NYC NOW - September 19, 2024 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Opponents of Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes” housing plan see an opportunity in the political turmoil embroiling him. Plus, state officials are nearing the end of a $9 million renovation project. But WNYC’s Jon Campbell reports whether the public gets to enjoy it depends on the birds. And finally, WNYC’s Sean Carlson and Michelle Bocanegra discuss former president Donald Trump’s vow to bring back the controversial SALT property tax deduction.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jenae Pierre. Opponents of a sweeping plan to fuel new housing development across New York City see an opportunity in a political turmoil in broiling Mayor Eric Adams. Assembly member Ed Bronstein and other officials in low-density parts of the city say Adams needs to back off his city of yes plan to change city-wide zoning rules or it could hurt him with supporters. If he doesn't pull back on this plan and he goes forward with it,

we're going to remember in June. The Adams administration is facing multiple federal investigations, and that could make the mayor politically vulnerable. But Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer says the drama isn't affecting the plan to address the housing crisis. No one can deny that the city needs a real set of solutions for the crisis. So it hasn't changed our game plan at all. The City Council will vote on the City of Yes Plan later this fall.

New York State spent $9 million rehabbing a courtyard in the Capitol building in Albany. But as WMYC's John Campbell reports, whether the public gets to use it depends on whether state officials can solve a problem that's perplexed them for more than 100 years. Jeanette Moy is standing in the courtyard smack in the middle of the Capitol. She's the commissioner of the Office of General Services, the agency in charge of the stately building that first opened 125 years ago. It's been a lot of work that's gone into this capital project to restore it. She's surrounded by stained glass windows

and four stories of intricately carved stone, literally the walls of power. They're high enough to block out all sound from the nearby Albany streets. It's peaceful, tranquil even. There's only one problem. Underneath all of this gorgeous now blue stone pavers, you've got, oh, there goes a pigeon. Pigeons of them.

Roosting in any nook and cranny they can find, using the high walls to shield themselves from the wind and the elements, and leaving their droppings pretty much everywhere. As you can see, we're already starting to lose the war a little bit with the pigeons, right? We've got some feathers, we've got some guano. The state's been trying to get rid of the pigeons for a century, at times using controversial, methods. Back in the 30s, there was a huge amount of protests, actually, by the legislature, because someone tried poisoning the pigeons, right? Not tried, they did. Yes, they did. And no, it was poison grain. A few years later, state workers tried remote-controlled traps. In the 40s,

sticky wax and brass spikes. In the 50s, a chemical called roost no more that irritated the bird's feet. The last few years, the state's been trying to get creative. We tried putting in auditory bird sounds. Did you hear them? I hadn't, but I got a recording. The bird sounds seemed to work. The pigeons got scared and left. But the state workers whose offices look into the courtyard, they weren't fans. And we did get some complaints. You know, it's alarming, right? You hear these hawks sort of echoing in through the courtyard, and so we turned them off.

Now the states turn to automated lasers that trace the ledges where the pigeons roost. Those seemed to work for a while until the pigeons realized the roving green lights were harmless. Pigeons are a very difficult bird to manage for a variety of reasons. That's Paul Curtis, a wildlife science professor at Cornell University. One, they're smart, and they do learn over time. They adapt readily to the environments we create. The state spent more than two years renovating the courtyard, painstakingly restoring into the splendor the capital's first architect.

envisioned in the 1800s. There's new copper coverings on a busy walkway, a brand new floor that no longer leaks to the mechanical equipment below. New planters with beautiful hostas. But will the public ever get to use it? Jack McEnany is a historian and former state

lawmaker. He says he's always hoped the courtyard would become a place where people could hang out. I can remember discussing with people if there was any way you could put a roof over the courtyard. You'd have a fabulous gathering place within the Capitol. Governor Hockel has told Commissioner Moy,

she wants the public to be able to enjoy the space, but it might be tough to pull off. For one, there's concern about air quality. The Capitol's mechanical systems pumped their exhaust there. And then there's the pigeons. I think until we actually have a sense for how to better manage the pigeons, this is a really tough space to have a nice meal

with pigeons flying above you. The Courtyard Rehab Project is scheduled to wrap up in December. That's WNYC's John Campbell. Former President Donald Trump is vowing to bring back the salt property tax deduction if elected. More on that after the break. Former President Donald Trump is promising to lift a controversial cap on state and local tax deductions if elected. Years after he signed the Republican-led tax bill in 2017, that imposed the cap to get federal tax cuts through.

And New York politicians are buzzing about salt once again. My colleague Sean Carlson talked with WNYC's Michelle Bocanegra to explain what it's all about. Remind our listeners who may not remember what is salt, and why is it called that? So it's a fun moniker that Taploids have long had a field day with. There's been a lot of past the salt headlines over the years. But, I mean, it's something more straightforward than that. It stands for state and local tax and deduction gets tagged onto that at the end.

It's basically when people talk about it, they're more often than not referring to the deduction cap that was signed into law back when former President Trump was in office. And it's a $10,000 cap on state and local taxes that married couples can write off when tax season rolls around. So if this thing was signed into law in 2017, why are we talking about it again? Well, Sean, in case you haven't heard, it is an election year. And the reason why we're talking about it more specifically is former President Trump ahead of his rally on Long Island said that he would like to restore it without the cap. And the cap has, of course, long been at the center of bipartisan scorn. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke a lot about this when he was in office about how much he disliked the cap. And the language has been pretty much the same from other Democrats like Governor Kathy Hochel, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who just won.

won his congressional primary, Long Island Representative Tom Squazzi, you know, the list goes on. And it also stretches to the other side of the aisle. Republican Mike Lawler has spoken against the cap, Anthony D. Esposito from Long Island, as well as former Representative Lee Zeldin, who was in the house at the time and a longtime opponent of the cap. So a lot of folks have talked about it for a long time, and Trump has made it into a talking point once again. I'm not really sure that the buzz around it has ever died, but yes, we are talking about it again. What are the people you've talked to saying about Trump's promise? Well, broadly, Democrats are taking swipes at Trump for signing the cap into law in the first place

and doing what looks like an about face in saying that he'll get rid of it. Josh Gottheimer, the representative from New Jersey, who's a Democrat, he co-chairs sort of the self-appointed Salt Caucus in Congress. He sent out a statement today and saying that Trump, and this is a direct quote, sounds like the arsonist volunteering at the fire department. And other Democrats like the governor, Kathy Hochle of New York and Democrat Mondair Jones, who's running in a competitive swing district race in the Hudson Valley against Representative Mike Lawler are trying in turn to persuade voters that any promises like this from former president Trump are genuine. So here's Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talking about it. Donald Trump must be suffering from selective amnesia because he was the one who took away people's salt deductions in the first place.

So Democrats are raising their eyebrows, but Republicans are embracing it with open arms, like Representative Mike Lawler, who had a bill to reform the cap that fell flat this year, told me today that he's heartened that the president has come over to their side of things. Michelle, this might seem like a basic question, but why do people care about it so much in New York? Because it's expensive to live here. Taxes are very high in New York. I mean, it's a state where cost of living is always, always a top of mind issue for voters. For suburban homeowners in particular, they're always thinking about something like salt, because property taxes can often stretch into the tens of thousands of dollars each year.

And residents in states like New Jersey and California care about it for similar reasons. of affordability. And of course, it's an election year where suburban districts in New York are in play for control of the House. And it's something that folks will probably continue to hear about through Election Day and I'm sure beyond. That's WMYC's Michelle Bocanegra talking with my colleague, Sean Carlson. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Junae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.