March 2, 2024 • 48 mins
Rob discusses how congestion pricing is nothing more than a money-grab by Democratic politicians, as well as its implications for commuters and the City itself. His guest on the topic is Congressman Mike Lawler, who addresses the impact of the proposal on Westchester residents.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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This hour of programming on WOOR issponsored by On Air Talk LLC. This
whole congestion pricing scheme, which isgonna take effect in a probably two months,
just another way to screw the middleclass here in New York. And
I'm gonna get to all that,and I'm gonna take your calls, by
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the way, because I know youwant to vent on this one eight hundred
three two one zero seven ten onein hundred three two one zero seven ten.
Ohway we go. I'm Rob Astarino, and it is so good to
be back here on the heritage stationof New York one hundred years and running.
That would be, of course,the voice of New York seven to
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ten WOR. Now. I've beenon the station for a long time.
You hear me probably at seven oheight on Friday mornings with Lennon Michael.
I've sometimes co hosted with them orfilled in. I fill in from Mark
Simone in the past. So thisis my station, man, I love
it. Sean Hannity, my goodfriend for many years, is on of
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course here at three o'clock every dayon Monday through Friday. So I am
in my natural habitat. It isgreat to be back in these beautiful iHeart
studios in Midtown Manhattan, and someof you might have just watched me on
the air. I was on Newsmax, as I am every Saturday from one
to three. So I'm over thereon third and forty ninth. I get
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off the air, I got toget my makeup off. I like wolf
down a sandwich because I'm starving.And now I got to walk across Midtown
to where we are, which issixth Avenue and fifty fifth Street. I
love to walk, no problem,fifteen minute walk. I love it.
I don't love it when it's pouringrain. And it's pouring rain out there,
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so I come here and I'm likesoaking wet because I grabbed an umbrella
instead of one of those big ones, and I have a few of those,
you know, like the Windbusters.I got one with forty me University
on it and a whole bunch ofthem. That's probably what I should have
taken. And normally I drive intothe city on Saturdays, the park right
across the street from Newsmax. Butnow I'm like, you know, it's
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probably a lot easier just to takethe train. I can do some work,
I can prepare for the radio show. But so I grabbed the wrong
umbrella, which of course has acouple of those like you know, spoke
things broken. So I'm walking acrossMidtown stopping wet now. And so I
get to the building here and BruceClayton, who is running the ship here
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across the You can't see him,but I can. And the first thing
I said to Bruce downstairs is doyou like to go on the air?
Bruce, he says no, SoBruce come on the air. For a
second, he's thinking, is nowyou gotta come on? I put you
on the spot. So I saidto him, do I smell? Do
I have like that wet dog smell? Because my legs are soaking wet.
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Mike can feel it and went intomy shoes, so my socks are probably
wet. So I'm just starting todry up. Nobody likes to be in
the rain more than I do.I hate it, actually, I really
do hate being in the rain.And when I gotta walk the dogs.
I got two of them. Igot a Shitsu named Bella, and of
course I have a malsh named Luna. She's my favorite. But anyway,
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whenever I take them outside, ifit's raining. Luna doesn't care. She's
fine because she's just like kind ofgoofy Bella, the Princess all four breaks
go on er uh huh, Noway is she going out in this kind
of weather. And I don't blameher. I hate it. But anyway,
I'm here and this is the inauguraledition of The rob Astarino Show on
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seven to ten woor and we're gonnado this every Saturday like for infinity as
long as they'll keep me. Soall you need to do is be part
of it, because that's you know, that's what I want. Two on
two choices. You just heard aboutrectal cancer. Now we can talk about
the cancer that is congestion pricing.And it's one in one hundred three to
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one zero seven ten if you wantto be part of the conversation. And
I it's gonna be interesting who ourinaugural caller is going to end up being.
We'll see who that's gonna end upbeing. I know who my inaugural
guest is going to be in alittle while. That's Congressman Mike Lawler.
Now Mike is a good friend ofmine for a long time. He represents
Westchester and Rockland, and he isfighting along with others. He is fighting
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this in a bipartisan way to tryto stop this congestion pricing nonsense. So
let you know, let me justgo back a little bit. For those
of you who don't know, Iwas Westchester County executive for eight years.
I ran for governor you may remember, against Andrew Cuomo in twenty fourteen,
and I was kind of always aheadof things, which you know, in
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politics you want to be you definitelywant to be ahead the curve, but
you want to be right when it'shappening. And for me, I was
kind of always talking about things thatI saw would happen to the detriment of
people, and so I would talkabout it, but people weren't there yet,
right, So Andrew Cuomo kept goingon and on and on about how
wonderful things were in New York,and I was hitting them hard and we
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ran a good race, but wecame up short. So that fool gets
back into office. And what doeshe end up doing eventually, Well,
everything we're dealing with now, allthis me too nonsense, no cash bail
and congestion pricing. So he wentfar left to appease the lunatics, and
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what does he do. He signsinto law in twenty nineteen, this whole
congestion pricing scheme, and it isit's a complete utter scheme. It's a
boondoggle. It will do nothing toreduce traffic in New York. And even
if it does, let's just sayfor a second that I don't know what
they're going to define success at as, but let's just say traffic is reduced
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by like ten percent, fifteen percent, twenty percent in New York. What
the hell difference is that going tomake. Seriously, if you're driving in
your car, do you think you'regonna go a lot faster? Are you
going to go from crawling at eightmiles an hour to speeding at nine miles
an hour. It's not going todo a thing pollution. Come on.
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They throw this stuff out as assidebars to get you to focus on something
that is not the real issue.The real issue here is power. They
don't want you using your car,and as they've said, it should be
a listen to this. It shouldbe a privilege for you to drive into
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Midtown Manhattan, privilege, just likein London. They did this twenty years
ago in London, they charge initiallyfive pounds two thousand and three, they
put this in congestion. They've admittedthat it really didn't have a huge effect
on traffic. Maybe more people aretaking some of the buses and everything.
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But since Uber came along and thosekind of ride shaers, you know how
many more cars are on the roadand people are taking that because it's a
lot more convenient than trying to geta bus to another bus to a train.
Who wants to do that. Sothe whole purpose was kind of defeated.
So now in London it's not fiveanymore, it's fifteen. Okay,
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that tripled New York is saying initially, initially it's going to be fifteen dollars.
That's what they're going to cost youon your easy pass every time you
come below sixtieth Street. And here'sthe whole farce of it all. And
this is what drives me freaking nutsabout government, especially they could care less
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what you have to think. See, they're going through the motions. So
when it was approved in twenty nineteenby the state, all it was was
a money grab. And you know, the only ones that are going to
get hurt in the middle class,all the time, by the way,
which is why everyone is getting thehell out of the state as fast as
they can. That's why Florida issuch a red state now because all the
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Republicans have left New York and they'redown in Florida, and they've had an
enormous increase in Republican enrollment in Florida, which is why DeSantis won by nineteen
points. And if you ever wantto see if that's true or not,
take a walk in some of theneighborhoods in Palm Beach or West Palm or
any of these areas. Go upand down the driveways. You know what
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you're gonna see in those driveways aNew York Post all former New Yorkers and
New Jerseyans. That's where they are. So this whole thing was signed by
Cuomo and Hokl who supported it then, and now she had a chance to
stop it or change it, shedid not, So they have to have
these public hearings. But here's howit goes. Because I had to do
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these as county executive. Whenever wewould change a bus line, you know,
each quarter, we'd have to sortof put it out where the lines
would change, even if it wasbrief, but every year, I think
it was you had to do afull blown public hearing on the bus schedule
changes, any fair changes, allthat kind of stuff. But honestly,
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we kind of knew what it wasgoing to be. I mean, we
budgeted it. We kind of knewwhere the routes were going to go.
Now we would adjust the times,and I remember there was a big one
where we were getting rid of theManhattan Express from Yonkers in Central Avenue into
Manhattan, and that caused a hugeuproarch. So we had a big public
hearing and we actually came to acompromise. We listened, they're not doing
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this here. The MTA and thestate are hell bent on doing what they
planned to do. It's all aboutthe money that they need. So the
fact that you have an opinion,the fact that this is going to be
a hardship for you and others,and it will be it will be of
no importance to them, no importancewhatsoever. So this is just a whole
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rigmarole. And and the fact thatI can't stand this guy, I really
can't. This guy who's in chargeof the MTA is so arrogant, and
he basically admitted it really doesn't matterwhat all these people are saying. They're
coming out and I really don't carewhat they have to say. That's kind
of what he said the other day. And I've had a lot of MTA
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chairs that I've known, Joe LodoI thought was the best. But their
job is to try to make theMTA a more functioning agency. It is
obese, it runs, it doesnot run well. Did you ever go
into Grand I take. I've beentaking the train into Manhattan for like twenty
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five years and the same damn escalatorhas been out of service for I don't
know how long. The same damntiles are off the wall for I don't
know how long. It's this.It's it's it's an agency that is so
bloated, so expensive, waste somuch money. And do you know what
we spend per track mile? It'sby far the most expensive. I think
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it's seven times more expensive than thenext nearest city. It's about two and
a half to three and a halfbillion dollars per track mile, like for
the east Side access. It's crazy. Where's that money go? Where do
you think it goes? It goestowards the union members, it goes towards
bloated salaries. The agency, theMTA is so full, it's stuffed with
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people left and right. So thisis what this whole thing is about.
It's about replenishing their coffers to makesure they're fat and happy. It doesn't
matter what you have to think.I'm telling you right now. So all
these people who are showing up atthe MTA hearings, who are emailing them,
I don't even know if anybody's payingattention. They're probably looking at their
iPhone the entire time that you're angrilyspeaking to them, because they're not listening
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to you. That's what's happening.And it's like, so this, you
know, make me your little avenueof frustration if you want one. In
hundred three to two one zero seventen. One in hundred three two one
zero seven ten rob Astorino here,and I want to bring in a guy
who obviously is a very good friendof mine and is actually part of the
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government but doing the right thing totry to fight this craziness because a lot
of his constituents in Westchester and Rocklandare going to be destroyed by this.
I mean, did anything ever getcheaper in this area? No? It
always gets worse and worse and worse. So Congressman Mike Lawler, who is
from Rockland in Westchester County lives inRockland, joins us now on seven to
ten. Wor Mike, you arethe inaugural You go down in history.
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You might get a plaque on thewall as the first guest on the Rob
Astorino Show. How are you?Well? That's a great honor, Rob,
and I certainly wish you a muchsuccess in this new endeavor. I
know you'll do a phenomenal job andit, you know, as someone who's
worked for you and with you,you know, it's certain an honor to
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be on the show as your inauguralguest. And a topic that certainly is
near and dear to my heart,the MTA and congestion pricing. This is
the worst run authority in America,bar none. It is an absolute abomination
what they are trying to do.General liber may be the most arrogant,
condescending jackass in America. Frankly,he you know, holds this hearing and
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basically says, yeah, I don'treally care what these people have to say.
We're moving ahead with it no matterwhat. And it's just wrong.
It's wrong. When I was inthe State Assembly, I put forth legislation
to repeal congestion pricing because, aswe all know, this was nothing more
than a money grant. It hasnothing to do with reducing congestion and everything
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to do with paying for the MTA'sbloated operations and capital improvement projects. They
have mismanaged billions of dollars over decades. During COVID, they were given billions
from the federal government, billions fromthe state, and yet now they need
a billion dollars a year through congestionpricing. Do you know that the MTA
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loses nearly seven hundred million dollars ayear in unpaid fares, people jumping the
turnstiles, refusing to pay, andyet they're going to charge hard working taxpayers
people who have to commute into thecity to work because they don't have adequate
service. I lived in Rockland County. Rockland County does not have a one
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seat ride, We have limited expressrail service, and in fact, during
COVID, the MTA threatened to eliminateall rail service in Rockland County because we
rely on New Jersey Transit. Itis absolutely shameful what has gone on here,
and you know, suburban commuters arebeing totally neglected and ramsacked. Basically
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Congress with Mike Laura is with meon the Rock Astorno Show on seven to
ten wor so. They're going toget about a billion dollars a year off
of these tolls. It probably willbe more than that, and you know
it won't be long before they saywe need more. And the reason they're
doing this is because they want toborrow another fifteen billion dollars upon the billions
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there that they already owe for projectsthat they haven't even started yet or can't
complete on time or on budget.So this agency deserves zilch until it gets
its own house in order. Butyou know what's going to happen next everyone,
and they're already starting to do it. Everyone is raising their hand and
shouting that they deserve an exemption fromthis toll. So where's no question,
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no question. And look, youhave lawsuits coming out of New Jersey.
The state has taken on the MTA. You have a class action lawsuit down
in Lower Manhattan, and obviously,you know in the suburbs and the outer
boroughs, people are going to beseverely impacted, whether they're you know,
the firefighter and the cop who workin Midtown South, or they have to
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go to a doctor's appointment at NYUMedical people are going to be severely impacted
by this. Restaurants and businesses thatrely on people coming into the city are
going to be impacted. Josh Gotthheimer, Congressman from New Jersey, and I
held a press conference with a restaurantowner just a few months ago on this
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very issue, and he was clearthat this was going to have a negative
impact on his business. It's goingto have a negative impact on customers coming
in, on deliveries and the cost, and so you know, really this
is not well thought out. GovernorHokele clearly doesn't care. I've raised this
issue with her on numerous occasions.I've testified before the MTA. I met
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with Jane Lieber a few months agoand voiced my strong opposition to this Ashchothheimer
and I last year introduced a billthat would strip the MTA of federal funds
so long as they proceed forward withcongestion pricing. Clearly, they don't need
federal dollars if they're trying to scamtheir own commuters and residents within the MTA
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region. And you know what wewould do with the money is apply it
towards a tax credit to help thesehardworking New Yorkers and New Jersey residents who,
through no faults of their own,are going to get hammered with five
thousand dollars a year increase in tollsto come into Midtown Manhattan. Yeah,
so I'm just thinking, I mean, it could be Sheila and me,
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you know, coming into New YorkCity. Or let's just say somebody from
Long Island or Jersey. You gotto come across a bridge, so they
bang you on that, and thenyou come down. Now you don't get
a toll on there's nothing if you'regoing just the FDR the West Side Highway.
But let's just say now you comeinto the district or wherever, you
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get banged with a toll, andthen you got to park your car,
and that's another mortgage you got totake out, and then you go to
dinner and that's two three hundred dollarsin it. Who the hell is going
to come to New York City Atsome point they'd be like, I honestly
can't afford it anymore. No,I mean it's you know, you see
the cost for people, and it'sgoing to have a negative impact on a
city that is already struggling with acommercial real estate crisis. You have Wall
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Street leaving. This is going tobe a big problem. And I do
not think this has been well thoughtthrough other than they just saw the dollar
signs and decided that they were goingto fleece hardworking you know New Yorkers.
Oh they thought this through, Mike, Oh, they thought this through.
They knew exactly what they were doingbecause they put up the cameras and the
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infrastructure months and months ago before.Now, think about that, before any
public hearings, So before we actuallyget the public's comments and maybe get a
good idea or two, we're goingto put up everything first, so the
minute we need to snap our finger, it's gonna go. So honestly,
folks, if you want to comeout to the public hearing, be more
than welcome to have you come.You can spew whatever you want. We're
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not listening, but we're gonna dowhat we want. So they thought this
out, They thought it out exactlyhow they needed to think this out.
And this is it's government at itsworst. And I, you know,
I hope you guys in Congress cando something. I know there are lawsuits.
The Teachers Union of all people,believe it or not, are suing,
and I think was the MVPD orthe police union as well. I
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believe the fire unions are suing andthey should and they should and you know
this is gonna have a negative impacton everyone, yep. And the challenge
is when you start getting into,as you point out earlier, when you
start getting into exemptions, and youknow, well, this group will be
examp and this area will be exempt, you know it's going to increase the
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cost for everyone else that has topay it, and so that obviously will
have a negative impact. From mystandpoint, this needs to be scrapped and
repealed, and the MTA needs toget its fiscal house in order. I
agree. All right, Congressman MikeLawler from Rockland and west Chester, thanks
for doing what you do, Mike, Thanks for having me Rob all the
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best on the new show. Thankyou, all right, Mike Lawler,
a good friend and a great congressman. All right, eight hundred three two
one zero seven ten. We'll rackup some calls. Who's going to be
the inaugural caller? We'll find thatout. Don't go away. Rob Astorino
on the voice of New York seventen wo R, kicking off our new
career here on this radio station,and a great one it is on a
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rainy Saturday. Going to get toyour phone calls in just a second one
eight hundred three to two one zeroseven ten. One eight hundred three two
one zero seven ten. You canalways call us, or by the way,
you can listen, you know,just in case like you can't get
your radio, you can always listenon seven to ten wor dot com.
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So feel free, you know.So there are some exemptions, and of
course they're going to start piling in. I guarantee you, so right now,
there's a fifty percent discount for lowincome drivers after the first ten trips
in one calendar month. Okay,it's going to start with that low income.
What that's going to be defined as, I don't know, but I
guarantee you. I guarantee you.If it's like forty thousand household income,
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the person that forty thousand and onedollar is going to get so extraordinarily angry
they're going to call their Democratic legislator, who's gonna say, yeah, that's
not fair. It should be sixtythousand dollars should be the income level,
and they'll just you know, they'lllittle by little more people will get exempt,
more organizations will get exempt, tothe point where it's going to be
just you know, a household incomethat just trying to get by in the
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suburbs or wherever. You're the onethat's gonna get screwed left and right.
It always is that this is goingto be no exception. So mark this
down. Okay, mark this downright here, make a recording at four
point thirty on this date, whichis what is it today, March second.
Yeah, I guarantee you a coupleof years from now you're going to
see a million exemptions and the tollis going to be like twenty five dollars
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to come into the city to makeup for it. One and three two,
one zero seven ten. All right. I got to pick h I
got to pick an inaugural caller.So you know what, I see some
Westchester people, So I think thatwould be apropost and so I'm from Westchester.
Let us go, ladies first andMaria from Tarrytown, you are first
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up. How are you, Maria? I am fine? How about you?
Rob? I'm good. Thank youfor calling. I am so happy
for you having your own show nowand I wish you much much success.
Thank you, and you make somuch sense. And I really I hate
we lost you in Westchester. Butthat's the way the boat goes because all
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the city people are moving to Westchesterand they are moving with their ideas.
Yeah, we should charge them acongestion pricing fee as they come into Westchester.
Yea. So now I'm concerned too. I mean, occasionally I will
go into the city. I havean easy pass. Guess what the minimum
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is going to go up on thateasy pass easily because fifteen dollars each time
they start seeing you a couple oftrips, and they're going to be like,
okay, now the minimum is nolonger fifty dollars. We're going to
make the minimum one hundred. Andthat's you know, and that's the money
that's locked up in a card thatwhen you need it, it's there right
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now. But again, they chargethe honest worms. They charge the people
who respect the law. Yep,it's always them. And I also work
in a commercial atmosphere that goes intothe city and we get charged with idling
all the time. We get theseflyes for idling, we get these parking
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fines. Oh definitely, at leastfive to ten a week. And now
it's a new congestion crising that wehave to pay. Guess what it gets
just passed on to the consumer.Yep, that's the next customer. Okay,
well you we're gonna now even tellyou. It's a it's a charge
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fee for commute. Yes, SoMaria, thank you for calling. I
appreciate it. And so passenger vehiclesare fifteen bucks, Small trucks are twenty
four, large trucks thirty six.You got a motorcycle seven fifty. To
ride the hog into the city.Taxi drivers, it's a dollar twenty five
a ride that they're going to putonto the fare, So you're paying that.
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So if you get in a cab, it's an additional one to twenty
five among all the other charges.And if you go into uber Lift or
any of the ride shares, it'stwo dollars and fifty cents a ride additional.
Again, so I'm just thinking ofthe person who lives on let's say
I don't know, lives on likefifty eighth Street, has to drive up
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to sixty fourth street as they takestheir car because they got to pick something
up, and then comes back downto their apartment. Bang, fifteen bucks,
fifteen dollars, boop, They're gonnaget you. And it's just all
these little things that are gonna addup until again it becomes just the straw
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that breaks the camel's back. Butwho's gonna stay here? The people who
have to stay here, the peoplewho have family here, who can't leave,
kids still going to school or maybein college. You have your job
here. You know, everybody knowssomebody who fled this state. They're in
Florida or the Carolinas or Texas.They's somewhere other than here. And every
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time you talk to them, they'relike, oh my god, I'm so
glad I moved. Oh my god, I don't ever want to go back.
Let's say in Westchester, William fromYonkers, you're on seven to ten,
wor Hey, William. Hi.Rob problem with congestion pricing is the
MTA itself. I was in collegewhen it was established by Rockefeller, and
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the original purpose was just to takeover the operation of the Long Island Railroad,
buy it from the Pennsylvania But inthe generation since then, it has
exhibited what the military calls mission creep. It was from the very outset one
of these typical progressive organizations that goesback to around nineteen hundred take power away
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from elected officials and give it tobureaucrats who theoretically are impartial and they're perfect
administrators. But it's anything but that. And result is that when I was
a kid and I had a coupleof bucks into my pocket, I'd ride
the sub He's on my own attwelve years old. Sixty years later,
I won't do so unless I havea squad of seals accompanying me. Exactly.
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You got to know jiu jitsu,and then even then you're not going
to be safe. You better knowhow to that. Well, I appreciate
you coming on the Rob Astrino Showone eight hundred and three two one zero
seven to ten. I appreciate it, William, and he's right. This
is like these agencies are are quasigovernmental, so they're not elected, they're
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appointed. Sometimes they have terms.Sometimes they sit at the pleasure of the
executive, in many cases the governoror you know, when I was county
executive, we had I had anappointment to the MTA so my designee,
my appointee would go to the MTAand had full voting power. And I
can tell you if if he evervoted for this, I would have dumped
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him in a second. But youknow, we were obviously along the same
lines, and he would check withme on how I wanted him to vote.
And so the MTA is like alot of these other agencies. They're
completely out of control. As Williamjust said, they're accountable really to nobody,
don't. They're not representing you,they're representing the politician who appointed them.
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And what happens is they forget thatthey're supposed to oversee something and they
become it's not overseeing what they're doinganymore. They're actually more it's more important
to them to have money for thatagency or whatever it is that they're doing.
That matters more than anything. Andso the unions become their friend,
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the contractors become their friend, andthe person they could care less about is
you. That's it. That's howit works, that's how it's been working,
and that's why the tolls keep gettingworse and worse. They were supposed
to pay off the bonds for thebridges, right, that was the purpose
of the tolls. Well, ofcourse once that was paid off, they're
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like, hey, this is agreat source of income. We're never going
to let that go. It's thesame thing like you got departments that find
people, like the Health Department.Let's say the reason they issue finds is
because they get to keep that income. So it's in their best interest to
find you because it keeps them employed. Something wrong with that, right?
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What's going on right now? Inthe Justice Department. They are seizing civil
forfeiture. They are seizing assets ofpeople never charged, and they're able to
keep that. And that's a SupremeCourt decision that's going to come out soon,
there's already been one. But theyget to keep billions of dollars.
Where do you think that goes?It goes to them, So it's in
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us versus them. That's never theway it was supposed to be. One
hundred three two one zero seven ten. Let's go to Brooklyn and Vincent.
How are you? Vincent? Ihave been rob good. Great to hear
your voice on a Saturday the noon. I hear you frequently when you're on
the Mark Simone Show. And Iwant to add to something that you said
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earlier. When you show about allthe money that the MTA loses from fair
evasion. They have to stop withthese turnstiles that anybody could just jump over
it. They have to be headto toe like they have on for some
of the exits, like the rotarydoors like they used to have in the
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super excuse me, in the departmentstore. And what they should do is
require all of these, whether they'regas powered or electric powered, motorcycles and
motor scooters, to have plates,to have registration and a minimal amount of
(30:51):
insurance. Because those people are reckless. They do bloat through red lights and
in some cases we've over the yearsof people being knocked down by these schools,
the driver not even stopping. Andlast year it was the case of
a woman who was reported for CBSgetting knocked down in the hospital, a
(31:14):
bunch of her teeth getting knocked out. If the city were to do that
and to also make apply to themthe same traffic violation laws that apply to
everybody else, you see these deliveryschools going against the traffic on the sidewalk
(31:36):
every which way but loose. Ifyou were to turn on PBS or let's
say National Geographic and look at ashow on Jakarta. All these backboarded dirt
towns in Asia. You see thatthey drive the same way. Bruce,
Bruce, Bruce, I appreciate youcalling, but but I have to lay
(31:57):
down the law that was vincent.I'm sorry, you have to lay down
the law. You gotta stay ontopic, folks. I'm talking about the
MTA. You gotta stay on topic. Not that what he said wasn't true,
but you gotta stay on topic,all right. Four forty Rob ast
Reno one hundred three two one zeroseven ten. I'm Jeff. Let's see
Jeff in Maplewood, New Jersey.Hey, Jeff, how are you hi?
(32:20):
Rob? Good luck on your show. Don't be nervous. It's just
like your first day as governor.UM just joking, you know, that's
the luck to you. Yeah,you're very intelligent. Serious question. While
you were West Schitzer executive or anytime in government, did anybody ever suggest
or seriously suggest privatizing the MTA.I mean everybody says, oh, the
(32:45):
MTA, they're terrible, it's ablack hole, they waste money, they're
terrible. Have they ever talked aboutprivatizing it? No? And here's why,
And I agree. I look Ithink a lot of things should be
privatized. We try. We did. Actually when I was in Westchester.
One of the things that we didwe did privatize some jobs. We did
(33:05):
privatize, for instance, Playland.So Playland amusement park was run by the
government, and I brought in anoutside company to kind of take over the
day to day operations. I cannottell you the pushback I got from the
Unions and the Democrats. And Playlandloses about five million dollars a year,
(33:28):
okay, And I'm like why,And you know what. The business plan
of Playland is pray for sun.That's it. So government shouldn't be doing
a lot of things, and theyare running an amusement park is like the
last thing. So I tried andwe were able to somewhat privatize it.
But the MTA is a whole otherbeast. It is so it's the blob.
(33:50):
It's the blob of government agencies.It really just devours everything in its
way. Basically every part of governmentis like that. You have to feed
the beast. But this beast calledthe MTA gets hungry. It loves to
make money and spend money and borrowmoney and not improve anything. So the
(34:17):
MTA is never going to be privatized, should it? Yeah? But will
it No, because you've got unioncontracts, you've got state law, you've
got just the whole thing. Itwill never ever happen. But it was
definitely a good idea. But itwon't happen. One one hundred three two
one zero seventy ten, Sal,You're on from the rock Staten Island.
(34:40):
Hello sal Hey, Rob, congratulations. Anyway, the congestion pricing is just
another shakedown. Clombo instituted it.He and his father, Mario Mafioso Mussolini
mierd Clomo scrace to our our nobleChristian Catholic Italian heritage. Just to go
(35:02):
over the Arizanna Narrows Bridge is almosttwenty dollars. It's just another shakedown.
Staten Island is the biggest deadbeats.These kids of all colors, beating the
fair, walking on the bus,giving the bus driver the eye that bibers
are afraid. And more serious thanthat, they want to house the illegal
aliens, unchecked men of military agein Fort Wardsworth. It's absolutely insanity.
(35:28):
Thank God. And Staten Island wehave doctor Esposito, doctor Powell. They
help American veterans and their service animalsand Paws of War dot dog out of
your neck of the woods, outby the island, Paws of War dot
org infold. They help American veteransin the let's concentrate on fighting the injustice,
keeping the dogs in law, andthe capsualized. If that poor young
(35:49):
woman, God rest the soul inGeorgia had a big dog with her.
All right, Sam, So no, I appreciate you coming on, but
again, I gotta keep you guyson track, to stay on topic.
A lot of people want to callin and talk, but you gotta stay
on topic. But look, you'reright, Okay, nothing that was said
here is wrong. This is thisis a way for them to screw you
(36:12):
and screw you good. And there'sreally nothing we can do at this point.
Maybe I don't know if any ofthese federal lawsuits or state lawsuits are
are gonna happen. Maybe there's aninjunction and they put a stay on,
and I doubt it a lot oftimes. What has to happen with this
is procedurally. Procedurally, something hadto go wrong or had to be omitted.
(36:35):
So the MTA, the reason whythey're doing these public hearings, even
though they don't need to listen toyou, even though everything has already been
set up and voted on. You'rejust an afterthought. But procedurally they have
to have a public hearing. Theyhave to get your comments, and that's
will that will prevent them from losingat least one argument in court, which
(37:00):
is they didn't follow the procedure,They didn't follow the law. So that's
again why they're holding these They don'twant to hear what you say means nothing
to them. Unfortunately, as peopleare finding out, and as that that
arrogant sob the MTA chair made veryclear the other night. So unfortunately,
(37:22):
this is going to happen. Ido hope, against all hope that some
of these lawsuits at least put itoff temporarily. And you know, they
look, they're fighting against time too. They don't want Trump to get in
because he could cut off federal funding, which would really screw them up.
So they want to get this thingdone before anything changes politically, and it
(37:45):
will. And you know what,look, kudos to Governor Murphy in New
Jersey. I'm a Governor Murphy fan, clearly, but at least he understands,
as Gottheimer and others, that thisis a big issue that's going to
affect them and so so it mightbe for the wrong reasons, but at
least he's doing the right thing andhe's leading, at least on the Garden
(38:07):
State side, the charge to stopthis or slow it down. But you
know what, Look, here's thedeal. If they cut a deal for
Jersey drivers, he wouldn't care.He would immediately say, fine, good,
Okay, that's it, Okay,keep going, go forward with it.
That's how it works. Anyway,I'm done with congestion pricing. Just
(38:28):
you know what I'm thinking. Iknow what you're thinking. Now I can
take a quick break. When Icome back, I do want to talk
to you because it was brought upabout the illegal aliens, what happened in
Georgia, what is happening here?And I want to talk to you about
that for a second. And also, you know, I had this,
like I'll tell you about it.What happened to do with a homeless guy
when I was It was last weekand it was like a Marl dilemma.
(38:52):
And I'll just let you know whatit was. But anyway, stick around
and follow me on social media atrob Astorino on or Twitter, on Instagram,
I guess on LinkedIn, Yeah,I'm I'm on the mall and then
of course Facebook, and I'd loveto get your comments. And so make
sure every Saturday you put it inlike your little Google calendar. If you
(39:14):
still have a paper calendar, wellyou know that flips over, maybe like
you know the seasons you have aI don't know what it would be for
March in probably some like little snowscene somewhere in Vermont. But anyway,
under like the Saturdays, write inright now, get a pen and write
in Rob ask Doreno show four pmon all the Saturday boxes, and then
(39:37):
you actually you could just keep goinginto April and May and all of this
stuff. Or you could just dowhat I do and put it in your
Google calendar in your in your phoneand it'll pop up to remind you every
Saturday, actually one to three onNewsmax TV and then four o'clock right here
on seven to en wo or.I am a New Yorker through and through.
(39:57):
I've always lived in west Chester,but I've commuted into New York City
for a lot of my professional life, working quite frankly in media. I
was at ESPN radio, I wasat the Catholic channel on Sirius XM,
and Bruce and I worked together.Bruce and I were at ten fifty ESPN
when it was back then, andof course seven to ten WR. So
it's always great to be in thecity, and you know, it's such
(40:21):
a special place. It really is. They're just completely and utterly ruining it
and it's just getting worse and worse. When Bloomberg left and that buffoon de
Blasio took over, it just wentdownhill and really fast. By the way,
and Eric Adams, you know whatI'm I don't know how I feel
about him, honestly. I peopleare probably shocked, like what, he's
(40:45):
a moron, you know. Ithink at times he's trying to do the
right thing. He just he's wayover his head. But I think in
his heart of hearts, and hewas a Republican when he first started,
by the way, he was aregistered Republican. I think when he was
a you know, on the NYPDand then he switched to become a Democrat
(41:06):
to run for Borough president. ButI think in his heart of hearts he
understands and you know, you whenyou go from being a legislator where it's
like the scarecrow effect that way,you know, pointing in both directions.
You never have to make a realdecision. When you're a legislator, you
could have it both ways, youcould have a ten ways, it doesn't
(41:27):
matter. You tell everyone they wantto hear what they want to hear.
But as an executive, you actuallyhave to lead. You're always you know,
your chin is out there. You'regonna get hit, and the decisions
lie with you, and you're gonnaget all the blame, all the credit,
whatever. And I think he seesthat this whole immigration nonsense is an
intractable and tracticable problem for him becauseif he listens to the left, which
(41:53):
is kind of the base, clearlyit's gonna be what it is now and
worse right because they just love theopen borders they want and thankfully it was
struck down by a judge, butthey want illegals to vote. If you
just see what Biden said the otherday, I mean, this administration and
(42:14):
their ilk they're crazy now. Soillegal immigrants has changed, right, The
actual term is illegal alien that isin the federal register. That is what
specifically by law if somebody crosses theborder illegally, enters this country illegally,
(42:34):
it is an illegal alien. Thathas changed through the years, right,
it became an illegal immigrant, andthen it was no person's illegal, so
it became undocumented person like they haveno papers, like they're like, come
on, we don't even know whothey are. And then of course it
became asylum seekers and refugees. Imean, it's constant, non since and
(43:00):
you know what it is now,Honest to god, you know what the
Biden administration called illegal aliens the otherday, newcomers, newcomers, newcomers.
That's where they're gonna start referring toall these illegal aliens as newcomers. Oh,
they come all, right, tenmillion so far that we know of
(43:22):
another four godaways, fourteen million peoplesince Biden has become present, fourteen million
people. So if Yankee Stadium holdsabout sixty thousand, give or take,
you do the math, how manyfull Yankee stadiums there are. It's incredible.
And I would walk past the RooseveltHotel because I would come out of
(43:44):
Grand Central sometimes and I used togo into the Roosevelt Hotel sometimes, beautiful
place and during the summer, Inever thought I would see this, But
I would walk past the Roosevelt Hoteland literally I would look out and look
up and outside the windows of theRoosevelt Hotel was underwear hanging out. They
(44:06):
were drying their underwear or T shirtsoutside the windows of the Rooseveot Hotel.
And now, of course they geteverything that they want, and who's paying
for it. Well, let's seethe fifteen dollars you're gonna end up paying
the MTA for their free rides.Eventually, well, they're going to bang
(44:27):
you more and more because they're goingto need more and more. Hooka put
two and a half billion dollars inthe budget for services for illegal aliens.
So you know, we're good people, but there's a breaking point and it's
broken period. And so Adams,I think I think he understands this.
So the other day when he triedto say, hey, look, we
(44:49):
can't have a sanctuary city status orat least what it is now. Because
when in twenty seventeen, Donald Trumphad gotten elected, so everyone went nuts.
There was this like fog. Nobodycould think straight. And so the
legislature in Westchester Democrat passed the lawto make Westchester county a sanctuary county,
(45:10):
and I vetoed it and it wassustained thankfully. Of course, once I
left office, the new county executive, George Latimer, they of course put
it in and Westchester is a sanctuarycounty. What does it mean? It
meant specifically, and you could lookit up online. My veto because I
put it right there. This isgoing to increase crime in spots. And
(45:34):
what is not allowed to happen islocal law enforcement. So in my case
in Westchester, neither the correction officers, nor county police, or social services,
the health department, you name it. Nobody in Westchester County government was
permitted or would have been permitted.Now they're not to have any relationship with
(45:59):
the federal govern ICE with regard toillegal aliens. So a murder, literally,
a murderer, a rapist that isleaving the correctional facility in Westchester,
ICE would put a detainer saying,hey, hold this guy, we're on
or away. West Chester now disregardsthat, and all sanctuary places like New
(46:19):
York disregards that. Says nope,we're not talking to you, look at
the hand, sorry, and theyrelease these criminals sometimes if violent ones right
back into the community. And whatdo you think they do? Of course
they recommit, and where do theyrecommit, oftentimes in these quote migrant communities
(46:40):
themselves, because they're less likely toreport these crimes. So the left is
just off there crazy, and Ithink Adams understands that. But now he's
in a rock and a hard placebecause what is he gonna do. He
wants to get re elected, hecan't, he can't fix this problem.
So it's just gonna get worse andworse and worse. And it is getting
(47:01):
worse and worse and worse. Andnow instead of calling them migrants, which
they are not. Migrants come forseasonal work and go back. None of
them are going back. Now wecall them newcomers. You gotta be kidding
me. And Biden goes to theborder. Trump goes to the border.
(47:22):
Trump says Lake and Riley's name thegirl, the twenty year old who was
killed in Georgia by a Venezuelan illegalalien. Biden will not say her name.
Trump says, close the border,and Biden Biden goes on about climate
change. Okay, that's the worldwe're in right now, folks, and
hopefully it changes. Hey just wantto remind you, of course, every
(47:45):
Saturday, four pm right here onseven to ten WOR. I want you
a part of the family, wantyou to call in, want you to
stay in touch with me via socialmedia. Also, by the way,
I want you to say hey,you know on your echo or like Alexa,
put seven to ten WOR on pleaseand you can listen that way too.
(48:06):
All right, so hey, it'sbeen fun my first show. Bruce,
thank you very much. I appreciateI get the old salute from Bruce.
Noah, thank you very much forwhat you're doing. I'm really happy
that you listened to the inaugural show. We're back here next Saturday. Have
a great weekend. This hour ofprogramming on WOOR is sponsored by On Air
(48:28):
Talk LLC.
This hour of programming on WOOR issponsored by On Air Talk LLC. This
whole congestion pricing scheme, which isgonna take effect in a probably two months,
just another way to screw the middleclass here in New York. And
I'm gonna get to all that,and I'm gonna take your calls, by
(00:20):
the way, because I know youwant to vent on this one eight hundred
three two one zero seven ten onein hundred three two one zero seven ten.
Ohway we go. I'm Rob Astarino, and it is so good to
be back here on the heritage stationof New York one hundred years and running.
That would be, of course,the voice of New York seven to
(00:42):
ten WOR. Now. I've beenon the station for a long time.
You hear me probably at seven oheight on Friday mornings with Lennon Michael.
I've sometimes co hosted with them orfilled in. I fill in from Mark
Simone in the past. So thisis my station, man, I love
it. Sean Hannity, my goodfriend for many years, is on of
(01:03):
course here at three o'clock every dayon Monday through Friday. So I am
in my natural habitat. It isgreat to be back in these beautiful iHeart
studios in Midtown Manhattan, and someof you might have just watched me on
the air. I was on Newsmax, as I am every Saturday from one
to three. So I'm over thereon third and forty ninth. I get
(01:26):
off the air, I got toget my makeup off. I like wolf
down a sandwich because I'm starving.And now I got to walk across Midtown
to where we are, which issixth Avenue and fifty fifth Street. I
love to walk, no problem,fifteen minute walk. I love it.
I don't love it when it's pouringrain. And it's pouring rain out there,
(01:49):
so I come here and I'm likesoaking wet because I grabbed an umbrella
instead of one of those big ones, and I have a few of those,
you know, like the Windbusters.I got one with forty me University
on it and a whole bunch ofthem. That's probably what I should have
taken. And normally I drive intothe city on Saturdays, the park right
across the street from Newsmax. Butnow I'm like, you know, it's
(02:12):
probably a lot easier just to takethe train. I can do some work,
I can prepare for the radio show. But so I grabbed the wrong
umbrella, which of course has acouple of those like you know, spoke
things broken. So I'm walking acrossMidtown stopping wet now. And so I
get to the building here and BruceClayton, who is running the ship here
(02:37):
across the You can't see him,but I can. And the first thing
I said to Bruce downstairs is doyou like to go on the air?
Bruce, he says no, SoBruce come on the air. For a
second, he's thinking, is nowyou gotta come on? I put you
on the spot. So I saidto him, do I smell? Do
I have like that wet dog smell? Because my legs are soaking wet.
(03:00):
Mike can feel it and went intomy shoes, so my socks are probably
wet. So I'm just starting todry up. Nobody likes to be in
the rain more than I do.I hate it, actually, I really
do hate being in the rain.And when I gotta walk the dogs.
I got two of them. Igot a Shitsu named Bella, and of
course I have a malsh named Luna. She's my favorite. But anyway,
(03:25):
whenever I take them outside, ifit's raining. Luna doesn't care. She's
fine because she's just like kind ofgoofy Bella, the Princess all four breaks
go on er uh huh, Noway is she going out in this kind
of weather. And I don't blameher. I hate it. But anyway,
I'm here and this is the inauguraledition of The rob Astarino Show on
(03:46):
seven to ten woor and we're gonnado this every Saturday like for infinity as
long as they'll keep me. Soall you need to do is be part
of it, because that's you know, that's what I want. Two on
two choices. You just heard aboutrectal cancer. Now we can talk about
the cancer that is congestion pricing.And it's one in one hundred three to
(04:08):
one zero seven ten if you wantto be part of the conversation. And
I it's gonna be interesting who ourinaugural caller is going to end up being.
We'll see who that's gonna end upbeing. I know who my inaugural
guest is going to be in alittle while. That's Congressman Mike Lawler.
Now Mike is a good friend ofmine for a long time. He represents
Westchester and Rockland, and he isfighting along with others. He is fighting
(04:31):
this in a bipartisan way to tryto stop this congestion pricing nonsense. So
let you know, let me justgo back a little bit. For those
of you who don't know, Iwas Westchester County executive for eight years.
I ran for governor you may remember, against Andrew Cuomo in twenty fourteen,
and I was kind of always aheadof things, which you know, in
(04:57):
politics you want to be you definitelywant to be ahead the curve, but
you want to be right when it'shappening. And for me, I was
kind of always talking about things thatI saw would happen to the detriment of
people, and so I would talkabout it, but people weren't there yet,
right, So Andrew Cuomo kept goingon and on and on about how
wonderful things were in New York,and I was hitting them hard and we
(05:19):
ran a good race, but wecame up short. So that fool gets
back into office. And what doeshe end up doing eventually, Well,
everything we're dealing with now, allthis me too nonsense, no cash bail
and congestion pricing. So he wentfar left to appease the lunatics, and
(05:39):
what does he do. He signsinto law in twenty nineteen, this whole
congestion pricing scheme, and it isit's a complete utter scheme. It's a
boondoggle. It will do nothing toreduce traffic in New York. And even
if it does, let's just sayfor a second that I don't know what
they're going to define success at as, but let's just say traffic is reduced
(06:02):
by like ten percent, fifteen percent, twenty percent in New York. What
the hell difference is that going tomake. Seriously, if you're driving in
your car, do you think you'regonna go a lot faster? Are you
going to go from crawling at eightmiles an hour to speeding at nine miles
an hour. It's not going todo a thing pollution. Come on.
(06:25):
They throw this stuff out as assidebars to get you to focus on something
that is not the real issue.The real issue here is power. They
don't want you using your car,and as they've said, it should be
a listen to this. It shouldbe a privilege for you to drive into
(06:46):
Midtown Manhattan, privilege, just likein London. They did this twenty years
ago in London, they charge initiallyfive pounds two thousand and three, they
put this in congestion. They've admittedthat it really didn't have a huge effect
on traffic. Maybe more people aretaking some of the buses and everything.
(07:09):
But since Uber came along and thosekind of ride shaers, you know how
many more cars are on the roadand people are taking that because it's a
lot more convenient than trying to geta bus to another bus to a train.
Who wants to do that. Sothe whole purpose was kind of defeated.
So now in London it's not fiveanymore, it's fifteen. Okay,
(07:30):
that tripled New York is saying initially, initially it's going to be fifteen dollars.
That's what they're going to cost youon your easy pass every time you
come below sixtieth Street. And here'sthe whole farce of it all. And
this is what drives me freaking nutsabout government, especially they could care less
(07:50):
what you have to think. See, they're going through the motions. So
when it was approved in twenty nineteenby the state, all it was was
a money grab. And you know, the only ones that are going to
get hurt in the middle class,all the time, by the way,
which is why everyone is getting thehell out of the state as fast as
they can. That's why Florida issuch a red state now because all the
(08:11):
Republicans have left New York and they'redown in Florida, and they've had an
enormous increase in Republican enrollment in Florida, which is why DeSantis won by nineteen
points. And if you ever wantto see if that's true or not,
take a walk in some of theneighborhoods in Palm Beach or West Palm or
any of these areas. Go upand down the driveways. You know what
(08:33):
you're gonna see in those driveways aNew York Post all former New Yorkers and
New Jerseyans. That's where they are. So this whole thing was signed by
Cuomo and Hokl who supported it then, and now she had a chance to
stop it or change it, shedid not, So they have to have
these public hearings. But here's howit goes. Because I had to do
(08:54):
these as county executive. Whenever wewould change a bus line, you know,
each quarter, we'd have to sortof put it out where the lines
would change, even if it wasbrief, but every year, I think
it was you had to do afull blown public hearing on the bus schedule
changes, any fair changes, allthat kind of stuff. But honestly,
(09:16):
we kind of knew what it wasgoing to be. I mean, we
budgeted it. We kind of knewwhere the routes were going to go.
Now we would adjust the times,and I remember there was a big one
where we were getting rid of theManhattan Express from Yonkers in Central Avenue into
Manhattan, and that caused a hugeuproarch. So we had a big public
hearing and we actually came to acompromise. We listened, they're not doing
(09:39):
this here. The MTA and thestate are hell bent on doing what they
planned to do. It's all aboutthe money that they need. So the
fact that you have an opinion,the fact that this is going to be
a hardship for you and others,and it will be it will be of
no importance to them, no importancewhatsoever. So this is just a whole
(10:03):
rigmarole. And and the fact thatI can't stand this guy, I really
can't. This guy who's in chargeof the MTA is so arrogant, and
he basically admitted it really doesn't matterwhat all these people are saying. They're
coming out and I really don't carewhat they have to say. That's kind
of what he said the other day. And I've had a lot of MTA
(10:24):
chairs that I've known, Joe LodoI thought was the best. But their
job is to try to make theMTA a more functioning agency. It is
obese, it runs, it doesnot run well. Did you ever go
into Grand I take. I've beentaking the train into Manhattan for like twenty
(10:45):
five years and the same damn escalatorhas been out of service for I don't
know how long. The same damntiles are off the wall for I don't
know how long. It's this.It's it's it's an agency that is so
bloated, so expensive, waste somuch money. And do you know what
we spend per track mile? It'sby far the most expensive. I think
(11:07):
it's seven times more expensive than thenext nearest city. It's about two and
a half to three and a halfbillion dollars per track mile, like for
the east Side access. It's crazy. Where's that money go? Where do
you think it goes? It goestowards the union members, it goes towards
bloated salaries. The agency, theMTA is so full, it's stuffed with
(11:31):
people left and right. So thisis what this whole thing is about.
It's about replenishing their coffers to makesure they're fat and happy. It doesn't
matter what you have to think.I'm telling you right now. So all
these people who are showing up atthe MTA hearings, who are emailing them,
I don't even know if anybody's payingattention. They're probably looking at their
iPhone the entire time that you're angrilyspeaking to them, because they're not listening
(11:54):
to you. That's what's happening.And it's like, so this, you
know, make me your little avenueof frustration if you want one. In
hundred three to two one zero seventen. One in hundred three two one
zero seven ten rob Astorino here,and I want to bring in a guy
who obviously is a very good friendof mine and is actually part of the
(12:16):
government but doing the right thing totry to fight this craziness because a lot
of his constituents in Westchester and Rocklandare going to be destroyed by this.
I mean, did anything ever getcheaper in this area? No? It
always gets worse and worse and worse. So Congressman Mike Lawler, who is
from Rockland in Westchester County lives inRockland, joins us now on seven to
ten. Wor Mike, you arethe inaugural You go down in history.
(12:39):
You might get a plaque on thewall as the first guest on the Rob
Astorino Show. How are you?Well? That's a great honor, Rob,
and I certainly wish you a muchsuccess in this new endeavor. I
know you'll do a phenomenal job andit, you know, as someone who's
worked for you and with you,you know, it's certain an honor to
(13:00):
be on the show as your inauguralguest. And a topic that certainly is
near and dear to my heart,the MTA and congestion pricing. This is
the worst run authority in America,bar none. It is an absolute abomination
what they are trying to do.General liber may be the most arrogant,
condescending jackass in America. Frankly,he you know, holds this hearing and
(13:28):
basically says, yeah, I don'treally care what these people have to say.
We're moving ahead with it no matterwhat. And it's just wrong.
It's wrong. When I was inthe State Assembly, I put forth legislation
to repeal congestion pricing because, aswe all know, this was nothing more
than a money grant. It hasnothing to do with reducing congestion and everything
(13:50):
to do with paying for the MTA'sbloated operations and capital improvement projects. They
have mismanaged billions of dollars over decades. During COVID, they were given billions
from the federal government, billions fromthe state, and yet now they need
a billion dollars a year through congestionpricing. Do you know that the MTA
(14:11):
loses nearly seven hundred million dollars ayear in unpaid fares, people jumping the
turnstiles, refusing to pay, andyet they're going to charge hard working taxpayers
people who have to commute into thecity to work because they don't have adequate
service. I lived in Rockland County. Rockland County does not have a one
(14:35):
seat ride, We have limited expressrail service, and in fact, during
COVID, the MTA threatened to eliminateall rail service in Rockland County because we
rely on New Jersey Transit. Itis absolutely shameful what has gone on here,
and you know, suburban commuters arebeing totally neglected and ramsacked. Basically
(14:56):
Congress with Mike Laura is with meon the Rock Astorno Show on seven to
ten wor so. They're going toget about a billion dollars a year off
of these tolls. It probably willbe more than that, and you know
it won't be long before they saywe need more. And the reason they're
doing this is because they want toborrow another fifteen billion dollars upon the billions
(15:18):
there that they already owe for projectsthat they haven't even started yet or can't
complete on time or on budget.So this agency deserves zilch until it gets
its own house in order. Butyou know what's going to happen next everyone,
and they're already starting to do it. Everyone is raising their hand and
shouting that they deserve an exemption fromthis toll. So where's no question,
(15:45):
no question. And look, youhave lawsuits coming out of New Jersey.
The state has taken on the MTA. You have a class action lawsuit down
in Lower Manhattan, and obviously,you know in the suburbs and the outer
boroughs, people are going to beseverely impacted, whether they're you know,
the firefighter and the cop who workin Midtown South, or they have to
(16:08):
go to a doctor's appointment at NYUMedical people are going to be severely impacted
by this. Restaurants and businesses thatrely on people coming into the city are
going to be impacted. Josh Gotthheimer, Congressman from New Jersey, and I
held a press conference with a restaurantowner just a few months ago on this
(16:30):
very issue, and he was clearthat this was going to have a negative
impact on his business. It's goingto have a negative impact on customers coming
in, on deliveries and the cost, and so you know, really this
is not well thought out. GovernorHokele clearly doesn't care. I've raised this
issue with her on numerous occasions.I've testified before the MTA. I met
(16:53):
with Jane Lieber a few months agoand voiced my strong opposition to this Ashchothheimer
and I last year introduced a billthat would strip the MTA of federal funds
so long as they proceed forward withcongestion pricing. Clearly, they don't need
federal dollars if they're trying to scamtheir own commuters and residents within the MTA
(17:18):
region. And you know what wewould do with the money is apply it
towards a tax credit to help thesehardworking New Yorkers and New Jersey residents who,
through no faults of their own,are going to get hammered with five
thousand dollars a year increase in tollsto come into Midtown Manhattan. Yeah,
so I'm just thinking, I mean, it could be Sheila and me,
(17:41):
you know, coming into New YorkCity. Or let's just say somebody from
Long Island or Jersey. You gotto come across a bridge, so they
bang you on that, and thenyou come down. Now you don't get
a toll on there's nothing if you'regoing just the FDR the West Side Highway.
But let's just say now you comeinto the district or wherever, you
(18:02):
get banged with a toll, andthen you got to park your car,
and that's another mortgage you got totake out, and then you go to
dinner and that's two three hundred dollarsin it. Who the hell is going
to come to New York City Atsome point they'd be like, I honestly
can't afford it anymore. No,I mean it's you know, you see
the cost for people, and it'sgoing to have a negative impact on a
city that is already struggling with acommercial real estate crisis. You have Wall
(18:26):
Street leaving. This is going tobe a big problem. And I do
not think this has been well thoughtthrough other than they just saw the dollar
signs and decided that they were goingto fleece hardworking you know New Yorkers.
Oh they thought this through, Mike, Oh, they thought this through.
They knew exactly what they were doingbecause they put up the cameras and the
(18:47):
infrastructure months and months ago before.Now, think about that, before any
public hearings, So before we actuallyget the public's comments and maybe get a
good idea or two, we're goingto put up everything first, so the
minute we need to snap our finger, it's gonna go. So honestly,
folks, if you want to comeout to the public hearing, be more
than welcome to have you come.You can spew whatever you want. We're
(19:11):
not listening, but we're gonna dowhat we want. So they thought this
out, They thought it out exactlyhow they needed to think this out.
And this is it's government at itsworst. And I, you know,
I hope you guys in Congress cando something. I know there are lawsuits.
The Teachers Union of all people,believe it or not, are suing,
and I think was the MVPD orthe police union as well. I
(19:34):
believe the fire unions are suing andthey should and they should and you know
this is gonna have a negative impacton everyone, yep. And the challenge
is when you start getting into,as you point out earlier, when you
start getting into exemptions, and youknow, well, this group will be
examp and this area will be exempt, you know it's going to increase the
(19:57):
cost for everyone else that has topay it, and so that obviously will
have a negative impact. From mystandpoint, this needs to be scrapped and
repealed, and the MTA needs toget its fiscal house in order. I
agree. All right, Congressman MikeLawler from Rockland and west Chester, thanks
for doing what you do, Mike, Thanks for having me Rob all the
(20:18):
best on the new show. Thankyou, all right, Mike Lawler,
a good friend and a great congressman. All right, eight hundred three two
one zero seven ten. We'll rackup some calls. Who's going to be
the inaugural caller? We'll find thatout. Don't go away. Rob Astorino
on the voice of New York seventen wo R, kicking off our new
career here on this radio station,and a great one it is on a
(20:41):
rainy Saturday. Going to get toyour phone calls in just a second one
eight hundred three to two one zeroseven ten. One eight hundred three two
one zero seven ten. You canalways call us, or by the way,
you can listen, you know,just in case like you can't get
your radio, you can always listenon seven to ten wor dot com.
(21:02):
So feel free, you know.So there are some exemptions, and of
course they're going to start piling in. I guarantee you, so right now,
there's a fifty percent discount for lowincome drivers after the first ten trips
in one calendar month. Okay,it's going to start with that low income.
What that's going to be defined as, I don't know, but I
guarantee you. I guarantee you.If it's like forty thousand household income,
(21:30):
the person that forty thousand and onedollar is going to get so extraordinarily angry
they're going to call their Democratic legislator, who's gonna say, yeah, that's
not fair. It should be sixtythousand dollars should be the income level,
and they'll just you know, they'lllittle by little more people will get exempt,
more organizations will get exempt, tothe point where it's going to be
just you know, a household incomethat just trying to get by in the
(21:53):
suburbs or wherever. You're the onethat's gonna get screwed left and right.
It always is that this is goingto be no exception. So mark this
down. Okay, mark this downright here, make a recording at four
point thirty on this date, whichis what is it today, March second.
Yeah, I guarantee you a coupleof years from now you're going to
see a million exemptions and the tollis going to be like twenty five dollars
(22:17):
to come into the city to makeup for it. One and three two,
one zero seven ten. All right. I got to pick h I
got to pick an inaugural caller.So you know what, I see some
Westchester people, So I think thatwould be apropost and so I'm from Westchester.
Let us go, ladies first andMaria from Tarrytown, you are first
(22:37):
up. How are you, Maria? I am fine? How about you?
Rob? I'm good. Thank youfor calling. I am so happy
for you having your own show nowand I wish you much much success.
Thank you, and you make somuch sense. And I really I hate
we lost you in Westchester. Butthat's the way the boat goes because all
(23:02):
the city people are moving to Westchesterand they are moving with their ideas.
Yeah, we should charge them acongestion pricing fee as they come into Westchester.
Yea. So now I'm concerned too. I mean, occasionally I will
go into the city. I havean easy pass. Guess what the minimum
(23:22):
is going to go up on thateasy pass easily because fifteen dollars each time
they start seeing you a couple oftrips, and they're going to be like,
okay, now the minimum is nolonger fifty dollars. We're going to
make the minimum one hundred. Andthat's you know, and that's the money
that's locked up in a card thatwhen you need it, it's there right
(23:47):
now. But again, they chargethe honest worms. They charge the people
who respect the law. Yep,it's always them. And I also work
in a commercial atmosphere that goes intothe city and we get charged with idling
all the time. We get theseflyes for idling, we get these parking
(24:07):
fines. Oh definitely, at leastfive to ten a week. And now
it's a new congestion crising that wehave to pay. Guess what it gets
just passed on to the consumer.Yep, that's the next customer. Okay,
well you we're gonna now even tellyou. It's a it's a charge
(24:30):
fee for commute. Yes, SoMaria, thank you for calling. I
appreciate it. And so passenger vehiclesare fifteen bucks, Small trucks are twenty
four, large trucks thirty six.You got a motorcycle seven fifty. To
ride the hog into the city.Taxi drivers, it's a dollar twenty five
a ride that they're going to putonto the fare, So you're paying that.
(24:53):
So if you get in a cab, it's an additional one to twenty
five among all the other charges.And if you go into uber Lift or
any of the ride shares, it'stwo dollars and fifty cents a ride additional.
Again, so I'm just thinking ofthe person who lives on let's say
I don't know, lives on likefifty eighth Street, has to drive up
(25:18):
to sixty fourth street as they takestheir car because they got to pick something
up, and then comes back downto their apartment. Bang, fifteen bucks,
fifteen dollars, boop, They're gonnaget you. And it's just all
these little things that are gonna addup until again it becomes just the straw
(25:38):
that breaks the camel's back. Butwho's gonna stay here? The people who
have to stay here, the peoplewho have family here, who can't leave,
kids still going to school or maybein college. You have your job
here. You know, everybody knowssomebody who fled this state. They're in
Florida or the Carolinas or Texas.They's somewhere other than here. And every
(26:00):
time you talk to them, they'relike, oh my god, I'm so
glad I moved. Oh my god, I don't ever want to go back.
Let's say in Westchester, William fromYonkers, you're on seven to ten,
wor Hey, William. Hi.Rob problem with congestion pricing is the
MTA itself. I was in collegewhen it was established by Rockefeller, and
(26:23):
the original purpose was just to takeover the operation of the Long Island Railroad,
buy it from the Pennsylvania But inthe generation since then, it has
exhibited what the military calls mission creep. It was from the very outset one
of these typical progressive organizations that goesback to around nineteen hundred take power away
(26:44):
from elected officials and give it tobureaucrats who theoretically are impartial and they're perfect
administrators. But it's anything but that. And result is that when I was
a kid and I had a coupleof bucks into my pocket, I'd ride
the sub He's on my own attwelve years old. Sixty years later,
I won't do so unless I havea squad of seals accompanying me. Exactly.
(27:11):
You got to know jiu jitsu,and then even then you're not going
to be safe. You better knowhow to that. Well, I appreciate
you coming on the Rob Astrino Showone eight hundred and three two one zero
seven to ten. I appreciate it, William, and he's right. This
is like these agencies are are quasigovernmental, so they're not elected, they're
(27:32):
appointed. Sometimes they have terms.Sometimes they sit at the pleasure of the
executive, in many cases the governoror you know, when I was county
executive, we had I had anappointment to the MTA so my designee,
my appointee would go to the MTAand had full voting power. And I
can tell you if if he evervoted for this, I would have dumped
(27:53):
him in a second. But youknow, we were obviously along the same
lines, and he would check withme on how I wanted him to vote.
And so the MTA is like alot of these other agencies. They're
completely out of control. As Williamjust said, they're accountable really to nobody,
don't. They're not representing you,they're representing the politician who appointed them.
(28:15):
And what happens is they forget thatthey're supposed to oversee something and they
become it's not overseeing what they're doinganymore. They're actually more it's more important
to them to have money for thatagency or whatever it is that they're doing.
That matters more than anything. Andso the unions become their friend,
(28:40):
the contractors become their friend, andthe person they could care less about is
you. That's it. That's howit works, that's how it's been working,
and that's why the tolls keep gettingworse and worse. They were supposed
to pay off the bonds for thebridges, right, that was the purpose
of the tolls. Well, ofcourse once that was paid off, they're
(29:00):
like, hey, this is agreat source of income. We're never going
to let that go. It's thesame thing like you got departments that find
people, like the Health Department.Let's say the reason they issue finds is
because they get to keep that income. So it's in their best interest to
find you because it keeps them employed. Something wrong with that, right?
(29:23):
What's going on right now? Inthe Justice Department. They are seizing civil
forfeiture. They are seizing assets ofpeople never charged, and they're able to
keep that. And that's a SupremeCourt decision that's going to come out soon,
there's already been one. But theyget to keep billions of dollars.
Where do you think that goes?It goes to them, So it's in
(29:44):
us versus them. That's never theway it was supposed to be. One
hundred three two one zero seven ten. Let's go to Brooklyn and Vincent.
How are you? Vincent? Ihave been rob good. Great to hear
your voice on a Saturday the noon. I hear you frequently when you're on
the Mark Simone Show. And Iwant to add to something that you said
(30:07):
earlier. When you show about allthe money that the MTA loses from fair
evasion. They have to stop withthese turnstiles that anybody could just jump over
it. They have to be headto toe like they have on for some
of the exits, like the rotarydoors like they used to have in the
(30:30):
super excuse me, in the departmentstore. And what they should do is
require all of these, whether they'regas powered or electric powered, motorcycles and
motor scooters, to have plates,to have registration and a minimal amount of
(30:51):
insurance. Because those people are reckless. They do bloat through red lights and
in some cases we've over the yearsof people being knocked down by these schools,
the driver not even stopping. Andlast year it was the case of
a woman who was reported for CBSgetting knocked down in the hospital, a
(31:14):
bunch of her teeth getting knocked out. If the city were to do that
and to also make apply to themthe same traffic violation laws that apply to
everybody else, you see these deliveryschools going against the traffic on the sidewalk
(31:36):
every which way but loose. Ifyou were to turn on PBS or let's
say National Geographic and look at ashow on Jakarta. All these backboarded dirt
towns in Asia. You see thatthey drive the same way. Bruce,
Bruce, Bruce, I appreciate youcalling, but but I have to lay
(31:57):
down the law that was vincent.I'm sorry, you have to lay down
the law. You gotta stay ontopic, folks. I'm talking about the
MTA. You gotta stay on topic. Not that what he said wasn't true,
but you gotta stay on topic,all right. Four forty Rob ast
Reno one hundred three two one zeroseven ten. I'm Jeff. Let's see
Jeff in Maplewood, New Jersey.Hey, Jeff, how are you hi?
(32:20):
Rob? Good luck on your show. Don't be nervous. It's just
like your first day as governor.UM just joking, you know, that's
the luck to you. Yeah,you're very intelligent. Serious question. While
you were West Schitzer executive or anytime in government, did anybody ever suggest
or seriously suggest privatizing the MTA.I mean everybody says, oh, the
(32:45):
MTA, they're terrible, it's ablack hole, they waste money, they're
terrible. Have they ever talked aboutprivatizing it? No? And here's why,
And I agree. I look Ithink a lot of things should be
privatized. We try. We did. Actually when I was in Westchester.
One of the things that we didwe did privatize some jobs. We did
(33:05):
privatize, for instance, Playland.So Playland amusement park was run by the
government, and I brought in anoutside company to kind of take over the
day to day operations. I cannottell you the pushback I got from the
Unions and the Democrats. And Playlandloses about five million dollars a year,
(33:28):
okay, And I'm like why,And you know what. The business plan
of Playland is pray for sun.That's it. So government shouldn't be doing
a lot of things, and theyare running an amusement park is like the
last thing. So I tried andwe were able to somewhat privatize it.
But the MTA is a whole otherbeast. It is so it's the blob.
(33:50):
It's the blob of government agencies.It really just devours everything in its
way. Basically every part of governmentis like that. You have to feed
the beast. But this beast calledthe MTA gets hungry. It loves to
make money and spend money and borrowmoney and not improve anything. So the
(34:17):
MTA is never going to be privatized, should it? Yeah? But will
it No, because you've got unioncontracts, you've got state law, you've
got just the whole thing. Itwill never ever happen. But it was
definitely a good idea. But itwon't happen. One one hundred three two
one zero seventy ten, Sal,You're on from the rock Staten Island.
(34:40):
Hello sal Hey, Rob, congratulations. Anyway, the congestion pricing is just
another shakedown. Clombo instituted it.He and his father, Mario Mafioso Mussolini
mierd Clomo scrace to our our nobleChristian Catholic Italian heritage. Just to go
(35:02):
over the Arizanna Narrows Bridge is almosttwenty dollars. It's just another shakedown.
Staten Island is the biggest deadbeats.These kids of all colors, beating the
fair, walking on the bus,giving the bus driver the eye that bibers
are afraid. And more serious thanthat, they want to house the illegal
aliens, unchecked men of military agein Fort Wardsworth. It's absolutely insanity.
(35:28):
Thank God. And Staten Island wehave doctor Esposito, doctor Powell. They
help American veterans and their service animalsand Paws of War dot dog out of
your neck of the woods, outby the island, Paws of War dot
org infold. They help American veteransin the let's concentrate on fighting the injustice,
keeping the dogs in law, andthe capsualized. If that poor young
(35:49):
woman, God rest the soul inGeorgia had a big dog with her.
All right, Sam, So no, I appreciate you coming on, but
again, I gotta keep you guyson track, to stay on topic.
A lot of people want to callin and talk, but you gotta stay
on topic. But look, you'reright, Okay, nothing that was said
here is wrong. This is thisis a way for them to screw you
(36:12):
and screw you good. And there'sreally nothing we can do at this point.
Maybe I don't know if any ofthese federal lawsuits or state lawsuits are
are gonna happen. Maybe there's aninjunction and they put a stay on,
and I doubt it a lot oftimes. What has to happen with this
is procedurally. Procedurally, something hadto go wrong or had to be omitted.
(36:35):
So the MTA, the reason whythey're doing these public hearings, even
though they don't need to listen toyou, even though everything has already been
set up and voted on. You'rejust an afterthought. But procedurally they have
to have a public hearing. Theyhave to get your comments, and that's
will that will prevent them from losingat least one argument in court, which
(37:00):
is they didn't follow the procedure,They didn't follow the law. So that's
again why they're holding these They don'twant to hear what you say means nothing
to them. Unfortunately, as peopleare finding out, and as that that
arrogant sob the MTA chair made veryclear the other night. So unfortunately,
(37:22):
this is going to happen. Ido hope, against all hope that some
of these lawsuits at least put itoff temporarily. And you know, they
look, they're fighting against time too. They don't want Trump to get in
because he could cut off federal funding, which would really screw them up.
So they want to get this thingdone before anything changes politically, and it
(37:45):
will. And you know what,look, kudos to Governor Murphy in New
Jersey. I'm a Governor Murphy fan, clearly, but at least he understands,
as Gottheimer and others, that thisis a big issue that's going to
affect them and so so it mightbe for the wrong reasons, but at
least he's doing the right thing andhe's leading, at least on the Garden
(38:07):
State side, the charge to stopthis or slow it down. But you
know what, Look, here's thedeal. If they cut a deal for
Jersey drivers, he wouldn't care.He would immediately say, fine, good,
Okay, that's it, Okay,keep going, go forward with it.
That's how it works. Anyway,I'm done with congestion pricing. Just
(38:28):
you know what I'm thinking. Iknow what you're thinking. Now I can
take a quick break. When Icome back, I do want to talk
to you because it was brought upabout the illegal aliens, what happened in
Georgia, what is happening here?And I want to talk to you about
that for a second. And also, you know, I had this,
like I'll tell you about it.What happened to do with a homeless guy
when I was It was last weekand it was like a Marl dilemma.
(38:52):
And I'll just let you know whatit was. But anyway, stick around
and follow me on social media atrob Astorino on or Twitter, on Instagram,
I guess on LinkedIn, Yeah,I'm I'm on the mall and then
of course Facebook, and I'd loveto get your comments. And so make
sure every Saturday you put it inlike your little Google calendar. If you
(39:14):
still have a paper calendar, wellyou know that flips over, maybe like
you know the seasons you have aI don't know what it would be for
March in probably some like little snowscene somewhere in Vermont. But anyway,
under like the Saturdays, write inright now, get a pen and write
in Rob ask Doreno show four pmon all the Saturday boxes, and then
(39:37):
you actually you could just keep goinginto April and May and all of this
stuff. Or you could just dowhat I do and put it in your
Google calendar in your in your phoneand it'll pop up to remind you every
Saturday, actually one to three onNewsmax TV and then four o'clock right here
on seven to en wo or.I am a New Yorker through and through.
(39:57):
I've always lived in west Chester,but I've commuted into New York City
for a lot of my professional life, working quite frankly in media. I
was at ESPN radio, I wasat the Catholic channel on Sirius XM,
and Bruce and I worked together.Bruce and I were at ten fifty ESPN
when it was back then, andof course seven to ten WR. So
it's always great to be in thecity, and you know, it's such
(40:21):
a special place. It really is. They're just completely and utterly ruining it
and it's just getting worse and worse. When Bloomberg left and that buffoon de
Blasio took over, it just wentdownhill and really fast. By the way,
and Eric Adams, you know whatI'm I don't know how I feel
about him, honestly. I peopleare probably shocked, like what, he's
(40:45):
a moron, you know. Ithink at times he's trying to do the
right thing. He just he's wayover his head. But I think in
his heart of hearts, and hewas a Republican when he first started,
by the way, he was aregistered Republican. I think when he was
a you know, on the NYPDand then he switched to become a Democrat
(41:06):
to run for Borough president. ButI think in his heart of hearts he
understands and you know, you whenyou go from being a legislator where it's
like the scarecrow effect that way,you know, pointing in both directions.
You never have to make a realdecision. When you're a legislator, you
could have it both ways, youcould have a ten ways, it doesn't
(41:27):
matter. You tell everyone they wantto hear what they want to hear.
But as an executive, you actuallyhave to lead. You're always you know,
your chin is out there. You'regonna get hit, and the decisions
lie with you, and you're gonnaget all the blame, all the credit,
whatever. And I think he seesthat this whole immigration nonsense is an
intractable and tracticable problem for him becauseif he listens to the left, which
(41:53):
is kind of the base, clearlyit's gonna be what it is now and
worse right because they just love theopen borders they want and thankfully it was
struck down by a judge, butthey want illegals to vote. If you
just see what Biden said the otherday, I mean, this administration and
(42:14):
their ilk they're crazy now. Soillegal immigrants has changed, right, The
actual term is illegal alien that isin the federal register. That is what
specifically by law if somebody crosses theborder illegally, enters this country illegally,
(42:34):
it is an illegal alien. Thathas changed through the years, right,
it became an illegal immigrant, andthen it was no person's illegal, so
it became undocumented person like they haveno papers, like they're like, come
on, we don't even know whothey are. And then of course it
became asylum seekers and refugees. Imean, it's constant, non since and
(43:00):
you know what it is now,Honest to god, you know what the
Biden administration called illegal aliens the otherday, newcomers, newcomers, newcomers.
That's where they're gonna start referring toall these illegal aliens as newcomers. Oh,
they come all, right, tenmillion so far that we know of
(43:22):
another four godaways, fourteen million peoplesince Biden has become present, fourteen million
people. So if Yankee Stadium holdsabout sixty thousand, give or take,
you do the math, how manyfull Yankee stadiums there are. It's incredible.
And I would walk past the RooseveltHotel because I would come out of
(43:44):
Grand Central sometimes and I used togo into the Roosevelt Hotel sometimes, beautiful
place and during the summer, Inever thought I would see this, But
I would walk past the Roosevelt Hoteland literally I would look out and look
up and outside the windows of theRoosevelt Hotel was underwear hanging out. They
(44:06):
were drying their underwear or T shirtsoutside the windows of the Rooseveot Hotel.
And now, of course they geteverything that they want, and who's paying
for it. Well, let's seethe fifteen dollars you're gonna end up paying
the MTA for their free rides.Eventually, well, they're going to bang
(44:27):
you more and more because they're goingto need more and more. Hooka put
two and a half billion dollars inthe budget for services for illegal aliens.
So you know, we're good people, but there's a breaking point and it's
broken period. And so Adams,I think I think he understands this.
So the other day when he triedto say, hey, look, we
(44:49):
can't have a sanctuary city status orat least what it is now. Because
when in twenty seventeen, Donald Trumphad gotten elected, so everyone went nuts.
There was this like fog. Nobodycould think straight. And so the
legislature in Westchester Democrat passed the lawto make Westchester county a sanctuary county,
(45:10):
and I vetoed it and it wassustained thankfully. Of course, once I
left office, the new county executive, George Latimer, they of course put
it in and Westchester is a sanctuarycounty. What does it mean? It
meant specifically, and you could lookit up online. My veto because I
put it right there. This isgoing to increase crime in spots. And
(45:34):
what is not allowed to happen islocal law enforcement. So in my case
in Westchester, neither the correction officers, nor county police, or social services,
the health department, you name it. Nobody in Westchester County government was
permitted or would have been permitted.Now they're not to have any relationship with
(45:59):
the federal govern ICE with regard toillegal aliens. So a murder, literally,
a murderer, a rapist that isleaving the correctional facility in Westchester,
ICE would put a detainer saying,hey, hold this guy, we're on
or away. West Chester now disregardsthat, and all sanctuary places like New
(46:19):
York disregards that. Says nope,we're not talking to you, look at
the hand, sorry, and theyrelease these criminals sometimes if violent ones right
back into the community. And whatdo you think they do? Of course
they recommit, and where do theyrecommit, oftentimes in these quote migrant communities
(46:40):
themselves, because they're less likely toreport these crimes. So the left is
just off there crazy, and Ithink Adams understands that. But now he's
in a rock and a hard placebecause what is he gonna do. He
wants to get re elected, hecan't, he can't fix this problem.
So it's just gonna get worse andworse and worse. And it is getting
(47:01):
worse and worse and worse. Andnow instead of calling them migrants, which
they are not. Migrants come forseasonal work and go back. None of
them are going back. Now wecall them newcomers. You gotta be kidding
me. And Biden goes to theborder. Trump goes to the border.
(47:22):
Trump says Lake and Riley's name thegirl, the twenty year old who was
killed in Georgia by a Venezuelan illegalalien. Biden will not say her name.
Trump says, close the border,and Biden Biden goes on about climate
change. Okay, that's the worldwe're in right now, folks, and
hopefully it changes. Hey just wantto remind you, of course, every
(47:45):
Saturday, four pm right here onseven to ten WOR. I want you
a part of the family, wantyou to call in, want you to
stay in touch with me via socialmedia. Also, by the way,
I want you to say hey,you know on your echo or like Alexa,
put seven to ten WOR on pleaseand you can listen that way too.
(48:06):
All right, so hey, it'sbeen fun my first show. Bruce,
thank you very much. I appreciateI get the old salute from Bruce.
Noah, thank you very much forwhat you're doing. I'm really happy
that you listened to the inaugural show. We're back here next Saturday. Have
a great weekend. This hour ofprogramming on WOOR is sponsored by On Air
(48:28):
Talk LLC.
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