NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Congestion Pricing Begins, NJ Faces Affordable Housing Deadline, Winter Weather Alert, and Three Kings Day Parade

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Get up and get informed! Here's all the local news you need to start your day: Congestion pricing is now in effect for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street. Meanwhile, New Jersey town officials face a January 31 deadline to finalize state-mandated affordable housing plans for the next decade. Also, New York City is under a winter weather alert with light snow expected through Monday evening. Pus, East Harlem celebrates Three Kings Day this Monday with a parade featuring music, dancers, puppets, and live camels starting at 11 a.m. on Fifth Avenue and 104th Street.

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 morning headlines from Michael Hill. Congestion pricing is now in place for drivers looking to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. The tolling began yesterday morning. On weekdays, $9 tolling starts at 5 a.m. till 9 p.m. It's 225 for non-peak hours. The MTA says all the money would go toward transit upgrades.

A federal judge last week turned away efforts by foes to halt the initiative, but detractors are still promising to fight it. Advocates of the program hope the new revenue tolls will improve mass transit and reduce pollution. Local town officials across New Jersey are on a tight deadline this month. Each has been assigned by the state to build new affordable housing over the next decade, with obligations ranging from a half-dozen new units to 1,000. Under a law passed last year, elected officials either have to accept their obligations by the end of this month or propose their own new figures. Princeton, for example, must build 276 new units over the next 10 years.

Town Council President Mia Sachs says it's a reasonable requirement, but it will not be easy. And so it is game on, and we as towns really have very tight deadlines to meet now, we have our work cut out for us. The goal of the new laws to build 150,000 new affordably priced homes by 2035. New York City is under a winter weather alert. Lights snow is expected to begin this morning and continue into the evening. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has issued a state of emergency in anticipation of the snow. Less than an inch of accumulation is forecast, but New York City's emergency management department warns of a reasonable worst-case scenario of two inches or more.

and it's encouraging folks to use mass transit. Don't be surprised if you see some camels on the streets of East Harlem today. It's the annual three Kings Day parade in celebration. The parade starts at 11 this morning on 5th Avenue and 1004th Street by El Muccio del Barrio. The museum also organizes the event each year. The parade will feature puppets representing the biblical three wise men who, according to scripture, brought gifts to the newborn baby Jesus. 29 and partly cloudy light snow on the way.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC 9 from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.