NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: NYC Council Proposes Lobbying Limits for Former Officials, Lawmaker Collects Pension While Serving, Yankees Legend Mariano Rivera Accused in Sexual Abuse Cover-Up, and Measures President Trump Might Take to Ax Congestion Pricing

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Get up and get informed! Here's all the local news you need to start your day: The New York City Council is sending a bill to Mayor Eric Adams that would ban former senior mayoral officials from lobbying city agencies for two years after leaving their roles. Meanwhile, a New York State law allows some lawmakers to collect pensions while still serving in office. Plus, a lawsuit accuses Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara Rivera, of failing to protect a girl allegedly sexually abused at a church event. Finally, in this week’s “On The Way,” WNYC reporters Stephen Nessen, Ramsey Khalifeh, and editor Clayton Guse discuss President Trump’s potential efforts to stop congestion pricing, commuter reactions to Far Rockaway service changes, and whether the MTA is privately owned.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, January 24th. Here's the morning headlines from Tiffany Hanson. The New York City Council is sending a bill to Mayor Eric Adams' desk that limits lobbying by former top mayoral officials. The bill would ban senior staffers from lobbying city agencies for two years after leaving their roles. Brooklyn Council member Lincoln Wrestler says it targets key power players. Our legislation today slams the door shut on the revolving door that plagues, that allows the most powerful people in the mayor's office to lobby their former colleagues the very next day.

City Hall did not immediately comment, but earlier in the week a spokesperson said the administration had pushed for stricter rules, including a two-year ban on lobbying executive agencies and expanding it to City Council. leaders, but the council rejected those suggestions. A cork in New York state law lets some lawmakers get their pensions while still in office. WNYC's John Campbell has the story of a double-dipper in Harlem. Assembly member Al Taylor filed his retirement papers on December 31st. Then he started a new term the next day. Now he'll collect a pension that could exceed $75,000 a year depending on which options he selected. That's on top of his $142,000 salary. Thirty years ago, the state legislature closed a loophole that allowed elected officials to double dip by retiring in between terms.

But those who joined the state pension system before then were grandfathered in. That includes Taylor, who has worked for the state since the 80s. Taylor's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A lawsuit accuses Yankees legend Mariano Rivera. and his wife of failing to protect a young girl who was allegedly sexually abused by an older child during an event sponsored by their church. Lawyers for the girl alleged the Hall of Famer pitcher and his wife Clara Rivera flew from New York to Florida to investigate after the girl's mother expressed concerns about her daughter's safety. The lawsuit says the couple, quote, isolated and intimidated the victim into remaining silent rather than taking action. A lawyer for the Rivera say that allegations that they do. knew about or failed to act on reports of child abuse are completely false. And the weather, 23 degrees,

sunshine expected today with a high near 33, a fair sky and 23 here in Soho. Up next, our weekly segment of On the Way covering all transportation news, that's after the break. It's Friday, which means it's time for On the Way, our weekly segment breaking down the week's transit news. Joining us is W&C's transportation reporter Stephen Nesson and Ramsey Caliphay and editor Clayton Gouza. All right, let's start with President Trump. He's signed hundreds of executive orders so far. He's failed to make good on one of his campaign promises. That is to, quote, terminate congestion pricing during his first week in office.

Does that mean we're in the clear on this thing? Or is this still something on the president's radar? Well, on the one hand, it hasn't been part of that flurry of executive orders that he's carried out in the first week. But let's not forget, Governor Phil Murphy sent a letter to President Trump this week, just hours after the inauguration, quoting what Trump has said in previous public comments about congestion pricing. And he's calling on President Trump to work with him. He's also noted that New Jersey is going to amend its ongoing lawsuit challenging the legality of the program. But one expert I spoke with said that basically New York has a short window to prove that congestion pricing is a worthwhile program. that it's politically viable. And so far from what we've heard, there have been a lot of positive

responses, both from drivers and non-drivers who all agree having fewer cars on the road has been really nice. Yeah. And here's the thing, the question that I'm getting, and it's a question that everyone's getting on a lot of Trump's actions, does he have the legal authority to cancel congestion pricing? It was approved by a federal program, but can he revoke that? He still might issue an executive order whether he can or not. He's testing the limits of his president. all over. But, you know, Republicans in Congress, if they so choose to spend their political capital on a New York issue, could pass a law to revoke it. Congress did something in the 70s very similarly, where the MTA planned to toll the East River bridges to comply with the Clean Air Act.

Well, the New York members of Congress went and changed that to kind of revoke a very similar program. What is interesting is that Murphy, in his letter, is complaining that the MTA didn't do enough environmental review for congestion pricing. The MTA published a a 4,000-page study, we can remind you. But what's interesting is that Trump is calling for executive orders that call for less environmental review of anything, much less congestion pricing. So there is a little bit of a contradiction there. We're going to see what happens in the coming weeks, though.

Interesting. So on the way, we will continue to go round and round and talk about this because the fate of congestion pricing is unclear. While we're on the topic of Trump, are there other concerns about how this new administration could impact the region when it comes to transportation? The state does rely a fair amount on federal funding for a lot of major projects. You know, we're still riding high on the Biden infrastructure bill. That's the historic bill that sent just astronomical amounts of money for transit projects in a region.

Think of the $16 billion gateway project. That's the one to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River for Amtrak and NJ Transit, or the MTA's $7.7 billion next phase of the 2nd Avenue subway into East Harlem. nearly half of those projects are covered by federal funding. And while those projects appear to be secure, next year, Congress will have to approve another round of transportation funding for the country. And many people say New York could be at a disadvantage. Trump could maybe change the criteria for what projects qualify for those funds.

For example, city projects used to rank really high for that money because we have a lot of people. We have a lot of low-income residents who rely on public transit. it. So without including that criteria, for example, other states might have more access to the money that New York once had access to. Right. And I mean, just history is a lesson in Trump's first term. He held up a lot of funding for a lot of MTA projects. He failed to move forward on any regulatory approval of congestion pricing. But the MTA and Governor Hockel are going to want some money from the feds. Does Trump have an interest in giving it to them? And will he? Hockel's going to want money for her Interboro Express line, you know, connecting

lighting, you know, South Brooklyn to Jacksonites, Queens. The city and state will want money for the BQE overhaul, the long, delayed kind of restoration of the triple-canneliever structure that's kind of perilously hanging on before they need to rebuild it all. So there is a lot of money hanging in the balance right now that New York says it needs. Okay, let's pivot from the national to the local. Ramsey, you were out talking to A train riders about the first week without full service to the Rockaways. The MTA is suspending service to the peninsula for four months for shutdowns. There is shuttle bus service, but how's it going? Well, you can imagine that riders in the Rockway are very, very frustrated. I mean, commutes that usually should take a bit over an hour are now double that, you know, two hours long.

Yikes. So I spent this morning when it was about 25 degrees out asking commuters about their trip so far at the Howard Beach JFK Station. That's one of the first stations that riders who are taking shuttle buses to or other buses. buses are finally getting to take the train. So here's 30-year-old Amber Smith. I asked her what her reaction was when she first heard the news of a four-month shutdown. Actual tears. I already knew what was coming.

I'm like, oh, great. I do not enjoy this at all. But, you know, on this particular day this morning, most people I spoke with were actually really complaining about just how cold it was. So because of the shutdowns, riders are either waiting for a bus on the sidewalk or for an a train at an outdoor station. There aren't really any warm places to wait around or to get to where. they need to go. So it was the same case for Tenisha King Watson.

I won't get to work till probably after 10 o'clock. They should have done this when it was a little warmer outside because this is not fair to people that have to commute to go to work. But look, there's no chance that the MTA would have done a shutdown to the A line in the Rockways during this warmer summer months. I mean, think about it. That's likely, they likely wouldn't want to interrupt the Manhattan and Brooklynites looking to get a tan at Rockway Beach. I mean, that's like the most important time for people to head out there. So this decision is clearly coming at the expense of locals. And just a reminder, the reason for the shutdown, though, goes all the way back to Hurricane Sandy.

They're making major structural repairs to the infrastructure there after there was damage there. Remember, there was no service after Sandy for seven months to the Rockways. And in the meantime, since Sandy, the agency has been doing these small repairs to keep things running, but they want to do a bigger project now, you know, fixing the embankments, fixing the signal. tower, which is how trains, you know, communicate with the MTA. You know, they want to make some of the elevated structures more floodproof, you know, to withstand future floods and storms. And there's just a lot of steel repair that needs to happen along the line. All right. Every week in our On the Way newsletter, we answer a question from a curious commuter.

This one could probably be a book, and quite frankly it already is, but it's from Allison in Brooklyn. Is the subway technically privately owned? This is a fun one. The subway system right now, technically owned by New York City, but as we all know, and maybe learned in the Quimmy area, it's leased by the MTA, effectively managed by the MTA. That's a state-owned agency without that's led by leaders who are not elected by the public and do not require sign-off to take on debt and do other finances and raise the fares. But hell, since hunch would have been true a century ago, the subways were actually built by private companies. The majorities of the several. Several. Several private companies that were competing against each other. And they made money off the fares, but they were also bound by law and probited by law from raising the fares that ultimately made the subways unprofitable. The city took them over when those private enterprises went under. So city owns the subway, but built by private companies.

Well, thank you, Allison, for the very interesting question. And thanks to Dublin IC Transportation Reporter, Stephen Nesson and Ramsey Kleefe and editor Clayton Goosa. You can stay in the know on all things transit or ask a question of your own. by signing up for our weekly newsletter at gothamis.com slash on the way. My friends, thank you. Stay warm out there. Thanks, Sean. Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC.

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