NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Federal Government Demands MTA Shut Down Congestion Pricing, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams Joins Mayoral Race, City Invests in Flood Protection, and Mayor Adams Drops Out of Candidate Forum

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

The federal government is ordering the MTA to shut down congestion pricing by March 21st, but Governor Hochul is preparing for a legal battle with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has officially filed paperwork to form a citywide campaign committee, adding another contender to the mayoral race. Also, the city is investing $390 million to upgrade Bushwick’s aging sewer system, the largest flood protection project in decades. Plus, in this week’s Politics Brief, WNYC’s Jimmy Vielkind and Brigid Bergin break down the latest from City Hall and Albany, including Mayor Adams skipping a candidate forum, Governor Hochul’s struggles to increase oversight of city government, and the ongoing statewide prison strike.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, February 27th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. In the news this morning, the federal government is now demanding the MTA shutdown congestion pricing by March 21st. But Governor Hokel instead is gearing up to fight with the Trump White House. WNYC, Stephen Nesson explains. During a meeting last week, Hokel says she tried convincing Trump about the benefits of congestion pricing using...

Real simple terms, real nice pictures. Easy to digest facts. Traffic down, business up, more people visiting the districts than we've had in the long time. But he wasn't buying it. Now she's banking on a federal judge to allow the tolls to stay on. She also hopes the court of public opinion is on her side. The power of 6 million pissed off commuters in New York City right there, Congestion pricing was first approved by the federal government under former president Biden.

The mayoral field is growing. City Council Speaker Adrian Adams has filed paperwork with the New York City Campaign Finance Board to form a citywide campaign committee. Council Speaker Adams says New York has deserved leadership that is serving them and not other interests. My goal is to run a campaign that highlights my leadership, my record, my vision, and my vision. and my ability to make New Yorkers proud of their mayor for delivering results with trust in a dignified way. Hounser Speaker Adams faces an already crowded field of candidates. She's expected to begin circulating petitions and reaching out to voters this weekend.

New York City is investing $390 million to upgrade Bushwick's aging sewer system. City officials say it's the largest flood protection project in decades. Business owner Salvatore Polisi says, Seeds flooding has cost him thousands at Tony's Pizza on Nicobacher Avenue. Every time it floods, businesses big and small have this gut feeling. Is today going to be the day that my business loses money? Is today going to be the day that merchandise is lost, revenue is lost, and it's a feeling that happens every single time it rains.

The project will replace three miles of outdated sewer lines. Officials say that will increase drainage capacity by more than eight 150% construction expected to begin in 2029. Shower's likely by midday, cloudy with a high near 56 and gusty, and then tomorrow, we have a high temperature in the upper 40s with sunshine and gusty. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNMIC, I'm Sean Carlson. This is time for Politics Brief, our weekly segment where we break down the news out of City Hall

and Albany, and there is a lot going on on both fronts. So stay tuned. We're joined by WNYC's Jimmy Vilkind in Albany and WNIC's Bridget Bergen right here in downtown Manhattan. We're going to go to you first here, Bridget, political candidates, I know, right? They're fanning out to start collecting signatures. Who is running? How's that going? So we've seen some evidence of those candidates, particularly ones we already knew who were running out and about. You know, candidates still have some time. The big question is who else is getting in the race. They need to to file these petitions by April 3rd. But this doesn't get any easier if you wait any longer.

Mayoral candidates need about 3,750 signatures under the city charter. State losses, 7,500. Most serious candidates want to submit at least 10,000 signatures so that, you know, they hold up to scrutiny. And you need registered city voters in the party holding a primary. So we're talking about registered Democrats, mainly. And right now that's about 3.3 million potential voters. But, of course, no one can sign more than one candidate's petition for a certain office.

And that eligible pool of people who will stop on the street for a random stranger carrying a clipboard, you know, that gets smaller the longer you wait. So you've got to get on it. Yeah, totally. So what about the incumbent here? He was supposed to do a forum with his challengers tonight. Is that still happening? Well, Sean, no, it's not. Mayor Eric Adams was supposed to be participating in this forum sponsored by DC 37.

It's a major city union. He was endorsed by them last time. And on the advice of legal counsel, according to the statement from the union itself, he is not participating. Interesting. And speaking of his legal counsel, Alex Spiro, he has to court today to please drop the charges facing Mayor Adams with prejudice. And, Sean, you'll remember we made a really big deal about how the terms that the Justice Department was proposing that those charges would be dropped without prejudice, which basically meant. they could bring them back at any time they wanted. They'd be hanging over his head.

If they were to be dropped with prejudice, they'd be poof, gone. Wow. So that's what they're hoping for. Now, this is a bit of an elephant in the room situation. Is there anybody else that we're thinking might jump into the race anytime soon? Oh, gee, Sean, whoever could you mean? We've only talked about it for weeks now. I'll start with one person who we've been paying a little bit of attention to,

and that is city council speaker Adrian Adams. But I know there's some folks coming out of the capital district who might have some other folks they're keeping their eyes on. There's Andrew Cuomo, right? He's now moved back to New York, Cuomo. So I know that his aide and his longtime confidant, Steve Cohen, is working to form a super PAC that would spend money on behalf of Andrew Cuomo. And we know that Andrew Cuomo has started talking to various officials around state and city politics

about a potential campaign. So I feel like it's imminent, possible, potential. I'll believe it when I see it. but it's certainly sort of going in motion. You know, we have reports, you know, out of page six of all places today, that Andrew Kohn was having his final conversations with his daughters to ready the way for a launch. And, of course, there have been reports, you know,

throughout the week about how we are expecting something potentially this weekend, potentially the Carpenter's Union will be involved. So a lot of potential that we're keeping our eyes on. Stay tuned for that, I guess. Jimmy, back to you. Governor Hockel says she will not be endorsing anybody in the mayoral primary. That includes the incumbent Mayor Adams. Now, the governor said she won't move to get him out of office, but she does want additional oversight. How is that going?

It's not going well, Sean. You can remember that last week, Hockel sort of had a parade of top officials come into her office on 3rd Avenue. I sit outside in the cold talking to them, not bitter about it, just bitterly cold about it. And she finally decided it would be anti-democratic to try and remove Adams from office. She did, though, want to do something, and certainly in politics, at least give the appearance that she was doing something. So she proposed a few new oversight powers, the appointment of a special deputy inspector general who would have things. And basically, this legislation and this idea has really fizzled completely at the state capital. I know that there was a discussion, but people are just not particularly keen on doing it.

They have lots of questions, and then they are looking to the New York City Council, which would also have to act on it. Yeah. And in this case, it's asking the council to add more state oversight. There's always this push pull between things that the city's trying to do that it can or cannot do because it is a creature of the state. You know, we've seen a lot of council members who've spoken out about Mayor Adams, who've, you know, called for his resignation. But this may be particularly given the lack of support in Albany, this is going to be challenging probably on the council front as well. That's really interesting dynamic there. Now, it does seem like the governor's attention has been elsewhere.

Jimmy, we're now on the 10th day of a prison strike that's affecting facilities around the state. What is the governor doing about that? Well, Sean, that's a fluid situation. It's one that's dangerous, one that's contributed to some strife among both the corrections officers who work in the facilities and the inmates who are incarcerated there. A state official said yesterday that nine out of ten guards in the state have participated in this action, and they're still active picket lines outside more than two dozen of the state's prisons, according to a union official. Hockel is called in the National Guard. We've heard that National Guard personnel are in correctional facilities doing some kinds of support jobs. And she's also making a very strong case to the striking workers that what they are doing is illegal.

Under the state's Taylor law, it is illegal for public workers to strike. So the governor has sought court orders compelling strikers to return to work. They could face fines. They could face loss of pay, loss of health insurance if they don't comply. And we're wondering if that's going to be leading at some point toward arrest. So there's really no easy answer here. The debate this week spilled over into the state capital. You had the spouses and the family members of many of these strikers come and meet with lawmakers.

They were welcomed with open arms by Republicans who are in the legislative minority in Albany. And what they're calling for is the repeal or strong changes to a 2021 law called halt, which restricted the use of solitary confinement and correctional facilities. So advocates of this law, including Democrats, and that guy Andrew Cuomo, who signed it into law, they say that solitary confinement is inhumane and it's akin to torture. Now, the hot law doesn't ban solitary outright. It just requires more deliberate thinking and a hearing before it can actually be implemented. In yet another big story that's kind of percolating here, we said it's a lot going on this week. Hockel's own reelection is coming up next year and she will not be running alongside her.

current lieutenant governor. What is going on there? Oh, it's a slow motion breakup that really played out in public. Antonio Delgado was a former congressman of Hudson Valley. Hoko elevated him in 2022 to be her running mate. This week, he said on social media he's not going to do it again, but all of his options are on the table. Normally, the lieutenant governor is not the best job. You're basically a surrogate for the governor. You go around the state. You cut ribbons. You announce initiatives. You basically do things that aren't quite worthy of the governor. And so Delgado did that. He has also taken on these initiatives to prevent biased crimes by leading roundtables of various officials and nonprofit leaders. But he's also stepped out in front of Hockel on a few notable occasions. The first was last year

when Delgado said Joe Biden shouldn't be the Democratic Party standard bear. He did that at a time when Hocco was still all in for Biden. And then recently, Delgado said that Eric Adams should resign, something that his superior Governor Hockel has still not called to do. That prompted Hockel's top spokesman to say that Delgado, quote, does not now and has not ever spoken on behalf of this administration, which if your job is to speak on behalf of the governor, that's quite a statement to make. And now time for our question for listeners. Have you been asked to sign a candidate's petition this week? And of course, just to be clear, Sean, those petitions that candidates are carrying around. They often have multiple candidates names on them. So pay attention. Maybe you're signing one for, you know, a candidate for mayor that also has a candidate for controller and a candidate for city council. It gives us a little clue as to how people are team. So let us know if you've signed a petition and maybe all the names that were on that petition. There you go. That's politics brief. If you want to answer our question or keep hearing more from our politics team, be sure to sign up for emails at gotthmus.com slash newsletters.

Jimmy, Bridget, thanks so much. Thank you. Thanks, Sean. 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 podcasts. More soon.

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