Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown

Former top aide to New York City's mayor charged in a bribery conspiracy

Additional 250 National Guard members deployed to subway stations across NYC

MTA proposes commuter fare increase for August 2025 

FDNY: New federal legislation will combat lithium-ion battery fires in NYC

Adams' reelection bid won't receive matching city funds; Trump considers pardon

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News 12 Staff

BXBKPP915B_2024-09-15-12-45-55

Welcome back to this episode of Power and Politics, everyone. I'm Amanda Bossard. Some changes just went into effect for the New York City ferry system and more changes could be coming. So joining us now to talk about that is city council majority leader, Amanda Fia. Thank you so much for being with us once again here on power and politics. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I definitely wanna touch on the hearing that the council held earlier this week about ferry service. What were some of the headlines that came out of that regarding ridership and of course, the possibility of expanding service in the future? Yeah. So I think top line, what we're seeing is is that ridership is pretty steady and has increased in some areas of the city. And that is obviously engaging members in a members of our city in a different way where they're looking at, where else could I have a ferry landing to make it easier for me to have recreation in the place that I live, but also get to different parts of the city, including work or my doctor faster. And so while we were at the hearing we were talking about different areas in in New York City that members were particularly interested in seeing if a ferry landing was uh had the ability to be placed within their community and how accessibility would increase or not. And then I think the other component was really reflecting on the expansion of the discounted um fairs that we have throughout the city. I had a bill that is now local law, local law 47 that includes high school students in the discounted ferry fare, but also codified it and memorialized a policy um for a ferry discount program for seniors people within the fair fairs program. Um and people with disabilities, a lot of developments there on the fair front and it's great to hear because every time we're talking about it, everyone tells me it's such a scenic route to take, it's so calming and relaxing to take in the sights of the city. You talked about some new stops that could be potentially considered. What are some of those that might be in the works right now? And of course, this is very, very early on, but any idea of what timeline we should be looking at as to when New Yorkers could see new ferry stops in effect. Yeah. So I think what came out of the hearing mostly for the Economic Development Corporation was letting us know that they're really fixated on trying to lower the subsidy and that really is inclusive of ensuring we get more ridership and we look at different ways to find funding streams. And so we were looking at stops for laguardia. We were entertaining the idea of looking at the port of or JFK and Willets Point really areas that we're seeing. A lot of people tend to go to on a regular basis in the city or a new area like Willets Point where we are going to do massive development and trying to encourage the E DC to continue thinking about coming up with comprehensive plans and feasibility studies on where we can have ferry landings where people desire them, but also where it's ideal to set up infrastructure to make people more mobile and to make transit more efficient. I'm just imagining here in the Bronx specifically that a ferry stop at laguardia, I mean, from sound view to laguardia via ferry, that's a game changer in terms of accessing the airport and and also a relaxing way to head into that travel experience. Absolutely. I mean, we even had council members, Stevens come and really uh talk about how it would be essential for her council district to have a ferry landing where we know during a baseball season heading to Yankee Stadium, adding any alternative to go there and how easy it would be to add to the East River Line. How do you balance that expansion with maintaining the experience and of course, keeping it accessible and affordable because we did just see that rate hike kick in that single rides now are up to 450. They were about $4 a few weeks back. Yeah, I think what we have to also focus on with the, with the fair hike that we just saw was we remained the 290 Metro card. Swipe or Omni Card. Now, swipe, um, for the pack, the 10 pack that you can get onto the ferry. So now all of our, all of our transit systems have a similar price at $2.90. But for the individual riders, which I would consider myself someone who doesn't take the ferry regularly. And when I do, I pay the price there for a single ride would be for a 50. I do think the balance that we have to strike is ensuring that we're uh looking at expansion and looking at fares and subsidy cohesively. We want to make sure that where these millions of dollars of capital investments will go, will then turn into adding on to the already success years that the Economic Development Corporation has had in reducing the subsidy. And so when we're looking on where to build, we, we do have to consider are there uh high trafficked areas or high need areas where people will find massive utilization of that ferry landing. Um And how to make sure there's an interconnected network to keep the flow of fares there so we can keep hitting our goals of reducing the the subsidy that we have on the ferry landing a lot to look forward to once again on this front. And then lastly, majority leader, you mentioned the law that you work to pass that provides a discount to high school students here in this city. Can you explain for those watching how that works and any other discount programs that New Yorkers can take advantage of for ferries right now? Yeah. So we have the, um, ferry Forward plan, which is a discount program for seniors people with disabilities and anyone that is already receiving the fair fares discount. So if you haven't signed up for fair fares, New Yorkers should do that because they'll also be included in getting a discount on the ferry landing. And now inclusive of the ferry Forward plan is a discount for high school students. And as long as you're enrolled in grades 9, 1011 or 12, um, or in without an assigned grade in a public charter, private high school within the city of New York, you are eligible to receive the discount. Um, they're only valid to use on weekdays like the student omni cards. And if you put in your code into the app that we have available on our website and on the NYC ferry website, you can get those tickets through the weekdays, but a big help nonetheless, because I believe it drops that price to under $2. So a game changer for anyone a dollar 45 for, for the students even better under a dollar 50. Definitely something to take advantage of if you are eligible. Majority leader Amanda Farias. Thank you so much for joining us once again here on power and politics and for the breakdown on where the ferry stands right now. Thank you so much. Still to come, Governor Kathy Hochul shares that she has cancer. More details on that diagnosis and her treatment plan ahead. Stay with us, more power in politics in just a couple of minutes.

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BXBKPP915C_2024-09-15-12-49-02

Welcome back to power and politics. A health scare for Governor Kathy Hole this week, Hoel announcing late last week that she was diagnosed with skin cancer. The governor says her doctor found basal cell carcinoma on her nose a few weeks ago during a routine checkup, Hoel had the small speck removed on Friday and was back to work just an hour after that procedure. The New York City Council voting to begin looking into the impacts of slavery in the five boroughs and study of reparations are needed for some living here. Now, news Twelve's Greg Thompson takes a look at why and what was just passed. We think we were in the north. This is a more liberal place. But in fact, we know that New York City played a tremendous role in many aspects of the slave trade aspects that members of the city council argue have not all gone away. New York City is still one of the most segregated cities in the entire nation. No one is responsible for the systems that we have here. Black, white, brown or otherwise. But I believe everyone is responsible for correcting injustice and inequity, but who is still impacted and how much does it actually impact them? Those are the questions that the city council voted. The commission on racial equity will now start asking before coming up with recommendations on how to fix them. Theoretically, it would I think equalize some of the disadvantages that we see now, which Brian Ward, a professor of social work at Lehman College says includes things like rates of homeownership. It could be monetary, it could be through policy change. The United States has paid reparations in the past to Japanese Americans who were put in camps during World war I I and other cities and states have also started looking into reparations for slavery. New York is just the latest. It should be something substantial because we helped build this country we made, you know, we built everything here. Everyone been through slavery, white black, you name it. You get what I'm saying? Safe to be reparation to be. Go back. I would say it should go back to benefit everyone. Now, New York state already passed a similar act back in December. The city council says that both commissions will work together on this. Meanwhile, the question of where exactly the money would come from has not been answered yet. Can see Greg Thompson News 12 Greg. Thank you in a first of its kind community engagement fashion show New York City and the people who help run it are shaking things up this fashion week 25 New York City elected officials hit the catwalk modeling clothing created by talented designers from own districts at style across the aisle. The designs donned on the runway were created by all sorts of fashion designers. The formerly incarcerated women, black and brown designers and our local lawmakers were strutting their stuff. That is all this week here on power and politics right here on News 12. Thanks so much for watching.

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