New York finally green lights legalized pot
BY HAZEL SHAHGHOLI AND
MARK HALLUM
It’ll soon be time to light up in New York
state. The state legislature approved
Tuesday its agreed-upon deal with
Governor Andrew Cuomo to legalize the
recretaional use of marijuana — legislation
championed by Manhattan state Senator
Liz Kreuger. Cuomo signed the bill into
law the next day, March 31.
Detailed legislation claims that this
law would bring a $350 million annual
tax injection, with the potential to create
30,000 to 600,000 jobs, establishing a
licensing system so Black and Brown New
Yorkers can, in the future, legally profi t off
a substance that has historically ended in
imprisonment.
“For generations, too many New Yorkers
have been unfairly penalized for the use
and sale of adult-use cannabis, arbitrarily
arrested and jailed with harsh mandatory
minimum sentences,” Cuomo said
on March 27, when the deal with the state
legislature was struck. “Legalizing adultuse
cannabis isn’t just about creating a new
market that will provide jobs and benefi t the
economy — it’s also about justice for longmarginalized
communities and ensuring
those who’ve been unfairly penalized in the
past will now get a chance to benefi t. I look
forward to signing this legislation into law.”
This milestone announcement builds on
the 2019 decriminalization of marijuana
and the state’s infrastructure for dispensing
medical marijuana for qualifi ed individuals.
The tax dollar haul would provide much
needed revenue source for the city in its
COVID recovery.
“New York’s program will not just talk
the talk on racial justice, it will walk the
walk: ending the racially disparate enforcement
that was endemic to prohibition,
automatically expunging the records of
those who were caught up in the so-called
“War on Drugs,” and channeling 40% of
the revenue back into the most hard-hit
FILE PHOTO/REUTERS
communities,” Kreuger said on March 30.
“It also puts 20% of the revenue into drug
treatment and education, and 40% into our
public schools. Not to mention building a
multi-billion dollar industry for New York
that encourages small businesses and farms
while balancing safety with economic
growth.”
Considerations of building an inclusive
industry have also been highlighted. Built
into Cuomo’s plan is the hope that 50% of
licenses go toward creation of minority or
female owned businesses.
The legislation seems to come with
support from the Legal Aid Society’s
Anne Oredeko, Supervising Attorney of the
Racial Justice Unit, and Anthony Posada,
Supervising Attorney of the Community
Justice Unit who believe the legislation will
fi nally bring an end to policies that have
hit black and brown New Yorkers hardest.
“For decades, New York State’s racist
war on marijuana ensnared thousands of
our clients – nearly all of whom are from
Black and Latinx communities – and
other New Yorkers from communities of
color across the state, resulting in needless
incarceration and a host of other devastating
consequences,” the statement read.
“This landmark legislation brings justice
to New York State by ending prohibition,
expunging conviction records that have
curtailed the opportunities of countless
predominately young Black and Latinx
New Yorkers, and delivers economic justice
to ensure that communities who have suffered
the brunt of aggressive and disparate
marijuana enforcement are fi rst in line to
reap the economic gain.”
Stringent health and safety protocols
will be put in place, and considerations are
already being made for traffi c safety and
detection of cannabis-impaired driving,
which will be illegal.
In making this move, Cuomo and lawmakers
join 15 other states and Washington
DC in permitting recreational marijuana
use.
MTA agrees to fully restore C and F subway service
BY MARK HALLUM
Acting New York City Transit President
Sarah Feinberg announced
Tuesday morning that controversial
cuts to the C and F trains would corrected
in the coming weeks after contention and
litigation between the agency and Transport
Workers Union Local 100.
Feinberg, during a webinar with the
Citizens Budget Commission, said better
heads prevailed at the MTA during debates
as to whether cuts implemented on both
lines during the pandemic should remain
that way as ridership returns — or if the
need to provide enough service to prevent
overcrowding should take priority.
“I’m glad to be able to say this morning
that we’ve taken that debate off the table
for now, we’ve decided that we’re going
to continue to run full service and in fact
we’re going to restore the two lines that
have been a little off of full service, the C
and the F, we’re now going to bring back to
full service,” Feinberg said. “I think that’s
the right thing to do to make sure that all
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg
of our C and F riders are getting as much
service as they possibly can and as much
social distancing as possible.”
Feinberg stressed, however, the change
won’t happen immediately.
“It will take us several weeks to bring the
C and the F back, the F will come back fi rst
and then the C afterwards but that sets us
back at 100% full service and I think that’s
FILE PHOTO/TODD MAISEL
the right place to be as we do our part to
bring the city back, to bring the economy
back,” she added. “I think the reality is, if
there’s not a transit system that is safe and
running effi cient service and running a lot
of service to greet the city as it comes back,
we’re going to struggle.”
In recent weeks, TWU has launched litigation
to stall the MTA making the reduced
service on the two lines permanent with
attorney Arthur Schwartz getting a stay on
a temporary restraining order against the
agency approved by a judge last week for
an additional two weeks.
“We’re very satisfi ed. As we’ve been saying,
New York needs more subway service,
not less. This is defi nitely the right move,”
said Tony Utano, president of TWU Local
100, in learning of the C and F train service
restorations.
Headways on the C train went from eight
or nine minutes to 12 minutes during peak
hours while on the F line wait times went
from four minutes to eight minutes, according
to the MTA.
About 36 out of over 100 runs on the F
train were cut early in the pandemic leaving
MTA staff assigned to those runs to be
reassigned. Going forward, these cuts will
be unnecessary as there are currently crews
available despite the 154 fatalities in the MTA
workforce due to COVID-19 and considering
those who are out sick as well as new hires,
according to Eric Loegel, the vice president
of Rapid Transit Operations at TWU.
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