NYC NOW - Midday News: MTA Reports $48 Million in Congestion Pricing Revenue, Roosevelt Hotel Shelter to Close, and Our Public Song Project

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

The MTA says it collected over $48 million in January from its congestion pricing program, the first revenue report since tolls began on January 5th. Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams says the Roosevelt Hotel shelter in Midtown will close by June, the latest of the city's large-scale shelters to get shut down. Plus, we give a listen to WNYC’s Public Song Project.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, February 24th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The MTA says it's collected more than $48 million from drivers in January through its new congestion pricing program. It's the first time the agency has told the public how much money it's made off the toll since they launched on January 5th, charging, passenger vehicles and $9 daytime feed enter Manhattan south of 60th Street. The money the agency brought in from the program is less than officials had projected, but the MTA says it's still enough to cover the loans it needs to make required mass transit

upgrades. Just last week, the Trump administration moved, though, to revoke federal approval for the program. The MTA has sued the Trump administration over that, and Governor Hokel says the agency will continue to collect the tolls unless a judge tells it to stop. The era of mega shelters for migrants in New York City is nearing the end. Today, Mayor Adams says the Roosevelt Hotel shelter in Midtown will shutter by June. Nine out of ten shelters with more than a thousand beds have now closed or going to. Renee Collie Moore is the Democratic liaison for the local assembly district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. She lives near a shelter site in the neighborhood that's later to close in June.

It has been overwhelming for us. as a neighborhood to endure this sort of scenario thrust upon us. Thank God this is over. The city opened the sites in 2023. They have been magnets for quality of life complaints, including about lost public spaces. 48 and partly sunny now. Sunny in year 50, very spring-like, early spring-like temperatures this week.

Tomorrow's slim chance of snow, of afternoon showers that is, increasing clouds. Stay close. There's more after the break. For a third year in a row, WNYC is celebrating all things public domain. Hundreds of things are entering the canon in 2025, like this song, George Gershman's Rhapsody in Blue. And once more, the Public Song Project invites you, yes, you, to put your spin on that song and so many others. Here with us now to tell us more about all. All Things Public Song Project 2025 is its producer, Simon Close. Hey, Simon, welcome back to Morning Edition.

Hey, Michael. Happy to be back. Just to draw, give us a one-line summary of the public domain for the uninitiated. Sure. So when a piece of art is made in the United States, it gets copyright on it. And that means that the owner of that work of art, they own that. And if someone else wants to do something with it, like remix it or adapt it, that person has to pay royalties for it.

that copyright has a certain term limit, and when that term limit ends, then the piece of art enters the public domain, which means that anybody has access to it and can do what they want with it, take inspiration out of it, remix that song, or adapt that poem, or distribute it in some other way. Without having to pay for it. Exactly. Yeah, for free. Last year was a really big year, Simon, for the public song project.

Reminders, how did it go last year? It was a pretty big year. So we had the contest again last year and we got nearly 100 submissions. In addition to that, we put together a whole album of Friends of WNYC that's now available on vinyl on WNYC's website as a thank you gift when you donate. And that features some incredible musicians who I am shocked said yes to being involved. Like Roseanne Cash and Baila Fleck and Rian Giddens, The Lemon Twigs, Odyssey, who I know you guys have. have worked with and some others. So we did that. We had our very first recital at Lincoln Center, where we had some of the submitters come and perform their songs on a stage. And to cap it all off and to launch this year's project, we did a show last month at Joe's Pub with a similar

model of having submitters perform. Simon, how much of that can listeners and fans expect this So we're planning to do, obviously, the contest again. So please submit a song to the public song project based on something in the public domain. And then we'll listen to it. And some of our favorites will get to be interviewed and have their songs played on WNYC at the end of the contest. We'll also compile all of those songs into a big public songbook, a big database of all these submissions based on stuff in the public domain. And we'll be doing some more concerts that are still in the works on Wednesday, February 12th, the Public Song Project will be part of a very nerdy public domain

kind of variety show at Cofiott. You can find more info about that at WNYC.org slash public song project. Yeah, I think that covers it. Now, Simon, we already mentioned Rhapsody and Blue, but I'm always curious when we started talking about the public domain and things that are expiring because of the public domain in terms of rights. What else is entering the public domain

this year. Is there anything you're particularly excited about? Definitely. One thing that's interesting about Rhapsody and Blue actually is that the composition, so the piece of written music that you could cover and do your own version of, entered the public domain a few years ago, but there are different term limits for compositions and recordings themselves. So what's entering the public domain this year with respect to Rhapsody and Blue is that very first recording of it that you heard in the intro, which features George Kirschwin on piano. And some other similar kind of delayed entries of the sound recording specifically that are entering the public domain include some music from the contralto Marion Anderson, some music from Jelly Roll Morton. One that I'm particularly excited about is Crooked Blues by King Oliver's jazz band, which features a young Lewis Armstrong.

And then besides that, some other musical compositions. So this is just the written. down piece of music that you yourself can make a new recording out of. There's a bunch of Fats Waller music, Ain't Misbehavin is one of them, an American in Paris by George Gershwin, and the classic tiptoe through the tulips, not the Tiny Tim version, but the very first version of it. And then beyond music, stuff that you could sort of pull from, and then beyond music, stuff that you could sort of pull from, to make your own song. There are some books from Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf.

There are films entering the public domain, like the very first Marks Brothers film. And then two that are especially fun and exciting. Two characters entering the public domain this year are Tintin and Popeye, the Sailor Man. Twice you put your own little spin on one of the songs now in the public domain force. Do you have another one?

I have heard that this request was coming, and I did prepare something. So one song that I am excited about entering the public domain this year is singing in the rain. In fact, through a weird loophole that I won't get into because it's very nerdy, but if you go to our website, you can learn more about it. Both the first recording of this song and the composition of it have entered the public domain. So I am going to do my own little spin, I guess, on singing in the rain. Let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place. Come on with the rain.

I have a smile on my face. I walk down the lane with a happy refrain. Just singing from the public. domain just singing and dancing in the rain Simon, that was great, I must tell you, you are brave, I would never attempt that.

If my humiliation gets more people to submit to the project, it was all worth it. Yeah, I agree, I agree. All of it public song project producer Simon Close. Simon, always a pleasure. Thanks for joining us so nice. Glad to be back. Thank you so much, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.