New York City in brief

Lawmakers from both parties pressed Mayor Mamdani to shield New York’s fire department from looming budget cuts, citing stagnant funding despite 700,000 extra emergency calls a year since the pandemic. With ancient firehouses reportedly crumbling, council members demand fresh investment rather than the indignity of more mold and metal stilts propping up the city’s bravest—a rickety foundation for metropolitan safety, if ever there was one.

With a contract between NewYork-Presbyterian and EmblemHealth due to expire on April 10, some 40,000 New York City workers and retirees may soon find the city’s flagship hospital out of network, thanks to negotiations that have taken on the suspense of a long-running off-Broadway show. The federal antitrust lawsuit against the hospital only adds to the drama—though as ever, patients are the best seat-fillers in healthcare’s theater.

New York’s housing authority plans to raze four decaying public-housing complexes in Chelsea, arguing renovation trumps patchwork repairs and pledging to add new, mixed-income units—a rarity where preservation campaigns usually prevail. Some residents, fearing displacement and déjà vu from past urban “renewal,” have voiced skepticism; the city contends that crumbling pipes and ancient towers leave few alternatives. Even so, nostalgia always seems to outpace modern plumbing.

Freddie Mac reports that 30-year US mortgage rates have climbed to 6.46%, their highest in months, adding about $100 per month to new homebuyers’ costs. Rising rates—driven by persistent inflation, nervous markets, and the usual suspects like oil prices and global jitters—leave first-time buyers and particularly Hispanic families squeezed yet again. At this rate, the American dream may soon require a stepladder or two.

Kathy Hochul, la gobernadora de Nueva York, sopesa permitir retiros a los 55 años para unos 2.5 millones de empleados públicos, incluidos maestros, medida que podría costar hasta $1,500 millones y que sindicatos como la AFL-CIO respaldan con entusiasmo financiero ajeno. Negociaciones discretas prescinden de los legisladores; el presupuesto estatal podría acabar más ligero, aunque los contribuyentes dudan que se trate de una edad dorada para sus bolsillos.