NYC NOW - Midday News: NYC Hospitals Reassure Immigrants, Mets Keep Pete Alonso, and MTA Chair Heads to Albany

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

New York City’s public hospital system is urging patients to continue seeking medical care regardless of their immigration status, while also instructing staff not to actively help patients avoid ICE. Meanwhile, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has agreed to a $54 million, two-year contract extension with the team. Plus, MTA Chair Janno Lieber is set to testify in Albany, where he will push for a $65 billion transit plan and work to convince lawmakers and the public that the agency can be trusted with taxpayer dollars. WNYC’s Michael Hill talks it through with transit reporter Stephen Nessen.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, February 6th. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. The New York City Public Hospital System is sending out messages telling patients to keep going to their doctors, regardless of their immigration status. Health and hospitals have been trying to allay people's fear since President Trump took office, promising mass deportations. But in an internal memo, the health system instructed employees not to, quote, actively help a person avoid being found by ICE.

Sean Petty is a nurse at Jacoby Hospital in the Bronx. He says the health system should actively protect patients. I think the guidelines acquiesce too much to the legal right of ICE to be in our facilities. And I think that's a mistake. legally hospitals only have to allow ICE agents in if they have a warrant signed by a federal judge, and those are very rare. First, baseman Pete Alonzo will be staying with the New York Mets. After a long back and forth with the team's ownership, Alonzo and the team have agreed to a $54 million two-year contract. The Associated Press cites a person familiar with the agreement.

They say the deal remains subject to a successful physical exam. The deal was first reported by the New York Post. The polar bear became a city-field fan favorite as a homegrown member of the Mets. Steve owner, Steve Cohen has said negotiating Alonzo's contract was harder than talks that led to Juan Soto's record-breaking $765 million $15-year deal. Now for a look on the weather. Right now is 37 and cloudy. There's a winter weather advisory in effect. Today, the icy stuff is gone.

Now, mostly rain, a high near 38. Tonight, a low around 36. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC on WNYC on Michael Hill. Today, MTA chair, Janna Leiber, heads to Albany for what may be the most important public hearing of his career. Labor is asking New York State lawmakers to sign off on a funding for his $65 billion plan to save New York City's mass transit system. But he also needs to convince the public. He has reformed the agency into one that's a trustworthy steward of taxpayer dollars. WNIC's transportation reporter, Stephen Nesson joins us. Now, with a preview,

Stephen, to start, what exactly is the MTA there to ask for? It's a state agency. Don't they already get money from fares and tolls? Well, that money that you're talking about, the fares and tolls, that pays for the operating budget, that is paying the workers, keeping the trains running. the MTA is in Albany today to convince lawmakers to fund half of their capital plan. That's the five-year construction plan to make upgrades across the system. The total cost of that is $65 billion. And the way it breaks down is that half of the money is supposed to come, or they expect it's going to come from the state. A quarter would come from the city of New York as well as the federal government.

And that portion, I should add, has been non-controversial in the past, but it might be different at the moment. But back in Albany, top leadership is there because it, expects that it's going to need roughly $2 billion a year in some sort of recurring revenue. And that would probably come from a tax, which requires lawmakers to agree to. Now, from what we've reported, we don't know exactly what kind of tax we're talking about. Would it be an increase to the payroll mobility tax? Maybe it would be a tax on the highest income earners in the state. We have spoken with Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People Stokes.

She's from Buffalo. She told our Albany reporter that she's open to using the cannabis tax to help fund mass transit. And assembly member Robert Carroll has been pushing a $3 fee for all online deliveries. That could go to the MTA. But none of these are the silver bullet. No one's advocating for one yet. And the MTA won't say which one it prefers. So we'll have to see what lawmakers come up with.

Stephen, you and your colleagues on the transit desk spent months investigating the condition of the MTA's infrastructure. Going where the public does not go, what the public does not see, to expose outdated technology and crumbling equipment. Do you think those kinds of details will play any role today? I think so. So, like, let's just say in previous years, the MTA's capital plans have included big construction projects like, you know, Second Avenue subway or Grand Central Madison. This one is all about those behind the scenes basics. You know, they call it the state of good repair, the stuff that just keeps service running. So, you know, think of the signals, the train tracks, just the pumps that get water out of the subway system every day.

they're in such disrepair and outdated. So the MTA has been arguing that it's avoided making those improvements for years, but now they just can't keep doing it anymore. It's been too neglected. And yeah, the MTA showed us all these parts of the system, and they could definitely tell the lawmakers about how they source parts from eBay to fix things. They could talk about those circuit breakers that explode every time they're overloaded, or machines with just corroded parts that could fail any day,

and any failure delays hundreds of. of trains impacting thousands of riders. You know, they could talk about the signal system that's so antiquated. You know, they don't even know where a train is when it's on the tracks necessarily for portions of the trip. You know, they could talk about the repair shops that are in such disrepair that, and they're too small, their workers can't even access parts of the train for repairs. You know, all that's part of the next capital plan.

And it's a pretty compelling argument that, you know, five million people a day rely on the subway alone. It plays a huge role in the city, state. and even, you know, arguably the nation's economy. I'm still trying to rat my head around that rotary phone you told us about. Stephen, what are critics of the MTA saying? Are they ready to send the transit agency more money? Well, they've certainly made a lot of changes in the last five years, but, you know,

everyone has a short memory. And if you talk to riders, they're like, what? Nothing's changed. It's worse than ever. And the agency does have a well-documented history of mismanagement when it comes to construction projects. You know, think of the Second Avenue subway project. It opened New Year's Eve 2016. That was really just three new subway stations, and it cost $7.7 billion. That was way over budget, years behind schedule. I think it still haunts the agency. And even more so, because Governor Andrew Cuomo famously stepped in to finish the project, but we learned, you know, years later, or shortly later, I should say, that he had been diverting resources that should have gone to that maintenance to get the subway finish. on time. So, you know, folks who are here in 2017 remember the summer of hell when service went to those abysmal levels. The MTA needed an emergency plan just to stabilize service.

Well, that's because a lot of basic resources had been diverted for construction projects. That's all to say, the current chair, Jan O'Leabre, prides himself on doing things differently and do his credit. You know, he's reported and found that they have found ways to save money. They even shaved 3% off the total cost of the agency compared to 2019, which they say, is no small feat because, you know, there's inflation and the increasing cost of everything. And when it comes to finishing projects, they also argue that it's different now. They have a better way to do it, a faster way, a cheaper way. And just one example is the new ADA stations.

It used to be they would finish maybe two and a half a year if they were lucky. Now they're averaging 11.4 new accessible stations a year. Just another example of how they do things differently. But certainly, you know, people could point to the international standards where things are done a lot cheaper overseas than they are here in New York. And we'll be looking for what Lieber has to tell lawmakers and what their reaction is. That's WNYC, Stephen Nesson, on MTA chair, Janelle Lieber, going to Albany, asking for lawmakers to sign off on the $65 billion plan to make upgrades to the transit system. Stephen, thank you.

Thank you. 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 and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.