NYC NOW - November 15, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

New York’s Clean Slate Act goes into effect on Saturday. Plus, WNYC’s Michael Hill discusses Gov. Hochul’s congestion pricing plan with former New York City traffic commissioner Sam Schwartz, also known as Gridlock Sam. Meanwhile, WNYC’s Janae Pierre’s talks with Democratic State Senator James Skoufis, who opposes the congestion pricing plan.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. A long-debated state law allowing certain criminal records to be automatically sealed goes into effect this Saturday. Supporters of the Clean Slate Act say hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who haven't been able to get jobs or homes because of past criminal convictions could now see their lives change. It makes millions of convictions eligible for suicide. ceiling by state courts, though there are exceptions for sex crimes and major felonies, like murder and arson. There's also a waiting period of three years for misdemeanors and eight for felonies

after someone finishes their incarceration. Under the law, the state's court system must identify eligible convictions within three years. As you've heard, Governor Kathy Hokel has a new congestion pricing plan, a $9 toll for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street. Back in June, she blocked a version of the plan. that called for a $15 rate. The intent of congestion pricing is to cut down traffic and air pollution

in the heart of Manhattan and raise money for the MTA. So how might this all affect those goals? My colleague Michael Hill talked with former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz, also known as Gridlock Sam. Schwartz helped conceptualize congestion pricing back in the 70s.

Sam, is $9 enough to discourage drivers from entering Manhattan below 60th Street? It's enough to discourage some, not as much as $15 would, but even if it's 5 to 10%, which is what I would project at this point, it's enough to raise speeds by as much as a half mile an hour. Now, that may not sound like a lot, but it means an ambulance spending one or two fewer minutes getting to a patient who might be having a stroke. In a minute, every minute in a stroke victim is two million brain cells lost. So it is significant.

And over time, the governor says she's going to raise it after three years to $12 and then to $15. So it will be enough to also generate as much as $15 billion in bonds for the MTA, which also takes cars off the road. If you were on that MTA board, Sam, that still needs to approve this adjustment, would you vote for this? Yeah, absolutely, because let's get over the hurdle of congestion pricing. Let's see what the revenue is. Let's see what the impacts are.

And then we could perfect it as time goes on. There are a number of things that I'll be monitoring as this goes on. What is the impact? Such as? What is the impact on yellow taxis? They've gotten clobbered. the past. I don't want to see that. I think the Uber's and the Lifts probably should pay more than they're paying right now. They're the single biggest contributor to the added congestion.

So there are a number of different factors to keep an eye on. What do you say to drivers who simply can't afford, whether it's $9 tolls or $12 tolls or $15 tolls? Michael, I own a car. I live in Manhattan. I know what it costs to park. It costs $40 to $50 if you're trying to park. Sometimes it's as much as $100 to park in the heart of Midtown for a day. This is somewhat nominal. It's what people are paying already at the Tribor Bridge, at the battery tunnel. It is actually less than the battery tunnel or the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel. In a study done by the Community Service Society, which represents low-income New Yorkers, they found a 50 to one ratio in terms of benefits to low-income New Yorkers

versus those that would be harmed by it, simply because most people are taking transit. Very few people are driving into the heart of the Central Business District in comparison. Sam, will this adjustment have to go through the same lengthy approval process as it did last time? According to the governor, no, but that remains to be seen. My understanding with the governor's office is that they've already checked this out with a federal government. Federal government is ready to greenlight this new plan. That doesn't mean a judge somewhere with nine different lawsuits.

We'll think otherwise and ask everybody to go back to the table and now hold a hearing on it. So I'm not breaking out the champagne at all at this time. Sam, as you know, Hockel proposed other measures such as expansion. any camera enforcement of blocking the box violations at intersections and others expanding weighing measures to keep overweight trucks off the street? What's your reaction to those kind of proposals to also raise money? Yeah, the goal of any kind of enforcement strategy should be not to raise money. It should be to reduce violations. So I'm not such a fan of relying on that kind of revenue because over time, that kind of revenue decreases as you get better compliance.

I'd like to see, you know, the tolls strategy, congestion pricing is probably the best one of them all. That's former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz talking with my colleague Michael Hill. After the break, we talk with a Democratic opponent of Governor Hockel's congestion pricing plan. Stick around for the conversation. Timazineem the NYC now. While transit advocates are hailing Governor Kathy Hokel's decision to end her pause on congestion pricing, there's longstanding bipartisan criticism of the tolling program from suburban elected officials. I talked with Democratic State Senator James Goufis.

He represents the state's 42nd Senate District in Orange County. Senator, the governor's kind of ping ponged back and forth on congestion pricing. What's your reaction to the governor's plan? As much as I like playing ping pong. I don't like this kind of ping pong. And certainly it's disappointing. $9 is obviously better than $15. So I'm not going to not going to lie about that. But $9 if you're a daily commuter still represents thousands and thousands of dollars out of your pocket, newly out of your pocket every year if you're a daily commuter. And roguily for my district and some other pockets of the

the metro area that doesn't have a one-seat ride, readily accessible public transit alternatives. And people have to drive into the city. That's the issue is, you know, in Orange County, we have one rinky dink train line. It's very sporadic. It brings us to New Jersey, not to Manhattan. And so thousands of my constituents, they're left with no option but to drive. And so, you know, to the extent the point here is to try and nudge people onto the train, there has to be to be a train in the first place. And so I've long been advocating for there to be a more nuanced approach where there's a transit desert. And in my case, I'd argue we have the Sahara Desert of transit deserts in Orange County. There needed to be accommodations. There ought to have been exemptions.

I'm still hopeful maybe we can offer tax credits, but certainly the news was disappointing from my perspective. So the MTA says the revenue from congestion pricing will go to fund major transit projects. You have constituents who are relying on Metro North service along the Port Jervis line, so they'd stand to benefit from the improvements the MTA says the program will fund. So if not congestion pricing, how should the MTA get its hands on that cash? Right. So the Port Jervis line is that one line that I just mentioned before that offers sporadic at best service into New Jersey, Socaucus Junction, not in Manhattan. And look, the issue here is that Every couple of years, the MTA comes back to the state with their tin cup.

And, you know, it's congestion pricing one year. It's an MTA payroll tax, not once, but twice. There's been a new payroll tax or an increase enacted. They actually get a fraction of gasoline taxes. They get DMV fees when you go and register your vehicle at the local DMV. We invent new ways to shovel more and more money. into this massive bureaucracy, seemingly every other year. They need to be more self-sufficient.

They've got to figure out a way to look within themselves and become an agency that knows how to budget without going back to taxpayers every chance they get and taking more out of our pockets. And so I am glad the governor as part of this proposal is directing them to find $100 million in savings within their organization. But that is a spec in their budget.

They've got to do better. And I would offer that, that we start with a full 50% of the bus fares in New York City are evaded. They're not paid. 50%. At that rate, you might as well just offer free fare to everybody. But in the meantime, we ought to be cracking down on that obvious fare evasion. That amounts to tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in savings that they could find almost immediately.

Are you and your colleagues in the state house doing anything to pump the brakes on this plan? The advancement of congestion pricing at this point is purely an executive function. The legislature does not have to go back and vote on anything to implement and authorize congestion pricing to move forward. And so, you know, I expect there will likely be an additional or further MTA funding debates as part of the budget. And again, we've got to be sensitive to our taxpayers. Balancing the need, of course, that there has to be an MTA capital plan. These projects have to move forward, but we have to find the money. in a more taxpayer-friendly manner.

That's Democratic State Senator James Schofeis. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Shout out to our production team. It includes Sean Bowdage, Amber Bruce, Owen Kaplan, Audrey Cooper, Leora Norm Kravitz, Jared Marcel, Jen Munson, and Wayne Schoemeister, with help from all of my wonderful colleagues in the WMYC Newsroom. Our show art was designed by the people at Buck

and our music was composed by Alexis Quadrato. I'm Jine Pierre. Have a lovely weekend. See you on Monday.