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Dear New Yorkers,

As part of congestion pricing — which would have slapped tolls on motorists driving south of 60th Street while raising billions of dollars for transit upgrades — the MTA and New York State had agreed to pour $155 million over five years into helping communities that were “overburdened” with air pollution.

Many of those were in The Bronx, which has been historically and disproportionately impacted by high asthma rates, with much of that attributed to the air pollution caused by congestion on highways like the Cross Bronx Expressway. In addition to asthma, air pollution is linked to health conditions like cardiovascular disease, pneumonia and lung cancer.

The planned mitigation efforts included an asthma case-management program and center in East Tremont, the planting of roadside vegetation throughout the South Bronx, electrification of diesel-powered refrigeration trucks at the Hunts Point Produce Market and expanding the city’s clean-trucks fleet

The MTA had also promised to renovate parks and green spaces across The Bronx, installing air-filtration units in high schools near highways, lowering overnight toll rates and getting the city Department of Transportation to expand its off-hours truck delivery program.

But after Hochul hit the brakes on the plan — which she had long championed just weeks before its scheduled June 30 start — the future funding for the Bronx programs in so-called environmental justice communities is up in the air.

Read more here about the commitments in limbo after Hochul’s congestion pricing pause.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Monday’s Weather Rating: 4/10. Partly cloudy early, with highs in the mid-80s and scattered storms this afternoon. Still humid, but getting a bit better by tonight. The vibes remain unsettled for now!

Our Other Top Stories

With a complicated $112 billion dollar budget, New York City needs someone to keep a keen eye on its wallet. That’s the job of the city comptroller, a position currently filled by Brad Lander. Now, Lander’s making a run for mayor — and says he won’t seek reelection. His office appears to be up for grabs, and candidates are already lining up for the 2025 race. Here is THE CITY’s guide to the comptroller’s job and the people vying to fill Lander’s seat.  Tenants of the Coney Island Houses on Friday voted down a new funding scheme to remove developments from traditional public housing and into a nonprofit "preservation trust" that would expand the Housing Authority’s ability to float bonds for much-needed repairs. Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly trumpeted this as the answer to NYCHA’s never-ending financial struggles. But residents of the Coney Island Houses opted to stick with public housing funding known as Section 9, essentially choosing a status quo that has been criticized for years as being inadequate. The rejection of the trust by NYCHA residents is a first: Three other developments have signed up in the past few months. The debut episode of Lit NYC, the FAQ NYC Podcast Network’s off-cycle show covering books, art, music and more, features Ross Perlin, author of “Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues,” and the co-director of the Endangered Languages Alliance. Perlin discusses his work mapping the languages spoken in New York, which may be the most linguistically diverse city in the history of the world, plus why our melting pot is also a threat to some of those languages and much more. Listen here.

SPONSORED Chase’s New Bronx Community Center   Five years after JPMorganChase opened its first-ever Community Center Branch in Harlem, New York City’s second was opened in the Bronx. In an interview with PIX11, JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon discusses how Community Center branches are built with the local community in mind and how the firm is helping New Yorkers access the tools they need to improve their financial health and contribute to a more inclusive economy.   Watch the full interview on PIX11

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Thursday, Aug. 22: Nature Exploration: Wildlife Appreciation, a series of nature education programs celebrating local plants, animals and insects. Free on Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Audubon Center in Prospect Park. Saturday, Aug. 24: An outdoor performance of “Tosca” by the New York City Opera. Free from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Bryant Park in Manhattan. Saturday, Aug. 24: NYC Discovery Lab August – New York’s Waterways, family-friendly activities that dive into how the city’s water works. Free with admission from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan.

THE KICKER: The city’s curbside composting program is expanding. Residents of The Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island can now order a free brown bin from the Department of Sanitation.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Monday.

Love,

THE CITY

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