone from Park Slope with a banner on their car that read first car told. So there was some excitement. But I did talk to one driver who said he hated it, and he would try to avoid the zone going forward, which I guess is kind of the point of the whole thing. And I also spoke with a taxi driver last night who said that, you know, he'd been driving around for five hours and he'd only made $100. So he worries that this increased cost, because taxis will pay an extra 75 cents. Uber's extra $1.50, that those are going to be passed on to customers and might deter them from taking taxis.

Okay, so statement reminds us, what is the cost of congestion pricing and what will the money be used for? And is there, I have to ask this, is there any games? guarantee that the money will be used for that and we will see the kind of upgrades that the system, mass transit system needs. Sure. So first of all, it's written into the congestion pricing law that the money can only be used for mass transit upgrades. Do you want me to repeat that? It's in the law.

It's only for subway and commuter rail upgrades only for transit improvements. So that's what all the money is going for. And, you know, the MTA, this is a law. So they went through a lot of trouble to get. this past. So that's the whole purpose of congestion pricing. We'll get into some of the other purposes. But you asked about what is it going to cost drivers. There's a whole complicated fee structure. But bottom line, most passenger vehicles are going to pay $9 from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends, the hours are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. There is a 75% discount during the

overnight hours. So that puts it at $2.25. Small trucks will pay 1440, big Trucks will pay 2160, and even motorcycles are going to have to pay $4.50. And we should remind listeners that there is a crossing credit. So if you enter the zone via the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, the Hugh Carey or battery, there's a $3 crossing credit if you do that. And also a reminder, some of the excluded sections of Manhattan, the FDR Drive, the Westside Highway. and if you're taking the Hugh Carey tunnel, the batter, and connecting to West Street, you won't pay a fee. This is a reality the state of New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy sought to avoid. Would you tell us, Stephen, about the legal battles that went through the weekend on this?

Okay. So a judge ruled last week in this New Jersey lawsuit that the congestion pricing plan was legally sound, but they did say, he did say he wants more details about how the MTA is. is going to spend $9 million in mitigation funds for the Garden State. Now, there's money that's also going to the Bronx, and the reason those places are getting money is because there is a slight increase in traffic because of congestion pricing, the traffic modeling found.

In New Jersey, it's about a 1% increase. So we're not talking about an epic number of more cars, but a slight increase. So the judge basically said last week, early last week, that he wants the Federal Highway Administration to explain how this $9 million going to New Jersey will be spent. In the Bronx, they know how it's going to be spent because they've already worked to make a plan that includes asthma relief programs, more money for parks, air filters in schools, things like that. So because of this little window of opening, the lawyer for

Governor Murphy said, wait, wait, wait, you can't turn on the tolls until this question is answered. So there was this long, protracted, agonizing four hours of behind-the-scenes discussions with lawyers and the judge. Finally, late Friday, less than 30 hours before the tolls were set to take effect, the judge said, it's fine. You can go ahead, answer those questions later. Why are these tolls so important, Stephen? And I'm sure everybody listening out there who's ever been on a bus or an MTA bus or in a subway station can probably answer this for us. But you tell us. Four main reasons. First, it's environmental. It's expected to reduce the number of vehicles in Manhattan. We're looking at a potential 11% drop. And experts say, you know, riders will notice that in the form of fewer cars on the street, less pollution, and of course, bus speeds are expected to increase. Second reason, money. Like we talked about, the MTAA is counting on this generating $15 billion. Remember, the original toll was supposed to be $15 per vehicle.

That's not going to be happening until 2031, so that means the full money won't be realized for a while. But in the meantime, the MTA is going to try to generate bonds to make money, to buy new signals, new train cars, make subway stations accessible in the next couple of years. And one of the last major, let's say, second the last reason is, you know, cities across the country are looking at New York to see what we're going to do. How's it going to work? So congestion pricing could come to Chicago, San Francisco, Philly, Boston. And the last reason, like I mentioned at the top of this, is that it is a state law. It went into effect in 2019. And there's a real push to get it done before President Trump takes office because he has threatened and said he's going to kill congestion pricing.

But the understanding from most legal experts is once it's up and running, it becomes much, much more difficult for him to kill the program. Stephen Nesson there talking about congestion price. And Stephen will have to leave it there. Thank you very much. Thank you, Michael. 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 podcast. More soon.