NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: Mayor Adams’ Former Top Aide Indicted, Congestion Pricing Politics, and a Former Governor Plans To Sue

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Mayor Adams’ former chief adviser is facing charges of bribery and money laundering. Plus, Governor Kathy Hochul is pushing New Jersey to drop its lawsuit to block congestion pricing. Finally, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo filed a notice of claim against his former aide who accused him of sexual harassment.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. Here's the morning headlines from Tiffany Hanson. Mayor Eric Adams, former chief advisor, is facing charges of bribery and money laundering. The accusations against Ingrid Lewis Martin were part of an indictment unsealed yesterday by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Her son, Glenn Martin II, is also charged along with two real estate investors. Lewis Martin resigned from her post over the weekend at a closed press conference on Monday. She denied wrongdoing and touted her long record of public service.

When Mayor Adams was asked about Lewis Martin's case earlier this week, he referred any questions to her lawyer, adding that he was praying for her. Lewis Martin's attorney called the charges preposterous. All four defendants are pleading not guilty. New York Governor Kathy Hokel wants New Jersey to drop its lawsuit to block congestion pricing, and she's trying to sweeten the pot to make it happen. Three sources tell WNYC that New York has offered New Jersey money for improvements to the New Jersey transit system if Governor Murphy settles his lawsuit that's aimed at blocking the upcoming toll on drivers in parts of Manhattan. Here's Governor Hokel speaking earlier this week. We've made multiple offers to settle this lawsuit. Very generous offers. Wish I could describe them to you

because you would say they're generous. Murphy's office declined to comment on the issue, but he's previously characterized congestion pricing as a way to prop up the MTA on the backs of New Jersey drivers. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to sue one of his accusers. The former New York Governor filed a notice of claim yesterday against his former aide Charlotte Bennett. She's accusing him of sexual harassment,

which the former governor claims is untrue. Cuomo says he intends to sue Bennett for defamation. Bennett's attorney says Cuomo's case is without merit and suggested Cuomo is trying to silence and punish his accusers. The former staffer says Cuomo asked invasive questions about her personal life and went as far as to ask her to find him a girlfriend. Cuomo has been eyeing a run for New York City mayor next year. Weather-wise rain likely today, perhaps mixed with a bit of snow this afternoon and high near 40 degrees. No accumulation expected. Tonight, that chance for rain and snow continues.

otherwise cloudy in a low of 30. The weekend should be mostly clear. Up next, our weekly segment of On the Way, covering all transportation news. That's after the break. It's Thursday, which means it's time for On the Way. Our weekly segment on all things considered breaking down the week's transit news. Joining us is WNYC's Transportation Reporter, Stephen Nesson, and editor Clayton Guse.

It's getting close to the end of the year, and for us, at On the Way, Christmas, Hanukkah, New York. year's Eve, whatever. Our holiday is congestion pricing. We're three weeks away from it finally going into effect. It's been a long and winding road to get here. Is the drama finally over? On this topic, Sean, never. Here's the latest. The MTA is planning to start charging drivers starting January 5th, but it could all be halted again. And that's because New Jersey still has this ongoing lawsuit. and they are in settlement talks with the MTA at this moment.

Now, the judge hasn't made a decision, but New Jersey is claiming that the MTA hasn't studied congestion pricing fully enough and that it could hurt the environment. To that end, Governor Hokel confirmed that these settlement talks are stalled. She says the state of New Jersey hasn't negotiated in good faith and refuses to accept what the governor calls a pretty good offer. We've made multiple offers to settle this lawsuit. very generous offers.

Wish I could describe them to you because you would say they're generous. I'm not at liberty to do that. But WNYC Crack Albany reporter, John Campbell, has been privy to some of that discussion. He reports that two sources briefed on the negotiations, but not authorized to speak publicly, say that New York has floated the possibility of sending some of the money from congestion pricing to NJ Transit. They've also discussed expanding a credit for drivers who enter one of the bridge crossings or tunnel crossings. crossings, as well as adding the George Washington Bridge to the list of crossings, they would get some sort of toll discount.

Now, ultimately, the MTA is moving forward as if this thing is happening on January 5th, right? What does that entail? So a big thing that they're doing right now is just educating the public about what's going to happen, the different rates of the tolls, that they're cheaper overnight. And really importantly, who is exempt and who qualifies and how you can get an exemption to the tolls, right? There are several groups in this 2019 law, right? This was first approved by the legislature almost six years ago now.

But there were several groups like emergency vehicles and some low-income residents within the zone that were determined to be exempt from the tolls through the law. But there were other groups that the MTA allowed through negotiations with the city and some other groups to be exempt. You know, like people with disabilities and their caregivers, you know, you can go online and apply for an exemption. You have to register. They say thousands of people have applied, but keep in mind, you need to do so by December 29th to get that exemption if you qualify when they launch on January 5th. That includes, you know, also some other lower income residents who live outside of the zone. They'll be eligible for some discount. So you can go to the MTA's website, find out if you apply.

And one key detail, though, Sean, that a lot of people forget. If you use an easy pass, you're a regular passenger car driver. You enter Manhattan in peak periods, $9. If you don't use an easy pass, 50% more, 1350, no matter what toll it is. Governor Hockel announced she would be increasing the number of National Guard members in the subway. What's that about? So simply put, you know, they've had these National Guard soldiers in the subway for, you know, nine months now. Hockel says crime is dropping since that's happened since they first deployed the soldiers.

So she's sending even more. They sent in March kind of following a string of high profile murders and crimes. They were like three murders in the transit system within the first couple months of the year. Hockel sent 750 National Guard soldiers into the subway. And you've seen them around. Our listeners has probably seen them around. They don't carry rifles like long guns. They're just carrying their sidearms.

They're just a presence there. But she's right. Crime has dropped. But now with this, she's deploying an additional 250 on top of the 750. It's a thousand soldiers in the subway. It's basically, you know, the largest military deployment into the transit system since post-9-11. But it's not this kind of a murder. emergency response. They're there to, Hockel said it herself, is there to not like enforce crime,

but to make people feel safer and potentially deter criminal activity. And one thing that, just an observation kind of reporting on this, you haven't seen any major problems of interactions between the National Guard soldiers and the public like you do with the police department all the time. Sure. You know, the MTA admits that it is kind of about the vibes and how the public just feels seeing more uniformed officers in the system. But MTA chair, Janelle Lieber, says it does free up NYPD officers to cover more ground in the subway system. We can second guess the assignment, but I'll take every additional safety incremental contribution that I can get. Remember, the National Guard can't arrest people.

They still need to call the actual NYPD for any real enforcement actions. Okay, move it along here. We have an update this week on the new train cars coming to the. The G-line, these are the open gangway cars. Those are the ones you can just walk all the way through, right? Yeah. Clayton, you've called them unicorns of the subway. I guess you kind of have to retire that moniker now, though, right?

Well, soon. They're still unicorns, right? The MTA only has 20 cars. That's enough for two 10-car trains. They're running on the C-line right now. Stay with me. They're going to take one of those 10-car trains and move it over to the G-line. Okay.

The G-runs five-car trains, shorter trains. Anyone who's run down a platform knows that. So there will be two open gangway trains and service. two on the G, one on the C. It's part of a move that they're making as they kind of redistribute the cars around the system. On the one hand, I think riders are having a positive response to these Open Gangway cars. So the agency is actually ordering 80 more of them, and they'll start to appear on the other lettered lines, not just the G and the C, but, hello, open gangway coming to the R train. And this is all part of an even bigger order of train cars, $1.3 billion.

And the MTA is going to be ordering 435 new trains like the new A trains that we're seeing. Not open gangway, just regular new train cars. And just to bring it back to congestion pricing for one second, the MTA says money from congestion pricing was supposed to pay for those train cars. But the deal the manufacturer gave them was just too good to pass up. So they had to take it now, whether congestion pricing is killed or not. They're going to find a way to make sure that they get those train cars because they say that's a good deal. And it's not all roses and sunshine either. I did speak with an MTA insider who said he's not a fan of the Open Gangway trains because he says they cost more to build and are more difficult to maintain.

He had some ongoing safety concerns, but the MTA is moving forward with it. Labor unions, though, are also criticizing this new car deal. They say the MTA is not releasing details on how much workers are getting paid, the ones who are building these train cars. The MTA is refusing to release that info saying it's confidential information. Yeah, they're mostly built out in a Kawasaki plant in Lincoln, Nebraska. That's a right to work state. And in yonkers. Both cases, non-union labor.

Okay, every week in our on-the-way newsletter, we answer a question from a curious commuter. This one is from Scott and Brooklyn. Quote, what's up with the two-toned Manhattan Bridge? The top half of the bridge is pale blue. The bottom half is a darker blue. It appears as though they got half-finished painting it and just said, screw it, which is what I thought was the case. But it's been like that for a very long time. This is an amusing one.

I talked to some folks over at the DOT, which maintains the bridge. What you're seeing there is, you know, the progress that the MTA makes in maintenance. They don't paint the whole thing at once. That would be insane. Yeah. So they painted in batches as part of like kind of ongoing maintenance of the bridge. The darker paint is new paint. The lighter paint, that's the part of the bridge that they need to maintain or hasn't been maintained recently because the sun makes it fade.

They say it's all the same color when they put it on. What you're noticing, Scott, is that the lighter patches are the places that haven't been maintained as recently as a darker patches. Well, thanks to Scott for that question. And thanks to WNYC Transportation reporter Stephen Nesson and editor Clayton Gousa. You can stay in the know on all things transit or ask a question of your own by signing up for a weekly newsletter at Gothamist.com slash on the way. Happy holiday. Thank you. And clear of the closing doors, please.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.