The cameras, part of a $507 million system, won't be switched on anytime soon.
ON JUNE 5, Governor Kathy Hochul stunned New Yorkers by canceling (or placing on “indefinite pause”) the congestion-pricing fee for driving into lower Manhattan, blowing a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s budget. The state was set to start collecting tolls in less than four weeks, June 30. Hochul had long highlighted her willingness to see the program through even though it polls poorly, arguing that right decisions are not always popular ones. Few officials, even in her own office, were given a heads-up. Much of the city and state government was left asking, “What got into her head?”
“This came right from her brain,” one Albany veteran says. “When it’s this nonsensical, that’s the origin story.” And from another: “Irrespective of if you agree or disagree with congestion pricing, the handling of this was maladroit. There were more elegant ways of getting out of it than the way that she did.” The person adds, “The real question is, Where does it go from here? She doesn’t have a plan B, or a plan C, or a plan D.” A third, a Hochul insider, says, “It’s seismic in ways that we don’t even know yet.” Or as another Albany insider puts it decisively, “She traded the MTA for a House seat? Are you fucking crazy?!”
Esta historia es de la edición June 17 - 30, 2024 de New York magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 17 - 30, 2024 de New York magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
Creator, Destroyer
A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
What We Do in the Shadows is coming to an end. Its idiosyncratic brand of comedy may be too.
The Water-Tower Penthouse
Gigi Loizzo and Angel Molina's apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx looks out on Yankee Stadium.
