NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Call for More Affordable 3-Bedroom Apartments, NYC’s Largest Power Plant Faces Green Energy Hurdles, and St. Patrick’s Day Parade Kicks Off

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

A new report from the Center for an Urban Future proposes significantly expanding the number of affordable three-bedroom apartments in New York City, aiming to curb what it describes as an “exodus�� of young families. Meanwhile, the city’s largest power plant is struggling with bureaucratic obstacles as it attempts a transition to green energy. Plus, New York City celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with its annual parade on Monday.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Monday, March 17th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. New York City should significantly expand the number of affordable three-bedroom apartments. That's one of five proposals in a new affordability report from the Center for an Urban Future aimed to address what it calls an exodus of young families. Elliot DeVorkin is the Center's editorial and policy director.

He says seniors occupy many larger apartments and they should be incentivized to move into smaller ones. And we've got tens of thousands of units like that today where it's just a single New Yorker occupying a two or three-year-plus bedroom unit. It's not easy to help folks make that transition, but it's, I think, necessary. The report says the number of children younger than five in New York City fell by 18 percent. between April 2020 and July 2023. According to the report, that decline is far greater than what was experienced nationally or in other big cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. New York City's biggest power plant is encountering lots of red tape

as it tries to make a green energy transition. The Ravenswood generating station plans to retire its use of fossil fuel and connect to offshore wind turbines for power. But the State's Public Service Commission is scrutinizing, those plans as President Trump pauses offshore wind projects. The plan is surrounded by public housing. The developments have some of the biggest childhood asthma rates in the city. Bishop Mitchell Taylor is the Senior Pass at the Center for Hope International,

which is blocks from the power plant. Here it is a slam dunk. And at every turn, what I've seen since the genesis of this project, there has been less and less cooperation from the powers that be. Ravenswood says it still hopes to complete the project in about 10 years. It'll be a sea of green, white, and orange on 5th Avenue today in Manhattan. The city is celebrating St. Patrick's Day with its annual parade. You can watch anywhere, from anywhere, along 5th between 44th Street and 79th Street.

This year's Grand Marshal is Michael Binn, a community leader in the Rockways and the chair of the Queens County St. Patrick's Parade Committee. The MTA says it's running extra men. Metro North trains to accommodate parade goers. A number of Manhattan buses are being rerouted as well. The parade starts at 11, but Oregoners say you should get there as early as possible for a good spot. 54-Bet rain now going up to 57, but then cooling off to the 50s. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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