Consumer Costs

MTA Release First OMNY Vending Machines in The Bronx

By SÍLE MOLONEY
MTA officials announced the activation of the first OMNY card vending machines in the City on Oct. 30, including at both Fordham Road subway stations serving the 4, B and D trains. Officials said electronic OMNY cards which can be tapped rather than swiped at subway station styles provide cash customers a way to take advantage of OMNY’s financial flexibility to pay-as-you-go and never spend more than $34 in 7 days.

TAKE 5 Top-Prize Lottery Ticket Sold in The Bronx

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The New York Lottery announced one top-prize winning ticket was sold in The Bronx for the Oct 31 TAKE 5 Evening drawing. The ticket was sold at Fairfield Food Inc., located at 2525 3rd Avenue, and was worth $17,751.50.

Congestion Pricing Tolls One Step Closer to Reality

By DAVID GREENE
Bronx drivers should brace for impact as officials at NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) are a big step closer to hitting drivers entering Midtown Manhattan from The Bronx with the new ‘congestion pricing’ toll. DOT work crews have already begun working on the installation of cameras.  

Gillibrand Calls for Humanitarian Aid to Address Emergency Needs in Gaza

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Democratic U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the U.S. senate armed services committee and of the U.S. senate committee on intelligence, is calling on the Biden administration to contribute to the United Nations’ emergency appeal of $294 million to address the immediate humanitarian needs in the West Bank and Gaza in Palestine, in the wake of an escalation of violence in the region following the Hamas attacks on Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7. Gillibrand is joined by 33 of her colleagues in the push, which is led by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.  

Rivera & Colleagues Introduce Bill to Fund Safe Evacuation of New Yorkers from Israel & Palestine

By SÍLE MOLONEY
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), Brooklyn-based State Sen. Julia Salazar (S.D. 18), and Brooklyn-based Assembly Member Emily Gallagher (A.D. 50) introduced Bill S7716 on Wednesday, Oct. 18, to allow New York State to financially reimburse New Yorkers who are trying to evacuate from Israel and the Palestinian territories during the ongoing crisis in the Middle East since tensions escalated on Saturday, Oct. 7, following an attack by Hamas on southern Israel, which prompted a bombing of the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defense Authority. 

After Bainbridge Burns Again, Merchants Try to Figure Out a Way Forward

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY
After a third major commercial fire in a 14-year span ripped through a busy business strip of Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood in the early hours of Tuesday, Oct. 10, several small business owners watched in shock as their livelihoods went up in smoke before their eyes and they are, once again, grappling to figure out a way forward.