A Columbia University study suggests that New York’s much-touted congestion pricing has fresh side-effects: fine particle pollution has actually risen in four South Bronx locations since drivers began dodging the new fee to enter Manhattan in January 2025. While city leaders praise cleaner air downtown, residents of Asthma Alley—where one in five adults already struggles to breathe—might just be coughing up more than the usual toll.
New York City in brief
Top five stories in the five boroughs today
A coalition of New York City’s corporate giants, led by the Partnership for New York City, warns that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s drive for higher taxes to cover a $5.6 billion deficit could cost nearly 2,800 jobs and $4.8 billion in GDP over five years. Even Amazon, Google, and Wall Street might find paying for free buses and grocers less than appetising.
Amid mounting exasperation over New York City’s sluggish bus service—reportedly so slow even knee-challenged seniors dream of outrunning them—Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces renewed calls to make good on promises of faster, fare-free rides. With 327 routes failing to reach swathes of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, many residents now spend more time waiting for a bus than the mayor spends drafting pledges.
Three days before a fatal fire at 207 Dyckman Street in Inwood, New York housing inspectors cited the building for a dozen code violations, including a broken self-closing door deemed “immediately hazardous.” The co-owners, Jack Bick and Chaim Schweid, have amassed over 1,000 violations citywide and faced 16 lawsuits since 2020—rather a record to flame the city’s top “worst landlords” list, if not our confidence.
Five unions representing 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers threatened to strike from May 16th unless the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agrees to higher pay, demanding a 5% increase and 9.5% back pay for prior years. MTA boss Janno Lieber claims progress, though talks have trundled on for weeks. Commuters now contemplate thrice-longer schleps, while both sides rehearse their best poker faces before the next round on Monday.