NYC NOW - November 30, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

Representative George Santos is facing a third attempt to expel him from the House of Representatives. Fellow New York Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis is confident they will be successful. Also, homeless advocates are critical of the city for allowing migrants in the East Village to wait in freezing temperatures for open shelter beds. Meanwhile, the MTA continues to investigate why a track worker with 11 months on the job was killed early Wednesday near Herald Square. Plus, New Jersey is moving ahead with new offshore wind leases following the demise of its first two projects. Finally, a renowned street vendor market at Corona Plaza, in Queens, has reopened after the city cleared out most of the vendors this summer. City Hall says the reopening could provide a blueprint for better-managing other major street-vending locations across New York City. WNYC's Arya Sundaram stopped by for the first day back .

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, November 30th. Here's the midday news from David First. Representative George Santos is facing a third attempt to expel him from the House of Representatives, and some of his colleagues are confident this one will be successful. Fellow New York Republican Representative Nicole Maliatakis says, momentum has grown in the legislative body to remove him from the chamber.

I do believe it will be an overwhelming majority, and I do believe that the expulsion will pass. I think we have the votes. Santos says he will not step down ahead of this effort. A vote on the expulsion resolution is scheduled for tomorrow. With temperatures in the 20s and 30s this week, homeless migrants in the East Village are spending hours waiting for an open shelter bed. WNYC's Karen Yee reports some advocacy. groups say that's an egregious breach of the city's legal obligations.

Legal aid and the Coalition for the Homeless say the city can't continue letting hundreds of migrants languish in freezing temperatures to wait for a new shelter placement. All week, migrants have been lining up outside a former Catholic school in the East Village, where the city has been directing migrants to go if they need shelter. The city is limiting shelter stays for adult migrants to 30 days, after which they have to reapply. Some migrants have been sleeping on the sidewalks overnight to save their place in line. Legal aid says the city is denying shelter to people in need, which violates its long-standing right to shelter requirement. The city says it's run out of room to house migrants. The MTA continues to investigate why a track worker with 11 months on the job was

killed early yesterday morning. Hilarion Joseph was alerting oncoming trains that workers were cleaning tracks near 34th Street Herald Square. That's when he was fatally hit by a train. Demetrius Critchlow is senior vice president of Subways. He says non-essential track work was paused for a day, while as many as 10,000 workers got a safety training update. We just want to make sure that the employees are all being safe this time, recognizing this moment, and taking advantage of this opportunity to preach safety to employees. He adds that the train was likely moving between 10 and 15 miles per hour, the typical speed for a train going through a work site. MTA worker deaths on site are rare. Workers' Union says the last one was in 2020. New Jersey is moving ahead with new offshore wind

leases following the demise of its first two projects. WN. WIC's Nancy Solomon reports. Last month, the world's largest wind developer, the Danish company Orsted, pulled out of its two offshore wind projects in New Jersey. That delta blow to Governor Phil Murphy's hopes to have the first windmills producing electricity before he leaves office in 2026. He won't make that deadline now, but the governor is directing the state to begin taking bids on a new offshore lease early in the new year. Of the first three wind farms to be developed off the Jersey shore, there is one currently remaining by the company Atlantic Shores, which won its bid in 2021. It can typically take seven to nine years to get a project permitted and built.

It's 46 degrees right now in New York City, expecting sunshine this afternoon, a high of 48. Tonight it stays mostly clear with a low of 39 degrees. Tomorrow, more clouds, rain likely in the afternoon, a high around 50 degrees. A renowned street vendor market at Corona Plaza and Queens has reopened. That's after city sanitation police cleared out most of the vendors this summer. City Hall says the reopening could provide a blueprint for better managing other major street vending locations across New York City. WNYC's aria Sundrum stopped by yesterday for the first day back. This is 1003rd Street, Corona Plaza. Business was slow on the triangular concrete plaza under the 7 train, now dotted with blue makeshift tents.

It took one of the vendors, Rosario Tronkoso, hours to make her first sale. She said she was nervous and excited and just happy to finally be back. She said it's a new start and a chance to do better. But things have changed at the market, which just this spring was ranked on the New York Times list of top 100 eateries in the city. It's open for fewer hours now, and it's smaller, with just 14 stalls open at any given time compared to more than 80 before the summer sweep. So that means vendors need to rotate shifts for the first time.

And now the Queen's Economic Development Corporation is overseeing the market, making sure vendors comply with fire safety laws and help keep the plaza clean. Sunny Hendre is one of the managers. This place was huge, informal street vendor market. Lots of different vendors, completely unregulated. The city hopes the new scaled-down market will stir up less complaints from nearby shopkeepers and residents about trash pile-ups, overcrowding, and vending too close to brick-and-mortar stores. Those complaints are what prompted the shutdown this summer. In response, vendors staged daily protests and gathered over 10,000 signatures in support of their return. Local elected officials helped negotiate the deal to reopen the plaza, including Queensboro President Donovan Richards.

This is not simply about Corona Plaza. Could this be replicated across the rest of the city where you had this battle between constituencies? The agreement lets vendors at Corona Plaza work legally without having to wait years for one of the city's few available vending permits and licenses. Richard says he hopes there will be more deals like it. We all know where these locations are, Jamaica Avenue, downtown Brooklyn, Fordham Road. For vendors at Corona Plaza, like Liliana Ramirez, they say the deal's proof that months of waiting and organized protests can bring about real change. For fin, for

Féla The It's too soon to tell if the new scaled-down market will satisfy neighbors' concerns but vendors

hope it's organized enough that the city will allow them to expand and continue to be there long-term. Ariasundrum, WNYC News Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional

deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.