New York City in brief

New York City’s new True Cost of Living report finds 78% of Hispanic residents and 62% of all New Yorkers are coming up short of covering basic expenses—a gap averaging $39,600 per family, and a sobering metric: $34 an hour just to keep the lights on. El Bronx leads the struggle, but in this race, even second place isn’t worth betting on.

Nearly 450,000 working New Yorkers will lose state-subsidised health insurance from July, as Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” slashes federal support for the Essential Plan; the axe falls mostly on those earning just above Medicaid thresholds, who will swap no-deductible policies for pricier options or nothing at all. Albany politicians scramble for fixes, perhaps seeking “essential” cover for their own re-election prospects.

After the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released its $1.5 billion Climate Resilience Roadmap—touting sturdier pumps and higher station entrances—Brooklyn promptly endured a rainstorm so fierce it flooded basements and upended Sheila Goodwin’s East Flatbush day care. As the city ponders updating ancient pipes and draining the bathtub streets, we wonder if resilience planning is all wet or just slightly ahead of the next deluge.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pitch to President Trump—both Queens natives—for resurrecting a $21 billion housing scheme atop the Sunnyside rail yard has left locals more bemused than bullish, especially since even Councilmember Julie Won’s imminent info session promises more questions than answers. The project, a perennial guest at New York’s planning parties, looks set to generate jobs, homes, and—most reliably—communal confusion.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “True Cost of Living” plan—unveiled April 6—assigns a hard number to the real price of scraping by in New York City, as opposed to rosier federal estimates. We welcome any effort to pin down economic reality, though measuring affordability in Manhattan might be the only contest where the numbers run faster than the subways.